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A Guide to Piano Music By Women Composers. Volume I, Composers Born Before 1900 Music Reference Collection 0736-7740 ; No. 84 Dees, Pamela Youngdahl. Greenwood Publishing Group 0313319898 9780313319891 9780313017032 English Piano music--Bibliography, Music by women composers-Bio-bibliography. 2002 ML102.P5D44eb vol. 1 016.78620263 Piano music--Bibliography, Music by women composers-Bio-bibliography.
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Page i A Guide to Piano Music by Women Composers
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Page ii Recent Titles in the Music Reference Collection Aton Rubinstein: An Annotated Catalog of Piano Works and Biography Larry Sitsky An Index to African-American Spirituals for the Solo Voice Kathleen A.Abromeit, compiler Sinatra: An Annotated Bibliography, 1939–1998 Leonard Mustazza Opera Singers in Recital, Concert, and Feature Film Sharon G.Almquist, compiler Appraisals of Original Wind Music: A Survey and Guide David Lindscy Clark Popular Singers of the Twentieth Century: A Bibliography of Biographical Materials Robert H.Cowden The Printed Elvis: The Complete Guide to Books about the King Steven Opdyke One Handed: A Guide to Piano Music for One Hand Donald L.Patterson, compiler Brainard’s Biographies of American Musicians E.Douglas Bomberger, editor The Mozart-Da Ponte Operas: An Annotated Bibliography Mary Du Mont A Dictionary-Catalog of Modern British Composers Alan Paulton Songs of the Vietnam Conflict James Perone
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Page iii A Guide to Piano Music by Women Composers Volume I Composers Born Before 1900 Pamela Youngdahl Dees Music Reference Collection, Number 84 Donald L.Hixon, Series Adviser
GREENWOOD PRESS Westport, Connecticut • London
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Page iv Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dees, Pamela Youngdahl, 1948A guide to piano music by women composers/Pamela Youngdahl Dees, p. cm.—(Music Reference Collection, ISSN: 0736–7740: no. 84) Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents: v. 1. Composers born before 1900. ISBN: 0-313-31989-8 (alk. paper) 1. Piano music—Bibliography. 2. Music by women composers—Bio-bibliography I. Title. ML102.P5D44 2002 016.7862′0263—dc21 2001058623 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2002 by Pamela Youngdahl Dees All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2001058623 ISBN: 0-313-31989-8 ISSN: 0736-7740 First published in 2002 Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.greenwood.com Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
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Page v To the talented and courageous women who composed this music, and to the editors and publishers, women and men, who had the wisdom, energy, and integrity to preserve this heritage for us all.
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Page vii Contents Preface Using the Guide Sample Entry Grade Levels Abbreviations Bio-Bibliographical Sources Music Publishers and Agents Women Composers: Biographies and Available Music for Solo Piano Notes Selected Bibliography Composer Indexes I. Composers and Dates II. Country of Origin III. Musical Eras/Styles
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ix xi xii xiv xv xix xxi 195 207 217 219 221
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Page ix Preface A Guide to Piano Music by Women Composers, Volume I, is an annotated catalogue of the solo piano music in print composed by 144 women born before 1900, from Ella Adaiëwsky to Grete von Zieritz. It is also a bio-bibliographical reference work containing short biographies of each composer compiled from many secondary musicological sources. Designed as a practical reference volume for pianists and piano teachers, the biographies incorporate the pertinent facts about the personal lives, training, career, and compositions of each woman, and include a list of sources consulted. The music is described in terms of grade level, genre, mood, style characteristics, and technical requirements, and ranges in difficulty from late elementary to virtuoso concert repertoire. A survey of keyboard reference materials disclosed a need for an index of available piano music written by women composers, in order to encourage inclusion of their works in the standard teaching and performance repertoire. Far too many students, teachers, professional artists, and audiences are still unaware of the contributions made by women in music, and of the beauty and merit of their specific compositions. The music incorporated here is as worthy of performance as any in the standard repertoire, and it is sincerely hoped that this volume will make it easier for teachers and pianists to find and perform music written by women. The study contains only music readily available at time of writing from music publishers and distributors. It consists of single works, music in collections and anthologies, and music in reference series. No transcriptions or arrangements of music for other instruments are included, with the exception of Gail Smith’s arrangement of a plainchant by Hildegard von Bingen. Only music
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Page x written for solo piano has been included in this book, with two exceptions: Howe (duo piano) and Stirling (organ), found in the keyboard volumes of the monumental series-in-progress, Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, edited by Sylvia Glickman and Martha Furman Schleifer. In addition, three composers appear here (Branscombe, Harrison, and Likoshin) whose music was listed in other catalogues but not found by this author; further search is indicated. To find the music for this book, a variety of sources were consulted: publishers’ catalogs (both hard copy and online), music dictionaries and bio-bibliographical volumes, dissertations and biographies of composers, and published listings of music in print. Composers and titles were then submitted to music distributors for overseas searches; the music was ordered, received, played, and analyzed. Sadly, a great deal of music was found to be permanently out of print, excluding at least as many composers as are found here. Much worthy music is languishing on dusty shelves in libraries and publishers’ warehouses, waiting to be rediscovered; the stellar work of far too many women has been forgotten or ignored. If readers know of music in print inadvertently omitted from the current work, the author would be most grateful for the information, which will be included in a supplemental chapter at the end of the projected Volume II (music by twentieth-century composers). Acknowledgements for support with this project are due here. The author is deeply grateful to the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, for the Graduate Research Fellowship award that enabled the initial research and writing on which this volume is based. Special thanks are due to Dr. Paul Posnak, for his support of my work as a teaching assistant and his untiring attempts to help me hear and play better; to Dr. Frank Cooper, for his enthusiastic and inspiring lectures on Romantic music and piano repertoire; and to Dr. Kenon Renfrow, for his suggestion of the topic and his kind and thoughtful mentoring in the Keyboard Performance and Pedagogy program. Thanks must also be given to Saint Louis University for providing the time, facilities, and assistance needed to complete this project, with special thanks going to Dr. Cynthia Stollhans, Chair of the Fine and Performing Arts Department, for her enthusiasm and support of this project. Finally, thanks are due to my family: to my grandmother and mother, two strong-minded women who believed in hard work, truth and beauty; and to my daughter Jennifer and husband William, for their unflagging belief in my abilities. Pamela Youngdahl Dees Saint Louis University
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Page xi Using the Guide SAMPLE ENTRY: LAST NAME, First Middle/Maiden Names (variant spellings and names found in citations; pseudonyms) Birthplace, date—Place of death, date Composer’s name is listed as it appears on the music cited. A question mark indicates uncertainty of date or place; when several sources disagree, alternative dates are listed with a slash between, e.g., 1785/1786. Biography: pertinent information about family, training, career, awards, compositional genres, major works, style characteristics. Available piano music in print by each composer is sorted into SINGLE WORKS, COLLECTIONS (selected works by one composer), and ANTHOLOGIES (several composers). Works are listed alphabetically or, if known, by opus number. Work Title Op. # [translation, date composed or originally published], editor (Publisher, date). Level: technical grade level. (Key, meter, tempo, page length). Bold case indicates selling title; italics indicate single works in collections/anthologies. Annotated bibliography format, with hanging indent, sentence fragments, and abbreviations. Genre, mood and effect, stylistic characteristics, technical needs described. Upper case Roman numerals indicate sonata movements; Arabic numerals indicate opus numbers and separate pieces in a suite or group. LISTED but not found in print: Works cited in other catalogues of piano music but not found by this author. SOURCES: Acronyms of biographical and musical reference works consulted.
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Page xii GRADE LEVELS: Benchmark Repertoire Works in this catalog are sorted into five levels of technical difficulty, illustrated by well-known “benchmark” pieces in the excellent repertoire guides by Jane Magrath and Maurice Hinson.1 Late Elementary Magrath Levels 1, 2: Mikrokosmos Vol. 1, Turk Pieces for Beginners Hinson “Easy”: Leopold Mozart Notebook for Wolfgang Early Intermediate Magrath Levels 3, 4, 5: Kabalevsky Pieces for Young People, A.M.B. Notebook Hinson “Easy”: Schumann Album for the Young Mid-Intermediate Magrath Levels 6, 7: Clementi Sonatinas Op. 36, Bach Little Preludes Hinson “Int.”: Beethoven Ecoissaises, Bartok Rumanian Folk Dances Late Intermediate Magrath Levels 8, 9: Bach Two-Part Inventions, Field Nocturnes, Mendelssohn Songs Without Words, easier Chopin Mazurkas Hinson “M-D”: Bach French and English Suites, Mozart Sonatas Early Advanced Magrath Level 10: Bach Three-Part Inventions, Chopin Nocturnes, Beethoven Sonatas Op. 49, 79 Hinson “M-D”: Bach Partitas, Debussy La Soiree dans Granade, Brahms Rhapsody Op. 79/2. Advanced Virtuoso concert repertoire Hinson: “D”: Barber Sonata, Beethoven Sonata Op. 57, Chopin Etudes Early, Mid- and Late Intermediate Levels The following summaries were used for further clarification of technical requirements at the three intermediate levels. These guidelines were developed by Mary K.Scanlan in her exemplary dissertation on the assessment of intermediate repertoire.2
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Page xiii Early Intermediate Level Close hand shifts, ample time to move. Frequent repetition, range of octave or less, dynamics p to f . No parallel intervals by one hand, figures change direction infrequently. Hand extensions no greater than an octave, hand contractions and finger substitutions rare. Consistent texture, key, articulation, pedaling, and tempo throughout. Chordal textures distributed between hands; one hand rarely plays both melody and harmony. Slow harmonic rhythm, mostly diatonic triads and seventh chords. Simple, symmetric structures, short pieces. Limited pedal, infrequent simple ornaments. Mid-Intermediate Level Quicker, more frequent hand shifts but rarely greater than an octave. Melody, figuration may span 2–3 octaves, more frequent, faster changes in direction, skips of an octave, more non-harmonic tones. Parallel intervals in one hand, octave hand extensions, hand contractions, and finger substitutions. Contrasting textures and articulations, accompaniment and melody in same hand. Modulation, greater range of tempos, faster harmonic rhythm, larger harmonic vocabulary. Cross-rhythms and syncopations, wider range of dynamics. Longer structures, more damper pedal, occasional una corda, more frequent ornamentation. Late Intermediate Level Rapid, frequent hand shifts 1–2 octaves, four-octave range of melody and figuration, frequent changes of direction and figuration. Melodies of skips and steps, with longer passages of parallel intervals, extensive elaboration. Hand extensions greater than an octave, frequent hand contractions and finger substitutions. Frequent use of contrasting textures, longer works; harmony and melody parts in one hand. Independent inner voices, frequent diverse articulation in one hand. Fast harmonic rhythm, frequent secondary, borrowed, altered and embellishing chords, modulation to distant keys. Changing rhythm patterns, more cross-rhythms and syncopations; mixed or changing meters and hemiolas. Wide tempo ranges, many fluctuations. Different pedaling styles required; dynamics range ppp to fff, frequent sudden contrasts, accents. Longer extended forms, frequently asymmetric. Frequent, longer, more difficult ornamentation. 1. Jane Magrath, The Pianist’s Guide to Standard Teaching and Performance Literature (Van Nuys, Calif: Alfred Publishing, 1995), preface. Maurice Hinson, Guide to the Pianist’s Repertoire, 2nd ed. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press), preface. 2. Mary Kathryn Scanlan, “The Development of Guidelines to Assess the Relative Difficulty of Intermediate-Level Piano Repertoire” (Ed.D. diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1988).
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Page xiv ABBREVIATIONS: av. available b. born bap. baptized c. century ca. approximately comp. compiled d. died ed. edited by facs. facsimile edition fl. flourished gen general intro. introduction by LH left hand nr. near m. married mvmts movements n.d. no known date nee birth name no. number nr. near Op. Opus Opp. Opuses, opera pp. pages pseud. pseudonym RH right hand repr. reprinted edition q.v. see another entry in this catalog repr. reprint trans. translated by var. variant names and spellings vol. volume WoO without opus number
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Page xv Bio-Bibliographical Sources In the last line of each composer’s entry, under the heading SOURCES, the abbreviations in italics refer to the following bio-bibliographical and musical reference works. Unique information from a particular source is indicated in the endnotes, but information common to several sources is not specifically attributed. For complete documentation of these references and others found in the notes, please see the selected bibliography. AKM3 Clark, J.Bunker, ed. American Keyboard Music Through 1865. AKM4 Glickman, Sylvia, ed. American Keyboard Music 1866 Through 1910. Ammer Ammer, Christine. Unsung: A History of Women in American Music. AndersonAnderson, E.Ruth, comp. Contemporary American Composers. Avins Avins, Styra. Johannes Brahms: Life and Letters. A-Z Olivier, Antje, and Karin Weingartz, eds. Komponistinnen von A-Z. Baker Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. Bastien Bastien, James W. How to Teach Piano Successfully. B&NB Block, Adrienne and Carol NeulsBates, eds. Women in American Music. Boenke Boenke, Heide M, comp. Flute Music by Women Composers. Borroff Borroff, Edith. Music Melting Round: A History of Music in the United States. B&T Bowers, Jane, and Judith Tick, eds. Women Making Music. Brown Brown, J.D., and S.S.Stratton. British Musical Biography. ClagAm Claghorn, Charles Eugene. Biographical Dictionary of American Music. ClagH _________. Women Composers and Hymnists.
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< previous page Page xvi ClagS Clark Cohen Dubal Eitner ElsonA Faurot Fetis Friskin FRK Fuller G&F G&G Gillespie Gordon Goss Green Grove GroveAm grovemusic Gustafson Hale HAMW Hasse Heinrich H&H Hinson Hutcheson Hyde IDBC Jackson Jasen Jeric
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Claghorn, Gene. Women Composers and Songwriters. Clark, J.Bunker. The Dawning of American Keyboard Music. Cohen, Aaron. International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. Dubal, David. The Art of the Piano. Eitner, Robert, ed. Biographisch-Bibliographisches Quellen Lexikon. Elson, Arthur. Woman’s Work in Music. Faurot, Albert. Co ncert Piano Repertoire Fetis, François. Biographie universelle des musiciens. Friskin, James, and Irwin Freundlich. Music for the Piano. Olivier, Antje, and Karin Weingartz, eds. Frauen als Komponistinnen. Fuller, Sophie. The Pandora Guide to Women Composers. Gustafson, Bruce and David Fuller. French Harpsichord Music, 1699–1780. Gillespie, John and Anna Gillespie. 19th Century American Piano Music. Gillespie, John. Five Centuries of Keyboard Music. Gordon, Stewart. A History of Keyboard Literature. Goss, Madeleine. Modern Music-Makers. Green, Mildred Denby. Black Women Composers: A Genesis. Sadie, Stanley, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1980. Hitchcock, H.Wiley and Stanley Sadie, eds. New Grove Dictionary of American Music. online version of The New Grove Dictionary, above. Gustafson, Bruce. French Harpsichord Music of the 17th Century. Hale, Philip, ed. Famous Composers and Their Works. Briscoe, James. Historical Anthology of Music by Women. Hasse, John Edward, ed. Ragtime: Its History, Composers, and Music. Heinrich, Adel, comp. Organ and Harpsichord Music by Women Composers. Hixon, Don & Don Hennessee. Women in Music: An Encyclopedic Biobibliography. Hinson, Maurice. Guide to the Pianist’s Repertoire. 3rd ed. Hutcheson, Ernest, rev. Rudolph Ganz. The Literature of the Piano. Hyde, Derek. New Found Voices: Women in Nineteenth century English Music. Floyd Jr., Samuel A. International Dictionary of Black Composers. Jackson, Barbara Garvey. “Say Can You Deny Me.” Jasen, David, and Jay Tichenor. Rags and Ragtime: A Musical History. Jezic, Diane Peacock. Women Composers: The Lost Tradition Found.
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Page xvii Johnson Johnson, Rose-Marie, comp. Violin Music by Women Composers. Kallman Kallman, Potvin, and Winters, eds. Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. Kehler Kehler, George, comp./annot. The Piano in Concert. Kirby Kirby, F.E. Music for Piano: A Short History. KOM Mayer, Clara, ed. KOM: Komponistinnen im Musikverlag: Katalog. Krobn Krohn, Ernst C. Missouri Music. Laurence Laurence, Anya. Women of Notes: 1,000 Women Composers Born Before 1900. Lepage LePage, Jane Weiner. Women Composers, Conductors, and Musicians. Mac Wier, Albert E., comp./ed. Macmillan Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians. MacAusIan MacAuslan, Janna, and Kristan Aspen. Guitar Music by Women Composers.. Magrath Magrath, Jane. Guide to Standard Teaching and Performance Literature. Meggett Meggett, Joan, comp. Keyboard Music by Women Composers. MGG Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. MLA Music Library Assn, comp. Essential Scores and Recordings. N-B Neuls-Bates, Carol, ed. Women in Music: An Anthology of Source Readings. Newgrove The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2000. Panzeri Panzeri, Louis. Louisiana Composers. Pendle Pendle, Karin, ed. Women & Music: A History. SCB Rieger, Oster, and Schmidt, eds. Sopran Contra Bass: Die Komponistin im Musikverlag. Schonberg Schonberg, Harold C. The Great Pianists from Mozart to the Present. Southern Southern, Eileen. Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American Musicians. Sowinski Sowinski, Albert. Les Musiciens Polonais et Slaves. Sperber Sperber, Roswitha, ed. Women Composers in Germany. S&S Sadie, Julie Ann. and Rhian Samuel, eds. Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. Stern Stern, Susan. Woman Composers: A Handbook. Thompson, Thompson, Donald and Annie F. Music and Dance in Puerto Rico. Tick Tick, Judith. American Women Composers before 1870. Walker-Hill Walker-Hill, Helen. Music by Black Women Composers. wcmta# Glickman and Schleifer, eds. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages.
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Page xix Music Publishers and Agents Alfred Publishing Company, Inc. P.O.Box 10003 Van Nuys, CA 91410–0003 Tel: 818–891–5999 Fax: 818–892–9239 E-mail:
[email protected] Alliance Publications (Slovak composers) 9171 Spring Road Fish Creek, Wl 54212–9619 Tel: 920–868–4491 Fax: 608–748–4491 E-mail:
[email protected] Website: www.apimusic.org A-R Editions, Inc. (Recent Researches in Music) 801 Deming Way Madison, WI 53717 Tel: 608–836–9000 Fax: 608–831–8200 Website: www.areditions.com Arsis Press 1719 Bay Street S.E. Washington, DC 20003 Website: www.arsispress.com ClarNan Editions 235 Baxter Lane Fayetteville, AR 72701 Tel: 501–442–7414 Fax: 501–443–3856 E-mail:
[email protected]
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Da Capo Press, Inc. 233 Spring Street New York, NY 10013 Tel: 800–321–0050 Website: www.plenum.com Dover Publications 31 East 2nd Street Mineola, NY 11501 Tel: 516–294–7000 Website: www.doverpublications.com ECS Publishing 138 Ipswich Street Boston, MA 02215–3534 Tel: 617–236–1935 Fax: 617–236–0261 E-mail:
[email protected] Website: www.ecspub.com Editions Ars Femina P.O. Box 7692 Louisville, KY 40257–0692 Tel: 502–897–5719 Fax: 502–222–7609 Elkin Music International, Inc. 16 Northeast 4th Street Fort Lauderdale. FL 33301 Tel: 954–781–8082 Fax: 954–781–8083 Website: www.elkinmusic.com
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Page xx EMS Music Service Pepper & Son, Inc. 13 Elkay Drive P.O. Box 850 Chester, NY 10918 Valley Forge, PA 19482 Tel: 845–469–5790 Fax: 845–469–5817 Tel: 800–345–6296 Fax: 800–260–1482 Website: www.jwpepper.com E-mail:
[email protected] European American Music Distributors Recital Publications P.O. Box 850 738 Robinson Road Valley Forge, PA 19482 Pembroke, N.H. 03275 Tel: 610–648–0506 Fax: 610–889–0242 Tel: 603–228–4259 Fax: 603–228–4618 E-mail:
[email protected] Furore Verlag Theodore Front Musical Literature, Inc. Naumburger Strasse 40 16122 Cohasset Street D-34127 Kassel Van Nuys, CA 91406 Tel: 49/(0)561/89/352 Tel: 818–994–1902 Fax: 818–994–0419
[email protected] Fax: 49/(0)561/83 472 E-mail:
[email protected] Website: www.tfront.com Website: www.fuorore-verlag.de Theodore Presser Company 1 Presser Place Bryn Mawr, PA 19010–3490 Tel: 610–525–3636 Fax: 610–527–7841 E-mail:
[email protected] Website: www.presser.com Hildegard Publishing Company T.I.S. Box 332 1424 E. Third Street Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 Bloomington, IN 47401 Tel: 610–649–8649 Fax: 610–649–8677 Tel: 800–421–8132 Fax: 812–355–3004 E-mail:
[email protected] E-mail:
[email protected] Website: www.tisbook.com Website: www.hildegard.com Masters Music Publications Vivace Press P.O. Box 810157 PO Box 842 Boca Raton, FL 33481–0157 Stevens Point, WI 54481 Tel: 561–241–6169 Fax: 561–241–6347 Tel: 715–343–5844 Fax: 715–343–5842 E-mail:
[email protected] E-mail:
[email protected] Website: www.vivacepress.com Website: masters-music.com
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Page xxi Women Composers: Biographies and Available Music for Solo Piano
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Page 1 A ADALËWSKY, Ella Georgievna (var. Adajewska, Adaevskaja, Schultz-Adajewski; née Elizabeth von Schultz)1 b. St. Petersburg, Russia, Feb 10/22, 1846—d. Bonn, Germany, Jul 26/29, 1926 Ella Adaiëwsky, Russian ethnomusicologist and pianist, studied with Henselt for nine years, and in Germany met Franz Liszt, who “gave her kind attention and played duets with her.”2 From 1864–1869, she studied at the newly founded Petersburg Conservatory under Rubenstein and Dreyschock (piano) and Zaremba and Famintsin (composition), receiving the diploma “Freien Künstlerin.” The young woman made successful concert tours in Europe and Russia, and around 1870 began composing. Her first works were liturgical songs for the Russian Orthodox Church; four operas followed, including the politically banned Zarja svobody (Dawn of Freedom) . From 1882–1911, Adaiëwsky lived in Italy, collecting and writing about folk music. Considered a pioneer of modern musicology, she published articles in many journals examining the connection between the ancient rhythms of Greek church music and Slavic (Rhaetian) folk songs. Adaiëwsky then moved to Germany, where she joined “the liberal-minded artistic circle around the poet Carmen Sylva (Elisabeth, Queen of Romania).”3 Her compositions display strong Romantic and folkloric characteristics, and include four operas, songs and choral music, a Sonata Grecque for clarinet using quarter-tones, and some piano pieces, including twenty-four preludes. SINGLE WORKS: Air Rococo für Klavier (Tischer & Jagenberg, 1914). Level: Late Intermediate. (E major, in 4, 6 pp). A folk-like eight-bar theme with extension, two ornamental variations called “doubles” in this Baroquesounding work, and a unifying ritornello. Variation 2, presto brilliante, begins each measure with a sixteenth rest, creating a breathless, hurried effect.
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Page 2 SOURCES: A-Z, Cohen, FRK, H&H, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, MGG, S&S, Stern ADAIR, Yvonne b. Guernsey, British Isles, 1897—d. ? This twentieth-century British pianist and teacher, a member of the Royal Academy of Music, taught piano and rhythmic and aural training to music teachers in London. She wrote Andante and Vivace for voices and percussion, and miscellaneous teaching works for piano. SINGLE WORKS: Little Dog Tales (Boosey & Hawkes, n.d.). Level: Mid-Elementary. (C/F/G majors, 2/4–3/4–4/4, tranquillo to presto, ½ pp. each). Twelve brief musical portraits of a mother dog and four puppies, accompanied by pictures and a story line in English, French, and Spanish. Hands share the stepwise melodies in five-finger positions in the center of keyboard, with occasional two-note chords and contrasts in articulation and dynamics. LISTED but not found: Sketches from Hans Andersen (Oxford University Press, 1931), in Frauen als Komponistinnen, ed. Olivier and Weingartz.4 SOURCES: Cohen, FRK, H&H, KOM, SCB AGNESI-PINOTTINI, Maria Teresa d’ (pseud. Francesco Mainini) b. Milan, Italy, Oct 17, 1720—d. Milan, Jan 19, 1795 Composer, harpsichordist, singer, and librettist Teresa Agnesi is the only known woman composer of Italian opera seria . Born the second daughter in a family of twenty-one children, Teresa accompanied at the harpsichord as her elder sister, Maria Gaetana, gave discourses in Latin. The identity of Teresa’s teachers is unknown, but she began composing in the 1740s, when she enjoyed the patronage of the Empress Maria Theresa and the Electress of Saxony. Agnesi’s operas were successfully produced in Milan, Naples, Vienna, and Dresden, and her portrait hangs in the Theatrical Museum of La Scala. In 1752, Agnesi married Pier Antonio Pinottini. They had no children, but remained married until his death in 1793. During their last years, they endured great poverty, having to sell their personal possessions and depend on repeated assistance from her family. In 1795, Teresa Agnesi died of a high fever. Her most important works are operas and theatrical pieces, but she also composed cantatas, chamber music, two piano concertos, harp sonatas; and short keyboard pieces in the galant style, tuneful, inventive, and idiomatic.
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Page 3 SINGLE WORKS: Sonata in G: Allegro, ed. Britton (Hildegard, GKH reprint. Also av. Ars Femina, EAF 36–13). Level: Mid-Intermediate. (3/8,4 pp). A cheerful one-movement work in rounded binary. The charming melody has carefully articulated phrases, sometimes of unequal length. Reminiscent of Scarlatti, the passepied or scherzo has an arpeggiated opening motif like Bach’s second Minuet in G. The two-voice Italianate texture is typical of the period, and the written-out ornaments are not difficult. Two Pieces for Solo Piano or Harpsichord, ed. Barbara Harbach (Vivace Press, 1996). Both pieces work well on either keyboard, but the second seems designed to show off harpsichord registers. Sonata in G Major—see above. Allegro on Presto. Level: Late Intermediate. (A major, 6/8, 6 pp). Many hand-crossings, rapid changes in LH registers, and nearly continuous alternation of arpeggios and scale passages make this considerably showier (and trickier) than the Sonata. ANTHOLOGIES: Thesaurus Musicus, Vol. 17: Sonate Italiane per Clavicembalo del secolo XVIII, ed. F.Brodszky (Budapest: Zenemükiadó Vállalat, 1962). Allemande Militaire & Menuetto Grazioso. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (G major, in 4–3/4, vivace-grazioso, 4 pp). A pair of binary dances, to be performed ABA ( da capo first movement). The Allemande has continuous broken-chord triplets in the LH, under a rousing melody with many ornaments. The songlike Minuet is extremely simple, with sparse quarter-note accompaniment and some hand-crossing. Editorial markings include occasional echo effects on repeated phrases. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G. K.Hall, 1998). Sonata in G. SOURCES: A-Z, Baker, ClagS, Cohen, Ebel, ElsonA, Fetis, FRK, Gustafson, H&H, Heinrich, Hinson, Jackson, Laurence, Meggett, MGG, NewGrove, S&S, Stern, scores ALDRIDGE, Amanda Ira (pseud. Montague Ring) London, Mar 16, 1866—London, Mar 5, 1956 Daughter of the famous African-American actor Ira Aldridge and Amanda Pauline von Brandt, a Swedish opera singer, Amanda Aldridge attended a convent school in Belgium, and at the age. of fifteen appeared as a singer at the Crystal Palace in London. Two years later, she won a scholarship to the newly founded Royal Academy of Music, where she studied voice with George Henschel and Jenny Lind. Aldridge enjoyed a successful concert career as a contralto, but after her
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Page 4 voice was ruined by severe laryngitis, she became a teacher, numbering among her students Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson. As a teacher and composer, she played an important role in the musical life of the black community in London.5 Her compositions, all published under the pseudonym Montague Ring, include piano pieces, over twenty-five art songs, and works for orchestra and band. Her music has strong rhythmic appeal: one of her best-known works, Three African Dances for piano, used West African themes and was later arranged for a variety of instrumental groups.6 ANTHOLOGIES: Black Women Composers: A Century of Piano Music (1893–1990), ed. Helen Walker-Hill (Hildegard, 1992). Prayer Before Battle, No. 1 of Four Moorish Pictures [1927]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (D minor, 4/4-2/43/4, 3 pp). A picturesque work in modified rondo form (ABB ACB ACA); homophonic textures, with contrasts in key, meter, and tempo. The main theme, a grim march, opens with an octave leap followed by a descending natural-minor scale, all over a tonic pedal. The second theme is an undulating chant, suggesting a supplicant’s plea, supported by dark, dissonant chords strummed upward. A dotted-note motif in major keys surges upward by steps, then drops down, to be repeated an octave higher. SOURCES: Cohen, Fuller, H&H, Horne, KOM, S&S, Southern, Walker-Hill, score AUENBRUGGER, Marianna von (var. Maria D’Auenbrugg) b. Austria ?—d. Vienna, 1781/1782 or 1786 Very little is known about the Viennese composer Marianna von Auenbrugger. She was the daughter of Leopold von Auenbrugger (1722–1809), a well-known Austrian physician who wrote the libretto to Salieri’s opera, Der Rauchfangkehrer . Marianna studied composition with Salieri, and both she and her sister Katharina were fine keyboard players known and respected by Haydn and the Mozart family. Haydn, in a letter to his publisher Artaria, wrote that “their way of playing and genuine insight into music equal those of the greatest masters. Both deserve to be known throughout Europe through the public newspapers.”7 Haydn dedicated six of his piano sonatas to the two sisters, Hoboken XVI: 35–39 and 20. Von Auenbrugger’s only known work is the sonata below, published posthumously with an ode by Salieri.8
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Page 5 SINGLE WORKS: Sonata per II Clavicembalo o Forte Piano [ca. 1787], ed. S.Glickman (Hildegard, 1990). Level: MidIntermediate. (E-flat major, 15 pp). This edition is the only modern publication of the complete sonata. A charming, well-crafted work in galant/Classical style. I: Moderate (common time, 6 pp). Sonata-allegro form; strongly rhythmic, with triadic themes emphasizing tonic and dominant on every strong beat. II: Largo (3/4, A-flat major, 3 pp). Serene, graceful arioso. III: Rondo Allegro (E-flat major, 3/8, 6 pp). Boisterous and clever, with sudden contrasts in dynamics, articulation, and texture. ANTHOLOGIES: At the Piano with Women Composers, ed. Hinson (Alfred, 1990) and Women Composers for the Harpsichord, ed. Harbach (Elkan-Vogel, 1986). Rondo from Sonata in E-flat: see above Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3, ed. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1998): Largo from Sonata in E-flat; see above. SOURCES: Cohen, H&H, Heinrich, Hinson, Jackson, Kirby, KOM, Meggett, S&S, Stern, scores AUERNHAMMER, Josepha Barbara von (var. Aurenhammer/Aurnhammer, Josephine; also Mme Boesenhoenig/Bessenig) b. Vienna, Sep 25, 1756—d. Vienna, Jan 30, 1820) Josepha von Auernhammer, a Viennese concert pianist, was the eleventh child of Johann and Elisabeth von Auernhammer. She studied piano with Richter and Kozeluch, and when she was twenty-two, with Mozart, with whom she fell in love. Mozart did not return her affection, but he respected her abilities, playing concerts with her, and composing the K. 365 concerto for two pianos and the K.448 two-piano sonata for performance with her. As one of Mozart’s favorite pupils, she proofread many of his sonatas and songs for his publisher. In 1786, Auernhammer married Johann Bessenig, a civil servant, but she continued to perform and teach under her maiden name. They had four children, including their daughter Marianna Auenheim, who herself became a well-known pianist and voice teacher. Auernhammer excelled at extemporaneous variations of a given theme, and most of her more than sixty works are well-crafted keyboard variations. SINGLE WORKS: Sechs Variationen über ein ungariscbes Thema, ed. Rosario Marciano (Furore, 1988). Level: Early Advanced. (F major, 2/4-common time, 8 pp). A witty, imaginative and sensitive work, making full use of the existing five octaves of the keyboard. Chromatic colors help express a wide range of
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Page 6 moods, and frequent hand crossings display the pianist’s virtuosity. No tempo indications appear except for the “Marcia” variation six, and only the first section of the theme appears in the final statement. Six Variations on “Her Fogelfänger bin ich ja” [1792] ed. Eve Meyer (Hildegard, GKH repr.). Level: Early Advanced. (G major, 2/4, allegretto, 10 pp). Six delightful variations on Papageno’s character aria from Mozart’s Magic Flute. The simple nature of the tune is preserved with a minimum of bravura figuration. Techniques include two-against-three rhythms in the var. 2, dialogue between the hands in vars. 3 and 4, and modulation to a minor key, adagio, in var. 5. The work closes with a nimble allegro in jig time. ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1998). Six Variations on “Der Fogelfänger bin ich ja,” ed. Meyer: see Single Works, above. SOURCES: Cohen, Ebel, Grove, H&H, Hinson, Heinrich, Jackson, Johnson, Kirby, KOM, Laurence, Marciano, Meggett, MGG, S&S, SCB, Sperber, Stern, scores AUFDERHEIDE, May Frances b. Indianapolis, Indiana, May 21, 1888—d. Pasadena, California, Sep 1, 1972 May Aufderheide, the leading woman composer of ragtime piano, was a favorite pianist in the Indianapolis area who studied classical piano with an aunt, but loved the popular music of the day. In 1908, she composed her first rag, Dusty, now considered the first major rag of the Indianapolis-Ohio Valley area.9 It was so successful commercially that her father started a publishing business to promote her music and that of her friends, including Julia Niebergall (q.v.). Aufderheide married architect Thomas Kauftnan in 1908, and in the next four years she published nineteen more compositions, including two sets of waltzes and six more rags: The Thriller! (another big hit), Richmond Rag, Buzzer Rag, Blue Ribbon Rag, Novelty Rag, and A Totally Different Rag .10 By 1915, however, she apparently stopped composing completely. Although ragtime music was in general a black, male-dominated field, women composers of ragtime music were usually white, middle-class, and classically-trained, and most of them stopped composing after marriage. In 1947, the family moved to southern California, where Aufderheide lived until her death at the age of eighty-four.11
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Page 7 ANTHOLOGIES: American Women Composers: Piano Music from 1865–1915, ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1990) and American Keyboard Music 1866 through 1910, Vol. 4 of series Three Centuries of American Music, gen. eds. Schleifer and Dennison (G.K.Hall, 1990). Dusty, A Rag [1908]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (C major, 2/4, moderate, 3 pp). Unusually for a rag, this nationwide hit remains in C major throughout, and its unorthodox structure, AA BB CC, deviates from the typical rag format (AA BB A CC DD). The piece is great fun to play, with a wonderful oom-pah bass throughout. Offbeat soprano notes harmonize with the suave chromatic alto melody in the Trio (C), subtly emphasizing the syncopation. Ragtime & Early Blues Piano, comp./ed. Amy Appleby and Peter Pickow (Amsco Publications, 1995). The Thriller! Level: Late Intermediate. (A-flat major, 2/4, not fast, 3 pp). Published by Aufderheide’s father, it became a nationwide hit in sheet music, on piano rolls, and in instrumental arrangements. Written in three repeated sections, with sweet triadic melodies, occasional brief chromatic passages, and blue 3rds and 7ths.. In B, a sustained alto pedal tone lends smoothness to the thirds above; in C, hands alternate on syncopated descending octaves. Ragtimes für Klavier, ed. Kaluza (Furore, 1994) and Ragtime Rarities: Complete Original Music for 63 Piano Rags, ed. Tichenor (Dover, 1975). Dusty and The Thriller! See above. A Tribute to Scott Joplin and the Giants of Ragtime, comp. Richard Zimmerman (ShattingerInternational Music, 1975). The Thriller! See above. Women Composers of Ragtime: A Collection of Six Selected Rags by Women Composers, comp. Carolynn A.Lindeman (Theodore Presser, 1985. Repr. of the original sheet music). The Richmond Rag [1909]. Level: Mid-Intermediate (C/F/B-flat majors, 2/4, tempo di marcia, 3 pp). The first rag published by her father’s new company, written shortly after the Aufderheides moved to Richmond, Indiana. An unusual form: AAB (in F major) CC (in B-flat major) B. The B section has distinctively syncopated, percussive rhythms. A Totally Different Rag [1910]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (E-flat/A-flat majors, 2/4, slowly, 3 pp). The difference in this rag lies in its slow tempo, and in the B section, with its chromatic alto melody sandwiched between dissonant harmonies in treble and bass. Or, as described by Jasen and Tichenor, “suspended 4ths, another feature of Ohio Valley rags after 1908.”12 SOURCES: B&NB, ClagS, Cohen, GroveAm, H&H, Hasse, Hinson, KOM, scores
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Page 8 B BACKER-GRØNDAHL, Agathe Ursula (née Backer) b. Holmestrand, Norway, Dec 1, 1847—d. Christiana, Jun 4, 1907 Norwegian concert pianist, composer, and teacher Agathe Backer-Grøndahl studied piano with Kullak, Hans von Bülow, and Liszt, and composition with Lindeman in Norway and Wuerst in Berlin. She received high praise for her performances of Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, and Grieg, and was the favorite female pianist of George Bernard Shaw.13 A winner of Sweden’s Royal Gold Medal and the “Pro Literis et Artibus” medal from the King of Norway and Sweden, Backer-Grøndahl managed the difficult feat of combining a domestic life with a musical career by devoting blocks of years to different activities: first raising her family, then concertizing, then composing, then concertizing again, playing many of her own works.14 A highly successful composer and concert artist, Backer-Grøndahl also exerted great influence as a teacher. She and her husband, a conductor and composer, had three sons, including Fritjof, who had a long career as a concert pianist. Though she suffered from ill health and deafness later in life, she continued to give frequent concerts and to teach several hours daily. Backer-Grøndahl’s published works, which were extremely popular throughout Scandinavia, include 260 songs, a number of Norwegian folksong arrangements, and 138 piano works in twenty-nine opus numbers.15 The piano pieces include short descriptively titled miniatures in simple song form, larger fantasy-like works, and a number of fine concert etudes. Her music, like that of her contemporary, Cécile Chaminade, features directness of expression, wonderfully idiomatic pianism, melodic charm, an assured late-Romantic harmonic style, and strong evocations of dance rhythms. Although she revered Grieg, her music is not particularly nationalistic, and she rarely used recognizable Norwegian folk-tunes in her piano works. Her works are sensitive, imaginative without being sentimental, and extremely well crafted. SINGLE WORKS: Trois Etudes de Concert Opus 32. (Recital Publications, 1998, reprint of Wilhelm Hansen pub.). Level: Advanced. Etude in D Major Opus 32/1. (In 4, allegro, 4 pp). Horn calls in rapid double notes, RH; virtuoso octaves in both hands. A spirited, joyful work. Etude in F Minor Opus 32/2. (In 4, tranquillo, 5 pp). An undulating triplet figure forms the background for the elegiac, nocturne-like melody.
