#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth 2019 – Week 3
For the third year in a row, the #ClassicsaDay theme for March is women composers. As I’ve done before, my post includes not just contemporary composers, but creative women from the Middle Ages on up.
As an additional challenge, I made sure I hadn’t duplicated any of my selections from previous years. Below are my posts for the third full week of #WomensHistoryMonth
3/18 Garsenda, Countess of Provence (1193-1215) – Vos que’m semblatz dels corals amadors
Garsenda was married to Alfonso II. She was a powerful patron of the Occitan troubadours. She was also a trobainitz, (female troubadour) who composed (and presumably performed) her own poetry and music.
3/19 Maria Margherita Grimani (f. 1713-1718) – Sinfonia
Virtually nothing is known of Maria Grimani, save that she was active in Vienna. Her catalog includes an opera and two oratorios. The Sinfonia is taken from her opus dramaticum “Pallade e marte”
3/20 Josepha Barbara von Auernhammer (1758-1820) – 6 Variations sur un Theme Hongrois
Auernhammer studied with Leopold Kozeluch. She also was one of Mozart’s first students. His Op. 2 violin and piano sonatas are dedicated to her. She had a successful career in Vienna both as a concert pianist and composer.
3/21 Sophie Menter (1846-1918) – Romance, Op. 5
Menter was Franz Liszt’s favorite female students. She was considered one of the greatest pianists of her time, and one of the few who could play Liszt’s most difficult works. Most of her compositions are for piano.
3/22 Barbara Kolb (1939 – ) – Extremes for flute and cello
Kolb was the first woman composer to win the Rome Prize. She studied with Lukas Foss and Gunther Schuller. Kolb is interested in electronic music, and her work often uses sound masses that combine and recombine in differing patterns.
