Sunday, April 09, 2023

female composers wanted

After hearing an excellent concert with chamber pieces of Rebecca Clarke on Women's day, I realised we probably don't have any female composers in the otherwise excellent music library of Cowley Orchestra with around 400 pieces (there is a small risk I may have overlooked one hiding behind an initial or an ambiguous name). This embarrassing situation is easily explained by the fact that most sets date from the 1950s or earlier, but I think we should do something about it. So the search for orchestral music from female composers starts here. Ideally not too difficult and available as PDF to print for free or in affordable editions.

I'll list whatever I find here, in case other ensembles want to play these as well:

Chaminade, Cecile (1857-1944)

  • Suite Challirhoe Op 37 IMSLP YouTube

    Farrenc, Louise (1804-1875)

  • Overture No.1 in E minor YouTube
  • Overture No. 2 in Eb major YouTube

    Mayer, Emilie (1812-1883)

  • Symphony No.1 in C minor IMSLP YouTube
  • Symphony No.2 in E minor IMSLP YouTube
  • Symphony No.3 in C major IMSLP YouTube
  • Ouverture No. 2 in D major IMSLP YouTube UPDATE 27.4.2023: we've now played this one and added it to the music library. We do need some brass players to make the most of it though.

    I've also started a YouTube playlist with works of these composers (also including eg chamber music and concertos).

    Rebecca Clarke. I do love her chamber music, but I'm afraid she hasn't left us any symphonies or orchestral suites. (There is an orchestration of her famous viola sonata, but that of course would require a soloist.) She is also one of the four composers starring in the joint biography "Quartet" by Leah Broad, who gave an introduction to the concert I mentioned above. Will read and review the book at some point.

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