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Page 9 Etude in D-flat Major Opus 32/3 (Also found in Agathe Bäcker-Grondahl: Piano Music, Da Capo, below). Level: Advanced. (D-flat major, in 4, allegro leggiero, 6 pp). A rapid study in staccato alternating hands; the primarily LH melody shifts registers frequently. Fantasistykker Opus 36 (Recital Publications). See Agathe Bäcker-Grondahl: Piano Music, below. I Blaafjellet: Eventyr Suite i 6 Claverstykker Opus 44 No. 2 [1894]. [On the Blue Mountain: Folklore Suite of 6 Piano Pieces], ed. Margaret Meyers (Hildegard; GKH repr.). Level: Advanced, 23 pp. A six-movement major work, demonstrating the composer at the height of her expressive and dramatic powers. The Blue Mountain was a legendary home of trolls. I. Overture: In the Hall of the Trolls. (D-flat major, 6/8, allegretto, 9 pp). Tone painting establishes a Norwegian atmosphere in this lengthy movement. II. The Giant Troll (G minor, 6/8, allegretto molto energico, 2 pp). An ungainly, gruff march, discordant and chromatic. III. The forest nymph. (D major, 3/4, largo, 3 pp). Serene and lovely main theme, with a playful middle section. IV. The Bewitched Captive’s Lay. (A minor, in 4, molto largo, 3 pp). Aeolian harmonies echo Norwegian folk tunes. V. Dance of the trolls. (A minor, 3/4, moderate a la burla, 4 pp). Chromaticism, a busy melody, and open fifths describe a dance of the grotesque. VI. Night. (B-flat minor, in 4, grave, 2 pp). Stealthy footsteps and eerie descending octaves explore the full range of the keyboard. COLLECTIONS: Agathe Bäcker-Grondahl: Piano Music, intro. Charles Slater. (Da Capo Press reprint, 1982). Fortyseven works in chronological order, ranging from intermediate-level salon pieces to challenging concert etudes. Etudes de concert, Op. 11, Nos 2 and 6. Level: Advanced. Op. 11/2. (D-flat major, 3/4, andantino, 5 pp). A series of parallel sixths. Op. 11/6. (A major, 6/8, allegretto grazioso). Continually shifting arpeggios support a melody played in octaves. Trois morceaux, Op. 15. Late Intermediate to Early Advanced. Op. 15/1. Serenade. Level: Late Intermediate. (F major, in 4, andantino, 3 pp). Serene, symmetrical phrases arch over a gently strummed bass in this unhurried portrait of summer twilight in the north. Melodious trills and flourishes decorate the contrasting center section. Op. 15/2. Au bal [At the Ball]. Level: Early Advanced. (D-flat major, 2/4, allegretto, 7 pp). A beguiling work, with quick, delicate outer sections framing a lyric intermezzo, sotto voce. Op. 15/3. Humoresque. Level: Early Advanced. (G minor, 2/4, allegro con spirito, 4 pp). Spirited and witty dance, reminiscent of Grieg.
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Page 10 Fire skizzer (Four sketches), Op. 19/1-4. Level: Early Advanced. Harmonically inventive, extremely wellwritten examples of the Romantic piano miniature. Each is a three-page allegretto in common time and ABA form. Op. 19/1. (C major, leggiero). The vigorous, surging melody occurs first in octaves, then over dense chords. Op. 19/2. (A-flat major, leggiero). A daring harmonic progression begins the work, permeated with Spanish dance rhythms and embellishments. Op. 19/3. (A minor, semplice). A wistful little harlequin of a piece. Op. 19/4. (A-flat major, grazioso). Late Romantic chromaticism. Suite pour Piano Op. 20. (The suite originally included a prelude, nocturne, gavotte, menuett, and scherzo). Prelude Op. 20/1. Level: Early Advanced. (G minor, in 4, allegro non troppo e molto risoluto, 4 pp). Dramatic, with continuous exploration of a sixteenth note figure in related keys, as in some Bach preludes. Gavotte Op. 20/3. Level: Early Advanced. (A major, in 4, allegretto, 4 pp). A late-19th century example of the lively and gracious Baroque dance. Etude de concert, Op. 32/3. See Single Works: Trois Études de Concert. Huldreslått (WoO). Level: Late Intermediate. (A minor, in 4, molto allegro, 4 pp). Like a fiery gypsy dance or tarantella, swirling triplets race up and down the keyboard, accompanied by an alternating bass. A contrasting marcato section in A major features leaping accented chords; one can almost hear the rattle and crash of tambourines. Fantasistykker (Fantasiestücke). Twenty-one Fantasy Pieces from three sets: all of Opus 36, six often in Opus 39, and all of Opus 45. The Fantasy pieces constitute an exceptionally fine addition to late Romantic repertoire, and the sets have many characteristics in common. They are short, descriptive scenes of nature, stylized dances, or depictions from Norwegian folklore, using the full range of the instrument, with effective textures and strong dance rhythms. Difficult pieces alternate with easier ones, and they are stylistically similar to the smaller works of Schumann, Mendelssohn, Chopin, and Grieg. Harmonies include secondary dominants, a few borrowed chords, the occasional augmented-sixth, and some “barbershop” sliding sevenths.16 Fantasistykker Op. 36, Heft 1: Nos 1–5 (composed 1895). Both of the Opus 36 sets are also available as Fantasistykker Opus 36, two vols (Huntsville, TX: Recital Publications). Op. 36/1. Klage [Lamentation]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (E minor, in 4, andantino, 2 pp). A repeatednote motive, rather like three little moans and a sigh, runs through this sad little piece. Interesting scale patterns in the accompaniment save it from being maudlin. Op. 36/2. Friskt mod! [Take courage!]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (D major, in 4, allegretto grazioso, 1 pp). Heartening and repetitive. A bass pedal supports the upper voices, with the tenor in counterpoint to the soprano.
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Page 11 Op. 36/3. Vals. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (F major, 3/4, grazioso, 3 pp). A vigorous and exuberant dance with a playful middle section. Op. 36/4. Vuggevise [Berceuse]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (G major, in 4, allegretto). An attractive arching melody, stressing the second scale degree, is harmonized by sparse chords above a gently rocking bass. Op. 36/5. Ballade. Level: Late Intermediate. (E-flat minor, in 4, andante, 5 pp). A tragic march opens the piece, echoed by bass octaves like a Greek chorus. A contrasting fanfare in E-flat major sounds: perhaps the hero is coming to the rescue. Texture is Brahmsian, with LH octaves and thick heavy RH chords. Descending double octaves herald the return of A. Great dramatic fun. Fantasistykker Op. 36, Heft 2: Nos 6–9 [1895]. Op. 36/6. Ungdomssang [Youth’s song]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (B-flat major, 9/8, andantino, 1 pp). Close four-part harmony is played in the lower middle register of the piano, like a male choir singing a chorale of praise. Op. 36/7. Ländler. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (A-flat major, 3/4, allegretto grazioso, 2 pp). The characteristic Ländler pickup (&3&) begins the merry yodeling melody, which bobs and bows over a waltz bass. Op. 36/8. Aftenwind [Evening breezes]. Level: Late Intermediate. (G-flat major, in 4, allegretto, 2 pp). Alternating sixteenth notes depict the lightly rustling breezes; frequent LH crossovers. Op. 36/9. Sang ved Rokken [Spinning-wheel song]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (A minor, 3/4, poco allegro, 2 pp). An effective setting of the Faust story: Gretchen’s frantic spinning refrain, created by rising and falling triplets, alternates with a forlorn second theme. Op. 36/10. Alfeleg [Elfin dance]. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (A minor, in 4, allegro, 5 pp). A nimble dance in airy staccatos and whirring sixteenth notes; center section is a courtly promenade in the parallel major. Fantasistykker Op. 39 [1896]. Op. 39/1. Souvenir. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (D minor/major, 3/4, andantino, 3 pp). A waltz in ABAB form, alternating happy and sad moods, LH and RH melodies, and tenor and soprano registers. Op. 39/2. Sommernat [Summer night]. Level: Late Intermediate. (D major, 3/4, tranquillo, 3 pp). Portrait of a balmy, leisurely evening. Op. 39/3. Svalernes flug [Swallows flight]. Level: Late Intermediate. (A major, in 4, allegretto leggiero, 2 pp). Ceaseless sixteenth notes, divided between the hands, swoop in weightless broken chords and twonote figures in the upper half of the keyboard. Reminiscent of Nedda’s aria in I Pagliacci. Op. 39/4 Rosernes sang [Song of the roses]. Level: Late Intermediate. (A-flat major, common time, andante, 2 pp). A sweet song wafts out of a delicate cloud of rising and falling arpeggios.
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Page 12 Op. 39/5. I baaden [In the boat]. Level: Late Intermediate. (E-flat major, 6/8, allegretto, 3 pp). A barcarolle, with an ostinato bass creating the rocking of the boat and the sound of the waves, as the melody is played in dolce thirds and sixths. Op. 39/9. Visnet [Withered]. Level: Late Intermediate. (A minor, in 4, allegretto, 1 pp). Leggierissimo staccato triads in the mid-to-upper registers fade swiftly away to ppp. Fantasistykker, Op. 45/1–5 [1897]. A wonderful group for ballet use. Op. 45/1. Ungdomssang [Song of Youth]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (F major, 9/8, tranquillo, 1 pp). A chorale in the lower-middle registers of the keyboard, requiring good legato technique; more satisfying than the earlier piece by the same name (Opus 36, no. 6). Included in several anthologies. Op. 45/2. Zephyr. Level: Advanced. (D major, 2/4, allegretto, 5 pp). A virtuoso caprice depicting the fickle wind, with toccata-like use of repeated note figures, accidentals, and alternating hands. Op. 45/3. Sommervise [Summer song]. Level: Late Intermediate. (G major, 6/8, andantino semplice, 2 pp). LH melody against fluttering double-note figures in RH, requireing careful voicing and pedaling. Op. 45/4. Gyngende [Rocking]. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (A major, in 4, allegretto non troppo, 4 pp). Wide repeated arpeggios furnish the movement under the graceful melodic stretches. Op. 45/5. Vals Caprice. Level: Early Advanced. (F major, 3/4, molto con anima, 6 pp). A playful and brilliant grand waltz, played one beat to the bar; center section in F minor is slightly slower, with descending chromatic passages. Etude de concert Op. 47/2. Level: Advanced. (A minor, in 4, con fuoco, 5 pp). Virtuosic LH octaves shape an heroic march, balanced by wide, rapidly rolled RH chords; Brahmsian ideas and textures. Barcarole Op. 55/10. Level: Early Intermediate. (G minor, 6/8, andante espressivo, 2 pp). Gently mysterious, with late-Romantic altered chords in a sparse texture. Characteristic melody is traded between hands. Mandolinata Op. 59/3. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (D-flat major, 2/4, allegretto leggierissimo, 5 pp). Upward-strummed arpeggios suggest the easy grace of a southern serenade. Center section features “plucked” chromatic scales. Prelude and Grand menuet Op. 61/1-2. Level: Advanced. One of the composer’s last works, these two pieces form one large-scale dramatic composition, 12 pp. Prelude (C-sharp minor, in 4, tranquillo). The huge climax fades into pp octaves, segueing chromatically into the Grand menuet (E major, 3/4, con grandezza). The climactic chords “may be the last grand gestures of the Romantic age” (score preface).
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Page 13 ANTHOLOGIES: At the Piano with Women Composers, ed. Hinson (Alfred, 1990). Fantasistykker Op. 45/1, 3: see Collections. Nineteenth-Century European Piano Music: Unfamiliar Masterworks, sel. Gillespie (Dover, 1977). Fantasistykker Op. 45/1–5: see Collections. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 6, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). I Blaafjellet. Eventyr Suite i 6 Claverstykker Opus 44/2, ed. Margaret Meyers: see Single Works. SOURCES: A-Z, Baker, Cohen, Dubal, Ebel, ElsonA, FRK, Gillespie, Grove, H&H, Hinson, Hyde, Johnson, Kehler, Kirby, KOM, Laurence, Meggett, Pendle, Schonberg, scores BADARCZEWSKA-BARANOWSKA, Thekla b. Warsaw, 1834—d. Warsaw, Sep 29, 1861 Composer of the worldwide best seller of her time, this young Polish pianist was apparently an amateur with no formal training. In 1856, she published The Maiden’s Prayer in Warsaw. After its appearance in 1859 as a supplement to the Paris Revue et Gazette Musicale, the piece became a runaway success all over the world, going into 140 editions and reprints in Europe, the United States, and Australia, as well as transcriptions for orchestra, voice, piano duo, and almost every instrument. A “unique piece of salon pianism, dripping maudlin arpeggios,”17 it was strongly criticized by professional musicians, including Louis Gottschalk, who composed a wickedly clever parody for a recital encore. Still, imitation is the sincerest flattery, and the work was unquestionably the smash hit of the mid-nineteenth century. Before her untimely death at age twenty-seven, Badarzewska composed thirty-three more salon piano pieces, as well as a number of songs, but none approached the popularity of The Maiden’s Prayer, which still appears in anthologies.18 SINGLE WORKS: Gebet einer Jungfrau [1856; var. The Maiden’s Prayer, La prière d’une vierge, The Virgin’s Prayer ]. (Schott Musik International, 1913). Level: Late Intermediate. (E-flat major, common time, andante, 3 pp). Sweet, fluffy, and insubstantial; pianistic cotton candy. An effective introduction to advanced figurations such as extended arpeggios, octaves, and long trills. The theme, comprised of one arching, eight-bar parallel period, is presented by RH in six slightly varied versions, over an ostinato bass of block chords and octaves. Variations include arpeggios in octaves, extended arpeggios of 16th and 32nd notes with trills at cadences, hands crossed, with melody in the tenor, and triplet repeated-note staccato octaves, ending in a crescendo.
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Page 14 ANTHOLOGIES: Masterpieces of Piano Music, ed. Albert E.Wier (Carl Fischer, 1918). The Maiden’s Prayer. SOURCES: Baker, Cohen, Ebel, ElsonA, FRK, Grove, H&H, Hinson, KOM, Laurence, Meggett, MGG, S&S, SCB, Sperber BARTHELEMON, Cecilia Maria (var. Mrs. E.P.Henslowe) b. England, 1769/70-d. after 1840 Cecilia Barthélemon, the grandniece of Thomas Arne, was the daughter of a pair of leading London musicians, Maria (Polly) Barthélemon (née Mary Young), a celebrated singer, and François Hippolyte Barthélemon, a violinist, composer, and conductor. Cecilia toured with her parents from babyhood, and reportedly sang for Marie-Antoinette. She learned to sing and play harpsichord, piano, organ, and harp from her parents and J.S.Schröter. The young girl made her formal vocal debut at the Haymarket Theater in 1779, singing an Italian duet with her mother between sections of the Messiah.19 As an adult, Barthélemon was active as a singer, harpist, keyboardist and composer. She dedicated her Opus 3 keyboard sonata to Joseph Haydn, a family friend, and was a subscriber to his Creation. Her published compositions, which date from 1786 to 1795, include several sonatas for keyboard with accompanying violin,20 two keyboard trios, a keyboard work concluding with a song by soprano and chorus, and three solo keyboard sonatas. In 1796, Cecilia married Captain E.P.Henslowe; the couple had one child, Fanny Henslowe. SINGLE WORKS: Three Sonatas for Piano, ed. Barbara Harbach (Vivace Press, 1995). Level: Late Intermediate. For pianoforte or harpsichord. Late Classical sonatas sophisticated in harmony, melody, and form; in each, the first movement is a well-developed sonata-allegro with contrasting themes, and the last is a rondo with development in the second episode. The works contain dramatic pauses, sudden contrasts in dynamics, register and texture, and modulating development sections with fragmented motives, diminished chords and deceptive cadences. Sonata in C Major Op. I/I. Late Intermediate. 1: Allegro (common time, 7 pp). II: Rondo allegretto (6/8, 8 pp). Sonata in E Major Op. I/3. Late Intermediate. I: Allegro con spirito (common time, 9 pp). II: Larghetto (A major, 3/4, 3 pp). Lyrical, with some imitative passages. III: Allegro ma non troppo (6/8, 10 pp). Sonata in G major, Opus III. Level: Late Intermediate. Witty and Haydnesque, with interesting harmonic and rhythmic figures, including dance elements. I: Allegro vivace. (G major, 2/4, 8 pp). Sonata-rondo with development in 2nd episode. II: Adagio. (E-flat major, 6/8, 2 pp). A
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Page 15 slow pastorale. Opening triadic motive is balanced by graceful thirty-second note arpeggios and scales. The movement ends with both hands below middle C. III: Rondo alla Hornpipe. (G major, 2/4, vivace, 4 pp). A lively folk dance in sixteenth note triplets, requiring a light touch and nimble fingers. The Capture of the Cape of Good Hope for the Piano Forest or Harpsichord, Concluding with a Song & Chorus, ed. Deborah Hayes (Hildegard; GKH reprint). Level: Mid/Late Intermediate. (C/E/G/E-flat/A majors, eight sections, 16 pp). A straightforward, attractive example of the popular genre of program music called the “battle sonata, commemorating the 1795 British victory over the Dutch in southern Africa. The progress of the battle and the ensuing surrender are depicted by verbal descriptions and a variety of pianistic devices, including obvious contrasts in theme, tempo, meter, and dynamics, scales in octaves, trommel bass patterns, runs and flourishes, and some mild chromaticism. Intended for informal salon performances, it is suggested that the pianist sing the final Song, and everyone present join in for the final Chorus . ANTHOLOGIES: Four Keyboard Sonatas by Early English Women Composers, ed. Sally Fortino (Hildegard, 1996). Sonatas by Billington, Cianchettini, Park, and Barthélemon, Opus 3: see Three Sonatas, above. Women Composers: Music through the Ages, Vol 3, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1998). The Capture of the Cape of Good Hope, ed. Hayes, above. SOURCES: Boenke, Cohen, Eitner, Fuller, H&H, Heinrich, Hinson, Jackson, KOM, Mac, Meggett, MGG, Eitner, S&S, Stern, scores BAUER, Katerina (var. Katherine/Catherina de) b. Würzburg, Germany, 1785—d.? Very little is known about this German harpsichordist and composer. A child prodigy, she studied harpsichord and composition with Abbé Johann Sterkel, and composed three sets of twelve variations for the clavier. SINGLE WORKS: Douze Variations pour le Pianoforte [1797/8]. (Ars Femina, 1993). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (F major, 3/4, Andante, 14 pp). In this engaging example of late Classic writing for the keyboard, the simplest of melodies undergoes standard changes in accompaniments, ending with a cadenza and a final restatement of the theme.
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Page 16 SOURCES: Cohen, Eitner, Grove, H&H, Heinrich, Jackson, Laurence, Mac, Stern BAUER, Marion Eugenic b. Walla Walla, WA, Aug 15, 1887—d. South Hadley, MA, Aug 9, 1955 Marion Bauer, composer, critic, writer, and educator, was the youngest of seven children, and took her first music lessons with her sister Emilie Frances, who later became a music critic in New York. She was educated in the West, then went to New York and studied with Henry Holden Muss, Eugene Heffley, and Walter Rothwell. In 1906, she studied piano in Paris with Raoul Pugno, a violinist; through him she met Nadia Boulanger, who taught her harmony. As payment, Bauer gave Boulanger lessons in English, and was probably the first American pupil of the woman who was to teach most of the next generation of American composers.21 Bauer spent many summers at the MacDowell Colony, where she met other important women composers: Beach, Daniels, Howe, Gideon, and Crawford. During her outstanding career as an educator, she taught music history and composition at New York University (1926–51) and at Juilliard (1940–44). With Ethel Peyser, she co-authored the textbooks How Music Grew and Music Through the Ages, and she was sole author of Twentieth Century Music . A fervid and vocal champion of American music and contemporary composers, she was one of the founders of the Association of American Women Composers, a co-founder of the American Music Guild, the only woman among the founders of the League of Composers, and an active member of many other artistic and philanthropic organizations.22 Bauer composed chamber, orchestral, and choral music, songs, and many piano works. Her music, originally considered radical, now seems moderately impressionistic, with coloristic harmonies, programmatic titles, through-composed forms, and some exoticisms from non-Western cultures. Although her writing remained melodic and grounded in tertian harmony, she used extended harmonies and diatonic dissonance to blur functional tonality. According to Dubal, her piano works (which generally appeared in sets of three to six short pieces) include nineteen titles, ranging from the 1909 Elegy to Summertime Suite (1953), with the Dance Sonata (1935) and Four Piano Pieces Op. 21 of special merit.23 Unfortunately, the teaching group below and the Op. 36 Piano Concerto (American Youth, Schinner, 1943) appear to be her only keyboard works currently in print. Many of her works are available in libraries, and a description of From The New Hampshire Woods is included here as an example of Bauer’s outstanding keyboard writing.24 SINGLE WORKS: For Nimble Fingers (Mercury Music/Presser, 1948). Level: Late Elementary/Early Intermediate. Three delightful little pieces full of rhythmic energy.
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Page 17 Tumbling Tommy. (C major, 2/4, fast, 2 pp). Like a simplified version of Pinto’s “Run, Run,” hands alternate a single-note melody with a two-note chord in a continuous eighth-note rhythm. A New Solfegietto (after C. P. E. Bach). (G minor, 2/4, rapidly, 2 pp). Aptly named, this work is nearly as much fun as the original, and of similar figuration, providing a gratifyingly intricate sound at little technical expense. Parade. (C major, common time, with energy, 2 pp). Four-part seventh-chords in close position march through the piece in staccato dotted rhythms, like a quartet of trumpeters. From the New Hampshire Woods: A Suite of Three Pieces for the Pianoforte Op. 12 (G.Schirmer, 1922). Level: Late Intermediate. A set of impressionistic miniatures depicting New England flora, with a poetic inscription preceding each landscape. Later arranged for orchestra, these reflect the influence of the MacDowell school. Characteristics of Bauer’s style include use of the full range of the keyboard, continuous rhythmic motion, a wide dynamic palette, asymmetrical phrases, and the use of pedal tones, seventh chords, and gliding parallel chords within a strong tonal center. White Birches Op. 12/1. Level: Late Intermediate. (D-flat major, 6/8, grazioso e rubato, 5 pp). A “song without words,” with the melody created from downward-rippling arpeggios over a slow-moving bass. Dissonant suspensions, sliding seventh and ninth chords, descending chromatic scales, and tone clusters caught by the pedal contribute to the portrait of rustling leaves and palely glowing bark, dappled with moonlight and mysterious shade. Indian Pipes Op. 12/2. Level: Late Intermediate. (G major/minor, 3/4, andante con moto, 3 pp). Indian pipes are small plants that poke up through the moist carpet of the forest’s floor after a rain. A rhythmic motive slides chromatically down a fourth; there are flirtations with whole-tone scales and parallel diminished triads. Pine-Trees Op. 12/3. Level: Late Intermediate. (F major, 5/4–4/4–6/4, andante con moto, 5 pp). The wind sweeps through the boughs of great pine trees on a hillside above a river. The shifting meters are used to expressive advantage, creating short asymmetrical phrases with natural fluidity. ANTHOLOGIES: The World of Modern Piano Music, comp. Denes Agay (MCA Music, 1964). Pond Lilies, from Summertime Suite [1953]. Level: Early Intermediate. (C major, 6/8, moderate, 2 pp). A teaching piece set in the swaying, languorous rhythms of a Sicilienne. Hands remain a second apart throughout the piece, moving stepwise in the center of the keyboard and forming mild dissonances within a tonal framework.
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Page 18 LISTED but not found in print: Turbulence Op. 17/2 (EBM); A Fancy (Axelrod); Four Piano Pieces Op. 21 (Arrow Music); Dance Sonata Op. 24 (ACA); Patterns Op. 41 (ACA). Cited in Hinson’s Guide, 3rd ed., and Friskin & Freundlich’s Music for the Piano. 25 SOURCES: Ammer, Anderson, Baker, B&NB, Boenke, , ClagAm, ClagS, Cohen, Dubal, Elson, Faurot, Friskin, Fuller, Gordon, Goss, Grove, Grove Am, Heinrich, Hinson, Hutcheson, Johnson, Kirby, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, Pendle, S&S, Stern BAYON, Marie-Emmanuelle (var. Bajon, Baillon, Bayon-Louis, Mme Louis) b. Marcei, Orne, France, 1746—d. Aubevoye, Eure, Mar 19, 1825 Marie Bayon was a French harpsichordist, pianist, and singer who wrote chamber music, opera, and pieces for the clavecin and voice. It is assumed she grew up near Paris and received advanced training in voice and harpsichord, perhaps through the patronage of Mme la Marquise de Langeron, to whom she dedicated her Opus 1 sonatas. Diderot, the philosopher and encyclopedist, greatly admired Bayon’s playing, and arranged for her to teach his daughter. He wrote, “She played like an angel. Her soul was entirely at the ends of her fingers.”26 In 1770, she married an architect, Victor Louis, designer of the Theater in Bordeaux; the couple had one child, a daughter. Bayon’s later works were signed “Mme Louis” or “Bayon-Louis;” in a number of reference works, she appears under both names as two apparently different people. In 1776, her two-act comic opera, Fleur d’Epine, was produced at the Theatre-Italien. As a hostess of esteemed literary and artistic salons in Bordeaux and Paris, Bayon-Louis is credited with bringing the fortepiano into vogue in France. In addition to her compositions, she appears to have written two manuals on keyboard technique and the principles of accompaniment. Her husband lived until 1800, as “citizen Louis;” Mme Louis outlived him by twenty-five years. ANTHOLOGIES: Francesca LeBrun and Marie-Emmanuelle Bayon: Keyboard Sonatas [ca. 1769], intro. Deborah Hayes (Da Capo Press, 1990 reprint). Six Senates pour le Clavecin ou le Piano Forte, dont trois avec accompagnement de Violon oblige Opus 1. Level: Late Intermediate or Early Advanced. Appealing, well-constructed representatives of the late eighteenth century international style. Each two-movement sonata is 4–5 pages long; both movements are in repeated binary form and the same key, but of contrasting tempo and character. This facsimile edition is not easy to read: there are 6–8 systems per page, note heads are round and small, and many accidentals and ornaments appear between staves. Also, there are occasional changes from bass to alto clef in LH part, difficult for the modern player. No articulations and
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Page 19 few dynamics are indicated. The works were known in Germany and Britain; Queen Charlotte’s personal copy is housed in the British Library. Sonata I in F major. 1. Allegro con brio, in 4. A vigorous study, with continuous 16th note accompaniment. 2. Tempo di minuetto, in 3. Elegant and graceful in a sparse Italianate texture. Sonate II in G major. 1. Andante affetuoso, 2/4. Expressive melody over Alberti bass. 2. Allegro, in 2. Exuberant triplets, sixteenth note arpeggios and scales; includes a one-page minuetto. Sonata III in Eb major. 1. Allegro, in 2. Melodious and gracious. 2. Presto, 12/8. A rollicking jig. Marie-Emmanuelle Bayon and Caroline Wuiet: Operatic Transcriptions for Keyboard, ed. Calvert Johnson (Vivace Press, forthcoming). Ouverture de Fleur d’Epine. Level of difficulty: Medium. Arranged for harpsichord or fortepiano with ad. lib. accompaniment of violin and cello. Transcription by M.Benoit. (Publication notes by Calvert Johnson). SOURCES: B&T, Cohen, Ebel, Eitner, ElsonA, Fetis, G&F, H&H, Heinrich, Jackson, Laurence, Meggett, S&S, Stern, score BEACH, Amy Marcy (née Cheney; Mrs. H.H.A.Beach) b. Henniker, New Hampshire, Sep 5, 1867—d. New York, Dec 27, 1944 Amy Beach, the foremost American woman composer of her time, was the first to achieve success as a composer of large-scale works. She was a child prodigy who improvised alto parts to her mother’s soprano before the age of two, taught herself to read at age three, and at four played four-part hymns by ear. By age seven, she was playing Handel, Beethoven, and Chopin in public recitals. Beach studied piano with her mother, Ernst Perabo, and Carl Baermann, and became a pianist with a virtuoso technique and a phenomenal memory. In 1885, she made the first of several appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, but after her marriage to Dr. Henry Harris Aubrey Beach, a man twentyfour years her senior, she limited her public performances and concentrated on composition. As a composer, Beach was largely self-taught: she followed a course of study designed for her by William Gericke using master composers as models; she studied harmony and counterpoint with Junius Hill for one year; and she taught herself orchestration and fugue by translating the treatises of Berlioz and Gevaert. After the death of her husband in 1911, Beach toured Europe for three years, playing many of her own works as well as those of recognized composers. Although she never had piano pupils of her own, her works were admired and played in the numerous Beach societies that sprang up all over the country, and she contributed many articles to magazines devoted to music teachers and their pupils. A leader in the MTNA and the MENC, in 1925 she was a co-founder
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Page 20 and first president of the Society of American Women Composers, and she generously helped to further the careers of many musicians. Beach’s more than three hundred compositions include art songs in several languages, orchestral, chamber and choral works, and a great deal of piano music, ranging from early Intermediate to concert level. Although she is sometimes considered a member of the New England school, her style is eclectic, displaying late Romantic, nationalistic, and Impressionist aspects. Beach had a fine ear for harmonic color, and expressively used modulation, mixed modes, and the increasingly complex chromaticism of the late Romantic era. Her keyboard music is characterized by a fondness for formal symmetry and balance, lyrical melodies, modulation by thirds, arpeggios, trills, passages in parallel thirds and octaves, and use of the full range of the keyboard.27 Her most popular works, in addition to her songs, include her Gaelic Symphony Op. 23, the Mass in E-flat Op. 5, the violin and piano Sonata in A Minor Op. 34, the Piano Quintet, the choral works The Chambered Nautilus and The Canticle of the Sun, and the Hermit Thrush pieces for piano. SINGLE WORKS: Valse-Caprice Op. 4 (Masters Music, 1995). Level: Advanced. (E major, 3/8, a capriccio, 10 pp). A whimsical fancy with symmetrical phrases, in ternary form with an intro and coda. Main theme features a grace-note figure over a pedal point and triple meter; more adventurous harmonies appear in the contrasting middle section. Ballade Op. 6 (Masters Music, n.d.). Level: Early Advanced. (D-flat major, 3/4, andantino, 10 pp). A concert fantasy/rondo based on Beach’s setting of the Robert Burns poem, “O my luve is like a red, red rose.”28 A lovely early work displaying late Romantic lyricism in a constant texture of arpeggios in triplets. The main theme, repeated in various keys and registers, is contrasted with an allegro in C-sharp minor and an A major lento. Sketches Op. 15/1-4 (Masters Music, 1995; also av. Hildegard, 1998). Level: Early Advanced/Advanced. Four small tone poems; translations to the prefatory French quotations are in brackets.29 Op. 15/1. In Autumn. [“Yellowing foliage scattered on the grass”]. Level: Early Advanced. (F-sharp minor, 2/4, allegro ma non tanto, 4 pp). A melancholy theme and variations, progressively more complex and brilliant. Op. 15/2. Phantoms. [“All fragile flowers, as soon their deaths as their births”] Level: Early Advanced. (A major, 3/8, allegretto scherzando, 3 pp). Ternary, with B a graceful contrast to the playful, will-o-thewisp A sections. Op. 15/3. Dreaming. [“You speak to me from the depths of a dream”]. Level: Early Advance. (G-flat major, common time, andante con molto espressione, 5 pp). In this Lied for the piano, the tonality, the sustained melody, and its quiet accompaniment are like Schubert’s Impromptu,
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Page 21 Op. 90/3. Included in many collections, it is described by Dubal as “a perfect reverie that asks the pianist for a beautiful, singing tone.”30 Op. 15/4. Fire-Flies. [“To be born in spring, to die with the roses”]. Level: Advanced. (A minor, 6/8, allegro vivace, 7 pp). A brilliantly shimmering perpetual motion etude, with flickering RH thirds. Ternary, with B section in both relative and parallel majors. Included in several collections, it was played in recital by piano virtuosi Busoni, Rosenthal, and Hofmann.31 Young People’s Carnival Opus 25/1–6, ed. Hinson (Alfred, 1994. Also av. as Children’s Carnival Op. 25/1–6, ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1990). Orig. publ. Boston: A.P.Schmidt, 1894). Level: Early Intermediate. Six portraits of the stock characters in European pantomime, each two to three pages long; most are in simple ternary form.32 Op. 25/1. Promenade. (C major, common time, alla marcia). A fanfare opens the parade of players. Thin texture of solo melody and a sketchy broken-chord bass, with hands in the center of the keyboard; dynamic contrasts provide interest. Op. 25/2. Columbine. (F minor, 6/8, andante). Gentle, dreamy, and light-hearted, with the soothing, pastoral melody shifting from hand to hand. Op. 25/3. Pantalon. (C major, 2/4, allegro). A saucy, rambunctious work with lots of staccato bounce, foreshadowing Kabalevsky’s Clowns. Originally entitled “The Barn Dance,” it has rustic energy. Op. 25/4. Pierrot and Pierrette. (G major, 3/4, tempo di valse). An amiable little waltz between two lovers in white-face. Op. 25/5. Secrets. (D major, 4/4, andantino). A first exercise in finger-pedaling. Tenuto melody notes alternate between the hands, which also share the arpeggiated accompaniment; treat the parts as a duet. Op. 25/6. Harlequin. (F major, 2/4, vivace). A dance for a mischievous comedian in spangled motley, with lively grace notes, a twirling, tumbling melody, and staccato bass. Three Pieces for Solo Piano Op. 28/1–3 (Masters Music, 1995. Original title: Trois morceaux caractéristiques). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. Good transitional pieces; romantic harmonies, traditional forms. Barcarolle Op. 28/1. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (G minor, 6/8, andantino, 6 pp). In the characteristic rocking rhythm, a nostalgic melody rises up to the dominant, then falls back, avoiding the leading tone at the cadence. An airy, filigreed passage in G major follows, with rippling sixteenth notes arpeggios for the right hand. The stormy center portion, in E-flat, is broader and with simpler harmonies than the outer ones, in which augmented sixths, diminished chords, suspensions, and chromatically altered tones appear. Menuet Italien Op. 28/2. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (A-flat major, 3/4, allegretto con delicatezza, 6 pp). An elaboration of the Minuet written at age ten (see Smith’s Life and Music in Collections, below), with an added Trio, fuller chords, and some development.
