In preparing music for the premiere of my Hildegard’s Garden concert (which was transformed thanks to my longtime collaborator pianist Mila Henry into a virtual concert during the pandemic) I discovered "Ophelia’s Song" by Elizabeth Maconchy, which is one of her very early works composed when she was a student in 1924. The piece was inspired by Ophelia’s speech to Polonius in Shakespeare's Hamlet, "There is rosemary, that’s for remembrance—pray you love, remember."
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In this post, we'll take a closer look at the connections between my latest musical endeavor, The Penelope Project, which shines a light on Francesca Caccini and Cecilia Livingston, both female composers holding space in a male-dominated field, and the work that is needed to continue progressing women in the arts in a post-Covid era.
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This 45 minute podcast includes music and discussion of online branding as relates to careers in the arts. Friendly, casual summer time listening for classical music lovers and advocates for women in the arts.
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How Spotify is helping today’s female vocal composers
The medium of streaming recorded music has greatly affected the rise of female composers of vocal music. Female composers are able to have recordings of their music created today with whoever is interested in recording them, and that includes many independent artists who are somewhat outside the “traditional” pathway to commercial success or widespread recognition in the arts, i.e. smaller or simply untraditional venues and creative spaces vs. large performing arts organizations which are based primarily in a large concert hall. One might argue that with so many larger organizations having a harder time than ever in selling their subscription series to concert goers, an audience that is more and more digitally based creates more favorable conditions for female composers whose networks and/or reknown may not include those older, larger arts organizations. Ideally, female composers may take advantage of both the new and old pathways to having their music heard.
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Paola Prestini - Female composer and co-founder of National Sawdust
My pianist Mila Henry has worked with Paola Prestini previously and recommended her to me. I was also familiar with the Brooklyn-based organization she co-founded called National Sawdust which showcases new musical works. National Sawdust had been recommended to me by colleagues, including our videographer John Ciampa, for Voices of Women’s fundraising efforts.
“Still” was commissioned for my debut album “Voices of Women”, thanks to our generous supporters during the final stages of the campaign, and is a duet for two sopranos and piano. I was so delighted that my sister Rebecca Obert agreed to sing the other soprano part, and we had a lot of fun working closely with Paola Prestini, Mila Henry and our recording team at Affetto to bring this work to life. The libretto was written by Mark Campbell, a leader in the contemporary opera scene.
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Where are all the female composers?
When I participated in the Women’s March in Washington DC I tapped into a collective consciousness of women’s oppression in the twenty-first century and it made me really curious about how women expressed themselves (through music in my case) in the absence of political and socioeconomic equality throughout the centuries. I believe that women’s ability to express themselves can lead to greater social change and the betterment of all people.
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The role of patronage in the work of female composers
Patronage in some form has been extremely important to most artists, unless they have been born into wealth. But for female vocal composers, patronage continues to be of great significance due to the marginalization of female artwork in general today. We are starting to see a shift in this regard. If we look back through history, one of the greatest patrons has been the church, such as in the instance of Hildegard von Bingen, or a close family relative such as in the example of Barbara Strozzi and her father.
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Barbara Strozzi - Female composer and alleged courtesan
I first heard Barbara Strozzi’s music on Youtube while researching several female composers for my debut album, Voices of Women. I was, and still am, simply captivated by her music’s qualities of expressiveness and emotion.
“Che si puo fare?” comes from one of Barbara Strozzi’s many collections of songs, most of which are composed for lyric soprano voice, which was her voice type. As a soprano myself, in learning this work I sensed that Barbara Strozzi herself sang this music and composed it to showcase the most beautiful parts of the soprano instrument. Barbara Strozzi utilizes the range of the voice so effectively, and as a soprano, I have found her music to feel so natural and easy to sing due to its text setting and instinctive phrasing. That’s not to say that different artists can’t make different choices when singing Barbara Strozzi’s music, but so much of the work is done for the singer by the compositional style. It may sound odd, but in the classical vocal music repertoire, it is a rare gift to find music written by a woman soprano. Some composers may have been boy sopranos in their youth, but not many have been adult sopranos.
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Fanny Mendelssohn - Female composer and sister of Felix Mendelssohn
While I was working on “Hear Ye Israel” from Elijah (by Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny’s brother), Dr. Julianne Baird mentioned that I might enjoy singing some of Fanny Mendelssohn’s songs as well.
I chose to include Fanny Mendelssohn’s “Sehnsucht” because of the poetry and the simple, arching beauty of the vocal lines. It translates to “Longing” and I liked the idea that some of Fanny Mendelssohn’s longing to fully express her musical gifts may have been poured into this composition, and that she may have related personally to the text as she was composing. It has the simple, yet somewhat restless beauty and emerging Romantic sensibilities that one might associate with the great songwriter Schubert.
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Hildegard von Bingen - Female composer and patron saint of creativity
I had heard of Hildegard von Bingen briefly as a student at music conservatory, but I became acquainted with her more personally when I actually played the character of Hildegard of Bingen in a Christmas pageant and sang one of her compositions while two teenagers danced a beautiful ballet routine which depicted the blooming of flowers.
Although not included on my debut album, Voices of Women, I hope to include one of Hildegard von Bingen’s works on the Voices of Women recital series planned for Spring 2020.
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Libby Larsen - Female composer and co-founder of the American Composers Forum
I first heard about Libby Larsen’s music when I was in college. I didn’t perform any of it though until quite recently. “Bucking Bronco” is from a set of three songs by Larsen entitled “Cowboy Songs.” I’ve had the opportunity to perform them as a set in recital. I wanted to include a distinctly American song by a contemporary American composer on the album, and this one seemed a perfect fit for the lighter repertoire towards the end of “Voices of Women”, my debut album.
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Cecile Chaminade, the first "professional" female composer
I was referred to Chaminade first by Mila Henry, my collaborative pianist on my album “Voices of Women”. Chaminade was a highly accomplished and celebrated concert pianist, as well as a composer.
This is demonstrated well in Chaminade’s composition “Plaintes d’Amour” which displays an exuberant, salon style composition for voice and piano. Chaminade was truly a master of this style, and has composed music that is entertaining, entirely elegant in its expression and sentiment. The piano part is a whirlwind of notes that only occasionally slows to allow for the ends of each stanza of the poem to cadence.
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Amy Beach, First Lady of American Classical Song
I first came across Amy Beach’s song “Take, o take those lips away” from Three Shakespeare Songs when I was a bachelor’s student at Westminster Choir College. Amy Beach was the sole female composer of art song that was included in my song repertoire for far too long. Other women composers would not cross my academic and musical path until my graduate study years.
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