Preface

The Historical Anthology of Music by Women aims above all to provide a single, accessible source of compositions by women suitable for mainstream music history teaching. It aims secondarily to show performers that a panoply of scores is available to them. If teaching and performance thus may be enriched with women’s works from many eras, we might move a step further toward that differentiated quality of which anthropologist Margaret Mead spoke but which has not yet been realized. Furthermore, the presence of women’s compositions in our classes and performances projects essential role models of women composers. Since education in music frequently omits such models from professional training, who can say how many young women have been discouraged from pursuing composition? As psychologist Grace Rubin-Rabson has noted:

Women appear so impressed by the dismal picture history has so far given of their contribution to the arts that they picture creativity as an enduring characteristic of the male role. So long as they retain this picture of themselves, it is likely that relatively few will . . . put forth the effort essential to sustained creativity.

Only by impressing a full spectrum of future professionals and nonprofessionals alike with the image of successful women composers can debilitating habits of thought be broken. The Historical Anthology of Music by Women intends to set women composers apart only momentarily, only long enough to point out their essential contribution and thereby encourage the full integration that they deserve and that our contemporary culture requires.

The compositions in this anthology have been chosen above all because they are vital artworks that heretofore have received less attention than they merit. They also happen to meet criteria that are important for the classroom and the concert hall: they are drawn from all style periods of Western music; their idioms are compelling and hold students’ and listeners’ attention; they represent virtually all important genres and are in the forefront of contemporaneous musical thought; they are available on recordings or are readily performed in class,- and their composers’ lives highlight important aspects of period and society. The anthology thus is pertinent to survey courses in music history, where it may supplement standard anthologies, as well as to seminars on women composers. Because main styles and formal structures are represented, the anthology may also serve in theory and analysis courses.

The compositions span twelve centuries, from Byzantine chant by Kassia to the Symphony No. 1 by Ellen Zwilich, the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music for 1983. These compositions can create an awareness of women’s achievements as composers throughout Western history. Such an awareness is not merely fashionable: it is just, it encourages depth perspective in our view of music history, and it is necessary as we educate audiences and students.

The essay introducing each composer has been written by an established authority or, in some cases, by the composer herself. Each essay provides an overview of the composer’s life and major works, traces main aspects of her style, and points out salient characteristics of the composition at hand. The essays include translations for vocal works that are not in English and suggest additional readings and recordings wherever pertinent.

The editor gratefully acknowledges the advisory role of the Committee on the Status of Women of the College Music Society. The particular counsel of Nancy B. Reich, chair, Adrienne Fried Block, past chair, and Karin Pendle has been most valuable. The idea for an anthology of women’s scores grew out of a paper session during the 1983 national conference of the College Music Society in Dearborn, Michigan. So collegial was the experience of the session, and so supportive of the initial idea were the scholars just named, that the anthology became a happy inevitability.

The editor also wishes to thank the publishers of works under copyright and private holders of copyright; they have permitted the reprint of complete segments and even whole works for a modest fee or no fee at all. Full acknowledgment of their support is indicated on the first page of each score. The editor and the publisher are particularly honored to present first and first modern editions of several important works: Sinfonia from Pallade e Marte by Maria Grimani, the cantata Semelé by Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre, Prelude No. 2 for piano by Ruth Crawford Seeger, and the choral work La Corona by Louise Talma.

Along the way the support of Marcia J. Citron, chair of the Committee on the Status of Women of the American Musicological Society; Phillip Rhodes, president of the College Music Society; Bea Friedland, of Da Capo Press; and Barbara Garvey Jackson has proven of considerable importance. The editor extends his deep appreciation to the authors of the introductory essays, who have given generously of their time and expertise in the interest of a wider understanding; and he is sincerely grateful to the composers, living and past, for the enlightenment their work has brought. The editor reserves his highest appreciation for his wife, Anna, whose musicality first proved the heights to which women could soar and to whom he dedicates this edition.

Butler University

JAMES R.BRISCOE