women composers

Florence Beatrice Price (April 9, 1887 - June 3, 1953) was an African-American pianist and composer, and the first African-American woman to have a piece played by a major symphony orchestra. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Price's first piano teacher was her mother, a music educator, and Price's first recital was at the age of 4. After high school (which she graduated top of her class), she studied piano and organ at the New England Conservatory, and pretended to be Mexican, due to the stigma that African-Americans faced during that era. She also studied composition and counterpoint with George Chadwick and Frederick Converse, and graduated in 1906 with Continue reading →

Amanda Maier (February 19, 1853 - July 15, 1894) was born in the Swedish town of Landskrona, and was quite an accomplished violinist, cellist, organist, and composer. Her initial studies in piano and violin were with her father, and later studied at the Royal School of Music at Stockholm, and was their first female music graduate.  While she was there, she won numerous awards for her instrumental playing and compositions as well. After graduating, she moved on to the Leipzig Conservatory, to study composition with Carl Reinecke, and violin with Engelbert Rontgen. Brahms and Grieg spoke very highly of her compositions, though she stopped composing after she got married, and not many of her works were published in her lifetime. While in Leipzig, however, she continued winning awards, including one for her Violin Sonata in b minor. Continue reading →

We continue this week with another work by a female composer of the late 1800's/early 1900's, this time looking at an exceptionally early work by Amy Marcy Beach. Mrs. Beach showed talent at an early age, both as a performer and composer, but had little in the way of formal studies. Despite the limited training she was able to receive, she received her first publication in 1883 (at the age of 16!) with the song "The Rainy Day". Continue reading →

A few weeks ago, we took a look at the Cello Sonata of Ethel Smyth, an English composer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today we look once again at her writing for strings, this time the String Quartet in E minor, from 1914. Continue reading →

Female composers have historically struggled for recognition in a field dominated by men, even in the modern world. Looking back into the 19th and early 20th centuries, we see even more of a struggle. Such was the case of Dame Ethel Smyth, an English composer who was active as a composer primarily in the late 19th century, with a limited composition output in the early 20th century as she slowly lost her hearing. Today we look at her Cello Sonata in A minor, Op. 5, composed in 1887. Continue reading →