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Page 22 Danse des Fleurs Op. 28/3. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (D-flat major, 3/4, tempo di valse, 6 pp). Ternary form, with Chopinesque movement and figurations. Children’s Album #1 Op. 36/1–5 [1897], ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1990). Also av. as Young People’s Album, ed. Hinson (Alfred, 1994). Level: Early Intermediate. Five dances based on old forms; useful elementary to intermediate transition pieces. Thin textures, notated entirely in the treble clef; most are 2–3 pp. long, in binary form. The Glickman edition, like her Children’s Carnival, includes a space on the cover for the child’s picture, performance suggestions, manuscript paper for original compositions, and an invitation to send in compositions for a critique. Minuet Op. 36/1. Level: Early Intermediate. (F major, 3/4). Small, graceful steps and polite gestures imitate the eighteenth-century dance, with occasional double notes and running passages. Classical in sound, rather like simplified Mozart. Gavotte Op. 36/2. Level: Early Intermediate. (D minor, common time, con moto). Tuneful and symmetric; Grieg-like. Staccato notes alternated between the hands form quick elfin steps; a more lyric melody in the middle section is set over a drone bass. Waltz Op. 36/3. Level: Early Intermediate. (C major, 3/4). Romantic RH melody sings out over the simplest of waltz-bass accompaniments; good preparation for the easier Chopin waltzes. March Op. 36/4. Level: Early Intermediate. (D major, common time). A snappy, cheerful march with dotted rhythms, two-note slurs, short phrases, and lots of dynamic contrasts. Reminiscent of circus music or a turn of the century school fight song. Polka Op. 36/5. Level: Early Intermediate. (G major, 2/4, scherzando). Nimble and playful, the alternating eighth- and sixteenth note figures require clear execution of legato and staccato. Variations on Balkan Themes Op. 60 (Masters Music, 1995). Level: Advanced. (C-sharp minor, 4/4, adagio malincolico, 25 pp). Imaginative, virtuoso variations on sad Balkan folk tunes, this is Beach’s longest work for solo piano. Prelude and Fugue Op. 81 (Masters Music, 1995). Level: Advanced. Beach’s first contrapuntal piece, it is an imposing and grand work in A minor. Prelude, (maestoso quasi improwisatione, common time and 3/4, 9 pp). In free fantasy form, with ninth chords, tritones, and pedal tones. Fugue, (common time, 10 pp). Four voices; the theme, which emphasizes a melodic tritone, is first heard in the Prelude. Two Pieces Op. 102/1-2 [1924] (Masters Music, n.d.). Farewell, Summer Op. 102/1. Level: Mid-Late Intermediate. (G minor, common time, alla gavotta, 4 pp). A tone poem to the wild aster (also called “Frost Flower” and “Farewell Summer”). Ternary: the A section is a charming gavotte, with 18th c. symmetry and early 20th c. harmony; B, in G major, has a sweet, lyric duet in alto and tenor voices.
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Page 23 Dancing Leaves Op. 102/2. Level: Late Intermediate. (G major, 2/4, molto vivace, 4 pp). Leaves spiral and swirl effortlessly in the brisk autumn breeze. Tempo, dynamics and articulations, chromatic scale patterns, and parallel RH thirds make this a challenging study. A Cradle Song of the Lonely Mother Op. 108 [1924] (Masters Music, n.d.). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (E minor, 9/8 and 3/4, lento espressivo, 6 pp). A berceuse with the typical LH rocking rhythm. Ternary, with the theme frequently in inner voices; key changes, modal scales, long trills, and Beach’s characteristic chromatic thirds in a transition passage. Five Improvisations Op. 148 [1938] (Composers Press, 1982). Beach’s last pieces for piano, these fascinating and unusual miniatures are well worth serious attention, combining many of Beach’s familiar gestures with fresh harmonic ideas for a distinctive early-twentieth century ambiance. Op. 148/1. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (A minor, 3/4, lento, molto tranquillo). A waltz in ternary form, with characteristic three-part texture of soprano melody, bass line, and inner-voice chords. The mood is casually French, reminiscent of Poulenc and Satie. The second section contains the quarter/dotted quarter/eighth note motif found in each of these “improvisations.” Op. 148/2. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (A major, 3/4, allegretto grazioso e capriccioso). Graceful and playful, with the echoes of fìn-du-siècle Vienna, like a waltz from Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier. The work is firmly tonal, but there is a continual play of colors from non-functional sliding harmonies and added-note chords. Op. 148/3. Level: Late Intermediate. (G major, 2/4, allegro con delicatezza). A tentative, tip-toeing melody is played against staccato fourths and fifths in cakewalk rhythms, alternated between hands. Rapid changes of register make this work harder than it appears. Op. 148/4. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (G-flat major, 4/4, molto lento e tranquillo). Like a Satie Gymnopédie, the calm right hand melody moves down the scale in a sequential motif, as the left hand rises in a countermelody. Later, a dominant pedal appears on a third staff. Some lovely Impressionistic dissonances are employed. Op. 148/5. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (E-flat minor, 3/4, largo maestoso). A joyful valse brilliante, opening with simultaneous wide leaps in contrary motion, followed by octave scales in the right hand and a waltz bass. An appropriate transitional piece to advanced repertoire. COLLECTIONS: Amy Beach Piano Music, sel. Adrienne Fried Block (Dover, 2001). Ballad Op. 6, Sketches Op. 15/1, 3, 4 ( In Autumn, Dreaming, and Fire-Flies ), Barcarolle Op. 28/1, Scottish Legend Op. 54/1, From Blackbird Hills Op. 83, A Hermit Thrush at Morn Op. 92/2, and From Grandmother’s
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Page 24 Garden Op. 97, Nos 1 and 5 ( Morning Glories and Honeysuckle ). See Single Works and other collections, except for Op. 83, below. From Blackbird Hills (An Omaha Tribal Dance), Op. 83 [1922]. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (G major, 2/4, vivace/adagio molto, 7 pp). An example of Beach’s fascination with indigenous music, she used an authentic tune from a Native American children’s game, along with vigorous rhythms, a drone bass as drum, and foot-stamping accents. Of the contrasting Adagio molto section. Beach wrote that “ghosts of long-dead Indians were looking sadly over the shoulders of the happy children at play” (score preface). Amy Marcy Cheney Beach: Music for Piano (I), ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1994). Level: Late Intermediate to Advanced. Fifteen works from six opus numbers. Op. 6, Op. 15/4, and Op. 28/1: see Individual Works, above. The complete sets Opp. 54/1-2, 65/1-5, and 97/1-5 are described here. Scottish Legend Op. 54/1. Level: Late Intermediate. (D minor, common time, lento con molto espressione, 2 pp). Folk-like tune in rounded binary form, with characteristic Scottish sounds: the “Scotch snap” cadence, altered dominants, pincès and grace notes. Gavotte Fantastique Op. 54/2. Level: Early Advanced. (D minor, cut time, vivace, 6 pp). A light and lively dance with octave passages, long trills, and some very rapid scales. Les Reves de Columbine Op. 65/1-5 ( Suite Française; Columbine’s Dreams). Level: LateIntermediate/Early-Advanced. La Fée de la Fontaine [The Fairy of the Fountain] Op. 65/1. Level: Late-Intermediate/Early-Advanced. (A major, 4/4, andante con calma, 4 pp). Shifting, murmuring harmonies support a static melody, interspersed with occasional glittering splashes of 32nd and 16th notes. Set in various registers, the melody increases in intensity as the intervals widen. Le Prince Gracieux [The Graceful Prince] Op. 65/2. Level: Late-Intermediate/Early-Advanced. (A major, in 4, allegro grazioso alla gavotta, 6 pp). The whimsical four-bar dance theme skips gracefully down the dominant chord, cadences, and then steps quickly back up the octave to the tonic. Baroque articulations, chromatic harmonies, staccato scale passages, and some RH octaves. Valse Amoureuse [Lover’s Waltz] Op. 65/3. Level: Late-Intermediate/Early-Advanced. (F-sharp minor, 3/4, allegro con leggierezza, 6 pp). A playful, carefree waltz using a broad range of the keyboard; Chopinesque. LH maintains a steady waltz bass, as RH executes a figure, then takes off on a breathless, interrupted scale which leaps up to appogiature octaves, answered by downward arpeggios. Sous Les Étoiles [Under the Stars] Op. 65/4. Level: Late-Intermediate. (G-flat major, common time, adagio di molto, con gran espressione, 3 pp). The easiest of the group, a calm, simple melody is set in hymn texture, with inner voices providing forward motion on subdivisions. Melody
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Page 25 shifts to tenor voice, broadening out under the wide night sky. Sliding harmonies with many accidentals are prominent. Danse d’Arlequin Op. 65/5. Level: Late-Intermediate/Early-Advanced. (A major, 3/4-2/4, allegro con leggierezza/vivacemente, 9 pp). A delicate pianissimo waltz frames a jaunty, cocky Tin-Pan Alley march with a sassy tenor countermelody. From Grandmother’s Garden Op. 97/1–5. Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. An early 20th c. bouquet of old-fashioned flowers in Impressionist harmonies. Etude-like, each piece explores the technical challenges of a different figuration. Op. 97/1. Morning Glories. (E minor, 2/4, vivace, 4 pp). Hands entwine in rapidly climbing arpeggios on seventh chords, forming the melody from the lowest LH notes; RH creates a countermelody a 9th or 10th higher with the last note of each figure. Op. 97/2. Heartsease. (D-flat major, common time, lento cantabile, 2 pp). LH melody appears first in the alto and then the tenor, surrounded by syncopated block chords. Key signature and harmonies shift continually. Op. 97/3. Mignonette. (G major, 3/4, tempo di menuetto, 4 pp). A delicate minuet with staccato, pp chords. Op. 97/4. Rosemary and Rue. (E minor/major, 2/4, andante con sentimento, 6 pp). The simplest of this set; a tender pas de deux . In the right hand the soprano and alto alternately hold tied notes and sigh in a descending chromatic figure, accompanied by a “plucked” broken-chord bass. (In the language of flowers, Rosemary is for remembrance, Rue is for regret). Op. 97/5. Honeysuckle. (A minor, 3/4, allegro di molto, con delicatezza, 5 pp). Reminiscent of a Chopin valse brilliante . Rapid, with cross rhythms, difficult accidentals in twisting melodic lines, and abrupt modulations. Amy Marcy Cheney Beach: Music for Piano II, ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1997). Level: Late Intermediate to Advanced. Twelve works in five opus numbers. Op. 4, Op. 15/1-3, Op. 60, and Op. 148/1-5: see Single Works. The Hermit Thrush pieces (Op. 92/1-2) were written in 1921 while Beach was resident at the MacDowell Colony, and are two contrasting settings using the actual song of the hermit thrush. A Hermit Thrush at Eve Op. 92/1. Level: Advanced. (E-flat minor, common time, molto lento, 5 pp). Gentle, meditative, and melancholy, with a rocking-triplet figure in RH against wide LH arpeggios. Impetuous flourishes of liquid, murmuring birdsong interrupt the melody. A Hermit Thrush at Morn Op. 92/2. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (D minor, 3/4, quasi valse lento, 8 pp). In ABAB form, using alternating textures. The plaintive melody first occurs as a RH solo three octaves above the modal chords of the waltz bass; rapid flute-like arpeggios end every phrase. The melody moves to the tenor voice,
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Page 26 with an agitated RH fluttering of 16th notes and soprano countermelody. The work closes with an abbreviated return to the first setting. The Life and Music of Amy Beach, the First Woman Composer of America, comp./ed. by Gail Smith (Creative Keyboard Publications/Mel Bay, 1992). An excellent collection, with fifteen pages of wellresearched biographical information and archival photographs of Beach throughout her life, seventeen solo works, and Summer Dreams, Op. 47/1-6, a set of late-elementary/early intermediate level duets. For Op. 15/4, Op. 25/4-6, Op. 28/2; Op. 36/1–3, and Op. 54/1–2, see Single Works and Collections. Below are four very early pieces not available in other editions, and three pieces from two sets not available in their entirety. Mamma’s Waltz (WoO). Level: Early Intermediate. (F major, 3/4, 4 pp). Composed at age four, notated for her by her mother. An extended rondo with three separate but related themes in three keys of startling complexity and structural skill for a toddler. Homophonic texture, triadic melody, waltz bass, with contrasting shifts in register and numerous secondary dominants. Menuetto (WoO). Level: Early Intermediate. (A-flat major, 3/4, 2 pp). Written at age ten, this Classicalsounding little piece imitates the genteel steps and graceful bows of the antique dance, set in perfectly balanced four-measure phrases. Clever modulations in third section. Petit Waltz (WoO). Level: Early Intermediate. (D-flat major, 3/4, 2 pp). Written at age eleven. Rounded binary form with clever chromatic writing in the development. Standard waltz texture throughout, with some graceful changes in register for contrast. Romania (WoO). Level: Mid-Intermediate. (D major, 4/4, lento, 2 pp). A through-composed work written at age ten. Register changes, modulations, and brief RH octave passages provide interest in the texture of RH melody/LH triads. Schumannesque codetta, shifting chords between a static melody and bass, resolves to a simple four-part chord. The Returning Hunter, Op. 64/2, from Four Eskimo Pieces (also called Four Characteristic Pieces). Level: Early/Mid-Intermediate. (G major, 2/4, allegro vivace, 3 pp). Through-composed. A simple tune built on a descending tonic triad, followed by repeated melodic seconds; may be based on a native melody. Modulations through several minor keys in the development; fragments of the theme occur at the end of each section. See Smith’s Great Women Composers for Op. 64/3 and 4; No. 1 does not seem to be in print. Sliding on the Ice, Op. 119/1, in the set From Six to Twelve: A Suite for Piano [1927}. Level: Late Elementary. (D major, common time, allegro vivace). Ternary form, with several simple figures: first, the running start, formed of a shared-hand ascending scale; then the RH plays block staccato chords over LH whole notes. The center section (G major) uses a cakewalk rhythm as transition, and a staccato LH melody against offbeat RH chords.
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Page 27 Canoeing, Op. 119, No. 3, in From Six to Twelve: A Suite for Piano [1927]. Level: Late Intermediate. (C major, 6/8, tranquillo e sempre legato). Through-composed. Flowing 8th note arpeggios and melody notes alternate between hands, simulating the dip of the paddle on each side of the canoe. Secondary dominants, a temporary key change, and register shifts provide color and a few rocky places in the flowing stream. Piano Music, intro. Glickman, No. 10 in the Women Composers Series, (Da Capo Press, 1982). This wonderful collection of virtuoso works was unfortunately out of print by 1997. However, it is still available in many libraries, and contains the following works, many of which are available as single works or in other collections: Op. 4, Op. 6, Op. 15/1-4, Op. 28/1-3, Op. 60, Op. 81, Op. 87, Op. 107, Op. 108, Op. 116, and Op. 128/1-3. Excellent descriptions in Introduction. ANTHOLOGIES: See Single Works and Collections for most descriptions. Album of American Piano Music from the Civil War through World War I, ed. Dubal (International, 1995). Dreaming, Op. 15/3. The American Book for the Piano, ed. William Deguire (Galaxy, 1975). Waltz Op. 36/3. American Keyboard Music 1866 through 1910, ed. S.Glickman, Vol. 4 of Three Centuries of American Music, gen. eds. Martha Furman Schleifer and Sam Dennison (G.K.Hall, 1990). Les Reves de Columbine, Op. 65/1-3. American Women Composers: Piano Music from 1865 to 1915, ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1990). Dreaming Op. 15/3 and Sous les Étoiles Op. 65/4: At the Piano with Women Composers, ed. Hinson (Alfred, 1990). Promenade and Waltz Op. 25/1, 3; Scottish Legend Op. 54/1. The Bicentennial Collection of American Keyboard Music, ed. Edward Gold (MacAfee, 1975). Scottish Legend Op. 54/1. Great Women Composers, ed. Gail Smith (Pacific, MO: Creative Keyboard Publications/Mel Bay, 1996). Twenty-seven keyboard compositions by twelve women, including four by Beach: Op. 64/3-4, Op. 92/2, and Op. 106. Exiles, Op. 64/3, from Four Eskimo Pieces. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (F major, 3/4, lento con amore, 2 pp). The sweetly plaintive melody is reminiscent of Dvorak’s “Going Home.” Occasional shifts in register, some chromatic harmonies for contrast and development. With Dog-teams, Op. 64/4, from Four Eskimo Pieces. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (D major, common time2/4, maestoso/presto ma non troppo, 4 pp). Thin texture, continuous staccato 8th notes, repeated tones and half-step slurs give this piece a breathless, racing character. Tempo and accidentals make it more difficult than it looks. The Old Chapel By Moonlight, Op. 106. Late Intermediate. (A-flat major, 4/4, grave, 3 pp). The ghostly atmosphere of an ancient, dilapidated church
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Page 28 is created by ppp and legatissimo markings, sliding chromatic chords with suspensions, chorale phrases, and bell tones of octaves and fifths. On the final page, a sostenuto tonic pedal on a third stave tolls under the bell effects and the hymn. Historical Anthology of Music by Women, ed. Briscoe (Indiana University Press, 1987). A Hermit Thrush at Morn, Op. 92/2. Masters of American Piano Music, ed. Hinson (Alfred 4603). In Autumn Op. 15/1. Nineteenth-Century American Piano Music, sel. Gillespie (Dover, 1978). Fireflies and Dreaming Op. 15/3-4. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 6, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). A Hermit Thrush at Morn and A Hermit Thrush at Eve, Op. 92/1-2. LISTED but not found in print: Nocturne Op. 107 (J.Church), cited in Hinson’s Guide, 3rd edition. SOURCES: Ammer, Baker, Boenke, Borroff, Block, B&NB, B&T, ClagAm, ClagH, Cohen, Dubal, Ebel, Elson, Friskin, FRK, Fuller, G&G, Gilbert, Gillespie, Gordon, Grove, GroveAm, H&H, Heinrich, Hinson, Hutcheson, Jezic, Johnson, Kirby, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Magrath, Meggett, MGG, MLA, N-B, Pendle, S&S, Stern, scores BEEKHUIS, Hanna b. Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, Sep 24, 1889-d. Bloemendaal, the Netherlands, Feb 26, 1980 Dutch composer and pianist Hanna Beekhuis studied piano first with her mother, then with Dirk Schafer in Amersterdam and Bernhard Stavenhagen at the Geneva Conservatory. From 1908 to 1911, she studied at the Cologne Conservatory under Uzielli, Strasser, and Bolsche. Her teachers in composition included Peter van Anrooy, Barblan, and the conductor Frits Schuurman. Her travels in Corsica, Catalonia, and Morocco influenced her compositional style. Beekhuis composed chamber and orchestral pieces, many works for voices and instruments, and a few pieces for piano. During the war, she lived in Zurich, where many of her compositions were performed. SINGLE WORKS: Corsica, Zee en Rotsen (Amersterdam: Donemus, 1949). Level: Late Intermediate. (No key signature, 3/2 and 2/2, tranquillo, 4 pp). A seascape tone-painting of the many moods and colors of the sunset at Corsica. Widely spaced major chords evoke serenity and golden light; over them, a queasy little motif fashioned from an augmented triad flickers with dissonance, while a slowly-spiraling figure suggests shifting, murky blue-green depths. Though there is no feeling of meter,
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Page 29 there is a definite sensation of motion, sometimes swelling and rocking, sometimes surging and splashing. Throughout, the harmony is non-functional; shifting chords serve as the background for brief chromatic outbursts by solo voices. The entire range of the piano is used. Frequent accidentals, tricky rhythms, and clef changes make the work harder to read than it is to play, but musically, it will repay study by the student interested in twentieth-century sounds. Although this is an oversized, spiral-bound manuscript edition, it is not difficult to read. Oude Sage (Donemus, 1949). Level: Early Advanced. (D, 2/2–3/2, 4 pp). Facsimile manuscript. A 20th c. setting of an old tune, opening with a trumpet fanfare. Strongly tonal, with modal borrowing of chords, shifting meters and registers, many dynamic contrasts, and some dissonance. Center molto agitato section is written in 2/4 and 3/4. Idiomatic and dramatic, with a well-set melody supported by good part writing and occasional lush rolled chords; would work well orchestrated for concert band. SOURCES: A-Z, Boenke, Cohen, Heinrich, KOM BEIJERMAN, Jeanne —see BEYERMAN-WALRAVEN, Jeanne BENAUT, Mademoiselle (var. Benault) b. France, 1778-d.? Mademoiselle Benaut, whose first name is unknown, was a child prodigy who lived with her teacher, M. Benaut, in revolutionary Paris. An abbé, M.Benaut was composed works for the organ, harpsichord, and piano, and was the maitre de clavecin at the royal abbey of Montmartre.33 On the title pages of two of her four volumes of keyboard airs and variations, Mlle Benaut is described as a pensioner at the Royal des Dames de Bon Soucours priory. Possibly, like many upper and middle class young women of the time, she was sent to a convent at a tender age, to remain until her first Communion. Convents were abolished in 1790, and no further biographical information is available about this young girl, who may have fled the country or perhaps perished in the political struggles. In 1788, when Mlle Benaut was nine years old, her first two keyboard collections were published. Each fifteen-page set includes three popular airs of the time, each with three to six variations. Her extant works also include two organ works, a Magnificat and Piece d’orgue, books 1–9, dedicated to Mme de Schodt. All of her compositions are located in the Bibliotèque Nationale, Paris.34
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Page 30 ANTHOLOGIES: Eighteenth Century French and English Music for the Harpsichord by Benaut, Edelmann, Hardin, Savage, Turner, ed. Martha Asti (Hildegard, 1998). Air de Nina avec Six Variations (from Recueil d’Airs avec Variations Op. 2, ca 1787). Level: Late Intermediate. (F major, 3/4, larghetto, 8 pp). Dedicated to Mme la Presidente de Fleurieu, and sold by the nine-year-old composer in her home (score preface). The theme is from the opera Nina, probably composed by Nicolas Dalrayac in 1786.35 A 36-bar theme in charmingly uneven phrases undergoes textural variations in each hand: neighboring-tone eighth notes, broken-chord triplets, an offset, syncopated melody, and a 16th note Alberti bass. Tempo, theme length, and key remain constant throughout. Although included in an anthology for harpsichord, the piece is delightful on the piano. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3, series eds. Sylvia Glickman and Martha Furman Schleifer (New York: O.K.Hall, 1998). Air de L’Amitié a I’épreuve avec cinq variations., pref. essay by Collette S. Ripley. Level: Mid Intermediate. (F major, in 2, allegro moderate, 10 pp). Theme and six variations on an operatic duet from Grétry’s 1786 opera of the same name, “Friendship put to the test” (score preface). The folk-like melody, a foreshadowing of Papageno’s arias in the Magic Flute, uses the diatonic harmony and thin two-voice texture typical of the era. Changes rung on the accompaniment patterns include broken chords, melodic embellishments (especially passing tones), Alberti basses, progressively faster subdivisions, and a thicker texture for the final variation. A simple, attractive introduction to late 18th c. keyboard figurations; either harpsichord or piano is appropriate. It is likely that the child had access to an early pianoforte, and dynamic markings indicated in another collection may indicate use of a piano. SOURCES: Cohen, Eitner, G&F, H&H, Heinrich, Jackson, Ripley, scores BENDA, Juliane —see REICHARDT, Berhardine Juliane BERGERSEN, Marie Christine b. Chicago, IL, May 15, 1894—d. Binghamton, NY, November 29, 1989 American composer and pianist Marie Bergersen was born to Louis Bernhardt Bergersen, a lawyer born in Norway, and Mary Letitia Cox from Missouri, of British and Cherokee heritage. Marie was systematically exposed to music even before she was born: when her mother learned of her pregnancy, she paid Louise Robyn, a young neighbor who later became a famous teacher, to play daily in their home. At the age of three, Marie was apprenticed to Miss Robyn, thereafter receiving a music lesson every day of the year except on Christmas
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Page 31 and her birthday. She studied composition with Adolf Weidig at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, and by her late teens already had a reputation as a fine pianist, musician, and composer. In 1913, after the Board of Examiners heard her Theme and Variations for Piano, Bergersen became the only student ever admitted to the Viennese Imperial Conservatory by acclamation. At the onset of World War I, she fled Vienna, returning to the United States and marrying Raymon Borroff, the son of a wellknown singer. From 1917-1923 Bergersen gave a special series of concerts in Chicago and New York demonstrating a unique electromagnetic instrument called the choralcelo. From 1931 on, she was prominent in show business circles as Marie Baldwin, managing and performing with the Major Bowes Amateur Hour . From the early 1940s until her retirement in 1951, she was a composer and organist for NBC in Chicago. Bergersen was equally adept at all styles of music, and Rachmaninoff believed her to be the best sight-reader in the United States. She is credited with writing over a thousand arrangements in many styles, as well as a good deal of vocal and keyboard music, most of which is unfortunately lost. She was the mother of Edith Borroff, a respected musicologist and composer, and died in Binghamton, New York at the age of 95.36 SINGLE WORKS: Three Silhouettes [1911] (Hildegard, GKH reprint). Level: Early Advanced. A suite of three works; may be performed separately. Original and very pianistic, with remarkable harmonies for their time. I. Molto moderato (C minor, 3/4, 4 pp). Four sections, ABCA, each about sixteen measures long. Bold strokes of texture and harmonic color, whole-tone scales. Romantic espressivo in first section contrasts strongly with the faint, rapidly fluttering fifths in second section. II. Allegretto ma piacere (C# minor, 3/4, 5 pp). ABA form. In the main theme, a brief espressivo motive (not unlike the young Tristan) is offset by scherzando chirps. The piu mosso center section features a LH melody accented by rapid RH chords on offbeats. III. Vivace (E minor, 2/4, 4 pp). ABA plus codetta. Sprightly rhythms and fresh harmonies in a playful dance. B section has fluttering RH quadruplets against LH triplets in an ascending whole-tone scale. ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 6; series eds. Glickman and Martha Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Three Silhouettes, above. SOURCES: Cohen, Borroff, H&H
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Page 32 BERGH, Gertrude van den bap. Cologne, Jan 21, 1793—d. The Hague, Sep 10, 1840 Gertrude van den Bergh, a child prodigy, was one of the few nineteenth century Dutch women to receive recognition during and after her lifetime. As a child, she had a harpsichord sonata published, and she and her younger sister gave concerts to an enthusiastic public. Van den Bergh, who studied piano with Ries and composition with Burgmüller, was especially renowned for her Beethoven interpretations. She was one of the earliest Dutch musicians to show a renewed interest in J.S.Bach, one of the first women choral conductors in the Netherlands, and the first Dutch woman to publish a theory manual, her Principes de musique (c. 1830). Although she ended her performing career early, many famous performers visited her, including Moscheles, Kalkbrenner, and Mendelssohn. Van den Bergh supported herself by giving piano and voice lessons at the rate of two guilders per lesson. In 1830, she was one of only thirteen European musicians received in the prestigious Association for the Advancement of Music, and she remained the only woman to achieve this signal honor until Clara Schumann’s election to the group in 1854. On September 10, 1840, after dreadful suffering, she died of breast cancer. She composed songs, chamber music, and works for piano, but only seven of her compositions are extant, and the Lied for piano is her only keyboard work in modern edition.37 ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music through the Ages, Vol. 3, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall & Co., 1998). Lied für Piano-forte [ca.1832], ed. Helen Metzelaar. Level: Mid/Late Intermediate. (E major, 12/8, andante, 6 pp). The first “Lied ohne Worte” written in the Netherlands (score preface), this is a lovely example of the genre: a graceful, singing melody perfectly partnered by gently rippling bass arpeggios, with shared chords in the middle for the alto and tenor. In ABA form, the texture and wistful mood remain constant throughout. Some bold harmonic effects remind of Schubert and Fanny Hensel. An excellent addition to the early nineteenth century repertoire. SOURCES: grovemusic, S&S BEYER, Johanna Magdalena b. Leipzig, Jul 11, 1888—d. New York, Jan 9, 1944 After studying piano and music theory in Germany, Beyer came to America in 1924 and studied at the David Mannes School in NewYork, receiving a teacher’s certificate in 1928. She studied with Dane Rudyar, Ruth Crawford, Charles Seeger, and Henry Cowell, and acted as secretary for Cowell during his 1937-41 prison term in San Quentin. Beyer’s over fifty works include chamber music for
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Page 33 string, percussion, and wind ensembles as well as piano music. However, her music was largely ignored, even by the experimental music community, and received few performances. The piano music below, which dates from the early 1930s and shows the influence of Crawford and Cowell, was published fifty years after her death.38 SINGLE WORKS: Bees, ed. Larry Polansky (Frog Peak Music, 1994). Level: Late Intermediate. (6/8, as fast as possible, 2 pp). Chromatic scales and dissonant double trills in the center of the keyboard, with crescendos and diminuendos, make these bees hum, buzz, and fly around, eventually disappearing into thin air. Most of the piece is piano or softer in this light-hearted tone-painting for the adventurous student. Dissonant Counterpoint [1931–34], ed. David Fuqua (Lebanon, NH: Frog Peak Music, 1996). Level: Mid-Intermediate to Advanced. Eight brief atonal pieces, mainly in two-voice counterpoint. Demanding rhythms, articulations, and accidentals; unremitting dissonance, as in 12-tone pieces; occasional tone clusters; frequent hand crossings and changes of clef and register. Nos IV and VIII (intermediate): plausible introductions to 20th c. dissonance, moving in whole and half notes, as in old organ preludes. The other six are much faster, with many meter and tempo changes, and present serious challenges to pianist and listener. Metronome markings by the composer’s; facsimiles of the original manuscript are included. (Note: In this edition, accidentals affect only the notes they immediately precede). No. 1. Level: Early Advanced. (Eighth note=132, 1 pp). Many articulation contrasts. Metric values, though unmarked, vary from 1/4-2/4-3/8. No. 11. Level: Advanced. (Various meters, eighth note=96, 2 pp). Many dynamic contrasts and tempo changes. No. III. Level: Advanced. (In 4, quarter note=88, 3 pp). Wide, thick chords in opening section. No. IV. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (Half note=56, 1 pp). Progressively wider and narrower intervals, with arched dynamics to match, starting at pp, increasing to forte, and dying back to ppp. The tonal range is small, and in the center of the keyboard: at the widest point, upper and lower voices are only two and a half octaves apart; most of the time, less than an octave separates them. No. V. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (2/4, quarter note=96, 2 pp). Much hand crossing, sharing of registers, and register changes. Irregular subdivisions of the beat avoid metrical feeling. No. VI. Level: Early Advanced. (2/4, quarter note=60, 2 pp). Four-part “chorale” writing, with theme briefly developed in standard contrapuntal fashion. No. VII. Level: Advanced. (3/4, quarter note=120, 3 pp). Animated, wide range, many contrasts in articulation and dynamics.
