Women Composers
Music Through the Ages
Description:... The composers included in volume 3 of "Women Composers: Music through the Ages" were born between 1700 and 1799. Included here with examples of their keyboard music, some of the composers are also represented in volumes 4 and 5, which contain vocal, choral, chamber, orchestral, and operatic music. Unlike most of the composers in volumes 1 and 2, who belonged to religious orders or noble families, the women born in the 18th century were of secular background and were more visible as musicians. Musical families produced generations of composers, both men and women. The three volumes in this anthology devoted to the 18th century include mothers, daughters, wives, and sisters-in-law of other composers and musicians. Many of these women performed and composed in a wide variety of forms and genres, including sonatas, lessons, sets of variations, fantasias, and short and descriptive pieces. Volume 3 includes forty-three works by twenty-two composers from nine countries: England, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Austria, the Netherlands, Bohemia, and Scotland.
Maria Teresa Agnesi, a performer and composer, wrote instrumental and operatic music, while the soprano Elisabetta de Gambarini is represented by one of her charming harpsichord sonatas. Anna Bon, a singer, harpsichordist, and composer, left only three collections of works: a set of sonatas for flute and continuo, a set of divertimenti for two flutes and continuo, and a set of six sonatas for harpsichord. The singer-pianist-composer Juliane Reichardt, a member of an illustrious Czech-German musical family, wrote two piano sonatas and many songs. The songs of her daughter, Louise, another singer-composer, appear in volume 4.
MadameKrumpholtz, a celebrated harpist and composer, was the mother of Fanny Krumpholtz Pittar, also a harpist. Krumpholtz's connection to the Dussek family of women composers was through Jan Dussek, with whom she frequently performed. He was the husband of composer Sophia Dussek (later Moralt) and the father of composers Veronika Cianchettini and Olivia Dussek Bulkley.
Josepha Barbara von Auernhammer was one of Mozart's favorite pupils; he dedicated several works to her. Mozart, Haydn, and Salieri wrote concertos for the blind composer Maria Theresia von Paradis, a talented pianist and singer, whose "Fantasia for Piano" is included here.
This volume contains music by six English performer-composers. Anne Valentine, the composer of the rondo "Monny Musk," was also a music merchant. Cecilia Maria Barthelemon, the daughter of Maria Barthelemon (see volume 4), wrote the descriptive piece "The Capture of the Cape of Good Hope for the Piano Forte or Harpsichord, Concluding With a Song & Chorus." Jane Mary Guest Miles, whose music is in both volumes 3 and 5, wrote expressive and virtuosic music. Elizabeth Weichsell Billington composed music in her youth, before pursuing a long and highly successful performing career. Mlle Benaut, whose first name remains unknown, wrote her few extant compositions before she was in her teens. The Dutch pianist and composer Gertrude van den Bergh studied piano with Ferdinand Ries. She published her first piano composition at age nine and continued to compose, perform, and conduct throughout her lifetime. She supported herself by teaching members of the Dutch royal family. Helene Riese Liebmann, another piano pupil of Ferdinand Ries, was recognized as a virtuosoat the age of ten. Her compositions for voice, piano, and chamber groups combine elements of Classical and early Romantic styles.
Maria Szymanowska, whose music combines 18th-century genres with 19th-century language and texture, was one of the first women to achieve economic independence through teaching, public performance, and publication. Her marriage to a wealthy landowner dissolved because of his reluctance to allow her to pursue a professional musical career. She associated with a diverse group of intellectuals, writers, and composers in Warsaw and St. Petersburg, where she held a position as court pianist.
All music titles and composer names appear on the music in this volume as they did in the original publication. We thank Eve R. Meyer for her editorial assistance in the preparation of volumes 3, 4, and 5. Special thanks to Sam Dennison for his expertise as indexer of this series.
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