Sunday of Women Composers

Women composers : the lost tradition found. Leonarda, 1988. Kyrie / Hildegard of Bingen Sopranos and altos of the Schola Cantorum, University of Arkansas; Jack Groh, conductor
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1170) (Germany), a unique and extraordinary woman by any century's measure, wrote books on natural science, theology and medicine and the first morality play set to music. She composed a large collection of religious music, Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum (Symphony of the harmony of celestial revelation). Noble by birth, her resources probably helped her to found her own Order in Germany, and she earned the respect of kings, emperors and churchmen. The title of her collection, "Symphonia," refers, in addition to its more general musical meaning, to the medieval style hurdy-gurdy called a symphonia, used in this performance of 0 Jerusalem. The songs in this collection are in Latin, and, as common with plainsong, were written as a single line of music. This performance includes echoes and drones inspired by Hildegard's melodies and poetry. It is not known how this music may have been performed in Hildegard's time.
Selections from the opera La liberazione di Ruggiero / Francesca Caccini Mertine Johns, mezzo-soprano; Michael May, harpsichord; Yvonne Cable, cello; Vieuxtemps String Quartet members Masako Yanagita, Marnie Hall, Margaret Middleton Chi desia di saper Carol Plantamura, soprano; Jürgen Hübscher, baroque guitar; Beverly Lauridsen, viola da gamba
Francesca Caccini (1587-between 1628 and 1640): Francesca Caccini's father Giulio, along with Peri, is credited with writing the first opera. Francesca sang and played lute, guitar and harpsichord, all very well, according to Monteverdi. She began composing major entertainments during her late teens. Although Francesca spent most of her life in Florence, she traveled widely, and made her singing debut at the wedding of Maria de Medici to Henri IV, King of France, in 1600. She became a musician for the Medici Court in 1607 and by 1613 was one of the highest paid musicians in Florence. In 1615 she published her first book of monodies, and with it gained respect as a composer. She then began to write large-scale operas, one of which was the first Italian opera to be produced outside Italy when it was performed in Warsaw in 1682. Caccini also wrote madrigals, canzonettas, musical settings for sonnets, variations and sacred works. Her music is very dramatic and uses unprepared dissonance, precisely indicated ornaments and word painting. As a singing teacher Caccini produced a whole school of disciples.
 Tradimento! / Barbara Strozzi Carol Plantamura, soprano; Jürgen Hübscher, lute; Beverly Lauridsen, viola da gamba
Barbara Strozzi (b.1619. Last published in 1664) composed some of the most extraordinary music of the 17th century and was considered the best singer and lute player in Venice. She was probably the illegitimate daughter of the poet Giulio Strozzi, who adopted her when she was nine. He saw to it that she received the best musical education and encouraged her to compose, publish and perform. The Strozzi home was the meeting place for groups of highly educated men who met to discuss the arts and sciences, which greatly influenced Barbara's development. One group in which she was particularly interested was the Accademia degli Unisoni, or the "group of similar thinkers" founded in 1637. Their meetings were devoted to musical performances as well as to academic discourse, and Barbara played an important role as singer, lutenist, composer and collaborator. She commissioned poetry from members of the academy, set it to music, and performed and published it. At the time, there was no consensus that women had souls or belonged to the human race, and because of the role she played in a "man's world," she and the Accademia degli Unisoni gained much notoriety. Strozzi's music is similar to, but more lyrical than that of Cavalli, her teacher, and displays the wide variety of musical forms used in her day: full and partial da capo arias, strophic arias, strophic variations, and multi-sectioned cantatas using both free recitative and arias. Strozzi wrote arias, dramatic cantatas, madrigals and duets. She published eight volumes of works, including more cantatas than any other 17th-century composer.
Kyrie from the First mass, op. 18 / Isabella Leonarda University of Arkansas Chorus, violins, cello, organ, Jack Groh, conductor.
Isabella Leonarda (1620-1704) (Novara, Italy) joined the Collegio Sant'Orsola (the Order later called Ursulines) at the age of 16. Her father was a member of the minor nobility and a Doctor of Law. Two of her brothers were canons of the Novara cathedral, and at least two sisters also were members of the Collegio Sant'Orsola .Her oldest brother inherited the family title and was a civic official in Novara. His descendants still live in the city and the family archives include much information about Isabella, including a representation of her on a family tree shown in the accompanying CD booklet. When she was 20, Leonarda's first published music appeared in a collection by the Maestro de Capella at the Novara cathedral, Gasparo Casati, who may have been her teacher. Leonarda published 20 volumes of music during her life, of which two have been lost. The surviving volumes contain more than 200 pieces of music. One is entirely instrumental ­11 trio sonatas and a sonata for solo violin and organ continuo. The vocal works include psalms, magnificats, responsories, litanies, four masses, and many works with non-biblical texts (including four in Italian) which are usually labeled motets. The choral music is for soprano (canto), alto, tenor, and bass. All of the music, including the instrumental sonatas, would have been appropriate for liturgical use, but no records survive to tell us for what occasions her music was written or used, or even where it was performed. Leonarda's works are found in widely scattered locations, however, often with parts missing, indicating that they had been used. In Italy, her music is found in Bergamo, Siena, Bologna, Como, and Pistoia. Her music is also in Benedictine libraries in Einsiedein (Switzerland), Bueron, and Ottbeuren (Germany). Other works are located in national museums in England and the United States, in Munich, and at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. Brossard owned several of her works, which he esteemed highly and which are now in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. [Brossard's collection of manuscripts was acquired by Louis XV in 1724, and became the nucleus of the music collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale.] No manuscripts survive, only published music. Perhaps works were composed and published in quick succession, but it is more likely that Leonarda selected music for her published volumes from among her manuscripts.