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Page 34 No. VIII. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (3/2, espressivo, half note=56, 2 pp). A retrograde canon, played piano throughout. SOURCES: Baker, Boenke, Cohen, grovemusic, H&H BEYERMAN-WALRAVEN, Jeanne (var. Beijerman; née Walraven) b. Semarang, Indonesia, Jun 14, 1878—d. Arnhem, Holland, Sep 20, 1969 Dutch pianist and composer Jeanne Walraven first studied piano with her mother. At the Hague, she privately studied harmony and composition with F. E.A.Koeberg. She moved to Amersterdam in 1911, after marrying Dr. Th. Beyerman. Her early compositions were in the late-Romantic tradition of Mahler, Franck and Bruckner, but later works showed the influences of Schoenberg and modern French expressionist music.39 Beyerman-Walraven composed works for orchestra, voice, chamber, and piano. SINGLE WORKS: Andante Espressivo con Molto Emozione (Broekmans & Van Poppel, 1950). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (Changing meters and keys, 6 pp). Atonal, non-structural harmony, with many accidentals, continual meter and tempo changes, tricky rhythms, and a plethora of expressive markings. Full of passionate dissonances and dramatic gestures, it is an intriguing challenge, and not a work for the faint-hearted, but. Koraal (for organ or piano) (Broekmans & van Poppel, 1911). Level: Mid-Intermediate. (D major, 4/4, lento, 2 pp). Sixteen measures in length, simple song form. A brief chorale moving with magisterial serenity in two-bar phrases and balanced periods. Advanced chromaticism; themes moving down by thirds. Throughout, RH plays thick block chords over an octave stepwise bass. SOURCES: Cohen, H&H, Heinrich, KOM, S&S BIGOT DE MOROGUES, Marie (née Kiéné) b. Colmar, Alsace, France, Mar 3, 1786—d. Paris, Sep 16, 1820 Daughter of a professional violinist and a pianist, in 1804 virtuoso harpsichordist and pianist Marie Kiéné married Paul Bigot, a French Huguenot from Berlin. They moved to Vienna, where her husband was librarian to Count Andreas Rasumovsky, and it was there that she met Haydn, Salieri, Cherubini, and Beethoven, and gave piano lessons to the eight-year old Franz Schubert. Beethoven encouraged and taught her, and considered her one of his best
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Page 35 interpreters. Haydn, after hearing her play one of his compositions, said “Oh! my dear child, it is not I who wrote that piece but you who composed it!”40 In 1809, the Bigots moved to Paris, where Mme Bigot introduced the works of Beethoven to the city, and they made friends with composers Auber, Cramer, Clementi, Dussek, and Cherubini. After her husband’s capture during the Russian campaign of 1812, she spent the rest of her short life teaching to support her two children; the young Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn were students of hers, for a short time. Bigot’s piano works, published in Vienna and Paris, include a Sonata Opus 1, an Andante with eight variations and caprice, Opus 2, and the Suite d’études . They are sensitive, competent examples of early Romantic writing in Classic forms. COLLECTIONS: Historical Women Composers for the Piano: Marie Kiéné Bigot de Morogues, ed. Calvert Johnson (Vivace Press, 1992). Sonate in B-flat Major, Opus 1 [1806]. Level: Early Advanced, 3 mvmts, 23 pp. Classical form and textures, Romantic melodies and harmonies, innovative transitions and developments. I: Adagio/Allegro espressivo (B-flat major, in 4, 10 pp). The Adagio ends on a V chord, forming a one-page introduction to the sonata-form Allegro in nearly continuous sixteenth notes. II: Andantino (G minor, 3/4, 3 pp). An arioso in expanded ternary form. Unusually, it ends on an F7 chord, leading straight to movement III: Rondo (B-flat major, 6/8, allegro, 10 pp). Earlier material is developed. Suite d'études (1818). Level: Late Intermediate to Early Advanced. Six technical etudes, possibly her best composition. Attractive and worthwhile early examples of the genre, like those by Cramer, Chopin, and Clementi, with appealing melodies and less harmonically complex accompaniments than Chopin. Despite the title, there is no unifying scheme of forms or keys, though several seem based on old dance types. Generally ternary in form, with the repeated closing section slightly varied or extended.41 Etude in C minor. Level: Late Intermediate. (3/8, allegro, 3 pp). Rounded binary with repeats. Like a passepied (a fast minuet demanding nimble feet); octaves, closely spaced broken chords and syncopations; many dynamic contrasts. Etude in A minor. Level: Late Intermediate. (2/4, allegretto, 4 pp). Ternary form with middle section in A major. Supple RH needed in continuous sixteenth note texture with rapid ornaments; LH plays legato chord progressions and parallel thirds; balance and control of quiet dynamics required. Etude in C major. Level: Early Advanced. (12/8, presto, 5 pp). An exhilarating, tricky study; can be thought of as a virtuoso gigue. Extended passages of legato neighboring-tone triplets require lightness, supple wrists, and a cool head.
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Page 36 Etude in G major. Level: Late Intermediate. (6/8, allegretto, 3 pp). Similar to a pastorale in movement and mood. Careful articulations, lyricism, and sensitive balance between melody and accompaniment are required. Etude in D major. Level: Advanced. (3/4, presto, 8 pp). Serious technical requirements for playing this etude: The RH scalewise melody expands and contracts over a repeated tone, requiring loose wrist in rotary motion; LH plays a countermelody with pedal points. The study also uses rapid extended scales in parallel tenths, arpeggios, and legato right-hand octaves. Great fun! Etude in A minor. Level: Late Intermediate. (3/8, allegro, 4 pp). Independent LH/RH articulations, RH agility in rotation, smooth chords in LH; codetta contains large intervals in rapid contrary motion. SOURCES: Baker, Brown, Cohen, Dubal, Ebel, ElsonA, Fetis, Gordon, Grove, H&H, Hinson, Jackson, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, MGG, N-B, Pendle, S&S, Stern, score BILLINGTON, Elizabeth (née Weichsel(I); later m. Fellisent) b. London, Dec 27, 1765/1768—d. nr. Venice, Aug 25, 1818 Elizabeth Billington, a famous English soprano with a highly colorful and successful career, was renowned for the naturalness and control of her wide-ranged voice, her uncannily accurate intonation, and her tasteful, brilliant ornamentation. Her father, Carl Weichsell, was a German oboist and clarinetist, and her mother was a singer and pupil of J.C.Bach, with whom Billington herself studied. Elizabeth took keyboard lessons from J.S.Schroeter, and as a child appeared in public accompanying her brother, a violinist. Haydn called her “ein grosses Genie” (a great genius); her two sets of keyboard sonatas published before the age of twelve are her only extant compositions.42 In 1783, she married James Billington, a double bass player and her singing teacher, and immediately made her debut in Dublin as Gluck’s Euridice. Later voice lessons were with Mortellari in London and Sacchini in Paris.43 In 1794, two years after the publication of a set of scurrilous Memoirs by James Ridgway, Billington left for Italy with her husband and her brother. Thereafter, she enjoyed an extremely successful career as an opera singer in London and Italy, performing in operas by Bianchi, Paisiello, Paer, and Himmel written especially for her. After the death of her husband, she married a man named Felissent, who reportedly abused her. They separated, then reunited, and in 1818 Billington died at her estate in Italy, “possibly as a result of injuries inflicted on her by Felissent.”44
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Page 37 SINGLE WORKS: Three Sonatas for Harpsichord or Piano Op. 1 [1775], ed. Barbara Harbach (Vivace Press, 1995). Level: Mid-Intermediate. Sonatas in D, E-flat, and A major, 7–11 pp. in length. Each has two movements, with duple-meter allegros in binary form, and second movements in triple meters (one minuet and trio, two rondos). Written, amazingly, by the eight-year-old Elizabeth, the sonatas show a clear understanding of the textures and forms of their time, with some complexity of rhythm and virtuoso technique. The works abound in energetic triadic melodies, simple but with some ornamentation and occasional irregular phrase lengths. Figuration frequently shifts from broken-chord eighth note triplets to continuous sixteenth notes. The Vivace edition is extremely clear and easy to read, with informative prefaces and helpful ornament charts. Six Sonatas for Harpsichord or Piano Op. 2 [ca. 1778], ed. Harbach (Vivace Press, 1995). Also av. as Six Progressive Lessons for the Harpsichord or Piano Forte (Broude Bros Performers’ Facsimile Series). Level: Late Intermediate. Sonatas in G, A, B-flat, E-flat, F, and G major, 8–12 pp. long. Six elegant two-voice compositions in galant style. Each is in two movements, except for Sonata I, which has a brief Pastorale as an added middle movement. First movements (except for II) are in cut time, rounded binary form; sonatas III, IV, and VI contain multiple themes. Second movements are complex rondos in Sonatas I, II and III; the last three sonatas use the variation form of increased rhythmic values (“doubles”). The melodies vary from graceful and galant to folklike and energetic, and use arpeggio patterns, scalar passages, two-measure phrase repetitions, sequences, and a good deal of ornamentation. Alberti basses and broken-chord figures are prominent in the left hand; the harmony consists of primary chords with a few secondary dominants. Dynamics are consistent with the terraced” effects of the time, but articulations and the occasional crescendo seem to indicate the expected use of the pianoforte. Sonata VI (from Six Progressive Lessons for the Harpsichord or Piano Forte Op. 2), ed. Ursula Rempel (Hildegard, GKH reprint). See Six Sonatas, ANTHOLOGIES: Four Keyboard Sonatas by Early English Women Composers, ed. Fortino (Hildegard, 1995). Op. 1/2, Sonata II; see Single Works, above. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3; series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1998). Sonata VI ed. Ursula Rempel SOURCES: Baker, Brown, Cohen, Grove, H&H, Heinrich, Hinson, Hyde, Jackson, KOM, Meggett, S&S, Stern, scores
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Page 38 BLACKWELL, Mary Edward ( née Blackwell, Marion) b. Milwaukee, 1887—d. Sinsinawa, WI, Jan 7, 1987 Marion Blackwell, daughter of Thomas and Julia Britt Blackwell, began piano studies at the age of six with her sister. After graduating from St. John’s Academy in Milwaukee, she entered religious life at Sinsinawa, Wisconsin as a Dominican sister, taking the name Mary Edward. She first taught music in schools in Peoria and Bloomington, Illinois, and at Rosary College in River Forest. Sister Mary Edward continued her own musical studies with Professor Videk at the American Conservatory in Chicago, becoming the first woman (and first religious sister) to received degrees in music and music theory. Between 1921 and 1931, a number of her compositions were published by Clayton Summy and Boston Music. Blackwell then won the American Scholarship, and embarked to Rome for a three-year study of orchestration and symphonic composition with Ottorini Respighi, who later described her work as “very, very sensitive.” After Respighi’s death in 1936, Nadia Boulanger invited Sister Mary Edward to join her studio in Paris, at the École Normale de Musique. There, she met Igor Stravinsky, and developed lifelong friendships with both great musicians. In later years, as a faculty member of Rosary College and Edgewood College (Madison), Sister Edward hosted Stravinsky and Boulanger for presentations and workshops. Alliance Publications is now publishing music by Mary Edward Blackwell through the efforts of Anita Smisel, O.P., one of her grateful piano students and the source of this biography. SINGLE WORKS: Menuet, ed. Anita Smisek (Alliance Publications, Inc., 1996). Level: Mid-Intermediate. (G major, 3/4, moderato, 3 pp). A slightly quirky 20th c. version of the archaic dance, with charactistic rhythms but some harmonic playfulness. The lyric Trio (andante) is in C major. Forthcoming works by Blackwell from Alliance Publications: Rain Song, for soprano, flute, and piano; Hearts, for soprano and piano. SOURCES: Alliance Publications web page, score BLAHETKA, Marie Léopoldine b. Guntramsdorf nr. Vienna, Nov 15, 1811—d. Boulogne, Jan 12, 188745 A child prodigy, Blahetka studied piano with her mother, a virtuoso pianist who was herself the daughter of Viennese composer and music publisher Andreas Träg.46 At Beethoven’s suggestion, the five-year old took lessons from Joseph Czerny, and in 1820, at the age of eight, she made a sensational debut in Vienna, playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in B-flat major. She later studied piano with Moscheles, Kalkbrenner, and Cibbini-Kozeluch. A contemporary of Clara
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Page 39 Schumann and a pianist of the same rank, Blahetka belonged to Schubert’s circle of friends, and was a member of the Viennese Biedermeier musical world. Her playing was praised by Chopin and Schumann, and she successfully toured as a concert pianist in Germany, the Netherlands, Bohemia, England, and France. She also played the physharmonica, an experimental instrument similar to a reed organ, mounted under the piano keyboard and played simultaneously, with an expression stop controlled by the player’s feet. Blahetka studied composition with Hieronymus Payer and Simon Sechter, writing more than seventy works (nearly all published in her lifetime) for solo piano, piano with orchestra, chamber music, voice (including a Rastlose Liebe and an Ave Maria ), and one opera. In 1840, Blahetka moved to Boulogne, where she performed, composed, and taught piano for the remainder of her life. Her virtuoso piano music, reminiscent of both Beethoven and Mendelssohn, explores the singing tone and brilliant upper range of the instrument, and includes polonaises, valses, nocturnes, and many sets of variations. SINGLE WORKS: Mélodie (Editions Ars Femina, n.d.). Level: Early Advanced. (B major, 12/8, andante cantabile con molto expressione, 3 pp). Lyric and delicate song without words, reminiscent of the Parisian opera ballet. Trills, octaves, and crossed hands add interest. COLLECTIONS: Marie Leopoldine Blahetka: Music for Piano, ed. Ledeen (Hildegard, 1992). Originality, appeal, and considerable challenges to the pianist are displayed in these virtuoso examples of piano music from mid19th c. Paris and Vienna. Variations sur un Theme Original Op. 6. Level: Advanced. (A major, 2/4, allegretto, 9 pp). The lively theme, like an écoissaise, is in two eight-bar sections, repeated, and retains that form throughout the five amusing (and challenging) variations. Var. 3, a Siciliano in A minor, provides a dignified contrast to the brilliance of running figures, rapid ornaments, virtuoso leaps, and arpeggios in the surrounding variations. Polonaise Op. 19. Level: Advanced. (D major, common time, andante, 16 pp). Lengthy introduction, two main alternating ideas, and a coda. The nocturne-like B section has an embellished lyric melody over an arpeggiated bass. Variations pour le Piano-Forte sur la Cavatine favorite: “Cara deh attendimi” dans l’opera Zelmira de Rossini. Level: Advanced. (C major, common time, 15 pp). The two-page Adagio introduction in C minor ends with a cadenza into Rossini’s sparkling theme, in rounded binary with repeats. Six variations; the fourth is a series of repeated notes, and the fifth, an adagio, finishes with a cadenza into the sixth, a polonaise (score preface). Souvenirs d’Angleterre Op. 38. Level: Advanced. (B-flat, various tempi, 3/4 and common time, 19 pp). The 4½ pp. introduction and 3 pp. coda
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Page 40 flank the main theme, “God Save the Queen” (“My Country Tis of Thee”) and its several variations. A lovely nocturne-like adagio after the third variation provides a respite from the scintillating pyrotechnics in the rest of the work. Other tunes, including “Rule, Britannia,” make an appearance in the grandioso finale. Designed for performance by solo piano, piano with string quartet, or with orchestral accompaniment, the work uses the entire tonal and dynamic range of the piano. ANTHOLOGIES: Native and Foreign Virtuosos: Selected Works of Zimmerman, Alkan, Franck, and Contemporaries, Vol.10 of series Piano Music of the Parisian Virtuosos 1810–1860, ed. Jeffrey Kallberg (Garland Publishing, 1993). Facsimile edition. Rondeaux Élégans sur des Melodies Favorites Allemandes pour le Piano (divises en trois Suites) Op. 37. Lengthy works requiring stamina and technique commensurate with a Chopin valse brilliante . In each, a lengthy, florid introduction in common time sets the stage, and the curtain rises on splendid pianistic chiffon and lace in the tradition of Chopin and the French opera ballet. Rondeau Elegant No. 1. Level: Late Intermediate. (G major, 3/4, allegretto, 11 pp). The least difficult of the three, with repeated notes in octaves, eighth note scales, and triads picked out in staccato. Rondeau Elegant No. 2. (B-flat, 6/8, allegro, 9 pp). Level: Advanced. A strummed bass supports a caballetta-like melody; later, the hands trade roles. Transitions contain brilliant arpeggios and scales. Rondeau Elegant No. 3. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (E-flat major, 3/4, tempo d’une valse, 11 pp). A leggiero waltz begins with three grace-noted chirps, followed by an arpeggio sweeping up to an appogiatura; then three more chirps, a little shuffling in place, and the step is ready to begin again. In a contrasting section, hands alternate on G minor/major arpeggios. SOURCES: Baker, Boenke, B&T, ClagS, Cohen, Dubal, Ebel, ElsonA, Fetis, Gordon, grovemusic, H&H, Heinrich, Hinson, Kehler, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, MGG, Pendle, S&S, Stern, scores BOLEN, Grace M. Late 19th c. American No biographical information was available for this ragtime composer. ANTHOLOGIES: Ragtime Rarities: Complete Original Music for 63 Piano Rags, Tichenor (Dover, 1975) and Ragtimes für Klavier, ed. Kaluza (Furore, 1994).
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Page 41 The Smoky Topaz (March and Two Step) [1901]. Level: Late Intermediate. (A-flat/D-flat, 2/4, tempo di cakewalk, 3 pp). An eight-bar intro (hands in unison at the octave) with a Latin feel opens this lighthearted piece, set in one of the standard rag forms: AABBCC-Interlude-C, with repeats. The sixteen-bar interlude, based on the rhythm of the introduction, is in the relative minor of the Trio (C) section. SOURCES: Hinson, KOM, score BON (DIVENEZIA), Anna b. ?Russia, 1739/40—d. after 1767 Anna Bon was one of the few women in the eighteenth century to have her music published during her lifetime, and to be included in important contemporary reference works. She was born into a family of theatrical and musical professionals: her mother, Rosa Ruvinetti, was a comic opera singer, and her father, Girolamo Bon, was an artist, stage designer, director, and lyricist.47 Anna herself played the harpischord, composed, and sang. The family, which seems to have originated in Venice, was hired by many noble patrons, including the Russian court at St. Petersburg, Elector Friedrich August II in Dresden, and Frederick the Great at Potsdam, the same houses which employed Hasse, C.P.E.Bach, Graun, and Quantz. By 1755, the Bons were in Bayreuth at the court of Margrave Friedrich of Brandenburg Culmbach and his wife Wilhelmine, sister of Frederick the Great. In 1762, the entire family moved to the court of Prince Nikolaus von Esterhazy, where Anna’s stay coincided with Haydn’s early years; they must have known knew each other. No records exist of her life after her move to Hildburgshausen and her 1767 marriage to Mongeri, an Italian tenor. Three collections of chamber works comprise her known output, all published during the Bayreuth stay and before Anna was twenty. These are the six flute sonatas, Opus I; the six sonatas for harpsichord Opus II; and Sei divertimenti a due flauti e basso, Opus III. COLLECTIONS: Six Sonatas for Harpsichord or Piano [1757], ed. Barbara Harbach (Vivace Press, 1995). 52pp. Level: Late Intermediate. Challenging, inventive and welcome additions to the rococo repertoire. Six sonatas, three movements each, 6–10 pp. in length. Simple forms, two-voice textures, simple but graceful ornamentation. Triadic/scalar melodies are motivic rather than thematic, with non-melodic basses, one overruling emotion per movement, and very little imitation. Fast movements highlight technical skill, while harmonies in slow movements add to the sweetness and pathos. Sonata I in G Minor. I: Allegro, common time. Graceful, forward-moving, like a movement from a dance suite. Descending scale segments alternate with ascending arpeggios, ending with a trill to an appogiatura. II:
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Page 42 Andantino, common time. Stately and unhurried, opening with a motive in conversation between the hands. III: Allegretto, 3/8. A lively scherzo, with running sixteenths on scales and broken chords accompanied by the merest suggestion of harmony. Sonata II in B-flat Major. I: Allegro non molto, 3/4. A triadic theme set to dotted rhythms, varied with sixteenth note scales; early sonata-allegro form. II: Andante, G minor, 2/4. Closes with three adagio measures of arpeggiated chords. III: Allegro, 2/4. Energetic arpeggios alternate with scales. Sonata III in F major. I: Allegretto, 2/4. Dances along in jig-fashion on dotted figures and sextuplets. II: Adagio, common time. Augmented sixth chords add expressive color. III: Minuet and trio. Trio is in the parallel minor. Sonata IV in C Major. I: Allegro, 2/4. Rapid galant style. Two and three-voice textures, tremolos, full chords before cadences. II: Largo, 3/4. Melody is doubled in thirds, with occasional four-voice chords. III: Allegro assai. Dashing and attractive melody, altered in the recapitulation. Sonata V in B Minor. I: Allegro moderate, common time. French overture style, with dotted rhythms, dramatic rests, full-voiced chords, and sweeping flourishes on thirty-second notes. II: Adagio non molto, B major, 3/4. The work moves steadily on the quarter-note beat, in a two-voice texture with four-part chords at the beginning of sections and the final cadence. A few dotted rhythms refer to first movement theme. III: Allegro, 2/4. Continuous 16th note figuration over a wide range of the keyboard. Sonata VI in C Major. I: Allegro, common time. Energetic. II: Andante, B-flat, common time. As in first movement, uses LH repeated notes. III: Minuetto con Variazione, 3/4. A sixteen-measure theme is, followed by six melodic variations over an ostinato bass pattern. OTHER AVAILABLE EDITIONS: Clavier Sonatas Op. 2/5-6 (Editions Ars Femina Nos 40-05 and 40-04) Six Sonatas for Keyboard, Op. II, ed. Hettrick (Hildegard, 1997) 6 Cembalosonaten (1757), ed. Kloft, (facs. ed., Edition Donna, 1991) Sei Senate Per II Cenbalo (sic) /Opera Seconda (Performers’ Facsimiles #PF 152, 1998). Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1998): Sonata II in B-flat major, ed. Fortino. SOURCES: Boenke, Cohen, Eitner, grovemusic, H&H, Heinrich, Hinson, Jackson, KOM, scores
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Page 43 BOND, Carrie Minetta Jacobs (var. Jacobs-Bond; née Jacobs) b. Janesville, WI, Aug 11, 1862—d. Hollywood, CA, Dec 28, 1946 American composer and publisher Carrie Bond was a precocious child who played Liszt’s Second Hungarian Rhapsody by ear at the age of nine. Her formal musical training was limited to local teachers, but she showed considerable early talent in illustrating her poems in picture and song, and in promoting her works with influential people. Bond married twice: the first marriage, to a man named E.J.Smith, ended in divorce; then, after six years of marriage to Dr. Frank Bond, she was left a widow. In 1901, the resourceful and energetic Bond formed a publishing company in Chicago, printing over 175 of her own songs. A blend of parlor and art song traditions written mostly to her own texts, her works were characterized by sweet melodies, lilting rhythms, and simple accompaniments. Two of them achieved astronomical success: I Love You Truly sold a million copies, and is still occasionally heard at weddings; A Perfect Day sold an unbelievable eight million copies of sheet music in over sixty editions, over five million recordings, and was a favorite during World War I.48 In 1920, Bond settled in California, where she wrote newspaper articles, helped found the California Federation of Music Clubs, and became friends with a number of movie stars. She published a book of memoirs, The Roads of Melody, and a collection of poems entitled The End of the Road, and continued to publish songs into her eighties. Although most of Bond’s two hundred compositions were songs, a few piano works are in existence. ANTHOLOGIES: American Women Composers, ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1990). Also available in American Keyboard Music 1866 Through 1910, ed. Glickman, Vol. 4 of Three Centuries of American Music, gen. eds. Schleifer and Dennison (G.K.Hall, 1990). Rêverie [1902]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (F major, common time, andante canatabile, 3 pp). Dedicated to the popular American pianist, Amy Fay. An appealing melody sings above rolled triads; the left hand gently places a tonic or dominant pedal tone at the beginning of each measure. In the agitato B section, the harmonic rhythm increases to two chords per measure, and the scalar motive is fragmented. The first section returns, with a coda entirely of the rolled triads. Several long trills and three chromatic runs provide a bit of challenge. SOURCES: Ammer, Baker, B&NB, Borroff, B&T, ClagAm, ClagH, ClagS, Cohen, Fuller, H&H, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Pendle, Stern, score
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Page 44 BONIS, Melanie Hélene (pseud. Mel-Bonis; Mme Albert Domange) b. Paris, Jan 21, 1858—d. Sarcelles, Seine-et-Oise, Mar 18, 1937 As a child, Bonis improvised at the keyboard and made remarkable progress as a pianist. A classmate of Debussy, d’lndy, and Pierné at the Paris Conservatoire, Bonis studied harmony with Ernest Guiraud and organ with César Franck, winning first prize in harmony in 1880. She married in 1883, and spent the next ten years raising her family, then began composing regularly around 1894. Bonis produced over three hundred works, including twenty-two chamber pieces, eleven orchestral works, choral pieces, organ music, songs, and 150 works for solo piano. Her work, generally overlooked, should be included in discussions of the French post-Romantics, all of whom praised her music warmly: Franck, Pierné, d’lndy, Debussy, and Saint-Saëns. Bonis had a gift for melody and movement, and used the entire range of the keyboard in her wonderfully idiomatic and well-written pieces. Her piano works are frequently in well-constructed binary forms, with several themes and a development section in a related key. Bonis’ adventurous harmonic palette includes seventh chords, added-note and suspended chords, sliding harmonies over pedal tones, as well as occasional pentatonic and whole-tone scale fragments. Real dissonances are rare, however, and the general effect is that of an Impressionist painting: a wash of shifting colors and movement, suggestions of story, shape, and substance. SINGLE WORKS: Mélisande (Editions Henry Lemoine, 1993). Level: Early Advanced. (D-flat major, 2/4, andantino, 3 pp). Beautiful watercolor miniature; a brief but lovely Impressionistic work. Shifting 32nd note arpeggios between the hands surround the unhurried eighth note melody. The recurring motif of a rising third is paired with undulating seconds; 7th, 9th, and 11 th chords, altered mediants and occasional whole tone fragments add color. A “watery” piece not unlike Reflets dans l’eau or Jardins sous la pluie, it closes with eleven chorale-like measures of 9th chords. COLLECTIONS: 17 Pieces Pour Piano (Editions Henry Lemoine, 1987). Nineteen works, ranging from midintermediate to advanced level. L’escarpolette (Valse) [Little dancing slipper]. Level: Late Intermediate. (G major, 3/4, mouvement modéré de valse, 5 pp). A breathlessly gay Viennese waltz; swirling two-note slurs lead to an arpeggio, and are balanced by short steps back down. The texture is delicate, with only two or three voices; very often a single note serves as pickup. A more lyric second theme goes through many keys in the development; ascending 8th-note scales accompany a third theme in C major. Barcarolle. Level: Advanced. (E-flat major, 6/8, andantino, 8 pp). ABA form; lovely Impressionist work evoking movement and moods on the water.
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Page 45 Bourée. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (B minor, cut time, allegro, 4 pp). Binary dance with repeats. A modal folk melody accompanied by broken-chord musette-like bass. Gai Printemps [Gay spring, Impromptu]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (F-sharp minor, 3/4, allegro molto, 4 pp). A graceful waltz reminiscent of Chopin, in rounded binary form with two prevalent rhythmic motives. In the first section, delicate and wistful, the sighing motive is in minor mode. The mode changes to the relative major, and the upside-down theme is now joyous and elegant. Texture changes to continuous eighth notes with open-fifth arpeggios, repeated notes, and trills. Menuet. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (A minor, 3/4, allegretto con moto, 5 pp). Binary dance with repeats. Refined hops and mincing staccato steps on eighth note scales, punctuated by full-voiced chords leaping around at cadences. The suave, ornamented trio is in A major. La cathédrale blessée. Level: Advanced. (G-sharp minor, 6/4, grave, majestueux, 6 pp). Ascending scales, harmonized and played over tonic and dominant pedals, evoke sounds of an organ, not unlike Debussy’s “Engulfed Cathedral.” Middle section is in F-sharp minor. Romance sans Paroles [Song without words]. Level: Late Intermediate. (G-flat major, in 4, andantino, 4 pp). In the standard texture for the genre, the lyric theme, a descending pentatonic scale (6-5-3-2-1), appears out of the prevailing arpeggios. LH plays a bass octave at the start of each measure, then crosses over to join in the melody. Sevilliana. Level: Advanced. (E major, 6/8, con moto, 6 pp). A Spanish character piece in ABA form, using typical dance rhythms. B section is in D-flat major. Prelude. Level: Early Advanced. (A-flat major, 12/8, allegro con molto, 4 pp). Lovely romantic melody, in pointillistic fashion: a descending scale in dotted quarters shifts register on each beat. Entire keyboard is used; prevailing texture is a 16th note cloud of seventh-chord arpeggios. Seven bars in the middle are in E major. Le Moustique [The mosquito]. Level: Late Intermediate. (B minor, common time, allegro con moto, 6 pp). Like Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Bumblebee,” this buzzing insect is rarely still, first hopping down the keyboard in bursts of 16th notes, then zooming through trills and turns in the middle of the keyboard. A contrasting piu vivo in staccato eighth notes and dissonant chords provides a rest; perhaps the creature flits out of reach—or stops for a bite. Keys change frequently in a long developmental section, then the theme returns in the parallel major. Mélisande. See Single Works. Marionettes. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (F Major, in 4, allegro molto, 4 pp). A playful piece, with chords marching in a jerky staccato, like Schumann’s “Soldier’s March.” The puppets seem to dance in the contrasting center section. Pavane. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (B minor, common time, poco andante, 3 pp). Dignified binary dance has a measured tread in a
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Page 46 curiously light texture. In close position, an ornamented melody is accompanied by deliberately plucked broken chords. A contrasting section in F-sharp minor moves a bit faster. Ballade. Level: Advanced. (F-sharp minor, 6/8, moderato, 8 pp). LH doubles the main theme; middle section is in D-flat. Changes in tempo, texture, and key illustrate the different sections of this musical tale. Près du ruisseau. Level: Early Advanced. (C-sharp minor, 6/8, presto, 6 pp). Lacy, fragile miniature, in “song without words” texture. Une Flûte Soupire [A sighing flute]. Level: Late Intermediate. (B-flat major, 3/4, moderato, 2 pp. An exquisite early Impressionistic work. The melody descends in fluttering triplets, flirting with whole-tone scales, while the left hand plays calm, wide chords. Salomé. Level: Advanced. (B-flat minor/G-flat major, 2/4–3/4, assez vif, 6 pp). A tonal portrait with modal borrowing and many changes in texture, mood, and rhythms. Valse lente [Slow waltz]. Level: Late Intermediate. (B major, 3/4, trés modéré, 2 pp). Manuscript writing, with larger notes than rest of collection. LH provides both bass and melody in this poignant dance, first striking a bass octave, then crossing over for the chromatic tune. RH plays triads ornamented with grace notes. Au crepuscule [At twilight]. Level: Advanced. (E-flat major, common time, quasi andante, 4 pp). Fluttering 16th-notes in the background texture are much smaller than normal-size melody tones. A subdued song-without-words, with many LH crossings into the treble. Miocheries: 14 scenes enfantines [Mioche=urchin, kiddie, or tot]. (Max Eschig, 1928). Level: Late Elementary to Mid-Intermediate. Fourteen brief character pieces for children, in easy keys and a variety of tempos, moods, and meters; 1–2 pp. each. 1920s illustrations accompany each piece: Première solitude, Air connu, Ronde, Le Moulin, “Fifille” sage, La leçon de solfège, A pas de loups, Patineurs (à roulettes), Croquemitaine, Plutôt une vielle danse française, Joyeux scouts, Piquenique, La toute petite s’endort, and Les noces de Polichinelle. Scénes Enfantines (Max Eschig, 1912). Level: Early to Mid-Intermediate. Eight short works describing scenes in a child’s day: Aubade, Joyeux réveil, Cache-cache, Valse lente, Marche militaire, Frère Jacques, Bébé s’endort, and Carillon. Six Pièces Pour Le Piano (Éditions Henry Lemoine, 1993). Level: Mid/Late Intermediate. Six charming character pieces, with styles ranging from mid-Romantic to early impressionistic. No. 1: Cache-Cache [Hide-and-Seek]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (G minor, cut time, assez vite, 2 pp). Short bursts of running 16th notes are interrupted by rests and tip-toeing quarter-notes, as the seeker stops to look around and listen for his playmates. Several interpolated phrases (e.g., “No, you can’t catch me!”) and plenty of dynamic contrasts make this piece almost as much fun as the game.
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Page 47 Nos 2–6: Gai printemps, Le moustique, Romance sans paroles, Marionnettes, and L’escarpolette —see Collections: 17 Pièces Pour Piano. SOURCES: Baker, Boenke, Cohen, Gordon, grovemusic, H&H, Heinrich, Hinson, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, S&S, SCB, Stern, score BORDEWIJK-ROEPMAN, Johanna (née Suzanna Hendrina Roepman) b. Rotterdam, Aug 4, 1892—d. The Hague, Oct 6/8, 1971 Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman began her compositional career after the age of twenty-five by writing little songs to the pictures in her children’s storybooks. In 1936–37, she took lessons in orchestration with Eduard Flipse, conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, but she was primarily selftaught. Among her compositions are a one-act opera, Rotonde, and an oratorio, Plato’s Dood, to texts by her husband, Frans Bordewijk, a well-known Dutch novelist. A visit to north Africa inspired her first orchestral suite, The Garden of Allah, and her Piano Sonata won a government prize in 1946. Thereafter, Bordewijk-Roepman received numerous commissions for orchestral, choral and carillon works from the Dutch government and various municipalities. Her music is variously described as eclectic but based on Classic formal principles, with solid construction and logical development; late Romantic in style and characterized by careful instrumentation; and extremely influenced by Impressionism.49 Her piano works include the Sonata, a Concerto, and some incidental pieces. SINGLE WORKS: Debout, éveille-toi [Standing up, you awaken] (Donemus, 1953). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (6/8-4/4, berceuse/tranquillo-animato, 7 pp). Facsimile manuscript. In two sections, beginning as a gentle cradle song, then getting gradually louder and faster. Tonal, with many lateRomantic harmonies; neo-classic in style. Impromptu voor Piano (Donemus, 1961). Level: Advanced. (2/4-3/4-6/84/4, maestoso moderatoallegretto-andante-molto lento, 12pp). Tonal, but with shifting tonal centers and many accidentals. Strong jazz feel gives the illusion of improvisation; fragmented themes are more rhythmic and harmonic than melodic, with colors and rhythms reminiscent of both Gershwin and Debussy. Strongly metric, with occasional shifts of meter and beat division. Ninths, elevenths, and added-note chords are used; frequently, there are sequential chromatic triads, and arpeggio octave triplets against block-chord duplets. The work contains ninety-one tempo changes in twelve pages. LISTED but not found in print: Drie dansen (Alsbach) and Sonata (Alsbach, 1943), in Hinson’s Guide, 1st ed.
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Page 48 SOURCES: Cohen, grovemusic, H&H, Hinsonl, KOM, Meggett, NewGrove, S&S, Stern BOSMANS, Henriette Hilda b. Amsterdam, Dec 5/6, 1895—d. Amsterdam, Jul 2, 1952 Considered the most talented Dutch woman composer of her time, this concert pianist was the daughter of Henri Bosnians, principal cellist for the Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Sarah Bosnians-Benedicts, a concert pianist who taught at the Amsterdam Conservatory.50 After studying piano with her mother, Bosnians graduated from the Conservatory at seventeen, and went on to an extremely successful career as a soloist and accompanist, including playing for Peter Pears in his Dutch recitals. She studied orchestration and composition with Cornelis Dopper and Willem Pijper, producing many pieces for cello, orchestra, voice, and piano. Bosnians also composed a number of songs on French texts which she performed with Noemie Perugia, a French singer. Her early works were late Romantic in style, but later compositions employed impressionistic and neo-Classic modernisms such as bitonality, mixed meters, parallelism, and quartal harmony. SINGLE WORKS: Zes Preludes Voor Piano (Donemus, 1952). Spiral bound oversized manuscript, clearly written. Six mysterious mood pieces sharing a number of characteristics: all are short, in minor keys, with a soprano melody set above block triads, moving inner voices, and triplet figures. The harmony is chromatic but functionally tonal, with modal borrowing and some sliding harmonies for uneasy dissonances. A wide range of the keyboard is used, with a decided fondness for the lowest bass register. I. Level: Late Intermediate. (F minor, common time, moderate assai, 1 1/2 pp). Mostly pp, with a despondent melody descending an octave and a half. II. Level: Late Intermediate. (E minor, common time, lento assai, 2 pp). Ghostly octaves in a triplet rhythm evoke Halloween memories of the child’s song, “the worms go in, the worms go out.” Rolled chords and a lengthy fortissimo passage provide drama. III. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (D minor, common time, agitato, 3 1/2 pp). Rapid, tricky scale passages on eighth note triplets might be the wind blowing in the cracks. IV. Level: Late Intermediate. (E minor, 5/4, allegretto, 2½ pages.) Like an elfin dance by Grieg. V. Level: Late Intermediate. (C minor, common time, cantando e dolente, 2 pp). In this lovely arioso, each soprano phrase is punctuated by a bass drone on open fifths. VI. Level: Advanced. (F-sharp minor, 3/4, presto ma non troppo, 6 pp). The longest and most difficult in the set. A perpetuo moto toccata of
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Page 49 rapidly changing scales in triplets, with occasional octaves, frequent accidentals, and many dynamic changes. The ending is a hair-raising tour-de-force with octaves in both hands. LISTED but not found in print: Vielle Chanson 1948 (Broekmans and Van Poppel, 1950), from Hommage a Willem Pijper, cited in Hinson’s Guide, 3rd ed. SOURCES: A-Z, Baker, Boenke, Cohen, Gordon, Grove, H&H, Hinson, Johnson, KOM, Laurence, Mac, S&S, Stern BOULANGER, Lili (née Juliette Marie Olga) b. Paris, Aug 21, 1893—d. Mezy, Yvelines, nr. Paris, Mar 15, 1918 Lili Boulanger, younger sister of the most influential composition teacher of the twentieth century, had regrettably brief life, with impressive accomplishments due to talent, will, and a supportive musical family. Lili’s mother, a Russian princess, was a singer who came to Paris to study with Ernest Boulanger, a professor and composer at the Conservatoire. Although Boulanger was forty years her senior, they married and had three children.51 Left a semi-invalid after severe bronchial pneumonia at the age of two, Lili was restricted by illness in all her later efforts. In spite of sporadic lessons due to her illness, Lili learned to play piano, violin, cello, and harp, and the precocious child attended classes at the Conservatory with her sister Nadia. Already knowing she wished to be a composer, Boulanger studied privately with Georges Caussade, then at the Paris Conservatoire with Paul Vidal. In 1913, at the age of nineteen, she became the first woman to receive the Premier Grand Prix de Rome, with her cantata Faust et Hélène. Illness and the outbreak of World War I interrupted her stay in Rome. Even though gravely ill, Boulanger continued to work up to the time of her death of tuberculosis at age twentyfour.52 Her more than fifty works include an unfinished opera, sacred and secular choral music, some orchestral and chamber music, songs, etudes, variations, and miscellaneous pieces for piano. Her music is late Romantic and early Impressionist in style, lyric, imaginative, and strong. Her sister Nadia said of her, “the beauty of her countenance, at once childlike and wise, is reflected in her work.”53 SINGLE WORKS: Thème et Variations [1911–1914], ed. Selma Epstein (Chromattica USA Press, n.d.). Also av. as Morceau de piano: Thème et Variations (Schott, 1997). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (C minor, 3/4, 10 pp). Elegant and beautiful; Boulanger’s largest work for piano (score preface). An eight-measure theme with eight variations and a Finale. Prepared and completed by the pianist Emile Naoumoff.
