250 female composers!
How many female composers do you know? 2? 10? All the ones that have been written about on this blog so far? The musicologist Arno Lücker knows a whole 250 female composers - and has set himself the task of collecting them all in one volume. The publisher was kind enough to send me a review copy so that my readers can also find out about this book:
Quelle: Aufbau Verlag
HILDEGARD VON BINGEN - NOT JUST medicinal herbs, 77 SONGS!
The 250th person featured in this book is Hildegard von Bingen - many people here certainly know her, but how many because of her songs? Or rather for her medicinal herbs? Born into a noble family, she entered a convent at the age of 14, became an abbess, traveled extensively (over 900 years ago!) and wrote 77 (religious) songs and a mystery play. One of these is O Virtus Sapientie:
This book is not just a biographical collection, rather it is centered around the works and music of the female composers - in an immersive way, as listening is a priority alongside reading: Quite simply via a QR code, you can access videos and playlists that you can listen to on the side - which makes perfect sense, because I don't just want to read a book ABOUT music, I also want to experience the sounds for myself!
This is exactly what distinguishes this book from many classical biographies or collections about female or male composers. Apart from the almost infinite (250 is an ambitious number after all) list of female composers, you get a short but informative story about the personality accompanied by the most important thing: the music. Lücker claims that the book reads like a novel, which I can't quite agree with, as I can't make out a narrative, a coherent story between the 250 chapters. I have to acknowledge though: it can be read like a novel in the sense that it is light, tongue-in-cheek, engaging and therefore a valuable addition toanyone´s bookshelf - yes, especially for those outside the musicology bubble.
Arno Lücker is a musicologist and yet (or perhaps because of this?) he manages to fill this book with words that you can actually understand and enjoy reading without a music degree. The short description of each composer paired with an audio example including the author's personal commentary make this book easy to read, even if you only have a few minutes to spare.
We are quite lucky to find portraits of 20 of the featured artists illustrated by Chiara Jacobs, who has captured the composers without color but with a
my HIGHLIGHTS
Chiquinha Gonzaga from Rio de Janeiro, p.193
For all pianists, here is one of Gonzaga's many tangos to play along to:
Unsuk Chin, p.257
The South Korean composer studied composition with Liegt in Germany in the 1980s, but came into artistic conflict with him. A concerto for violin and orchestra is presented, which begins with complementary rhythmic marimbas and steel drums:
Mel Bonis, p. 60 (and here on the blog)
You will also find some of the female composers I have already presented here on the blog, such as Louise Farrenc, Grażyna Bacewicz or my very first contribution: Elisabetta de Gambarini.
anything I didn´t like? the LACK OF ORDER.
What I missed was a certain order so that I could find my way around this 600 pages long book more easily. I find the lack of a chronology quite exciting, as one is constantly surprised by the different kinds of music and the fact that music from the Baroque period sounds very different compared to contemporary works. That way you never get stuck in just one musical period.
However, an alphabetical or perhaps even regional index would have been helpful. This brings me to my next point, which is perhaps an idea for 250 Women Composers 2.0: as in so many collections published in Germany or Europe in general, the selection of women composers is quite Eurocentric, even the author himself admits this, as he is closest to "serious" music from Europe due to his profession.
Having said this, Lücker made an effort to include some (but not nearly enough) female composers who compose jazz or film music and do not come from Europe or North America. Check out my Latin American composers series to find more composers who aren’t from Europe. I also appreciate that the illustrator Chiara Jacobs explicitly decided to make the illustrations diverse:
Together with the author, I selected 20 of the 250 female composers to portray. I focused on diversity and deliberately chose some artists who are queer, trans or people of color, as non-white, non-Western and non-cis-heteronormative voices are particularly underrepresented in the world of classical music.
All in all: the perfect last-minute gift for all music lovers and feminists and anyone in general, even those who don't like reading. (There are plenty of illustrations, as well as playlists and videos).
Many thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy! You can order the book here or buy it directly in your favorite independent bookstore :)
Which was your favorite video/music of the composers shown here? Let me know! If you’d like to be the first to know about new blog articles and offers, sign up for my newsletter :)