 Prelude from the cantata Samson / Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre Tempête from the cantata Le Sommeil d'Ulisse
March for the regiment "Graf Lottum" from Four regimental marches / Anna Amalia, Princess of Prussia Masako Yanagita, Marnie Hall, Margaret Middleton, Yvonne Cable, Thomas Thies (string quartet and double bass)
Selections from Erwin and Elmire, a Singspiel / Anna Amalia, Duchess of Saxe-Weimar Berenice Bramson, soprano; Vieuxtemps String Quartet; Thomas Thies, double bass
Anna Amalia, Duchess of Saxe-Weimar (1739-1807), the niece of Frederick the Great and daughter of Charles I, married at 16 and was the mother of two sons. She assumed the duties of regent for her underage son upon the early death of her husband. Apparently she ruled the duchy well and still had time to cultivate the arts and study composition and piano. She founded the German theatre in Weimar and is considered the founder of the Weimar museums. A very talented and cultured person, she surrounded herself with musicians and writers. Between 1788 and 1790 she traveled to Italy to study music and the visual arts. While there she met Paisiello who impressed her, as did the Italian vocal style.
Sicilienne / Maria Theresia von Paradis Evalyn Steinbock, cello; Roger Rundle, piano
Maria Theresia von Paradis (1759-1824): Paradis' father was the Imperial Court Secretary in Vienna, the cultural and political center of the Hapsburg empire. Maria Theresia was named after the Empress, who subsequently paid for her education. She went blind as a child, but because of her talent, had the best music teachers in Vienna, including Salieri for composition and singing. A keyboard virtuoso who was idolized by the public, both Salieri and Mozart wrote concertos for her. In the 1790s, Paradis stopped giving concerts, preferring to devote her time to composing and teaching. She spent the remainder of her life in Vienna where, in 1808, she founded an institution for music education for the handicapped. Since most of her music was not published, very little of it remains. This song was published in a collection of twelve songs from her European tour of 1784-1786.
 Hier Liegt ein Spielmann / Louise Reichart Grayson Hirst, tenor; Michel Yuspeh, piano
Nachwanderer ; Warum sind denn die Rosen so blass Morgenständchen / Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
John Ostendorf, bass-baritone; Rudolph Palmer, piano (1) Grayson Hirst, tenor;
Michel Yuspeh, piano (2,3)
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847) was a major talent, a better pianist than her brother Felix according to him, and the person to whom he took all of his compositions for criticism. Her father and brother discouraged her from having a professional career or publishing, but she was the musical director of one of the most important musical salons in Berlin in the 1830's and participated as a conductor, pianist and composer . In 1846 a small number of her works were published and she was planning more when she became ill and died. She composed songs, cantatas, oratorios and operas.
Der Winter ; Frühzeitiger Frühling ; Wie glänzt so hell dein Auge / Josephine Lang

Josephine Lang (1815-1880) came from Münich where her father was a court musician and her mother an opera singer. Lang was composing songs by age 13, and was only 15 when she wrote the song presented here. After meeting the young Lang in 1831, Mendelssohn wrote, "She has the gift of composing songs and singing them as I have never heard before. It is the most complete musical joy I have ever experienced." Lang responded to his enthusiasm by idolizing him. Robert Schumann wrote favorable reviews of her songs, including this one. Lang became a professional singer at the Münich court in 1836, but her career was cut short by marriage and a subsequent move to Tübingen in 1842. After her husband's death in 1856, Lang supported her family of six children by teaching voice and piano. Clara Schumann helped arrange for the publication of her Lieder. More than 150 were printed, establishing her as one of the most published women composers of the period. More than half of her songs date from the 1830s and 40s, and were influenced stylistically by Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn.
Das ist ein Tag ; Warum willst du And're fragen ;Er ist gekommen in Sturm und Regen ; Liebst du um Schönheit / Clara Wieck Schumann
Das Vöglein ; Die Beschwörung / Pauline Viardot-Garcia
 Scherzo from Trio in e minor, op. 45 ; Adagio, allegro from Nonetto, op. 38 / Louise Farrenc
Serenade from Quartet, op. 11 / Louise Hériette-Viardot
La morena, op. 67 / Cécile Chaminade
Nocturne ; D'un matin de printemps / Lili Boulanger
Excerpt from Quartet for strings, op. 79 / Amy Beach
Allegro vigoroso from Trio / Rebecca Clarke
 Divertimento / Katherine Hoover
Schicksal and Elisabeth from the song cycle Einsame Nacht / Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
String quartet (1962) / Ruth Schonthal
 Homage to Keith Jarrett and Gary Burton / Barbara Kolb
 Landscapes of the mind II / Marga Richter
 Nocturne La fin de siècle / Judith Lang Zaimont.