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Page 50 Trois Morceaux pour Piano [1914] (G.Schirmer/Hal Leonard, 1979). I. D’un vieux Jardin [In an old garden]. Level: Late Intermediate. (C-sharp minor, 3/4, espressif, 3 pp). An Impressionistic tone-painting of the dried grasses, brambly borders, old stonework, and overgrown paths in an old garden. Boulanger paints in muted tones, achieving movement and light by avoiding functional harmony: the descending motif wanders from key to key, rarely achieving cadential closure, and tritones, enharmonic spellings, 9th and 11th chords, added-note chords, an absence of leading tones, flatted-seven chords, and occasional whole-tone fragments all add color. II. D’un Jardin Clair [In a clearing]. Level: Late Intermediate. (B major, 3/4, assez vite, 4 pp). Attractive fragments based on four tones (G-sharp, B, C-sharp, F-sharp) form the melody, with borrowed and added-sixth sliding chords for color. In the second half, hands double the melody at the octave; a third staff is needed on the final page for pianissimo bell tones in the highest register. III. Cortège [Procession] [1914]. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (B major, 2/4, pas vite, 6 pp). Originally composed for violin or flute and piano. As gay and carefree as Poulenc chanson, this work bubbles along in four-bar phrases and parallel periods, with a light but continuous accompaniment of ascending 16th note arpeggios. There are many subtle contrasts in articulation, tempo and dynamics, but the marking on the third page could serve for the entire piece: “très léger, mais joyeusement.” ANTHOLOGIES: The Century of Invention, Part II, ed. Hinson (European American Music, 1996), Frauen Koraponieren, 22 Klavierstücke, ed. Rieger and Walter (Schott, 1992), and Great Women Composers, ed. Smith (Mel Bay, 1996). D’un vieux Jardin ( Trois Morceaux, no. 2). Women Composers: Music through the Ages, Vol. 6, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Trois Morceaux. See above. SOURCES: Ammer, A-Z, Baker, Boenke, ClagS, Cohen, FRK, Gillespie, Gordon, Grove, HAMW, H&H, Heinrich, Hinson, Hutcheson, Jezic, Johnson, Kirby, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Magrath, Meggett, MGG, N-B, Pendle, SCB, S&S, Stern, scores
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Page 51 BRANSCOMBE, Gena (var. Gina; Mrs. John F.Tenney/Tenny) b. Picton, Ontario, Nov 4, 1881—d. New York, Jul 26, 1977 Canadian/American composer and conductor Gena Branscombe began composing before she was five years old. At age fifteen, she won a scholarship to the Chicago Musical College, where for seven years she studied piano with Rudolph Ganz and composition with Felix Borowski, twice winning the gold medal for composition. After teaching at the College and at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, Branscombe studied composition with Humperdinck in Berlin for one year. On returning home, she married John F.Tenney, a lawyer, and they had four daughters, one of whom died very young. Branscombe studied conducting in New York with Warren Erb, Frank Damrosch, Albert Stoessel, and Chalmers Clifton, and was soon in widespread demand as a conductor of choirs and women’s orchestras. In 1934, she founded the Branscombe Chorale, a women’s choir, which she led for twenty years in standard works as well as compositions by herself and other women. Best known for her choral music, she published over 150 songs, as well as pieces for orchestra, chamber groups, and around thirty short works for piano, continuing to compose for commissions into her 90s. She was active in the American Society of Women Composers and the New York State Federation of Women’s Clubs, and received awards prizes from many organizations, including the League of American Pen Women, the Golden Rule Foundation, and an honorary M.A. from Whitman College. Goss, in Modern Music-Makers, quotes Branscombe: “Having a home, a husband and children to love and serve brings enrichment of life to a woman. But being a part of the world’s work in humbly serving and loving the illumined force which is music brings fulfillment.”54 LISTED but not found in print: Cavalcade and Valse-Caprice [1902], in The Canadian Musical Heritage: Piano Music, Vol. 2, ed. Elaine Keillor (Ottawa, 1983), cited in Hinson’s Guide, 3rd ed. SOURCES: Ammer, Anderson, Baker, B&NB, Boenke, B&T, ClagAm, ClagH, ClagS, Cohen, ElsonA, Fuller, Goss, Grove, Grove Am, H&H, Heinrich, Hinson, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, NewGrove, Pendle, S&S, Skowronski, Stern BRIGHT, Dora Estella (Mrs. Wyndham Knatchbull) b. Sheffield, England, Aug 16, 1863—d. Somerset, England, Nov 16, 1951 Dora Bright, an English composer and pianist, was a member of “The Party,” a group of young composers at the London Royal Academy of Music in the late 19th century. She entered the Academy at the age of seventeen and studied piano with Walter MacFarren and composition with Ebenezer Prout. In 1884, Bright won the Potter Exhibition; later, her Fantasia in G Minor for piano and
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Page 52 orchestra was the first orchestral work by a British woman to be performed at the conservative Philharmonic Society concerts. In 1888, she became the first woman to win the Lucas Medal for composition for her string quartet, Air and Variations . She established herself in Britain and on the continent as a pianist and composer with a series of recitals promoting historical and contemporary British composers. After her marriage to Crimean War veteran Colonel Wyndham Knatchbull in 1892, Bright performed less frequently in public, but continued to compose. She traveled to Paris for lessons in orchestration with Moritz Moszkowski, and her later works include a dramatic song cycle, Six Songs from the Jungle Book, and a number of works for ballet created with the famous dancer Adeline Genée; La Camargo and The Dancer’s Adventure are the most famous of their collaborations. In later years, Bright wrote a regular column of music criticism expressing her scathing dislike for contemporary music from Britten to Stravinsky, her personal preference being the works of the early Romantics. In 1951, at the age of 88, she died at her home in London. Extant works include operas, ballets, songs, and a few piano pieces: Two Sketches, Romania and Scherzetto, Three Pieces, and several duos. Bright’s individual style combines careful construction with appealing melodies and lush chromatic harmonies.55 Because none of her solo piano works is currently available, the duet below has been included in this catalog. ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music through the Ages, Vol. 6, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Variations on an Original Theme of Sir G.A.Macfarren’s (For two pianos). Level: Advanced. Theme and six variations, G minor, 25 pp. The most frequently performed of Bright’s two-piano variations, and the only one to appear in print. First performed by Bright and her lifelong friend, Ethel Boyce, and very well received. The simple, somber twenty-four bar theme in G minor undergoes six inventive variations, including a G major version, a bubbling “alla polacca,” and a majestic fugal finale. SOURCES: Boenke, Brown, Cohen, Ebel, ElsonA, Fuller, grovemusic, H&H, Hyde, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, S&S, Stern, score BUCKLEY, Olivia Dussek (née Dussek; var. Bulkley/Bulkeley) b. London, Sep 29, ca. 1799—d. London, ca. 1847 Olivia Dussek, an English harpist, organist, pianist, composer, and writer, was the daughter of two composers and a member of the illustrious Czech family of musicians. Her father, Jan Ladislav Dussek, composer of over three hundred works, was the first pianist to sit with his right side facing the audience, and one of the first to include pedal markings in his compositions. Composer Sophia
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Page 53 Corri Dussek, Olivia’s mother, taught her piano and harp. (Both her mother and her father’s sister, Veronica Dussek Cianchettini, appear in this catalog). Olivia’s published compositions included works for harp and piano, songs and teaching pieces. An excellent performer, she married a Mr. Buckley and served as organist at Kensington Parish Church from 1840 until her death. SINGLE WORKS: Fantasia for the Pianoforte, ed. Ursula Rempel (Hildegard, GKH reprint). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (C major, common time-6/8, allegro brilliante/allegro con piacere, 19 pp). Idiomatic writing for the piano, with many scale passages and arpeggios and a good deal of harmonic ingenuity for the period. The first ten pages are freely rhapsodic, even meandering; the second half, a Rondo, has a recurrent folk-like tune. Many passages are transitional or cadential in nature, with an absence of complete themes or development; an enjoyable exercise for the developing pianist. ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1998). Fantasia, above. SOURCES: Brown, B&T, Cohen, ClagS, Ebel, ElsonA, Fetis, Fuller, Grove, H&H, Hinson, Hyde, Jackson, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, S&S, Stern, scores BURGESS, Mattie Harl Late 19th c. American No biographical information about this ragtime composer was available. ANTHOLOGIES: Ragtime Rediscoveries: 64 Works from the Golden Age of Rag, sel. Tichenor (Dover, 1979). Rag Alley Dream [1902], Level: Late Intermediate. (C minor/E-flat/A-flat majors, 2/4, 4 pp). Five 16-bar sections made of three strains (ABACC), with a four-bar introduction and an eight-bar interlude between repeats of the Trio, where a heavier texture prevails. The rag finishes in strutting style, and “evokes an informal cakewalk on a back street, a rather common pastime in the late 1890s and early 1900s” (score preface). SOURCES: Score
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Page 54 C CAMPBELL, Caroline fl. London, 1780s No information is available about the life of this late-eighteenth century English composer. Her two extant compositions are Two Sonatas and Three English Airs with Variations for harp or harpsichord (in modern edition below) published around 1787 in London, and Two Sonatas and Six Songs and Some English Airs with Variations, Op. 11, for harp and accompaniment, published in 1788. COLLECTIONS: Two Sonatas for Harpsichord or Harp (ca. 1787), ed. Barbara Harbach (Vivace Press, 1999). Two sonatas in E-flat major, each in two movements with regular phrase lengths, triadic melodies, and standard late 18th century accompaniments. Attractive, well-constructed additions to the Classical repertoire, perfectly acceptable on the piano; few dynamic or articulation markings in this Urtext edition. Sonata I in E-flat major, 7 pp. Level: Late Intermediate. I: Allegro, 2/4. Sonata form. II: Minuetto. Charming and graceful; binary with repeats. Sonata II in E-flat major, 12 pp. Level: Late Intermediate. I: Allegro, 2/4. II: Rondo, 6/8. SOURCES: Cohen, H&H, Heinrich, Jackson, Stern CANDEILLE, Amélie Julie (var. Simons-Candeille, Emilie. Mme Delaroche, later Mme Simons, then Mme Périé) b. Paris, Jul 31, 1767—d. Paris, Feb 4, 1834 Julie Candeille, actress, singer, harpist, writer, and composer, was one of a small group of women opera composers in France during the Revolution. She studied with her father, the composer Pierre Joseph Candeille, and with Holaind, a harpsichordist, and Legros, a singer. At age fifteen, she premiered as Gluck’s Iphigénie en Aulide, and later composed, produced, and starred in her own operetta, Catherine ou La belle fermière, a tremendous success that remained in the Comédie Française repertoire for thirtyfive years. Candeille married and divorced Louis-Nicholas Delaroche, a military doctor. In 1798, she married
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Page 55 Jean Simons, a wealthy Belgian carriage builder, after which she signed her works as F.SimonsCandeille; they separated in 1802. In 1822, after returning from a lengthy political asylum in England, she married the painter Hilaire-Henri Périé de Senovert. In addition to four operas, her compositions include orchestral works, chamber music, piano pieces, and songs, and she wrote novels, dramas, and her memoirs. Some of her salon-style piano pieces were dedicated to other women musician/composers, such as Hélène de Montgeroult (q.v.) and Pauline Duchambge. SINGLE WORKS: Nouvelle Fantaisie Facile et Brilliante for Piano Op. 13, ed. Calvert Johnson (Vivace Press: forthcoming). Level of difficulty: Medium Difficult. Set of eight variations on a Romance, “A peine la douce aurore avoit rougi les côteaux,” from the opera Azéline, by Hoffman and Solié (publication notes by Calvert Johnson). SOURCES: Baker, Boenke, B&T, Cohen, Ebel, Eitner, ElsonA, Fetis, H&H, Heinrich, Jackson, Johnson, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, MGG, N-B, NewGrove, S&S, Stern CARREÑO, Teresa (María Teresa Gertrudis de Jesus Carreño García de Sena y Toro) b. Caracas, Venezuela, Dec 22, 1853—d. New York City, Jun 12, 1917 Teresa Carreño, the Venezuelan “Valkyrie of the Piano,” was a virtuoso pianist of fiery temperament, towering strength, and sheer talent. Grandniece of Simon Bolivár, the child prodigy first studied with her father, a minister of finance ousted by revolution. In 1862, the family moved to New York, where the child took half a dozen lessons with Louis Moreau Gottschalk, whose manner of playing deeply impressed her, and who, believing her a genius, helped promote her career. Carreño toured Europe, many North American cities, and Cuba, and as a ten-year-old performed at the White House for Abraham Lincoln. In 1866, she studied with Matthias in Paris, where she met Rossini and Liszt, who were both impressed with her talent and beauty, as were Brahms and Anton Rubinstein, who gave her lessons whenever they met. Liszt offered to teach her, but the thirteen-year-old refused to follow him to Rome. Rossini and Adelina Patti wanted to make a professional singer of her, as she possessed a beautiful mezzo-soprano voice, and she became an acclaimed opera singer as well as a piano virtuosa and composer. The tempestuous Carreño married four times, including the composer Eugene d’Albert, and bore seven children while continuing her career as a concert pianist.56 Carreño’s compositions comprise a string quartet, an unpublished Serenade for Strings, choral works, and about forty descriptive piano pieces and dance tunes. Most of her extant piano music, written between the ages of six and fifteen, shows the influence of the great pianist-composers of the nineteenth century, Gottschalk, Chopin, and Liszt. Her
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Page 56 idiomatic works exhibit a fondness for lyric, even operatic, melodies, flat keys, dance forms, triple and compound meters, grace notes and trills, virtuoso octaves and leaps, and an obvious love for the piano and its possibilities. COLLECTIONS: Four Piano Works (Hildegard; O.K.Hall reprint). Prefatory essay by Brian Mann. Gottschalk Waltz Op. 1. Level: Late Intermediate. (A-flat major, common time/3/4, 9 pp). Written at the age of nine, the piece shows amazing stylistic and harmonic fluency. A 13-bar introduction with cadenza prefaces the waltz, constructed of eight repeated sections in related keys, each 8 or 16 bars long. In expanded ternary form, closing with a repeat of the first four sections and a three-page coda. Caprice Etude No. 3 Op. 7. Level: Advanced. (E-flat major, andante maestoso/allegro molto, common time, 14 pp). “A dazzling technical study in the independence of hands, with fives and fours in the right hand against left-hand triplets” (preface). “Plaintes au borde d’une tombe” (4ème Élégie) Opus 20. Level: Mid/Late Intermediate. (F minor, common time-12/8, andante grave/lento, 7 pp). An elegant, mournful “song without words.” “Plaintes au borde d’une tombe” (5ème Élégie) Opus 21. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (F major, 3/4, andante religioso, 8 pp). A quiet, dignified work in five sections with coda; part three is in D minor, and part four, a maestoso, places the melody in the bass. Reiterated eighth note chords, as in a Schubert song, accompany the gentle melody, which could easily be a setting for an “Ave Maria.” Teresa Carreño: Music for Piano, ed. Carmen Rodriguez-Peralta (Hildegard Publishing, 1996). A good selection of seven intermediate to advanced works in an easy-to-read edition. Le Corbeille de Fleurs Opus 9. Level: Early Advanced. (D-flat major, 3/4, andantino/Presto, 12 pp). A sparkling, spirited waltz, written when the composer was about eleven. The work recalls Chopin and Liszt, and was performed by Gottschalk on his tours. Plainte! First Élégie [Lamentation, 1866] Op. 17. Level: Late Intermediate. (C-sharp minor, common time, andante, 5 pp). An introspective, nocturne-like work written after the death of her mother. A sorrowful, yearning melody is accompanied by a bass countermelody and block-chord inner voices. Late Romantic, even operatic, emotion, providing technical and musical challenges for the intermediate student. Le Printemps Opus 25. Level: Early Advanced. (D-flat major, 3/4, allegro brilliante/Presto, 11 pp). An imposing introduction and a dazzling coda frame the nine sections of this brilliant waltz. Une Revue a Prague Opus 27. Level: Advanced. (E-flat major, 6/8 and 3/4, allegretto/allegretto grazioso, 11 pp). A polonaise with two main themes and episodic/transitional material. Virtuosic, with unusual modulations and a sizzling chromatic scale in double octaves.
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Page 57 Esquisses Italiennes Venise (Reverie-Barcarola) Op. 33/1. Level: Late Intermediate. (G major, 6/8, 4 pp). In this elegant barcarolle, one can almost see golden light shining on the calm waves, with an occasional splash of sparkling treble scales interrupting the hypnotic motion. First-inversion triads cascade down to three languidly strummed chords, bringing the theme back one last time as the gondola drifts gracefully out of the scene. Highland, Souvenir of Scotland, Op. 38. Level: Late Intermediate. (C major, 2/4, allegretto con spirito, 6 pp). Oddly enough, this retrospective of Scottish hills uses the habanera rhythm, with dotted rhythms, hops and skips in ternary form. The center section, with its double dotted notes and alternation of I-vi chords, is really a tango. Kleiner Walzer (Teresita Waltz; WoO) [1896]. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (D major, 3/4, allegretto, 9 pp). An appealing work dedicated to the first daughter of her second marriage, Teresita Tagliapetra. Tremendously popular in Europe during the late 1800s, it was transcribed for other solo instruments and ensembles. This is a Spanish waltz, not Viennese: look for the characteristic seguidilla rhythm (1& 2 3) throughout the work, as well as sudden changes of mode, melodic anticipations, and hemiolas. Teresa Carreno: Selected Works, foreword by Rosario Marciano, trans. Anne Drellich (Da Capo Press, 1985). A reprinted edition, now out of print but available in libraries, containing her string quartet and sixteen piano pieces. Op. 9, Op. 17, Op. 25, Op. 27, Op, 33, Op. 38, Pequeño Valse (same as Kleiner “Teresita” Waltz): see Music for the Piano, above. Ballada Op. 15. Level: Early Advanced. (D-flat major, common time-6/8, lento/andante cantabile, 12 pp). A rhapsody/fantaisie in extended ABA form. The theme, a straightforward arching scale, undergoes progessive ornamentation, including grace-note triads and parallel sixths. In the center section, reminiscent of Italian verismo opera, a long transition leads to two contrasting themes in E-flat minor and G-flat major. Alternating octaves descend in a diminished seventh chord to a return of the original theme, in yet another texture. Great Romantic pianistic fun. Partie Op. 18 (segunda elegía). Level: Late Intermediate. (F-sharp major, 12/8, andante maestoso/quasi adagio, 5 pp). In this dignified ode to a departed loved one, the lyric ascending melody is supported by a descending bass. In ternary form, with an E-minor center section; song texture, with triads on every eighth note, prevails throughout. Un Reve en Mer: Meditation Op. 28 [A dream at sea]. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (B minor, 12/8, allegro maestoso, 7 pp). Dramatic and sad; a grown-up version of Burgmüller’s Ballade. The ominous LH melody alternates 16th note runs with long appogiature. The B section, in the dominant, is a memory of happier times.
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Page 58 Un Bal en Rêve Op. 32 [A dance in a dream]. Level: Early Advanced. (D-flat major, common time-6/8, allegretto tranquillo/scherzando, 7 pp). Two distinct dance themes alternate: “Le Sommeil” [The Sleep], a sedate gavotte, comprised of a smoothly-stepping melody over lightly touched chords and the occasional treble flourish; and “Le Rêve” [The Dream], a graceful, lilting tango. Deux Esquisses Italiennes “Florence” (Cantilena) Op. 34. Level: Advanced. (E-flat major, common time, ben portando la melodia, 5 pp). A light-hearted carnival etude. The legato melody is spun from syncopated staccato chords in both hands, with a sort of calliope effect. Wide LH leaps require agility and accuracy. Intermezzo-Scherzo Op. 34. Level: Late Intermediate. (A major, common time, allegretto grazioso, 5 pp). A playful bourrée for an opera entracte with ballerinas skittering en point . An exercise in RH staccatissimo 8th-note scales and arpeggios, with a LH alternating bass. Le Sommeil de l’Enfant (Berceuse), Op. 35. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (F major, 6/8, allegretto quasi andante, 5 pp). A gentle lullaby in rondo form. The soothing theme arches quietly over a gently rocking descending bass. Harmonic interest occurs as the theme modulates from F to B and back. La Fausse Note Op. 39 (Fantasia-Valse) Level: Early Advanced. (A-flat major, 3/4, allegretto-allegro molto, 11 pp). Waltz-rondo form. Grace notes on every beat make all the notes “false” in the happily chirping main theme. Three episodes provide intermittent contrast, bringing to mind Tchaikovsky, Johann Strauss, and Chopin. Exuberant entertainment. Vals Gayo (unnumbered). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (G major, 3/4, allegretto con molto grazia, 11 pp). Zestful Spanish guitar rhythms accompany a gay, lilting melody. Lyrical middle section in E-flat major has challenging octaves and chordal passages. ANTHOLOGIES: At the Piano with Women Composers, ed. Hinson (Alfred, 1990). Le Sommeil de l’Enfant, Op. 35: see Selected Works. Great Women Composers, ed. Smith (Mel Bay, 1996). Op. 28, Op. 34, and Op. 35: see Selected Works. Op. 33: see Music for Piano. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. six, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Prefatory essay by Brian Mann. Op. 1, Op. 7, Opus 20, Opus 21: see Four Piano Works. LISTED but not found: Polonaise Op. 35 (Ditson), Hinson’s Guide, 3rd edition. SOURCES: Ammer, Baker, B&NB, ClagAm, ClagS, Cohen, Dubal, Ebel, ElsonA, FRK, Gillespie, G&G, Grove, GroveAm, H&H, Hinson, Hutcheson, Johnson, Kirby, KOM, Laurence, Meggett, MGG, N-B, Pendle, S&S, scores
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Page 59 CHAMINADE, Cécile Louise-Stephanie b. Paris, Aug 8, 1857—d. Monte Carlo, Apr 13, 1944 A successful concert pianist who first studied with her mother, Chaminade began to compose at the age of eight. After hearing her play, Hector Berlioz convinced her parents to obtain the best possible education for their talented daughter, and she studied privately with Benjamin Godard, Felix Le Couppey, Savard and others of the Paris Conservatoire faculty.57 In 1875, she made her debut in Paris and went on to tour in England and France, already performing original compositions. Her concert tours helped to promote music sales in America and England, where she was a welcome guest of Queen Victoria. In America, many Chaminade clubs were formed around 1900, and in 1908 she made a successful tour of twelve American cities from Boston to St. Louis. Renowned internationally as a pianist, she also appeared as a conductor, becoming an attractive figure at orchestral concerts in Paris and elsewhere. Ambroise Thomas reportedly said of her, “This is not a woman who composes, but a composer who is a woman.”58 Named an Officer of Public Instruction by the French government in 1892, in 1913 Chaminade became the first woman to receive the title of Chevalière de la Légion d’Honneur. One of the most prolific and successful women composers in history, nearly all of her four hundred compositions were published in multiple editions by distinguished firms during her lifetime. She composed in a wide variety of genres, including orchestral suites, an opera, two piano trios, a ballet, a Concertino for flute which remains a staple of the repertoire, more than 125 songs, and over two hundred piano pieces.59 Although most of her piano works are attractive character pieces with descriptive titles, Chaminade also composed a sonata, two sets of concert etudes, a Concertstück, and six other pieces for piano and orchestra. Too often scornfully dismissed as a “salon” composer, some believe that her ballet, Callirhoë, and the choral work, Les Amazones, should be included in discussions of the late 19th c. “French Renaissance” group: Franck, Saint-Saëris, Chabrier, Duparc, and d’lndy.60 Her works are strong and vigorous, with charming, expressive melodies and sparkling dance rhythms, clean textures, late Romantic harmony, traditional forms, and an emphasis on wit, elegance, and movement. Chaminade’s mastery of the elegant style of La Belle Epoque was rivalled only by such composers as Moszkowski, her brother-in-law.61 SINGLE WORKS: Scherzando pour Piano Op. 10 (Durand & Fils/Presser, n.d.). Level: Late Intermediate. (A major, 3/4, allegro vivace, 6 pp). A playful waltz built on ascending/descending one-octave scales by alternate hands. In rounded binary form, with the contrasting section in the subdominant. Sonata in C Minor Op. 21 (Hildegard 02036. G.K.Hall reprint, 1999). Level: Advanced. 29 pp. Chaminade’s only sonata, dedicated to Moritz Moskowski, is a brilliant and powerful late Romantic tone poem using
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Page 60 the entire range of the keyboard. I: Allegro appassionata (cut time). A brief prelude and fugue opens the extended ballade-like movement. II: Andante (common time, A-flat major). Broad and lyrical, ABA form. III: Allegro (2/4). Same as Six Etudes de Concert Op. 35/4. A dazzling perpetual motion etude in which double notes (sixths and fifths) alternate with single tones in both hands. The lyric middle section, with its tender countermelody, leads to the return of the perpetual motion theme in triplet sixteenths. Six Etudes de Concert Op. 35 (Masters Music, n.d.). Level: Early Advanced/Advanced. 1. Scherzo. (C major, 3/8, allegro, 8 pp). Airy and vivacious, like a Mendelssohn sketch. Pairs of double notes, in two-note slurs, dance up and down the keyboard. 2. Automne. (D-flat major, common time, lento, 9 pp). A sentimental melody, full of character; fits the hand well. 3. La Fileuse [The Spinner]. (E major, 6/8, allegro, 13 pp). An effective perpetual motion piece, requiring superior finger work. 4. Appassionato. (C minor, 2/4, allegro, 8 pp). See last movement of Sonata in C Miwor Op. 21. 5. Impromptu. (F major, 2/4, andante, 8 pp). Bass sextuplets underpin a graceful melody, which alternates duplets and triplets in Spanish fashion. The center section, in G major, has sweeping guitar flourishes and trills. 6. Tarentelle. (D major, 6/8, allegro vivace, 10 pp). Dedicated to Mme Marie Jaëll, a concert pianist and composer (q.v.). A fast and furious perpetual motion study with both hands in repeated triplets. Contrasting center section is in G minor. Six Romances sans Paroles Op. 76/1-6 (Masters Music, n.d.). Six extremely attractive songswithout-words, with lovely lyric melodies and colorful harmonies like French operettas of the day. Souvenance [Keepsake] Op. 76/1. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (B minor, 3/8, andantino, 4 pp). Thin, fragile texture, with a yearning tenor melody, shared between the hands, accompanied by an occasional rolled chord. Two contrasting ideas in B section: a music-box motif in F-sharp major, and gruff octaves descending chromatically in the bass. Élévation Op. 76/2. Level: Late-Intermediate. (E major, 6/8, andante con moto, 4 pp). A surging romantic melody doubled in the tenor voice leaps to appogiaruras and descends by scale step to its starting point, then repeats sequentially; other parts fill in the full, lush chords. Idylle (Romance) Op. 76/3. Level: Mid/Late Intermediate. (E minor, common time, allegro moderate, 5 pp). A single theme treated in contrasting ways creates very different effects. First section: two-voice texture, soprano melody, plaintive and lonesome. Second section: companion theme is introduced, melody is in tenor, and chords play on every eighth note, pushing the music forward. The work alternates these ideas several times, creating a form of ABABA (coda).
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Page 61 Églogue Op. 76/4. Level: Late Intermediate. (G-flat major, 3/4, moderate, 5 pp). In this folk-like work, a charming shepherd’s tune pipes over a tonic drone. In the contrasting section (D-flat major), the texture changes to staccato triads alternated with double-grace note chirps: the birds are singing happily. Chanson Bretonne Op. 76/5. Level: Late Intermediate. (D minor, 6/8, allegro risoluto, 5 pp). A forceful, rhythmic march swings breezily along, rather like “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.” The solo melody is supported by strummed chords; contrast is provided by some parallel triads and brief RH octave passages. Méditation Op. 76/6. Level: Late Intermediate. (A-flat major, cut time, lento, 4 pp). A contemplative work, with a soprano melody supported by lush, unhurried rolled chords. Added-note chords (V9, V#7) create particularly pleasant colors against the backdrop of primary triads. Transition passages of upper register triads join statements of the theme. In the sweeping final statement, the melody is doubled in tenor and alto. Deuxième Valse Op. 77 (Masters Music, n.d.). Level: Early Advanced. (A major, 3/4, allegro vivo, 10 pp). A graceful bit of ballroom chiffon and lace, full of buoyant melodies and late Romantic harmony, including chromatic scales in thirds. Middle section is in F major. Theme Varié Op. 89 (Masters Music, n.d.). Level: Early Advanced. (A major, 6/8, allegretto, 9 pp). A siciliano in binary dance form. The unpretentious melody is accompanied by “plucked” sixteenth note arpeggios. The variation (middle section) is in the parallel minor; scales in thirds and sixths occur in the second half of the theme and in transitional passages. Children’s Album First Series Op. 123 (The Well-Tempered Press/Masters Music, n.d.). Level: Late Elementary/Early Intermediate. Twelve Schumannesque character pieces, each two pages long. An attractive, and well-crafted collection for early intermediate students. Strophic or rounded binary forms, brief development sections, standard dance rhythms, thin textures in narrow ranges, with hands close together in the middle of the keyboard. Mild chromaticism provides extra color. Prélude. (C major, common time, allegro tranquillo). Peaceful and hymn-like, chordal texture, both hands in the treble clef two-thirds of the time. Intermezzo. (G major, 3/4, moderate). A distinctive dotted-note pickup is followed by sighing two- and three-note slurs. Canzonetta. (C major, common time, allegretto). Like Schumann’s “Humming Song,” a one-line air supported by an Alberti bass. Rondeau. (F major, 6/8, allegro). A good-humored, skipping jig. Gavotte. (A minor, 2/4, allegretto). Light and lively dance, with characteristic upbeat pickups followed by delicate hops and running sixteenth note scales. Gigue. (C major, 3/8, allegro). A piping little tune like an English folk song; first phrase is nine bars long.
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Page 62 Romance. (F major, 2/4, andante). Repeated descending thirds, dotted-note figure, grace notes, and anticipations impart a Scottish folk-song flavor. Barcarolle. (A major, 6/8, allegretto). A triadic melody mimics the rocking of the boat. In B, the theme is in the relative minor, played by LH. Orientale. (E minor, 3/4, mouvement modéré de valse). Minor modes and borrowed chords create “exotic” character. Drum-like LH ostinato rhythm. At return of A, hands are two octaves farther apart than before, creating a wide, empty texture. Tarantelle. (A minor, 6/8, vivo). Level: Mid-Intermediate. A breathless study in perpetual motion, with interruptions between slurs and a whirling descending scalar pattern; fast wide leaps in B. Air de Ballet. (D major, 3/4, mouvement de valse). Graceful, delicate gliding by solo melody, spare chordal accompaniment. ABCBC form, with fuller chords in B, including a nice ii7, and LH melody in C. Marche Russe. (D minor, common time, moderate). Martial dotted-note pattern alternates with goosestepping chords squarely on the beat. Children’s Album Second Series Op. 126 (The Well-Tempered Press/Masters Music, n.d.). Level: Early to Mid-Intermediate. Twelve appealing pieces are in this second, slightly more advanced set. Each is two pages long, except for the final three-page waltz. Idylle. (C major, 6/8, allegretto). Rippling 8th notes alternated between the hands evokes a summer breeze and gently undulating trees. Aubade. (E major, cut time, andante tranquillo). Stately and calm, like a pavane. In ABCA form, with LH melody most of the time. In B, the melody is an inversion of the original; C is chordal, with the tune in the soprano. Refreshing borrowed chords. Rigaudon. (A minor, 2/4, allegretto très rhythmé). Vigorous dance requiring precise articulation of staccato upbeats, two-note slurs, and accented downbeats. Plenty of contrast in dynamic markings; B section has different rhythms. Eglogue. G major, 6/8, andantino. An idyllic shepherd’s poem with the characteristic rhythms and texture of a gentle pastorale. A dotted-note figure passed between the hands creates the conversation, while borrowed chords and secondary dominants add color to the landscape. Ballade. (G minor, 12/8, allegro moderate). A rousing story in martial rhythm with a mock-heroic theme. In the development, the melody shifts from hand to hand, and a brief chordal passage provides textural contrast. Scherzo-Valse. (D major, 3/8, allegro). An enchantingly graceful LH melody. In the middle section, block chords alternate with sixteenth note scalar passages. Élégie. D minor, 6/8, andante sostenuto. A wistful ode with a bittersweet quality from the capricious use of minor modes. RH sings above a background of tremolo 16th notes. A cadenza occurs halfway through the piece, like an outburst of feeling in the middle of an aria.
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Page 63 Novelette. (F major, 2/4, allegretto). A whimsical little tale with a melody characterized by leaps of fourths and fifths. Melody alternates between hands in B; brief imitation in reprise of A. Patrouille [Patrol]. (G minor, common time, allegretto moderato). A stern march, with minor modes lending a Russian feel. Villanelle. (A major, 3/4, allegretto). A three-section peasant dance with accents, slurs, and dynamic contrasts. Conte de Fées [Fairy tale]. (A minor, 6/8, allegretto). A flickering will-o′-the-wisp, continually changing modes and alternating variations of two motives. Dynamic contrasts complete the picture of dancing light and shadow. Valse Mignonne. (B-flat major, 3/4, allegro vivo). A gay and flirtatious Parisian waltz. COLLECTIONS: Pierrette Op. 41 and L’Ondine Op. 101 (Masters Music, n.d.). Pierrette Op. 41: Level: Late Intermediate. (E-flat major, 2/4, allegretto, 5 pp). A humorous scherzino with staccatos, accents, scale passages, and tricky flurtered-triplet rotations, as well as many rapid register changes. L’Ondine Op. 101. Level: Late Intermediate. (E-flat major, common time, allegretto con moto, 6 pp). A ballad in extended ABA form. Undine, a water fairy, tried to achieve immortality through the love of a faithful man. Undine’s song, a sweet eight-measure refrain, is accompanied by delicately rippling arpeggios. The chordal contrasting theme is heroic and robust, cadencing in the dominant. A four-bar interlude is constructed of ff double octaves and chords; the work ends with fourteen measures of 16th note arpeggios. Two Pieces (Masters Music, 1995). Automne Op. 35/2. See Six Etudes de Concert, above. Expansion Op. 106. Level: Late Intermediate. (E major, 3/4-9/8, andante con moto/più animato quasi allegro agitato, 6 pp). Expanded song form: a sustained, sonorous A section, livelier B section in the dominant key. Cécile Chaminade: Selected Pieces, Vol I [comp. before 1899], ed. William Scharfenberg (The WellTempered Press/Master Music, n.d. Also av. Kalmus and G.Schirmer). Picturesque character pieces, many with Spanish and French dance rhythms. Pièce Romantique Op. 9/1. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (G major, 2/4, andante, 2 pp). LH tenor melody against offbeat RH chords, with transitional eight bars of shifting harmonies between theme statements. Gavotte Op. 9/2. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (A minor, common time, poco animato, 3 pp). A jolly antique dance with short running steps on eighth note figures, two-note slurs, and careful articulation. In twopart dance form, with two related themes in each section; downbeat shakes in B lend a period feel. Minuetto Op. 23. Level: Late Intermediate. (B minor, 3/4, allegro, 6 pp). More like a like a passepied, this lively dance is full of springs and
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Page 64 hops, staccatos and accents, with main themes in the tenor. Simple song form, with B section in G major. Sérénade Op. 29. Level: Late-Intermediate. (D major, 3/4, moderato, 5 pp). Arpeggiated bass tones and plucked double notes on the off-beats create a Spanish-guitar effect under the RH melody, which occasionally shifts from soprano to alto. Air de Ballet Op. 30. Level: Early Advanced. (G major, 3/4, allegro, 10 pp). A twenty-five bar introduction opens this brilliant concert waltz in ternary form. The A section has two balancing motives: the first part, con eleganza, makes one think of lushly staged Hollywood musicals, while the second half skitters from key to key in a sort of development. The center section (E-flat) is comparatively serene. Pas des Amphores (Air de Ballet) Op. 37/2. Level: Late Intermediate. (B-flat major, 3/4, allegretto, 5 pp). A characteristically French dance, airy and leaping, in five sections with two main themes. Downbeat staccatos emphasize an accented second beat; descending tonal scales contrast with ascending chromatic ones. Scarf Dance (Der Schärpentanz) Op. 37/3: See Great Women Composers in Anthologies. Calirrhoë Op. 37/4. Level: Early Advanced. (G major, 2/4, allegretto, 5 pp). A humoresque reminiscent of Grieg’s dances, in ABABC form. Oddly, the piece ends after the third theme without returning to “A;” perhaps this is an incomplete edition, like Scarf Dance, above. RH has many double-note passages. Lolita (Caprice Espagnol) Op. 54. Level: Advanced. (D-flat major, 3/4, allegro vivo, 6 pp). A salon piece in Spanish style, like early works by Albéniz or Granados. A strong bass pedal sets the rhythm, as the RH dances above in staccato double notes. B section is a captivating serenade, complete with flamenco scales and thrumming guitars. Cécile Chaminade: Selected Pieces, Vol II, ed. Scharfenberg (The Well-Tempered Press/Master Music, n.d.). Valse-Caprice Op. 33. Level: Advanced. (D-flat major, 3/4, allegro, 10 pp). A concert waltz in the Chopin tradition. A static melody of repeated melodic thirds emphasizes the third beat. After middle section (Fsharp minor), the introduction reappears as a ritornello before the return of A. Danse Pastorale Op. 37/5. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (D major, 3/8, tempo di valse, 7 pp). An attractive country dance, like a ländler, with a strong bass drone under the folk-like melody. Center section is in G major, with RH scale passages. Pierrette (Air de Ballet) Op. 41. See Single Works, Op. 41, above. La Lisonjera [The Flatterer] Op. 50. Level: Late Intermediate. (G-flat major, cut time, moderato, molto capriccioso, 8 pp). Extremely popular in its time, this lyric and mellow Spanish-style work uses frequent rubati. RH thumb and second finger play the smoothly insinuating melody in the tenor voice; harmonizing thirds sound above the tune, and the bass
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Page 65 sketches in chord tones. A rondeau, with related themes in alternating sections (ABABA, coda); B is in Bflat minor. Arlequine Op. 53. Level: Late Intermediate/Advanced. (F major, 2/4, allegro, 8 pp). A scintillating scherzino, shimmering with lightness and speed, twinkling like the sequins on a clown’s costume. Many accidentals, frequent jumps in register, larger-than-octave leaps, scales and arpeggios in sixteenth note triplet figures. A good transition piece to Advanced level Les Sylvains Op. 60 [The Fauns]. Level: Advanced. (D major, in 4, moderate, 6 pp). Elegant, showy etude, with a smooth tenor melody supported by delicate chords and arpeggios. Arabesque Op. 61. Level: Advanced. (G minor, in 4, allegro risoluto, 6 pp). As in Saint-Saëns’s Danse Macabre, simple ideas are decorated with “sparkling pianistic jewelry and harmonic reinforcement.”62 La Morena (Caprice Espagnol) Op. 67. Level: Late Intermediate. (D-flat major, 6/8, allegretto, molto rubato, 6 pp) A coy Spanish rondo, with carefully marked rubati in the main theme. LH accompanies in a “plucked” guitar pattern, occasionally echoing the melody. Contrasting flamenco-style sections have LH melodies. Three Piano Works (New York: Da Capo Press, 1979). Opus 21 and Opus 35: see Single Works, above. Etude Symphonique Opus 28. Level: Advanced. (B-flat major, common time, andante appassionato, 10 pp). An impressive and imaginative character piece in expanded ABA form. LH divided chords support the RH melody in cross-rhythms (3×2, 4×3). The first section has two themes, with a transitional middle section of chromatic octaves, scales, and arpeggios. ANTHOLOGIES: At the Piano with Women Composers ed. Hinson (Alfred, 1990). Scarf Dance Op. 37/3: see Great Women Composers, below. Everybody’s Favorite Album of Modern Piano Music (New York: Amsco Music, 1936). Les Sylvains Op. 60. See Selected Pieces Vol. II. French Piano Music: An Anthology, ed. Isidor Philipp (Dover, 1977). Sea Piece (Marine) Op. 38. Level: Late Intermediate. (G major, 6/8, lento, 6 pp). A graceful barcarolle on a sunny day. Bass chords strum gently beneath a tranquil melody, splashed by glittering 32nd notes. Frauen Komponieren, 22 Klavierstücke, ed. Rieger/Walter (Schott, 1992). Pierrette Op. 41 (Air de Ballet): see Selected Pieces Vol. II. Great French Piano Works, ed. Tucker (Warner Bros, 1990). Air de Ballet and Scarf Dance. Great Women Composers, ed. Smith (Mel Bay, 1996). Op. 23, Op. 41, and Op. 67: see Selected Pieces, Scarf Dance ( Pas des Echarpes, from Three Ballet Scenes ) Op. 37/3 [1888]. Level: Late Intermediate. (A-flat major, 3/4, mouviment modere de
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Page 66 valse, 6 pp). This is the only complete version in print of Chaminade’s most popular piece, which sold over five million copies during her lifetime. All other editions omit the three-page middle section, which contains four key changes and the true second theme referred to by Chaminade herself. Scarf Dance is a graceful, fluttering work in ternary form. Section 1, a waltz in A-flat, requires sonority and rubato at a strict, moderate tempo. A few melancholy bars of recitative (oboe solo in the orchestrated version) introduce the middle section in C-sharp minor. A brief transition, played “with abandon, rapidly, brilliantly,” heralds the return of the first theme.63 Historical Anthology of Music by Women, ed. Briscoe (Indiana Univ. Press, 1987). Sonata Op. 21, 2nd movement: see Single Works. Masterpieces of Piano Music, ed. Albert E.Wier (Carl Fischer, 1918): Op. 50, Op. 37/2, and Op. 37/3: see Selected Pieces and Great Women Composers. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 6, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Sonata Op. 21—see Single Works. LISTED but not found in print: Toccata Op. 39 and Le Prétemps-Valse de Salon (Enoch and Musica Obscura); Autrefois Op. 87/4, in Encores of Great Pianists, ed. Lewenthal (G.Schirmer), cited in Hinson’s Guide, 3rd edition. SOURCES: Ammer, A-Z, Baker, B&NB, Boenke, ClagS, Cohen, Dubal, Ebel, ElsonA, Faurot, Friskin, FRK, Gordon, Grove, H&H, Hale, Heinrich, Hinson, Hutcheson, Hyde, Jezic, Johnson, Kirby, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Magrath, Meggett, MLA, N-B, Pendle, SCB, S&S, Stern, scores CHARRIÈRE, Isabella Agneta Elisabeth de (var. Belle van Zuylen, Sophie Charrière; née van Tuyll van Serooskerken) b. Zuylen, nr. Utrecht, Oct 20,1740—d. Colombier, nr. Neuchatel, Dec 27,1805 Isabelle de Charrière, daughter of Diederik Jacob van Tuyll, Marshall of Montfort, was a cultured aristocrat, a woman of letters, and a passionate amateur musician. In 1771, after spending her first thirty years at the castle in Zuylen, she married Charles Emmanuel de Charrière, Squire of Penthaz, and the couple made their home in Colombier near Neuchatel. During a stay in Paris, Florito Tomeoni helped de Charrière write her first opera, L’Incognito. Later, to relieve the tedium of her life, she invited Italian musicians to visit, including Nicolo Zingarelli (1752–1837), who stayed a year, giving her lessons and helping her with other operas. De Charrière wrote novels, opera libretti, and several hundred letters to such correspondents as James Boswell, Benjamin Constant and Madame de Stael. Her compositions, which were usually published anonymously, include keyboard works, songs, and an opera buffon, Julien et Juliette . Teysseire-Wuilleumier says her music “breathes the style and spirit of her times,” and her “exquisite sonatas are very influenced by Mozart.”64
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Page 67 COLLECTIONS: Composities van Belle van Zuylen, Vol. III: Klaviersonates, ed. M.Flothuis (Donemus, 1983). Three sets of sonatas, with three short sonatas in each group. Each sonata is a two-movement work in Classical style. Opus 1: Sonata Opus 1/1: D major; Andante and Minuetto, 3 pp. Sonata Opus 1/2: C major, Allegro moderate and Minuetto, 6 pp. Sonata Opus 1/3: C major, Allegro moderate and Andante con Variazioni, 10 pp. Opus 2: Sonata Opus 2/1: A major, Largo and Allegro, 7 pp. Sonata Opus 2/2: C major, Allegro and Menuetto grazioso, 5 pp. Sonata Opus 2/3: D major, Andante and Allegro, 6 pp. Opus 3: Sonata Opus 3/1: C major, Andante and Allegro, 5 pp. Sonata Opus 3/2: F major, Andante con moto and Allegro assai, 6 pp. Sonata Opus 3/3: E-flat major, Largo and Allegro, 7 pp. LISTED but not found in print: Composities van Belle van Zuylen: Vol. I, Airs et Romances and Vol. II: Menuetten, cited in KOM.65 KOM: Komponistinnen im Musikverlag: Katalog lieferbaren Musikalien, ed. Clara Mayer (Kassel: Furore Verlag, 1996). SOURCES: Cohen, Eitner, FRK, G&F, H&H, Heinrich, Jackson, KOM CHAZAL, Mrs. —see GAMBARINI, Elisabetta de CIANCHETTINI, Katerina Veronika Anna Rosalia Elisabeta (var. Mrs. Cianchettini; née Veronica Dussek/Dusíkova) b. Cáslav, Bohemia, Mar 8, 1769—d. London, 1833 Katerina Veronica Dussek, younger sister of the famous composer and pianist Jan Ladislav Dussek, was the sister-in-law of Sophia Corri Dussek and aunt of Olivia Dussek Buckley (q.v.). A singer, pianist, harpist, and composer, she first studied with her father, Jan Josef Dussek, an organist and composer. At the invitation of her brother, she went to London around 1795, remaining there from 1797 on. She married Francesco Cianchettini, a musician and publisher, and had a daughter, Veronika Elizabeth, and a son, Pio Cianchettini, a pianist child prodigy called the “English Mozart” who later became a composer. Mrs. Cianchettini was a successful and well-known pianist and teacher in London. Her compositions are primarily for the piano, and include sonatas, dances, variations on popular tunes, and a few chamber works. In at least three of her sonatas, she used favorite popular airs as the basis for movements. COLLECTIONS: Sonata in G Major, Op. 8 and Six Variations on a Favorite Roman Air, ed. Sarah Mahler Hughes (ClarNan Editions, 1999). This Finale-created
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Page 68 edition has distracting idiosyncrasies in notation: separate bar lines for bass and treble, over-large note heads, non-standard spacing between hands and systems, and a crowded look to the page. There are also several errors in pitches and accidentals. Originally intended for performance with violin or flute ad libitum . Sonata in G Major Op. 8. Level: Late Intermediate. Three movements, 25 pp. I: Allegro vivace (G major, in 4). In sonata-allegro form, with two contrasting themes. Triadic melodies, scalar runs, some harmonic daring, and a good deal of RH crossing into the bass and playing high in the treble. II: Adagio sostenuto (D major, in 4). The theme, similar to a Scottish folk song, undergoes two ornamental variations. III: Rondo polacca con moto (G major, 3/4). A lively eight-bar primary theme and two slightly contrasting ideas, in extended rondo form. Six Variations on a Favorite Roman Air. Level: Late Intermediate. (G major, 2/4, andantino, 16 pp). The sedate theme undergoes six variations in G, including one in the parallel minor. Standard treatments include “doubling” of rhythms, shifting registers, and hand crossings. The final variation changes to 3/8 (allegro vivace), but returns to the original meter for the coda. ANTHOLOGIES: Four Keyboard Sonatas by Early English Women Composers, ed. Sally Fortino (Hildegard, 1995). Anthology with works by Billington, Barthélemon, Park, and Cianchettini, Sonata in F Opus 2 [1800]. A Sonata for the piano forte with or without additional keys in which is introduced the Portugueze hymn, “Adeste Fideles. ”66 Level: Late Intermediate. Three movements, 23 pp. A charming late Classical, reminiscent of Haydn and early Beethoven. I: Allegro moderato (F major, common time). Sonata-allegro form. The first theme outlines a tonic triad with neighboring-tones (like “Ta-ra-ra, boom-di-ay”), then undergoes ornamental variations. In the second theme, RH plays alternately in treble and bass, creating a duet effect. In the development, triplet triads in the parallel minor warble frantically over a strong, sustained bass. Broken chords, Alberti bass, fluttering octaves, and running 8th note accompaniments create dramatic contrast, II: Andante (B-flat major, 2/4). Enjoyable theme and five variations on “Adeste fideles.” Var. 1: LH melody, played alternately in bass and treble, is accompanied by RH in a fluttering 16th note pattern. Var. 2: Thirty-second-note scales zoom up and down over the LH melody. Var. 3: In B-flat minor. RH adds nervous thirty-second notes after each LH eighth note. Var.4: RH plays a strong march melody in triads and double notes over 32nd note scales and tremolo octaves in LH. Var. 5: Adagio con espressione. Highly ornamented, ending with a nine-measure tonic trill over the joyful bass melody. III: Allegro moderato (F major, 3/8). A quick waltz in triple meter. Four jolly themes based on tonic and dominant triads alternate in a loose rondo form.
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Page 69 Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1998). Opus 4, Sonata II, 2nd mvmt., ed. Ursula Rempel. Sonata No. II of Two Sonatas for the Piano Forte, with an Accompaniment for Violin & Violoncello Opus 4. Level: Late Intermediate. II: Andantino cantabile (F major, 2/4–4/8, 3 pp). In three sections (A A1 A) with a brief coda; center section is an F-minor ornamented version of the main theme. The stately melody, formed of classically arched periods, is decorated with bravura ornamentation, many dynamic contrasts, and rapid RH passage work in high registers. SOURCES: Boenke, Brown, B&T, ClagS, Cohen, Grove, H&H, Jackson, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, S&S, scores CLAUDE, Marie b. France, Aug 17, 1895—d.? A pianist, teacher, and composer, Marie Claude studied piano under Marguerite Long and Alfred Cortot at the Paris Conservatoire, receiving first prize awards in piano, harmony, and music history. She composed piano pieces, chamber music, and pedagogical works, including arrangements of folksongs, simplified arrangements of Handel and Burgmüller, and a revision of Le Couppey’s piano method. COLLECTIONS: Courants d’Airs: 14 petites pièces très faciles pour Piano (Paris: Gérard Billaudot, 1971). Level: Late Elementary/Early Intermediate. Good introduction to descriptive character and dance pieces. Each of these tuneful little works is less than a page long, and all but two are in C major. They are wellconstructed and meticulously marked with dynamics, fingering, phrasing and articulations. Included are a fanfare, a “cuckoo” piece, a hunt, a village dance, a march, and a German waltz. The last piece is entitled “Pre-Bach.” With its implied melody from arpeggiated triads and regular harmonic rhythm, it would serve nicely as a preparatory piece to Bach’s Prelude in C Major. Folklore: Six Petites Pieces Très Faciles Pour Piano (Paris: Billaudot, 1974). Level: Elementary. Teaching arrangements of six French folk songs: Le Rat dans le Grenier, A la Claire Fontaine, La Bonne Aventure, II était une Bergère, Compagnons de la Marjolaine, and En Souvenir . C major, two-voice texture, close position in the center of the keyboard, basic meters and rhythms, fingerings included. SOURCES: Cohen, H&H, KOM
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Page 70 COBB, Hazel b. Groesbeck, Texas, Jul 15, 1892—d. Dallas, Sep 8, 1973 American teacher and composer Hazel Cobb received her B.Mus. and M.Mus. degrees from the American Conservatory in the 1920s. Her compositions include two operettas, some vocal and choral music, and teaching pieces for the piano. COLLECTIONS: Around the Keys and Around the Keys Again (Summy-Birchard, 1960). Level: Late Elementary/Early Intermediate. Creative teaching studies for the piano, in all major and relative minor keys. Rhythm with Rhyme and Reason: Counting Made “Easy as Pie” (New York: Mills Music, 1947). Level: Mid-Late Elementary. Keyboard rhythm drills, using kinds of pie as mnemonics for rhythm cells: e.g. ap-ple= two 8ths, choc-o-late= triplet, huck-le-ber-ry= four 16ths. Sonatina Album: Four Sonatinas for the Young Pianist (CPP/Belwin, 1987). Level: Late Elementary/Early Intermediate. Four three-movement works, C and G majors, A minor, 3–4 pp. each. James Bastien writes, “Miss Cobb had an affinity for writing first-rate little versions of classic-sounding sonatinas. This album of four sonatinas is just the right level for third year students.”67 Each opening movement is in rounded binary form with two themes but no development. The slower middle movements are in related keys. Final movements are cheerful allegros or allegrettos in 4/4 meter. SOURCES: Anderson, Cohen, H&H, Stern COLAÇO OSORIO-SWAAB, Reine b. Amsterdam, Jan 16, 1881—d. Amsterdam, Apr 14, 1971 Reine Colaço Osorio-Swaab, a Dutch composer, began composing in her forties, after the death of her husband. She studied with Ernest Mulder and Henk Badings, and during the 1920s and 30s wrote many songs. In the 1940s and 50s, attracted to philosophical and religious subjects, she composed ten works for narrator and instrumental accompaniment on mainly Biblical texts, as well as chamber music for various instruments. Her 1944 Monument, a set of six songs for soprano and piano, commemorated the death of her son at Dachau prison camp. Colaço Osorio-Swaab’s music retained classical forms, but used atonal harmonic language, as well as some Impressionistic and pentatonic passages. SINGLE WORKS: Jesaja 60. Prelude voor piano [1950] (Donemus, 1954). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (D-flat tonal center, 4/4, 13 pp). Facsimile manuscript, but very easy to read. Incipits of 22 verses are
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Page 71 written on the score (in Dutch). Continuous 16th note triplets, divided between the hands, create a rippling wash of changing colors. A quarter-note melody against the triplet texture provides contrast in verses 6, 12, and 15, dividing the work into four sections. An attractive Impressionistic piece, with pentatonic, whole tone, and atonal effects. SOURCES: Boenke, Cohen, H&H, KOM, NewGrove, S&S COURTAUX, Amanda, O.P. (née Marie Mathilde) Port Louis, Mauritius Island, Oct 27, 1859—d. Sinsinawa, WI, Apr 21, 1941 Marie Mathilde Courtaux, daughter of a school teacher and a representative of the French government, was a highly gifted pianist, performer, teacher, and composer in Paris when, at the age of 62, she entered religious life as a Dominican sister in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. She studied with LeCouppey at the Paris Conservatory, receiving in 1879 her Licencié and a First Medal for piano study. Mlle Courtaux began teaching and composing when still a student, and in 1905-06 published several works with M.E.Costil. At the age of 51, the Republic of France awarded her the rosette of Officer of the Academy of Fine Arts, a very high honor. While teaching in Fribourg, Switzerland, during W.W.I, Courtaux lived with the Sinsinawa Dominicans in a residence for American college students, and there became interested in their vocation. In 1921, she traveled to Wisconsin to take up the religious life. She taught piano at St. Clara College and Edgewood Academy in Wisconsin, Rosary College in Illinois, and the Villa Fougères in Switzerland until her death at the age of 81. Her compositions in the Sinsinawa Dominican archives are now being published through the editorial efforts of Anita Smisek, O.P., a member of her community and the source of this biographical information. SINGLE WORKS: Gavotte, ed. Anita Smisek (Alliance Publications, 1996). Level: Early-Mid Intermediate (D major, 4/4, andante, 3 pp). Lively and gracious dance in ABA form, with written-out repeats. Every phrase begins with the distinctive half-measure pickup of a gavotte, and all notes are staccato except for the slurs on the downbeat. Scherzo, ed. Anita Smisek (Alliance Publications, 1996). Level: Early-Mid-Intermediate (A major, 3/4, allegro giocoso, 6 pp). Contrast in articulation and dynamics bring this energetic ternary piece to life. Middle section is in the dominant, and there is skillful use of relative key relationships throughout. Seven Pieces for Children, ed. Anita Smisek (Fish Creek, WI: Alliance Publications, 1996). Level: Early Intermediate. Seven brief characteristic studies: Romance without Words, Children’s Tale, Lullaby, Serenade, two Barcarolles, and a Tyrolienne.
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Page 72 Forthcoming from Alliance Publications: Priere de Ste Cecilie, piano solo; Three Piano Duets; Ave Maria, voice and piano; and Gavotte for piano 6 hands. SOURCES: Alliance Publications, scores COZAD, Irene Late 19th c. American No information is available about this Kansas City composer, except that she also composed the Affinity Rag . ANTHOLOGIES: Ragtime Rediscoveries: 64 Works from the Golden Age of Rag, sel. Trebor Jay Tichenor (Dover, 1979), and Ragtimes für Klavier, ed. Günter Kaluza (Furore, 1994). Eatin′-Time Rag [1913]. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (2/4, C/F major, 4 pp). Four 16-bar repeated sections (ABAC). Written late in the ragtime era, it employs more continuous RH sixteenths, a more complicated stride bass, and more octaves in both hands. An exhilarating piece with an up-tempo swing. SOURCES: Hinson, KOM, Tichenor preface CZERMAK, Wilma (Wilhelmine) b. Prague, 1845—d.? Concert pianist Wilma Czermak, the daughter of Johannes Czermak, a Prague burger, made her early studies in music with Josef Proksch at the acclaimed Piano Teaching Institute, and made extraordinary progress in four years. She then studied with the eminent pianist Alexander Dreyschock, making her Prague debut in 1860. In 1863–1864, she concertized in Germany and France to much acclaim, exciting sensation everywhere. A Prague music critic said of her, “Her playing is of an astonishing worth (and) fine grace. Wilhelmine C. lives in tones, therefore her tones live…the strength, the quiet size, the elegant lightness, the storm of passions (are) like the most tender lament of the heart."68 Her editors said, “We are pleased to be able to now introduce this interpreter as a composer. Surely not the most important work in the history of music, but worthy of notice.”69 SINGLE WORKS: Marche Solennel (Eres Edition, 1992/9). Level: Late Intermediate. (F major, in 4, allegro con fuoco, 4 pp). Introduction: eight bars of octaves in
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Page 73 funeral march rhythm. RH octaves play the theme, a symmetrical double period of arching phrases, over a broken-chord accompaniment. In AABCA form, with contrasting sections in D-flat major: B is more lyric, while C is characterized by wide leaps and LH octaves. A useful octave study for the developing pianist. SOURCES: Score D DOBYNS, Geraldine Late 19th c. American No biographical information is available about this ragtime composer. Ragtime Rediscoveries: 64 Works from the Golden Age of Rag, sel. Tichenor (Dover, 1979). Possum Rag [1907]. Level: Late Intermediate. A-flat/D-flat majors, F minor, 2/4, “slow drag,” 5 pp). A rag in five sections, ABACD. “A quintessential example of its type: a ubiquitous style of folk-rag writing” from a publisher with branches in Little Rock, Memphis, and New Orleans who produced “some of the most syncopated, free-wheeling folk rags” in the lower Mississippi valley (score preface). Of special interest are the enharmonic temporary modulations and the F-minor Trio. SOURCES: Score DUSSEK, Olivia —see BUCKLEY, Olivia Dussek DUSSEK, Sophia Giustina (née Corri; later Moralt) b. Edinburgh, May 1, 1775—d. London, 1830 or 184770 Singer, harpist, pianist, and composer Sophia Corri Dussek was the daughter of composer/publisher Domenico Corri, who emigrated to England four years before her birth. Her father was her first teacher; others included Luigi Marchesi, Giuseppe Viganoni, and Giambattista Cimador. In 1791, she made a successful London debut singing in the Salamon-Haydn concert series, and later appeared as a soloist in the London premieres of Haydn’s The Storm and
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Page 74 Mozart’s Requiem.71 She was also a popular performer on harp and piano. In 1792, she married the famous pianist and composer Jan Ladislav Dussek, fifteen years her senior. They occasionally performed together, but their union was marred by indiscretions, if not infidelities, on both parts; rumors still abound in accounts of their lives. In 1799 or 1800, Dussek fled the country to avoid his financial obligations as partner to Sophia’s father in their failed publishing business, and there is no evidence that the couple ever saw one another again. (Olivia Dussek Buckley, their daughter, and Sophia’s sister-inlaw, Veronica Dussek Cianchettini, also appear in this volume). After Dussek’s death in 1812, Sophia married the violist/composer John Alvis Moralt, and they established a music school in Paddington. Sophia Dussek published a good many works for both harp and piano, including accompanied sonatas for piano and violin or flute. At present, however, only three pieces are in print: a Sonata for Violin (Flute) and Harpsichord (Piano) edited by Sally Fortino (Hildegard), and the two works below. SINGLE WORKS: Sonata in A Major for Piano or Harpsichord [ca. 1805], ed. Barbara Harbach. (Vivace Press, 1998). Also available ed. Rempel (Hildegard 09806, GKH reprint). Level: Late Intermediate. Two movements, 12 pp. Idiomatic and well constructed, a worthwhile addition to late Classic/early Romantic repertoire. I: Allegro (2/4). Sonata form: lively first theme, with some LH crossovers, contrasts with a lyrical “con espressione”; fairly lengthy development. II: Rondo (allegretto, 3/4). Rondo theme, dolce, and two more virtuosic episodes. ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1998). Prefatory essay and two works edited by Ursula Rempel. A Sonatefor the Piano Forte —see Single Works. Three Favorite Airs Arranged for the Harp: Lewie Gordon, Thy Fatal Shafts, and Queen Mary’s Lamentation. Level: Late Intermediate. Lewie Gordon (E flat major, 4/4, moderate, 2 pp); Thy Fatal Shafts (F major, 2/4, andantino, 6 pp); Queen Mary’s Lamentation (E flat major, 3/4, slowly with much expression, 5 pp). Lyrical variations of popular Scottish melodies “given a sensitive, unaffected treatment that captures the often haunting simplicity of the melodies” (preface). SOURCES: Baker, Boenke, B&T, ClagS, Cohen, Fuller, H&H, Heinrich, Jackson, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, MGG, NewGrove, S&S, Stern, scores DUSSEK, Veronika —see CIANCHETTINI, Veronika
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Page 75 E ECKHARDT-GRAMATÉ, Sophie-Carmen (var. Gramatté, Friedman-Gramatté; née Sonia de Fridman-Kochevskoy) b. Moscow, Dec 25, 1898/Jan 6, 1899—d. Stuttgart, Dec 2, 1974 Eckhardt-Gramatté, a Russian-born Canadian composer, violinist, and pianist, was a child prodigy taught first by her mother (who taught Tolstoy’s children) and then by Nicholas Rubenstein. She began composing in Paris at the age of six, studied both violin and piano at the Paris Conservatoire from 1908– 1913, and made her debut in Paris, Geneva, and Berlin on both instruments at age eleven. After her marriage to the German Expressionist painter Walter Gramatté, the couple lived in Spain for two years, where she met Igor Stravinsky and Pablo Casals, who became her mentor. When her husband died in 1929, she visited the United States the invitation of Leopold Stokowski, performing both her Piano and Violin Concertos with the Philadelphia and Chicago Symphonies. She then gave up her performing career to devote herself to composition. In 1934, she married Ferdinand Eckhardt, an art historian. From 1939– 1954, they lived in Vienna, where she co-founded the Viennese chapter of the International Society of Contemporary Music, and received an Austrian State Prize for composition. From 1954 on, they lived in Winnepeg, Canada, where she was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1970 from Brandon University (Manitoba), and became the first Canadian composer to receive the Diplôme d’honneur from the Canadian Conference of the Arts. She initiated the planning that led to the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Competition for the Performance of Canadian music, first held in 1976 as a memorial to her after her accidental death in 1974. Her compositions include orchestral and chamber music as well as works for the piano. Largely a self-taught composer, Eckhardt-Gramatté developed an eclectic and unique style. Because of her great admiration for Bach, she used an individualistic contrapuntal idiom. She also experimented with bi-tonality, neo-classicism, jazz idioms, and quartal structures, but remained essentially a Romantic. COLLECTIONS: 6 Caprices ed. Megumi Masaki (Brandon University School of Music Press, 1996; Hildegard 02021). Level: Early Advanced/Advanced. Six impressionistic, highly individual tone poems composed between 1931 and 1948. Tonal and rhythmic complexities and some virtuosic figuration, with mood and character of overriding importance. Caprice No. 1. “Portrait F.E.” (G major, 5/4, aisé [easily, comfortably], 7 pp). A portrait of Ferdinand Eckhardt (her future second husband),
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Page 76 composed in appreciation after he catalogued her late first husband’s art works. In ABA form, based on a childhood piece. The melodious and graceful opening theme contrasts with a more intense, fullertextured middle section. Caprice No. 2. Nocturne “Gute Ruh” [Rest well], (E minor, in 4, lento/molto espressivo, 10 pp). A fantasy based on the brief motif heard at the end of the work, “Gute Ruh, mein Junge,” which the composer and her husband sang to each other every night. Fleeting figures alternate with longer, sustained sounds, like impressions flitting through one’s mind while falling asleep (preface). Caprice No. 3. “Aufschrei” [Outcry]. (B-flat minor, 3/4, moderate con molto expressione, 7 pp). Based on a graphic portrayal by her first husband of the horrors of a person facing death. The harsh scream is painted in tritones, jarring chromaticisms, loud dynamics, alternating between two tempi. Caprice No. 4. “Wohin?” [Where to?] (B major, 6/4, frei und gelassen [freely and unhurried], 10 pp). Questions formed of rising thirds are given incomplete, directionless answers, but the work finishes calmly and decisively in B major. Caprice No. 5. Meeresmuschel (Nocturne) [Sea Clams]. (B major, common time, nicht zu langsam, 9 pp). In the composer’s words, “a beautiful aquarium water-colour…a present from heaven…but not for this world” (preface). Textual references to sights in the Berlin aquarium appear throughout the score. Soft layers of colors blend in broad, free gestures. Caprice No. 6. Klavierstück-Auf ein Stuck meiner Kindheit [From a piece of my childhood]. (G major, 4/4, gemässigt [moderately], 9 pp). A reworking of Letter “S”, a self-portrait composed at age six. Warm, happy, energetic, and elegant. “From My Childhood,” 14 Alphabet Pieces, Volume 1, ed. Lome Watson (Waterloo Music Company, 1980). Level: Early Intermediate to Early Advanced. Fourteen lyric miniatures, 1–3 pp. long, written when the composer was 6–10 years old. The set encompasses a variety of styles, from Romantic character pieces to portraits of admired composers, Parisian salon music, and Impressionism. They reflect the child’s sophistication, phenomenal technique and large hands, as well as the influences of music she was learning. Fingerings and pedaling are included in this edition. A. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (E-flat major, in 4, peacefully and smoothly). Sweet, narrow-range repetitive melody over an alternating bass. B. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (E-flat major, 3/4, andante). A 24-measure song in hymn texture, repeated with melodic ornamentation. C. Level: Early Intermediate. (C major, 2/4, light and lively). Dancelike staccato and short slurred phrases; perhaps a pas de bourrée or a pas de chat, with little crossing steps.
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Page 77 E. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (C minor, 2/4, very fast). Hands are moving in parallel sixths in a rattling sixteenth note figuration, reminding one strongly of Bach’s Prelude II in C minor. M. Level: Late Intermediate. (E-flat major, cut time, lively but very lightly). Triplets and staccato octaves hop up the scale to land heavily on a dominant chord; an energetic dance with leaps and runs, with a lyric middle section. H. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (A-flat major, common time, in a singing style). Hymn texture supports a serene, pavane-like melody with suspensions and written-out ornaments in the style of Handel. F: Fugue. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (F major, common time, allegro ma non troppo). Not a fugue, or even imitative, this is more accurately a chase in two-voice texture, with running eighth notes passed from hand to hand. R. Level: Late Intermediate. (F major, 2/4, quick and light). Flirtatious salon style, with many grace notes and contrasts in dynamics and articulation, a spare texture, and some chromatic cadenza-like passages. P: Poissard [Fisherwoman]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (B-flat major, 4/4, animato) One can almost hear the vendor’s call in this broad, good-natured tune based on repeated sixths and fifths. D. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (B-flat major, common time, moderate). Contrasting articulations, echoed eighth note patterns and ornaments suggest the 18th century. S: Sonia. Level: Mid/Late Intermediate. (G major, 2/4, vivo). Sonia’s self-portrait: swift 16th note scales and arpeggios in an early-Romantic texture. The broken-chord figuration in the left hand requires a good stretch and facility at thumb-passing. V: Valse Chromatique. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (D major, 3/8, zefiroso [light as a breeze]). Chromatic 16th note scales ripple up and down the keyboard, accompanied by a skeletal broken-chord bass. LH has several chromatic passages of its own. Y: Etude. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (E major, 3/4, allegretto). Extensive use of the whole-tone scale; graceful 16th note sextuplets in an airy two-voice texture. Z: Ziganka. Level: Early/Mid-Intermediate. (D major, 6/8, molto moderato). A gently rocking pastorale using borrowed chords for an exotic “gypsy” effect. Introduction and Variations on a Theme from my Childhood. Level: Early Advanced. (C major, in 4, resolute ed energico, 37 pp). Theme (prelude), 14 variations, and a fugue. The work divides into three sections: 1) an opening chorale prelude on the first seven notes of the theme, 2) theme and seven untitled variations, 3) seven titled variations, which are self-descriptive character pieces. Var. 2 suggests a classical etude; nos 3 and 4 imitate Baroque inventions; and nos 6 and 7 explore newer sonorities. Var. 8, “Flowers on a Grave,” is nearly ¼ of the work, and a Bach-like fugue is inserted between variations 11 and 12.
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Page 78 Sonata Vol. II, 4, 5, and 6, ed. Marc-André Hamelin (Hildegard, forthcoming). LISTED but not found in print: Klavierstück (Sonata No. 5, International Gesellschaft für Neue Musik), and Suite for Piano No. 1 (Sonata C, Simrock), cited in Hinson’s Guide, 3rd edition. “From My Childhood,” Character Pieces, Volume II (Waterloo Music). SOURCES: A-Z, Baker, Boenke, Cohen, Faurot, FRK, Gordon, Grove, H&H, Heinrich, Hinson, Johnson, Mac, Meggett, S&S, Stern, score EDELMANN, Mademoiselle Strasbourg and Paris, late 18th century Little information is available about this Alsatian composer. She was the sister of Johann Friederich (Jean-Frederic) Edelmann, a renowned harpsichordist, composer, and teacher who is credited with helping to make the piano fashionable in Paris, and who went to the guillotine for the Jacobin cause.72 Mlle Edelmann wrote several sonatas for clavecin which printed in collections with works by other composers, including her famous brother. SINGLE WORKS: Clavier Sonata in G major [ca. 1787] (Editions Ars Femina, EAF 40-03, 1996). Level: MidIntermediate. Three movements, 11 pp. Stock figurations, pedestrian thematic material, no development. Score is unnecessarily difficult to read, with unconnected bass/treble staves, six systems/page. I: Grazioso (G major, common time). A pleasant, graceful rondo (ABACA) with 2nd episode in the relative minor. II: Minuetto con variazioni (C major, 3/4). Rounded binary theme, four variations. 1st var.: RH plays interrupted 16ths over unchanged bass. 2nd var.: RH block chords, rattling 16ths in LH. 3rd var.: chromatic scale passages passed between hands. 4th var.: Music box effect with Alberti bass, running 16th notes in treble. III: Rondo (C major, 2/4). Actually in ternary form with B in the parallel minor. COLLECTIONS: Eighteenth Century French and English Music for the Harpsichord, ed. Martha Secrest Asti (Hildegard, 1998). Sonata II in G major (from III Sonatas pour le Clavecin avec accompagnement d’un Violin, ad Libitum, c. 1783–1786). Level: Late Intermediate. Four movements, 10 pp. More sophisticated themes and figurations than the Sonata above. I: Allegro ingenüement [candid, artless] (G major, cut time). Rudimentary sonata-allego form: two themes, a brief development, no recapitulation. II: Moderement (D major, in 4). Sonata-allegro form with an elegant first theme. Duplets in RH vs. continuous LH triplets. III: Romance (G major, 2/4). Ternary form
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Page 79 with repeats; first section is in rounded binary form, the second in parallel minor. IV: Menuet (G major, 3/4). Two contrasting minuets, each in binary form with repeats, played da capo . LISTED but not found in print: One sonata in Trois Sonatas pour le Clavecin ou Piano-Forte, composes par Mademoiselle Edelman, Monsieur Dardonau & Monsieur Pin, ed. R.Raspé in Series IV: Series in Collaboration with the Brussels Royal Conservatory of Music (Peer, Belgium: Alamire, 1992), cited in Barbara Jackson’s Guide to Surviving Music. 73 SOURCES: Baker, Eitner, grovemusic, Jackson, scores; poss. Cohen and H&H, as “Mme Edelmann, wife of J.F.” F FARRENC, (Jeanne-) Louise (née Dumont) b. Paris, May 31, 1804—d. Paris, Sep 15, 1875 Pianist, composer, and scholar Louise Farrenc, born into a family of royal artists, was the sister of sculptor Auguste Dumont. Early piano studies were with Moscheles and Hummel, and in 1819, Farrenc entered the Paris Conservatory, where she studied with Anton Reicha for six years, interrupting her studies for concert tours. From 1842, she held the appointment of Professor of Piano at the Conservatory for over thirty years, the only woman so honored. Besides being a greatly revered teacher, Farrenc, like her contemporary Fanny Hensel, was a prolific composer. Her compositions, which were widely performed, reviewed, and published in her lifetime, included symphonic overtures, symphonies, and chamber music. In 1861, she became the first winner of the Prix Chartier Académie des Beaux-Arts for chamber music, which she won again in 1869; later prize winners included Lalo, Franck, and Fauré. Also in 1861, she and her scholar husband Aristide Farrenc began compiling a massive anthology of early keyboard music. Her husband died in 1865, but Louise Farrenc continued the work. Nine years later, she published the twenty-three-volume Le Trésor des Pianistes, described by Maurice Hinson as “the most complete collection of keyboard music ever assembled.”74 Farrenc’s own compositions are rooted in Classical forms and genres, but with the harmonic language and musical expression of 19th century Paris. In her piano music, largely composed between 1825 and 1839 and published by her husband’s firm, the piano virtuoso, the salon, the symphony hall, and grand opera can all be
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Page 80 found. Of Farrenc’s fifty-one numbered works, thirty-two are for solo piano, with variation sets forming the largest segment. Her other keyboard works include four books of études, some pedagogical pieces, and fantasies or rondos on popular themes of the day. Her ambitious studies, Trente études dans tous les tons majeurs et mineurs, Op. 26, enjoyed critical and popular success, and were adopted as required study in several European conservatories.75 SINGLE WORKS: Air Russc Varié pour le Piano-Forte Op. 17 [1835], ed. Gena Raps (Hildegard; repr. GKH). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (G minor, 3/4-2/4-12/8, 13 pp). Prelude, Theme, eight variations, and a Finale, praised by Robert Schumann as succinct and charming studies (preface). This is a skillful, idiomatic, and wonderfully graceful example of early Romantic variation techniques. Twelve Etudes of Dexterity Op. 41, ed. Gena Raps (Hildegard, forthcoming). ANTHOLOGIES: At the Piano with Women Composers, ed. Hinson (Alfred, 1990) and Frauen Komponieren, ed. Rieger/Walter (Schott, 1992). Impromptu. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (B minor, 3/8, moderate, 2 pp). Attractive contrapuntal work like an invention, in rounded binary form with second section twice as long as the first. Continuous 16th notes wander sadly upward as the soprano melody drifts down. In the second part, the mode changes to the relative major, and the texture turns into two duets: soprano and bass emphasize the triple meter, as alto and tenor continue the 16th note pattern. Native and Foreign Virtuosos: Selected Works of Zimmerman, Alkan, Franck, and Contemporaries, Vol. 10 of series Piano Music of the Parisian Virtuosos 1810–1860, ed. J.Kallberg (Garland, 1993). Includes the Opus 9 rondo-variations on a Bellini theme and three rondos, possibly from Opus 21 Les jours heureux, quatre rondinos sur les themes favor its (Four Rondinos), published ca. 1837.76 Probably part of a teaching series of teaching pieces, as title pages include the phrase “Encouragement aux Jeunes Pianistes.” Excellent short works for the intermediate student, interesting and challenging. Rondeau sur un Choeur du Pirate, de Bellini Op. 9. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (G major/minor, common time-6/8, allegro moderate, 9 pp). Based on the Pirate’s Chorus from an opera by Bellini. One-page introduction in 4 is followed by a sparkling rondo with variations. Rondino Pastoral, No. 10. Level: Early Intermediate. (F major, 6/8, allegretto grazioso, 3 pp). A strummed bass accompanies the peaceful, songlike melody, with a miniature cadenza bringing the theme back for its final appearance. Rondino Savoyard, No. 11. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (A minor, 2/4, allegretto, 3 pp). An energetic hornpipe, with emphatic thudding downbeats and
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Page 81 staccato hops on the upbeats. Sixteenth note scales and broken chord patterns provide some lightfingered work for the right hand. In ternary form rather than being a true rondo, the dance has a songlike middle section in A major. Rondino-Walse (sic), No. 12. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (C major, 3/8, moderate, 3 pp). Not a sweeping Viennese waltz, this is more decorous and minuet-like. Music-box effect, with small, gracious steps and repeated 16th note patterns, echoed in higher registers. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 6, series, eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Air Russe Varié pour le Piano-Forte, ed. Gena Raps. See Single Works. SOURCES: A-Z, Baker, Boenke, B&T, Cohen, Dubal, Elson, Fetis, FRK, Grove, HAMW, H&H, Hinson, Jezic, Johnson, Kirby, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, Pendle, SCB, S&S, Stern, scores FREER, Jane fl. London, 1770s No information is available about this composer other than the few facts appearing on the title page of the sonatas included here, affirming their authorship by Jane Freer of the Foundling Hospital in London, printed and sold by Preston, at warehouses in the Strand. From the dedicatory paragraph, it appears Freer was raised in the Foundling Hospital from infancy, and that she was completely blind. Freer expressed her gratitude for having been given instruction in music, at which she was able to make her living. COLLECTIONS: Six Sonatas for Piano or Harpsichord, ed. Barbara Harbach (Vivace Press, 1994). Level: Late Intermediate. Six three-movement sonatas in G, F E. E-flat, D, and C majors, ranging from 8–16 pp in length. Competent examples of the transition from harpsichord to piano, comparable to early works of Haydn and Clementi. Formal pattern of fast-slow-fast, with 1st and 2nd movements in a variety of forms; lyric 2nd movements; 3rd movements are rondos with one episode in a contrasting mode. Standard style traits of the period: two-voice continuous 16th note texture in fast movements; triadic and scalar melodies, sequential development; Alberti, tremolo octave, broken chord and arpeggio basses. Harmonies include temporary modulations, diminished chords, and deceptive cadences. This is a beautifully clear Urtext edition with a helpful ornament chart. SOURCES: Hinson, score
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Page 82 FROMM-MICHAELS, Use b. Hamburg, Dec 30, 1888—d. Detmold, Germany, Jan 22, 1986 Virtuoso pianist and composer Use Fromm-Michaels studied piano with Bender and Van Eyken at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, then later with Kwast and Friedberg at the Stern Conservatory. At the Cologne Conservatory, she studied composition with Hans Pfitzner and Fritz Steinbach. A passionate lover of the music of Mozart, she composed over twenty cadenzas for his concertos. Fromm-Michaels was a champion of contemporary music, and at age eighteen was one of the first to play Max Reger’s Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Bach . She performed as a soloist under Nikisch, Furtwängler, and Schoenberg, but her work was circumscribed by Nazi rule because her husband was Jewish. After World War II and the death of her husband in 1946, she taught piano at the Hamburg Hochschule für Musik until 1959. Her compositions include a symphony, chamber and vocal music, and piano pieces. Stylistically, they are eclectic and post-Romantic, displaying the influence of Brahms, Richard Strauss, and Dvorak in their use of the modes and dance forms of central European folk music, as well as some of the tonal experimentation of the 20th century. SINGLE WORKS: “Vier Puppen” (Vier kleine Stücke für Klavier zu zwei Händen) Op. 4 (Ries & Erler, 1994). Level: Mid-Intermediate. Four miniature “doll sketches”: Der Holzsoldat [wooden soldier], Der Hampelmann [puppet], Das Puppenmädchen [girl doll], and Der Harliken [clown]. Rounded binary forms, easy keys, 2 pp. each. Simpler in texture and harmony than the Opus 5 group (below), with short, repetitive melodies and characteristic rhythms, but requiring considerable control in contrasting articulations. The late Romantic harmonic language includes secondary dominants, borrowed notes and chords, some chromaticism, and a preference for open fifths. Acht Skizzen Op. 5 (Ries & Erler, 1990). Level: Mid-Intermediate. Eight 1-pp. sketches, not connected by a common theme but with many similarities to each other: five are in minor keys, all are in simple song form, and all push the boundaries of tonality. Triplet figures, octaves, and arched forms are present in each; the style is late Romantic, with Brahmsian textures. No. I (B minor/D major, 3/4, sostenuto). A surging, romantic melody moves through shifting tonalities. No. II. (G minor, 2/4, animate). RH octaves are accompanied by broken-chord triplets in changing meters; meter could have been 6/8. No. III. (C minor, 3/4, tempo energico). A sweep of ascending chromatic octaves in RH is supported by bass octaves and chords. No. IV. (C major, 6/8, lento). Low chords in close four-part harmony pulsate under brief dissonant phrases.
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Page 83 No. V. (E minor, common time, moderate). A lyric, arching melody is urged forward by chords on the off-beat. No. VI. (A major, 3/4, moderato). Inner voices in thirds and sixths descend the scale between static soprano and bass lines. No. VII. (B minor, common time, allegro moderato). Contrasting staccatos and slurs and a chromatically-descending alto line lend a playful feeling to this piece. No. VIII. (G major, 3/4, sostenuto: espress la Melodia). In three-voice texture, soprano and tenor sing a duet over a bass pedal reiterated on off-beats. Senate Op. 6 (Ries & Erler, n.d.). Level: Advanced. Three movements, 26 pp. A strong, impressive work, idiomatic and well constructed. I: Markig [vigorous] (C major, 4/4). Sonata-allegro form, with two strongly contrasting themes and a full development section. Passionate unison octaves and full chords contrast with a dreamy intermezzo. II: Sehr langsam; frei im Zeitmass [very slowly; free in tempo] (C minor, 3/4). The central motif, a rhythmic cell of a 32nd note followed by a dotted eighth, contrasts with triplets echoing the first movement. III: Lebhaft, aber nicht schnell [lively but not fast] (F minor, 2/4). A haunting, insistent theme, treated rhapsodically. Walzerreigen Op. 7 (Ries & Erler n.d.). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (Various keys and tempi, 13 pp). A delightful waltz in five distinct but continuous sections, full of middle-European modes and Brahmsian figurations. Many contrasts in harmonic colors, mood, and movement, using the whole range of the keyboard. 1. Gemächlich; sehr launisch im Zeitmass [comfortable, very wayward in tempo]. A sweet melody, changing key every four bars or so, with delicate articulations and grace notes. 2. Ruhig und tonvoll [calm and melodious]. Lyric, legato. 3. Wild, aber nicht zu schnell [passionate, but not too fast]. The centerpiece of the work, 4 pp. long; Brahmsian. 4. Ruhig, nicht zu langsam [calm, not too slowly]. Full but gentle chords in quarter and half notes. 5. Erst leise und zurückhaltend, dann immer ausgelassener [first softly, holding back; then always exuberant]. A boisterous German Ländler. Variations über ein eigenes Thema Op. 8 (Ries & Erler, n.d.). Level: Advanced. Theme and seven difficult variations. Meters, tempi, key signatures, and figurations change throughout. ANTHOLOGIES: Frauen Komponieren, ed. Rieger/Walter (Schott, 1992). Langsamer Waltz. Level: Late Intermediate. (A minor/major, 3/4, 3 pp). An eerie little piece with two alternating themes. Both tender and aloof, with chromaticism, descending scales, dotted-note figures, and waltz rhythms. The A major middle section, played high in the treble register, has a music-box naïvete that is curiously tonal after the
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Page 84 opening dissonances. An evocative and well-crafted work, bringing to mind a darkened stage with a lonely clown revolving in the spotlight. SOURCES: A-Z, Boenke, Cohen, FRK, H&H, Johnson, KOM, Mac, Meggett, MGG, Pendle, S&S, SCB, Sperber, Stern, scores FUGLSANG-VISCONTI, Use b. Hadersleben, Denmark, May 31, 1895—d.? A Danish composer from a musical family, Fuglsang-Visconti first studied piano with A. Huth, and at the age of twenty was admitted to the Musikstudium am Königlichen Württembergischen Konservatorium in Stuttgart. There, her teacher was Max von Pauer, the pianist and head of the Conservatory, who also discovered her talent as a composer. Later composition teachers were J.Haas and E.Strasser. In 1927, she married G. Visconti and traveled with him to Austria. In the confusion of WW II, many of her compositions were lost. After the war, in 1949, she and her family moved to Brazil and built a new life, and in 1964 she returned to Haderslev (Hadersleben’s name since 1920), where she still lives today. From 1915 until her sixtieth year, Fuglsang-Visconti composed well over a hundred songs, piano suites and variations, and pieces for violin and cello. In 1986, she first experienced the world premiere of her songs by the Krefelder contralto Lore Sladek, as well as the production of her first and only recording.77 SINGLE WORKS: Variationen über ein Volkslied, “Ade nun zur guten Nacht” (Tischer & Jagenberg, n.d.). Level: Late Intermediate. (B-flat major, common time, 8 pp). A twelve-bar theme formed from a lovely old German folk song, with eleven brief, well-constructed variations. Strongly reminiscent of Brahms, it is an idiomatic and enjoyable example of the genre. Var. 1. L’istesso tempo. The bass walks down the scale under the soprano melody, with inner voices chiming in between the beats. Var. 2. Kräftig markiert [strongly marked]. Bass octaves boom below the melody harmonized in double triads. Var. 3. Langsam und zart [slow and sweet]. A chorale in B-flat minor, with ties and suspensions. Var. 4. Rasch und flüchtig [quick and fleeting]. (B-flat minor, 4/8). RH melody in eighth note pairs over off-beat grace-noted chords. Var. 5. Singend [singingly]. (B-flat major, 3/4). A song without words. Duet between soprano and bass, accompanied by downward-strummed chords in the inner voices. Interesting modulations. Var. 6. Sehr langsam und leise [very slow and soft]. An intermezzo, with tenor melody, soprano countermelody, and wide, sustained chords; chromatic passing tones add extra color.
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Page 85 Var. 7. Lebhaft, mit Humor [lively, with humor]. Dramatic contrasts in texture and articulation, wide bass leaps. Var. 8. Rasch und bestimmt [brisk and determined]. Arpeggiated texture in eighth note triplets. Var. 9. Etwas langsamer, aber lebhaft und kräftig [somewhat slower, but lively and strong]. Strong rhythmic motive in the bass drives the theme forward. Var. 10. Ruhig [calmly]. Sustained chords with some chromaticism, over a reiterated bass pedal. Begins in E-flat, changes to F-sharp major, then leads enharmonically to the final variation. Var. 11. Kraftvoll [powerfully]. Triumphant beginning with strong doubled chords and bass octaves. The music grows calmer in the second half, fading into a pianissimo at the end. SOURCES: A-Z, FRK, Mac G GAINSBORG, Lolita Cabrera b. White Plains, New York, 1895/6—d. Danville, New Jersey, May 23, 1981 Little information is available concerning Lolita Gainsborg. A daughter of Bolivian parents, Gainsborg studied in New York with the American pianist Edward Morris Bowman, who used the William Mason method in his teaching. At fourteen, Gainsborg made her New York debut in Mendelssohn Hall. After 1924, she was a featured pianist on the NBC radio network, and she continued to concertize until her marriage. SINGLE WORKS: Lullaby for the Right Hand Alone (Boston Music Company, 1928). Level: Late Intermediate. (D-flat major, 4/4, andante con moto, 3 pp). An amiable theme, reminiscent of “There’s No Place Like Home,” is played in thirds and block chords and supported by a broken-chord bass. Primary chords, balanced phrases, and simple song form prevail. A pleasant exercise in voicing, reading, fingering, and general musicianship for the right hand. SOURCES: Cohen, H&H, Kehler, Meggett
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Page 86 GAMBARINI, Elisabetta de (var. Mrs. Chazal, De Gambarini) b. London, Sep 7, 1731—d. London, Feb9, 1765 Soprano, keyboardist, conductor and composer Elisabetta de Gambarini was the daughter of Charles Gambarini, Italian counselor to the Landgrave of Hessen-Kassel. Her mother was a music teacher to the children of noblemen. Elisabetta sang in many Handel oratorios, including Judas Maccabeus, Samson, and Messiah, and she may have been a student of Geminiani, and perhaps also a painter. Near the end of her short life, she married a Mr. Chazal. Her compositions include chamber music and many overtures. Her three volumes of published works (ca. 1748–50) include a set of six harpsichord lessons, a mixed collection of songs and keyboard pieces, and a group of twelve English and Italian songs. SINGLE WORKS: Six Sonatas for Harpsichord or Piano Op. I [1748], ed. Barbara Harbach (Vivace Press, 1994). Level: Mid-Intermediate. Six three-movement sonatas, in G, D, F, G, C majors, D minor, each 3–4 pp. long. Pleasant, tuneful examples of the late Baroque/early Classical period in the style of D.Scarlatti, Handel, and J.C.Bach. Two voice-textures, continuous sixteenth notes, primary chords, triadic and scalar melodies, infrequent ornaments. 1st movements: quick binary dances in duple meters. 2nd movements: contrasting keys, lyric and slower. Two Sicilianas, an Adagio, a March, and a Minuet. 3rd movements: gigue types in 12/8 or 6/8. This Urtext edition is beautifully spaced and easy to read, with no added markings; an ornament chart is included. COLLECTIONS: Lessons for Harpsichord Op. I and Op. II, ed. Martha Asti (Hildegard, 1995). Opus I: Six Sets of Lessons for the Harpsichord . See Six Sonatas. Lessons for the Harpsichord Opus II [ca. 1748]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. Eight lessons, in B-flat, F, A, G, and D majors and G minor, each 2–4 pp. long. Similar to Opus I, but shorter and easier. Two sets of theme and variations: a Gavotte based on a popular aria, and a Minuet. Six one-movement “lessons” in binary dance forms: Allegro, Andante, Tambourin, Caraglion, and two Gigas. The gigues are particularly energetic and playful. ANTHOLOGIES: At the Piano with Women Composers, ed. Hinson (Alfred, 1990). Gigue and Tambourin from Lessons for the Harpsichord Op. II. Eighteenth Century Women Composers for the Harpsichord or Piano, Vol. I, ed. Harbach (Vivace Press, 1992). Lessons for the Harpsichord Opus II: Aria, Gavotte and Variations, and Gigue. In this edition, the
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Page 87 editor thoughtfully includes the original aria (“Love, Go and Calm Thy Sighs”) with text and vocal slurs, to aid the performer in phrasing. Women Composers for the Harpsichord, ed. Harbach, (Elkan-Vogel/Presser, 1986). Lessons for the Harpsichord Op. II: Minuet, Tambourin, and Allegro. Women Composers: Music through the Ages, Vol. 3, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1998). Six Sets of Lessons for the Harpsichord Op. 1, Sonata I. SOURCES: Cohen, Eitner, Grove, H&H, Heinrich, Hinson, Jackson, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, S&S, Stern, scores GAYNOR, Jessie Love (var. Lovel; née Smith) b. Feb 17, 1863, St. Louis—d. Feb 20, 1921, Webster Groves, Missouri Jessie Gaynor, a pianist and teacher from St. Louis, was widely known in the early part of the twentieth century for her children’s songs. “In this juvenile vein she has no equal among American women…(they are) more developed than one would expect to find in juvenile compositions…all poetic.”78 In 1881, Gaynor graduated from Pritchett College and went to Boston to study with the eminent composer, Louis Maas; other teachers were Cady, Weidig, A.J. Goodrich and Frederick Grant Gleason. Gaynor taught in Chicago, St. Joseph, Missouri, and St. Louis, and composed popular songs, such as The Slumber Boat and Thanksgiving Song, song collections and operettas for children (Songs of the Child’s World, The House That Jack Built), about fifty sacred and secular songs for adults, and a number of vocal quartets.79 For the piano, Gaynor wrote etudes, a waltz for four hands, a Reverie (also arranged for organ), and many teaching pieces. Pedagogically ahead of her time, she insisted on teaching ear training and theory to beginners, her motto being “the thing before the sign.” Her daughter, Dorothy Gaynor Blake, said she had “a vivid personality with a great love of children, a persistent and contagious optimism and a big capacity for work.”80 SINGLE WORKS: The Guitar Serenade (John Church/Presser, 1914). Level: Late Elementary. (C major, 4/8, 2 pp). A stepwise LH melody is accompanied by “plucked” double notes in the treble. A passable first etude, with 16th notes, dynamic contrasts, and different simultaneous articulations; shifting tonalities provide a bit of interest. March of the Wee Folk (John Church/Presser, 1914). Level: Elementary. (C major, 2 pp). A teaching piece with some contrasts in dynamics, articulation, and register.
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Page 88 SOURCES: Ammer, ClagS, Cohen, Elson, Grove, H&H, Heinrich, Krohn, Laurence, Stern GIBLIN, Irene b. St. Louis, Missouri, 1888—d. 1974 The young Irene Giblin was a salesperson and song plugger-pianist who showcased new sheet music in a large St. Louis department store. Inspired by the energetic sounds of “ragging,” she created nine rags of her own between 1905 and 1913. Although Giblin quit composing after her marriage, her family said she never stopped playing the piano, and always loved ragtime music. ANTHOLOGIES: Ragtime Rediscoveries: 64 Works from the Golden Era of Rag, sel. and intro. Trebor Jay Tichenor (Dover, 1979), and Ragtimes für Klavier, ed. Kaluza (Furore, 1994). Chicken Chowder (Characteristic Two Step). Level: Late Intermediate. (F major, 2/4,4 pp). Giblin’s first popular hit, recorded for Columbia by a string group on an early 78 rpm. Notable for its two-measure chromatic scales, it has a rondo-like form: Intro-ABA-interlude-CA. The A and C strains are nearinversions of each other, and B and C sections are in the subdominant. Women Composers of Ragtime, comp. Lindeman (Presser, 1985). Sleepy Lou: A Raggy Two-Step [1906]. Level: Late Intermediate. (E-flat major, 2/4, slow and drag, 4 pp). Featuring Giblin’s distinctive chromatic melodies, the form for this rag is AABACB, all in the tonic key. In A, an ascending sixteenth note scale in both hands is answered by a slower dotted-note figure, creating a call-and-response effect. The rag ends, unusually, with a return to the B theme. Not difficult, except for the nearly continuous RH octaves. SOURCES: B&NB, Hinson, KOM, scores GILES, Imogene Late 19th c. American No biographical information is available for this ragtime composer. It seems likely that the rag below was published by relatives. ANTHOLOGIES: Ragtime Rediscoveries: 64 Works from the Golden Age of Rag, sel. Tichenor (Dover, 1979) and Ragtimes für Klavier, ed. Kaluza (Furore, 1994).
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Page 89 Red Peppers (Two Step) [1907]. Level: Late Intermediate. C/F major/D minor, 2/4, moderate tempo, 4 pp. In two halves, the work is constructed in typical 16-bar strains with repeats: A B and Trio: C D C. The Trio has its own 4-bar intro. Giles Bros, one of many small-town publishers in the Midwest, published this “local rag of rare sensitivity and musicianship” (preface). SOURCES: B&NB, Hinson, KOM, scores GNESINA, Helena Fabianovna (var. Gnessine/Gnessin, Eléna/Yelena) b. Rostov-on-the-Don, Russia, May 31, 1874—d. Moscow, Jun 4, 1967 Helena Gnesina, a Soviet composer, pianist, and professor, studied piano with Safanov, Langer, Schletzer, and Ferrucio Busoni, graduating from the Moscow Conservatory in 1893 with a silver medal. A member of an extremely musical family, she was the sister of composer Mihail Gnesina, and in 1895 she and her two sisters founded a music school in Moscow. The state took over the school after the Revolution, but Gnesina remained director until 1953. A deputy of the Moscow City Council for eight years, she received a number of awards: Artist of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (1925, 1935), the Order of the Red Banner for Laborers (1937), and the Order of Lenin, in 1945. Her works, all for piano, comprise several sets of miniatures, methods books, preparatory technical exercises, and teaching pieces, found in many collections. SINGLE WORKS: Little Studies for Beginners, ed. Stanislawa Raube (PWM Edition, 1996). Level: Mid-Elementary/Early Intermediate. Twenty-three progressive studies, each only 1–2 lines long. Twelve studies are in closeposition treble clef, and all but seven are in C major, using only two and three-voice textures. Beginning with quarter-note five-finger patterns and open fifths, they progress to wider-ranging melodies with eighth and sixteenth notes. Staccatos, slurs, imitative passages, parallel and contrary motion; basic meters, tempos, and dynamic markings. ANTHOLOGIES: Children’s Piano Pieces by Soviet Composers (Leeds. Music, 1946). Etude . Level: Early Intermediate. (A major, 3/4, Allegro cantabile, 2 pp). A pleasantly old-fashioned miniature waltz in ternary form. In the graceful first theme, a wide upward skip is followed by a step down to a long appogiatura. Primary harmonies are the rule, with the center section in the subdominant; dynamics, fingering, and articulation are carefully marked. Russian Music for the Young Pianist, Book 5, ed. Poldi Zeitlin and David Goldberger (MCA Music, 1969).
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Page 90 March. Level: Mid-Intermediate (G major, 4/4, tempo di marcia, 2 pp). Lively snare drum cadences and accents. Each phrase begins with a flourish of ascending 32nd notes. Hands are close together in the treble clef and the center of keyboard most of the time. Many teaching pieces by Gnesina appear in the series Listen to Yourself, comp. Alfred Mirovitch (Leeds. Music), and 20th Century Piano Music, comp. Bernice Frost (J.Fischer & Bro.). SOURCES: Butler, Cohen, H&H, Hinson, KOM, Meggett, MGG GOODWIN, Anna Gardner b. America, October 1874—d. after 1900 Little is known about this African-American composer. According to the 1900 U.S. Census, she was a resident of Augusta, Georgia, the black wife of George Goodwin, a clergyman, and mother of a fouryear-old son, George Jr. Three of her works published in Georgia are located in the Library of Congress, including the march below commemorating the Cuban struggle for independence from Spain.81 ANTHOLOGIES: Black Women Composers: A Century of Piano Music (1893–1990), ed. Helen Walker-Hill (Hildegard, 1992). Cuba Libre: Cuban Liberty March (1897). Level: Mid-Intermediate. (B-flat/E-flat/D-flat/A-flat majors, in 4, 3 pp). ABCA form, with two contrasting eight-bar themes in each section. One can practically hear the horns and cymbals in this boisterous, Sousa-like march. Abrupt dynamic contrasts, occasional octaves and sixths, and wide bass leaps imitate changes in instrumentation as the piece moves from strain to strain. SOURCES: H&H, KOM, Walker-Hill, score GOTTSCHALK, Clara —see PETERSON, Clara Gottschalk GRAMATTE, Sonja —see ECKHARDT- GRAMATTE, Sophie
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Page 91 GUEST, Jane Mary (var. Mrs. Miles; Jeanne Marie, Jean Mary) b. Bath, England, ca. 1762—d. Blackheath, Mar 20, 1846 Jane Guest, an English pianist and composer, was a child prodigy who performed in public concerts before she was six years old. She first studied with her father Ralph Guest, a prominent organist and composer, and later with J.C. Bach in London, where she was a popular performer. Listeners praised the brilliance and expressiveness of her playing. She married Abram Allen Miles in 1789, thereafter publishing her works as “Mrs. Miles.” Unlike many women of her time, she continued to perform and compose after her marriage, and her career spanned nearly sixty years. Guest attracted the support of royalty, including George 111, and she was music instructor to Princesses Amalie and Charlotte, daughters of the Prince of Wales. Her extant works include two dozen keyboard and vocal pieces, and illustrate the changes in style during her life. In 1793, she published a group of six sonatas for keyboard with violin or flute accompaniment, and in 1803, another sonata for piano with violin ad lib . Between 1820 and 1842, she published variations and dance forms for keyboard, as well as songs. SINGLE WORKS: Divertimento for the Pianoforte [1830] (Hildegard; GKH reprint). Level: Late Intermediate. (F major, 6/8-common time, allegro and vivace, 17 pp). Miles’ last character piece. A seven-page introduction in siciliana style precedes the spirited rondo, whose primary subject is a popular catch by Henry Aldrich, “Hark the Bonny Christ Church bells.” Episodes remain in closely related keys, but Guest uses chromatically altered nonharmonic tones and secondary dominants, Neapolitan, diminished, and augmented-sixth chords for drama and color. Idiomatic and well constructed, this is light but satisfying keyboard fare. Sonata No. 4, with Violin accompaniment. A facsimile copy of the first movement, in an article by Deborah Hayes, “Some Neglected Women Composers of the Eighteenth Century and Their Music,” Current Musicology 39 (1985): 54–59. ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1998). Daniel M.Raessler, prefatory essay and editing of a sonata movement. Sonata for Piano with Violin accompaniment [1809]. Level: Late Intermediate. II: Adagio con molto espressione. (G minor, 3/4, 3 pp). The theme, a plaintive arioso, is based on the first two phrases of a catch by Purcell, “Under This Stone.” It is delicately set in a free variation form, with aria-like figuration and ornamentation. Very like a slow movement from a Mozart sonata, and very beautiful.
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Page 92 Divertimento for the Pianoforte [1830]. See Single Works. SOURCES: Boenke, Cohen, Ebel, Eitner, ElsonA, Fuller, Heinrich, H&H, Jackson, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, MGG, NewGrove, S&S, Stern, scores GUTIERREZ-PONCE, Maria b. 1880—d. 1951 No information about this composer is available. SINGLE WORKS: Ballade Mauresque (Editions Max Eschig, 1948). Level: Early Advanced. (Five sharps, common time3/4-5/4, 3 pp). An atonal setting of a Moorish ballad, with Spanish dance rhythms, constantly changing subdivisions of the beat, and plenty of ornaments and accidentals. The melody alternates between soprano and bass in the four-voiced homophonic texture. Impresion Andaluza: Trois pieces pour piano (Editions Max Eschig, ME 6175). Three flamenco sketches with dance rhythms and dramatic flourishes. Fiery outbursts and harsh dissonances contrast with passages of sweet contentment. No. 1. Level: Advanced. (F-sharp minor/major/B-flat, A minors, common time-3/4, più lento, 3 pp). A dramatic arioso in five short sections: introduction, ABC (each is marked “cantato”), postlude. The sensuous section A (perhaps a seguidilla ) is followed by section B, possibly a pasillo, with its dotted rhythm on beat one and ornamented third beat. No. 2. Level: Early Advanced. (A minor, common time, ben marcato, melodia ben cantata, 3 pp). A tango/habanera with characteristic dotted rhythm patterns. No. 3. Level: Early Advanced. (C minor, 3/4 and common time, rubato, 4 pp). in ternary form. A strongly rhythmic dance (a fandango, perhaps) using various beat subdivisions and some cross-rhythms (2×3, 4×3). The melodious center section in F major is marked “con sentimento e espressione.” SOURCES: KOM
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Page 93 H HAGEN, Joanetta Catherine Elizabeth van (var. Van/Von Hagen) b.? Amsterdam, 1750—d. Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1809/10 The distinction of being the first woman in America to publish an instrumental work goes to Elizabeth van Hagen, a Dutch-American organist, pianist, and teacher, and member of a leading musical family in New York and Boston in the early 19th century. Although little is known of her earliest years, she married Peter Albrecht van Hagen, and in 1774 they emigrated to Charleston, where their son (Peter Albrecht, Jr.) was born around 1780. In 1789, they moved to New York, where they were active performers, teachers, and managers of a series, “The Old City Concerts.”82 In 1796, the family moved to Boston, changing their name from “van” to “von.” From 1799 on, Mrs. von Hagen taught piano at Mrs. Rowson’s Academy, a leading private girls’ school in Boston.83 On her husband’s death in 1803, Mrs. von Hagen succeeded him as organist at King’s Chapel. It is believed that she composed two piano concertos, a piano sonata, and the variations below. ANTHOLOGIES: American Keyboard Music Through 1865, ed. J.Bunker Clark, Vol. 3, Three Centuries of American Music: A Collection of American Sacred and Secular Music, gen. eds. Schleifer and Dennison (G.K.Hall, 1990). The Country Maid (L’Amour est un enfant trompeur) with Variations for the Pianoforte or Harpsichord [before 1810]. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (G major, 2/4–3/8, andantino, 4 pp). Six ambitious ornamental and figural variations, which retain the key, tempo, and sixteen-bar form of the folk-like theme. The last two variations are in 3/8 meter. The facsimile score is somewhat difficult to read; for example, harmonic seconds are printed one note above the other, instead of adjacent. SOURCES: Baker, B&NB, Clark, GroveAm, Heinrich, H&H, Jackson, S&S, Tick, score HARDIN(G), Elizabeth b. England, ca. 1750—d. London, 1780 Elizabeth Hardin, “of the old Jewry,” was probably the daughter of watchmaker
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Page 94 Joseph Hardin. As a teenager, she was appointed organist of St. Peter-le-Poor in London’s Broad Street on November 29, 1764, and probably held that position until her early death in 1780. Two compositions by Hardin are extant, the song, “Would kind fate bestow a lover,” and the six Lessons (sonatas) described below.84 COLLECTIONS: Six Lessons for Harpsichord or Piano [1770], ed. Barabara Harbach (Vivace Press, 1994). Level: Mid-Intermediate. (C/A/D/E/G/B-flat majors, 6–10 pp. each). Two-movement sonatas in early Classical binary forms; engaging representatives of their period. The Allegro first movements, in common time, bustle with rhythmic energy, followed by Minuets in the same key, triple meter. Lesson IV, with three movements, contains a Siciliano and Gigg (sic) in 12/8. Charming and original themes with varied accompaniment patterns, two-voice textures, and primary chords. More ornaments may have been added in performance than appear in the score. Excellent Urtext edition, with an ornament chart in the preface. ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1998). Lesson VI from Six Lessons for the Harpsichord, ed. Martha Secrest Asti. See above. SOURCES: Cohen, Heinrich, H&H, Hinson, Jackson, M&A, Meggett, Stern, scores HARRISON, Susan (Susie) Frances (pseud. Seranus, Gilbert/G.R.King; née Riley) b. Toronto, Feb 24, 1859—d. Toronto, May 5, 1935 Canadian composer and writer Susie Harrison received her education at private schools in Montreal and Toronto. Considered an expert on Canadian folklore, in 1887 she edited The Canadian Birthday Book, the first anthology of Canadian English, French, and Amerindian verse. In 1884, she incorporated folk tunes in her opera, Pipandor. Wife of organist and conductor J.W.F.Harrison, she was the principal of the Rosedale Branch of the Toronto Conservatory for twenty years, and a frequent contributor to literary and musical magazines and journals, under a variety of pseudonyms. Harrison’s compositions include such songs and piano pieces as “Address of Welcome to Lord Landsdowne,” “An Old-Fashioned Love Song,” and Trois Esquisses canadiennes, piano arrangements of French-Canadian songs. Her musical style sometimes combined the modal melodies, harmonies and lyricism of folk music with chromatic progression.85
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Page 95 LISTED but not found in print: Chant du voyager (3rd of Trois Esquisses canadiennes ) [1887] in The Canadian Musical Heritage, Piano Music Vol. 2, ed. Elaine Keillor (Ottawa, 1983). Cited in Hinson’s Guide, 3rd edition. SOURCES: Cohen, EMC, H&H, Hinson, NewGrove, S&S, Stern HECKSHER, Céleste De Longpré (née Massey) b. Philadelphia, Feb23, 1860—d. Philadelphia, Feb 18, 1928 Over her parents’ objections, Celeste Hecksher was given lessons in piano and composition, and published her first songs at the age often.86 Later studies were with Zerdahal, in piano, and Henry Albert Lang and Vassily Leps, in composition and orchestration. Hecksher composed two operas, chamber and orchestral music, songs, and piano pieces. Her orchestral suite, Dance of the Pyrenées, was played by the Philadelphia Orchestra, and staged as a ballet. In 1883, she married Austin Stevens Hecksher, with whom she had four children. Hecksher presided over the Philadelphia Operatic Society for many years. ANTHOLOGIES: American Women Composers: Piano Music from 1865–1915, ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1990), and American Keyboard Music: 1866 through 1910, ed. Glickman, Vol. 4 of the series Three Centuries of American Music: A Collection of American Sacred and Secular Music, gen. eds. Schleifer and Dennison (G.K.Hall, 1990). Valse Boheme Op. 10 [1896]. Level: Mid-Late Intermediate. (F minor, 3/4, vivace, 4 pp). Ternary, with a twenty-bar introduction/ritornello. A graceful arpeggio sweeps up to a suspended half note; then the flirtatious melody moves nimbly on. Contrasting middle section has suave, gliding dotted half-notes in perfectly arched phrases. Similar in style to Chaminade, the piece makes the most of the piano’s range. SOURCES: Ammer, Baker, Cohen, G&G, H&H, Stern, KOM, Laurence, Mac, S&S, Stern, score HENSEL, Fanny Cäcilie Mendelssohn (née Fanny Zippora Mendelssohn) b. Hamburg, Nov 14,1805—d. Berlin, May 14, 1847 Fanny Hensel, the older sister of Felix Mendelssohn, composed around five hundred works, including piano pieces, chamber music, cantatas, and over three hundred lieder. Born to a socially and intellectually prominent Jewish family in Berlin, she and her renowned brother received the very best liberal education and musical training. After first studying with their mother, Sara, they studied
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Page 96 piano with Ludwig Berger and composition with Carl Friedrich Zelter, head of the Berliner Singakademie, and for a short time with Mme Marie Bigot de Mirogues, a famous pianist, teacher, and composer in Paris (q.v.). Fanny became an exceptional pianist, equal in talent and skill to Felix. Restricted to amateur music making by the social strictures of the time, Fanny presented weekly “Sonntagsmusiken” in their home, which were attended by the most important musical, literary, and scientific people of the day. The programs, which she programmed, rehearsed, conducted, and performed, included music by Bach, Mozart, and Handel, as well as compositions by contemporary composers including her brother and herself. Although her father and brother encouraged Fanny to compose, they strongly discouraged her from seeking publication of her works, as not being a suitable occupation for a young woman of her station. As a result, very few of her works were published during her lifetime, and it is only recently that a good deal of her work has become available.87 Fanny Hensel composed about 130 works for the piano, which are described by Camill Cai as having “a Chopinesque sound, a love of the long-breathed, soaring melody, and an attachment to rich filigree of arpeggio accompaniments.”88 Other hallmarks of Hensel’s distinctive style are harmonic innovation, a strong sense of drama, motivic construction and skillful Bachian counterpoint, and a fondness for perpetuo moto textures and minor keys. SINGLE WORKS: Das Jahr: 12 Charakterstücke, in two volumes, ed. Liana Gavrila Serbescu und Barbara Heller [1841] (Furore, 1989). Level: Advanced. A stupendous work, unique in conception, Das Jahr is a piano cycle of twelve descriptive character pieces, one for each month of the year, composed after the couple’s year in Italy. Sara Rothenberg describes the work: “Epic in length yet intimate in its use of the solo form, the cumulative effect of the work is personal and original…(and) places her clearly among her innovative contemporaries—Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Thallberg—as a member of the Romantic generation."89 Band 1: Januar: Ein Traum [January, a dream]. (B major, in 4, adagio quasi una fantasia/presto, 3 pp). An overture to the cycle, quoting ideas developed in later movements, it alternates chorale and recitative textures. Florid contrapuntal passagework leads straight into Februar: Scherzo. (F-sharp major, 6/8, presto, 8 pp). A festive Roman Carnival piece ends with the tolling of “clock tower” bells in low octaves. März. (F-sharp minor, in 4, agitato, 7 pp). Chorale and variations (“Christ ist erstanden”) for Lent and Easter. April: Capriccioso. (E major, 9/8, allegretto, 6 pp). Changeable moods and tempos illustrate April’s fickle weather. Mai: Frühlingslied. (A major, 9/8, allegro vivace e giocoso, 5 pp). A gaily lilting spring song. Juni: Serenade. (D minor, in 4, then 6/8, largo-andante, 8 pp). A nocturne/barcarolle, with an ornamented alto melody. Juli: Serenade. (F minor, 2/4 and 6/8, larghetto, 4 pp). Emotions change from pensive to tragic to regretful. Tremolo bass in the lowest register depicts threatening rolls of thunder.
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Page 97 August (Fassung I). D major, 3/4-4/4-6/8, allegro/tempo di marcia/allegro assai, 9 pp). In this “first draft,” the opening fanfare leads to a joyous march, ending with nimble 16th-note arpeggios racing up and down the keyboard. Band 2: August (Fassung II). An expanded version of the first draft, with a 12/16 section of arpeggios and chords inserted between the fanfare and the march. September: Am Flusse [orig. pub. as Op. 2/2]. (B minor, 6/8, andante con moto, 7 pp). In this depiction of a rushing river in spate with the fall rains, triplet sixteenths surround the insistent alto melody in a wave-like accompaniment. Oktober. (A-flat major, in 4, allegro con spirituo, 8 pp). A happy march in dotted rhythm, showing Hensel’s joyful reaction to Venice. November. (F minor, in 4–6/8, mesto/allegro con molto agitato, 10 pp). The tragic opening gives way to swift, agile passage work; the winter wind, perhaps. A rondo with lyric interludes, not unlike Felix’s Rondo Capriccioso. December. (C minor/major, in 4-6/8,allegro molto/andante, 6 pp). Agitated beginning section has rapid double thirds and syncopations. In the second section, the mood becomes quieter with the Christmas chorale “Vom Himmel hoch” (From Heaven on high) and two variations. Nachspiel [Postlude]. (A minor/major, in 4, choral, 1 pp). The introspection and resolution of Bach’s New Year’s chorale, “Das alte Jahr vergangen ist” [The old year has gone] brings the monumental work to a close. Prélude für Klavier, ed. Rosario Marciano [1827] (Furore, 1989). Level: Mid/Late Intermediate. (E minor, common time, 2 pp). Like a majestic organ prelude in the north German church tradition, this work clearly shows the influence of Bach, and bears a strong resemblance to the opening chorus of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.90 Block triads over pedal tones, scale passages in bass octaves, suspensions, and chromatic harmony combine for a powerful sound. note arpeggios and scales. The contrasting center section (a song without words) has a lyric melody, long bass tones, and inner voices in fluttering triplets. Vier Lieder ohne Worte, Opus 8 [1850], ed. Eva Rieger (Furore, 1989). Four “songs without words,” of varying moods and textures. I. Untitled. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (B minor, 3/8, allegro moderate, 7 pp). Soprano melody, which combines two motives, is partnered by bass line and inner voice triplets. Improvisational middle section treats the theme sequentially in modulations. Watch for numerous accidentals, two-handed arpeggios and some unusual beaming. II. Untitled. Level: Late Intermediate. (A minor, in 4, andante con espressione, 2 pp). A strong, sober piece like an organ chorale, with four-voice writing, suspensions, and pedal points. III. Lied (Lenau). Level: Late Intermediate. (D-flat major, 4/4, larghetto, 2 pp). Yearning, romantic melody is accompanied by a strong bass and
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Page 98 reiterated triads on every eighth note. The harmony in the middle section takes some surprising turns: the main theme returns in the dominant, then finds its way back to the tonic, and after a final heartfelt statement, slips away. IV. Wanderlied. Level: Advanced. (E major, 2/4, presto, 6 pp). Lacy, rippling triplets accompany the arching 16-bar melody formed of parallel phrases. Prelude-like, it wanders through many keys, with unusual, fleeting dissonances. Vier römische Klavierstücke [Four Roman Piano Pieces], ed. Christian Lambour(Breitkopf & Härtel, 1999). I. Allegro moderate. Level: Early Advanced/Advanced. (A-flat major, 3/4, 4 pp). The repeated-note motive is developed over rather difficult broken chords in the bass. II. Introduktion und Capriccio. Level: Advanced. (B minor, common time, 11 pp). A wonderfully pianistic and showy prelude/fantasia. The descending minor scale theme undergoes various textural variations. III. Largo und Allegro con fuoco. Level: Late Intermediate/EarlyAdvanced. (G minor, 6/8, 15 pp). Great pianistic fun in a ballade-scena worthy of a Bellini opera. Dramatic contrasts in texture, meter, and mood help depict a love duet, an aria, a fight scene, a death, wild sorrow, the triumphal return of the hero, and a closing duet. IV. Ponte molle [Molle Bridge in Rome]. Level: Late Intermediate. (A minor, 9/8, andante con espressione, 4 pp). A sorrowful lied written on leaving Rome, in homophonic song texture with reiterated inner voices on every beat. Zwei Bagatellen, ed. Barbara Heller (Furore, 1988). Level: Late Intermediate. Two brief “little nothings.” No. 1. (F major, 6/8, allegretto, 2 pp). Ties, four-voice texture with continuous suspensions, a stepwise melody, chromatic modulations, and hands close together in center of keyboard all combine to make this feel like an organ improvisation. No. 2. (D major, common time, con moto, 2 pp). A very odd little melody, with a bar repeated exactly every two measures, like a false start to the answering phrase. COLLECTIONS: Two Piano Sonatas, ed. Judith Radell (Hildegard, 1992). Sonata in C minor [1824]. Level: Advanced. Three mvmts, 21 pp. Written “for Felix in his absence” (inscription). The sonata shows considerable skill in handling large forms, showing “a wealth of thematic material with unification of the Sonata based on employment throughout all movements of the small motives from which Hensel builds her melodies” (score preface). I: Allegro moderate e con espressione (C minor, 3/4, 8 pp). Contemplative; lyricism and pathos contrast with an agitated second theme. Careful voice leading and a fugato in the recapitulation reflect contrapuntal training. II: Andante con moto (E-
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Page 99 flat major, 3/4, 4 pp). A lied in modified sonata-rondo form, with quiet melodic lines and dramatic modulations. III: Finale: Presto (C minor, common time, 9 pp). A exhilarating perpetual motion study; close-figured triplets become even faster 16th note arpeggios and scales. The contrasting center section has a lyric melody, long bass tones, and inner voices in fluttering triplets, in song-without-words texture. Piano Sonata in G minor (1843). Level: Advanced. Four movements, 37 pp. “Romantic in its exploration of melody, form and harmony, also employs the devices of Romantic pianism: octaves, tremolos, use of extreme registers of the instrument, and virtuosic passage work” (score preface). Unifying motives in every movement; each movement is connected to the next by transitions and attacas. I: Allegro molto agitato (common time, 8 pp). Interrelated dramatic first and lyric second themes. II: Scherzo (B minor, 6/8, 7 pp). Delicate, shimmering elfin dance; trio uses effective tremolos in upper register. III: Adagio (B minor, 9/8, 7 pp). Barcarolle with a broad, lyrical theme. IV: Allegro moderate e con espressione (E minor, 15 pp). Sonata-rondo, stylistically like her virtuoso songs without words. Sonate c-Moll and Sonaten satz E-dur, ed. Liana Gavrila Serbescu and Barbara Heller (Furore, 1991). Two early works by the teenaged Fanny. Sonatensatz [1822]. Level: Early Advanced. (E major, common time, allegro assai moderato, 3 pp). A sonata movement using Romantic ideas in classical sonata-rondo form. Duplet and triplet textures alternate, and a cadenza ushers in the recapitulation. Sonate in C minor [1824]. See Two Piano Sonatas, above. Ausgewählte Klavierwerke [Selected Piano Works], Urtext. Rudolf Elvers, frwd.; Hans-Martin Theopold, fingering (Henle Verlag, 1986). The collection, a fine introduction to Hensel’s early and more mature work, contains two late intermediate and nine advanced works; Magrath places the entire volume at Level 10.91 1. Übungstück [1822], Level: Advanced. (C major, in 4, allegro moderato, 3 pp). An etude in rapid staccato triads and divided chords, mainly for the right hand. 2. Übungstück [1823]. Level: Late Intermediate. (G minor, 3/8, allegro moderato, 5 pp). A cheerful scherzo and trio with a running-sixteenth note violin figure accompanied by a waltz bass. Chord changes on first and third beats of each measure lend a folk-dance quality. The G-major second theme is different but related, with inversions, arpeggios and scale passages. Requires rapid hand shifts over thumb, finger substitutions, and a light arm. 3. Untitled [1825]. Level: Early Advanced. (G minor, in 4, 4 pp). An invention-like piece with running eighth notes in two-voice texture. 4. Untitled [1825]. Level: Late Intermediate. (F minor, 6/8, 3 pp). The melody sighs down a minor scale, accompanied by dotted-quarters in the bass; inner voices divide the chords between the hands. Borrowed
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Page 100 scale tones lend piquancy to the long phrases, and the theme passes through a number of keys in the development section before returning to the tonic. 5. Notturno [1838]. Level: Early Advanced/Advanced. (G minor, 6/8, andantino, 5 pp). Ternary form. An ardent melody yearns over the grand arpeggio accompaniment in this captivating and harmonically daring night song. 6. Abschied von Rom [Departure from Rome, ca. 1840]. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (A minor, 9/8, andante con espressione, 4 pp). The theme, based on a descending scale, is alternately sad and happy at the thoughts of leaving Rome and returning home. Clever transitions between sections. 7. Unfilled [1846]. Level: Advanced. (C minor, in 4, allegro molto, 7 pp). An etude with downwardrippling scale segments and a wonderfully tragic theme. 8. Untitled [1846]. Level: Advanced. (D-flat major, 2/4, andante cantabile, 3 pp). A Schumannesque Lied, with lovely temporary modulations. 9. O Traum der Jugend, o goldner Stern [O dream of youth, o golden star, 1846]. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (F major, 3/4, andante espressivo, 3 pp). Brahmsian song without words in ternary form; in the middle section, the tonality, meter, and dynamic level change dramatically. 10. Untitled [1846]. Level: Advanced. (D minor, 2/4, allegretto, 4 pp). An etude with staccato doublenotes and triads and a legato folk-like melody. 11. Untitled [1846]. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (A major, 3/4, allegro vivace, 4 pp). Exuberant and impassioned, like a song by Schumann. The melody is in duplets against triplets in the bass. Klavierstücke von Fanny Hensel: Seven Volumes (Bände) Band 1: Lyrische Klavierstücke (1836–1839), ed. Annagret Huber (Furore, 1996). Three song-like works. Andante con espressione. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (B-flat major, 3/4, 4 pp). A lied with the technical challenge of an etude: LH accompanies the lyric, romantic melody in an unending series of ascending double-note arpeggios. This is a through-composed work of passion and some harmonic daring. Andante con moto. Level: Early Advanced/Advanced. (E major, 6/8, 7 pp). A truly appealing piece, full of Romantic feeling: an energetic melody rushes forward, supported by repeated chords on every beat. In the second section, the texture “doubles,” changing from eighth notes to constant sixteenths. Allegro molto vivace ma con sentimento. Level: Early Advanced/Advanced. (E-flat major, 6/8, 13 pp). A most attractive work: the jubilant melody charges forward exuberantly, accompanied first by repeated eighth notes, then by a flutter of divided-chord sixteenths.
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Page 101 Band 2: Virtuose Klavierstücke (1838) ed. Annagret Huber (Furore, 1995). Three virtuoso etudes with plenty of melodic and musical interest. Etude-Allegro con brio. Level: Advanced. (G minor, in 4, 8 pp). An exciting study in octaves and broken chords. LH chases RH up and down the keyboard in a wonderful Beethovenian rumble, with some difficult hand-crossings and leaps. Allegro di molto. Level: Advanced. (D minor, 2/4, 14 pp). A study in one of Hensel’s favorite figures, tarantella-like ornamental triplets in perpetual motion. There are LH octaves as well. Allegro grazioso. Level: Advanced. (B-flat major, in 4, 8 pp). Legato double-notes of all kinds sashay gracefully up and down the keyboard, accompanied by an alternating bass. Band 3: Charakterstücke (1846), ed. Anagret Huber (Furore, 1996). Four descriptive pieces. Allegro molto vivace e leggiero. Level: Early Advanced/Advanced. (B major, 6/8, 4 pp). Barcarolle rhythms, played fast and light, lift this work into the air in a sort of hirondelle (swallow’s song). The accompanying arpeggio figure uses double notes; the middle section of this ternary work repeats the refrain in G major. Allegro molto vivace. Level: Advanced. (C major, in 4, 8 pp). A light-hearted dance, perhaps a stylized polka, with a sassy ostinato rhythm. Andante con moto. Level: Advanced. (E major, in 4, 6 pp). A prayerful twelve-bar hymn undergoes changes in texture, intent, and key. Lied: Andante espressivo. Level: Early Advanced/Advanced. (E-flat major/minor, in 4, 8 pp). A ballade, reminiscent of an operatic love duet, opens with a 20-bar three-voice chorale and changes to the parallel minor. The soprano solo alternates with a bass melody in octaves, all surrounded by surging arpeggios, and ending joyously in an expanded texture. As the scene fades, the hymn is heard, pianissimo. Band 4: Übungsstücke und Etuden (1823), Heft 1, ed Annagret Huber (Furore, 1996). Four etudes, possibly written as composition exercises. Übungsstück. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (C major, in 4, allegro molto, 4 pp). This study in thumb agility, finger substitution, and accuracy in an alternating-bass accompaniment steps merrily along like a good-humored écoissaise Übungsstück. Level: Advanced. (G minor, in 4, allegro agitato, 3 pp). A finger exercise in scales and closely turning figures, written in two-voice counterpoint. Übungsstück. Level: Advanced. (G major, 2/4, presto, 6 pp). Another whirring, non-stop tarantella, presto. Each hand gets a turn at the light finger work and triplet-decorated scale tones. Etude. Level: Early Advanced. (F major, in 4, allegro moderatissimo, 7 pp). A lied with technical challenges: clean playing of block chords, phrasing, register shifts, and some LH octave leaps.
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Page 102 Band 5: Übungsstücke und Etuden (1823), Heft 2, ed. Huber (Furore, 1996). Each of these four “practice pieces” is a study of particular technical or musical skills in different figurations. Larghetto. Level: Late Intermediate. (E-flat minor, common time, 4 pp). A gloomy little exercise in sustained outer voices, with chromatic inner voices filling in beat subdivisions; in ternary form, with the middle in the parallel major. Allegro assai moderate. Level: Late Intermediate. (G major, 3/4, 4 pp). A cheerful little study. The melody marches gaily down the scale, over a bubbly bass figure with a chromatically raised third note leading to the fourth, like a foreshadowing of the boogie bass. Allegro ma non troppo. Level: Late Intermediate. (C major, 3/4, 4 pp). RH performs a figure similar to LH in the previous study; it is more difficult for the right hand. Baroque in texture, counterpoint, and bass line. Schluss [End]. Level: Late Intermediate. (C major, common time, 2 pp). Another exercise in moving inner parts, this time with triplets. Like an organ prelude, the melody moves in half-notes, and much of the bass consists of whole-note chords. Band 6. Frühe Klavierstücke (1823/24). Heft 1: Leichte Stücke, ed. Barbara Heller (Furore, 1996). Six short etudes (3–4 pp.) exploring different textures, written when Fanny was eighteen. Übungstück: Allegro ma non troppo. Level: Late Intermediate. (B minor, 6/8). A nimble, ornamented arpeggio figure in 16th notes on the first half of the bar is followed by three 8th note chords, like a dance figure; hands take turns on the rapid figure. Übungstück. Level: Late Intermediate. (G minor, 2/4). Dancing along like a gavotte, an arching twooctave arpeggio in two sets of sixteenths is followed by four 8th note hops. In rounded binary form, LH doubles the sixteenth note figure at the tenth in second section; at the return of A, LH mirrors right in a final flourish. Lento ma non troppo. Level: Late Intermediate. (C major, common time). Like an organ prelude, with sustained outer voices and inner voices moving in scales and chromatic triads. Formed by continuous development of the single theme; cadences punctuate the three sections. Andantino. Level: Late Intermediate. (B-flat major, 2/4). Ternary, with double bars after each section. In section one, RH melody sings above strummed 16th note arpeggios; then a variant of the theme is harmonized in triads (parallel minor) as LH varies its patterns. After the return of A, RH gallops to the end in 16th notes. Übungstück: Allegro molto agitato. Level: Late Intermediate. (D minor, cut time). An exciting and euphonious study in octave technique, using predictable scale and arpeggio patterns. Each hand gets a turn; the piece is great fun, and easier than it sounds. Übungstück: Allegretto. Level: Late Intermediate. (G minor, common time). A gracious little work in a delicate two-voice texture, rather like a Bach
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Page 103 invention. A gently sighing motive is answered by a rising arpeggio figure, its near inversion. Full chords occur only at major cadences, and a development section extends the imitation through brief modulations. Band 7. Frübe Klavierstücke (1823/24). Heft 2: Mittelschwere Stücke, ed. Barbara Heller (Furore, 1996). Sonata o Caphccio. Level: Advanced. (F minor, in 4, adagio/andante sostenuto e con espressione/allegro molto, 10 pp). Symphonic in conception, a somber five-page introduction leads to an allegro molto with RH whirling up and down in impassioned 16th-note arpeggios, accompanied by LH block chords. The introductory theme returns as a coda. Toccata (einstimmig) [one voiced]. Level: Advanced. (C minor, 3/4, allegro moderate, 13 pp). Like a Baroque toccata/fantasia for harpsichord or organ, hands in close position share the running 8th-notes in the monophonic line. Beaming across the bar lines makes it awkward to read, but encourages the player to emphasize line and phrasing rather than meter. ‘Etude.’ Level: Advanced. (C minor, in 4, 7 pp). An exercise in close figures: broken-note scales, ornamented with neighboring seconds and thirds, skitter up and down the keys. Klavierstücke 1843–44, ed. Renate Hellwig-Unruh (Robert Lienau Musikverlag, RL 40400, 1997). Five character pieces. I. Allegro agitato. Level: Advanced. (G minor, in 4, 15 pp). Rhapsodic and lengthy, with three distinct textures: driving triplet chords and octave bass supporting a doubled melody, 16th note arpeggios alternated between hands, and block chords in dotted rhythms. II. Allegretto ma non troppo. Level: Advanced. (E minor, 6/8, 7 pp). A capriccio/scherzo with agile staccato chords darting around the keyboard. III. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (G minor, 3/4, 4 pp). A demure melody, harmonized in thirds and sixths, has an ornamented third beat and is accompanied by block chords with a drone bass, with the effect of a musette or minuet. IV. Allegro moderato assai. Level: Advanced. (A minor, 9/8, 4 pp) A turbulent, sweeping melody; in ternary form, the center section is in four sharps. V. Allegro molto. Level: Advanced. (E minor, 2/4, 12 pp). An energetic stepwise theme is plucked from a “lute” texture of descending broken chords, set as hemiolas (duplet-appearing 16ths are really triplets). Lieder für das Pianoforte (Bote & Bock, 1983/1987). Op. 2/1-4; Op. 6/1-4. Vier Lieder für das Pianoforte Op. 2 Op. 2/1. Andante. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (G major, 3/4, 4 pp). Stylistically very like a Schumann Lied; one could easily set
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Page 104 words to the melody. In ternary form and four-voice texture, with the inner voices on repeated triads. The main theme is characterized by the interval of a falling fifth that immediately rises by steps. The contrasting section, in the parallel minor and three-voice texture, has an urgent arpeggiated accompaniment in the tenor. Op. 2/2. Andante con moto. Level: Advanced. (B minor, 6/8, 6 pp). See September in the cycle Das Jahr. Op. 2/3. Allegretto grazioso. Level: Late Intermediate. (E major, 6/8, 4 pp). Like a nocturne, with a Schubertian lyric solo accompanied by gracefully rocking double-note arpeggios. The center section is a repetition of the theme in the parallel minor. Op. 2/4. Allegro molto vivace. Level: Advanced. (A major, in 4, 6 pp). Rippling triplets surround the straightforward, lively melody with harp-like arpeggios. Vier Lieder für das Pianoforte Op. 6 Op. 6/1. Andante espressivo. Level: Late Intermediate. (A-flat major, in 4, 3 pp). Triplet arpeggios in innovative harmonies accompany the poignant, operatic arioso; every major cadence is in a new key. Op. 6/2. Allegro vivace. Level: Early Advanced. (B major, in 4, 7 pp). A rondo-ballade. Inner voices, fluttering agitatedly, urge the restless, questing theme forward. Op. 6/3. Andante cantabile. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (F-sharp major/minor, 3/4-9/8, 2 pp). The first theme is a simple, devout lied, reiterating the chords on every 8th note. After the resigned, hopeless middle section, the original theme returns like faith restored. Op. 6/4. Il Saltarello Romano. Level: Advanced. (A minor, 2/4, allegro molto, 7 pp). A gleefully nimble tantarella, leaping and spinning like a top in continuous triplet 16th notes. Pastorella (WoO). Level: Late Intermediate. (A major, 3/4, pastorella, 3 pp). A horn call forms the opening motif in this placid “shepherd’s song,” with the initial octave leap upward answered by a falling triad in dotted rhythm. Eighth notes, unhurriedly walking up and down scales, comprise the rest of the melody. Six Mélodies pour le Piano Op. 4 und Op. 5 (Robert Lienau Musikverlag: 1993). Op. 4/1. Allegro assai. Level: Early Advanced. (A-flat major, in 4, 8 pp). A lovely legato melody in longspun lines travels through many keys, in an unchanging texture of rippling 16th-note arpeggios alternated between the hands. Op. 4/2. Allegretto (“Melodie”). Level: Mid-Late Intermediate. (C-sharp minor, 6/8, allegretto, 2 pp). The melody sings a sweet and melancholy duet with the bass as inner voices lightly fill in arpeggios. Written in perfectly balanced periods of four-measure phrases, in rounded binary form, this is a sensitively crafted miniature of great delicacy and beauty.
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Page 105 Op. ?/3. Allegro molto quasi Presto. Level: Advanced. (E major, 12/8, 9 pp). A rousing, “herzvoll” piece with a heroic theme, two alternating textures, arpeggiated flourishes, and horn calls in the B section. Op. 5/4. Lento appassionato. (Mélodie) Level: Mid/Late-Intermediate. (B Major, 12/8, lento appassionato, 2 pp). Included in many anthologies. A fervent melody is propelled forward by reiterated chords on every 8th note, embodying the bittersweet quest of the Romantic. Fine part-writing, many borrowed tones and chords in the harmony. No. 5. Allegro molto vivace. Level: Early Advanced/Advanced. (G major, 2/4, 7 pp). A jolly folk-like melody is accompanied by sparkling triplets traded between the hands. Motivic development takes the tune through many keys, but mood and figuration remain constant; this is one of Hensel’s sunnier pieces. No. 6. Andante soave. Level: Early Advanced. (E-flat major, in 4, 5 pp). Ternary form. A serenely confident and sweet arioso is accompanied by grand arpeggios divided between the hands, in shifting colors with some daring, forward-looking harmony. Six Piano Pieces from the 1820s (1824–1827), ed. Judith Radell (Hildegard, 1994). Written just before Fanny’s marriage to Wilhelm Hensel. Fingering is suggested by the editor. Allegro (den 13 Nov. 1824). Level: Early Advanced. (C minor, 3/8, 5 pp). A nimble scherzo/etude, in a spare texture of broken-chord and scalar triplets, like the last movement of her 1824 Sonata in C minor . Capriccio (8 Februar 1825). Level: Early Advanced. (F-sharp major, 4/8, humorous and somewhat ironic, 8 pp). A humoresque with a mocking little triplet motif running through the entire piece. The key and the rapid LH crossovers require attention. Andante con moto (den 12ten März 1825). Level: Late Intermediate. (C minor, 6/8, 3 pp). A minirhapsody, with a yearning, passionate melody propelled by the surging bass line. Allegro ma non troppo (20 Februar 1826). Level: Early Advanced. F minor, 6/8, 6 pp. A ballade-like free form, with the sequential motive returning many times, and some startling, innovative harmonies. Allegro con espressione (Berlin, August 1826). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (C minor, 6/8, 4 pp). The angular main theme, which opens with a descending diminished 7th, combines with counterpoint, suspensions, and a final Picardy third to remind of Bach. Fugata (26 Januar 1827). Level: Early Advanced. (E-flat major, 3/4, largo ma non troppo lento, 7 pp). More of Bach’s influence: “a freely executed double fugue,” with the two themes interwoven during the final statements (score preface). Songs for the Pianoforte, 1836–1837, ed. Camilla Cai (A-R Editions, 1994), Vol. 22 of the series, Recent Researches in the Music of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. A landmark in Hensel’s career, this was the first collection published under her own name.
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Page 106 No. 1. Allegretto grazioso. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (B-flat major 3/4, 8 pp). A calm melody sings sweetly above a guitar texture of upward-plucked broken chords. An agitated transition leads to a section of Brahmsian texture, with full chords and octaves over ascending bass arpeggios. No. 2. Andante. Level: Advanced. (G major, 3/4, 5 pp). Published as Op.2/1; see Lieder für das Pianoforte, above. No. 3. Prestissimo. Level: Advanced. (C major, 4/8, 13 pp). A virtuoso perpetuo moto etude, with LH triplets whirring in a chromatic “spinning-wheel” figure. No. 4. Allegro con brio. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (F minor, 6/8, 7 pp). Galloping hunt music in dotted rhythms, with block chords and octaves. No. 5. Allegro con spirito. Level: Early Advanced. (F major, 9/8, 10 pp). Two alternating melodies with characteristic textures: in the first theme, the melody sings over inner-voice fluttering thirds, supported by bass tones. Ascending grand arpeggios, harp-like, support the second theme in A major. No. 6. Allegro con brio. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (C minor, in 4, 6 pp). Like a Verdi chorus, a broad, heroic theme marches above the sturdy ostinato bass, in which every second beat is ornamented with a 32nd note flourish. No. 7. Allegro agitato. Level: Early Advanced. (G minor, in 4, 7 pp). Reminiscent of Schubert songs; the soprano solo sings duplets against block chord triplets in the bass. No. 8. Allegro moderato. Level: Advanced. (B major, in 4, 9 pp). The lyric theme sings above a guitar texture of ascending broken triads divided between the hands. A transitional section ushers in a new key and a more agitated texture. No. 9. Largo con espressione. Level: Early Advanced. (E minor, in 4, 5 pp). Like a Chopin prelude or a Schubert lied, the arching solo is supported by reiterated block chords. No. 10. Capriccio. Level: Advanced. (F-sharp minor, in 4, allegro ma non troppo, 13 pp). In a melody reminiscent of a Hungarian rhapsody, double notes descend in sequence, over a drone of tremolo fifths in the bass. (Unnumbered). Level: Early Advanced. (F minor, 12/8, allegro agitato, 6 pp). A wild and melancholy gypsy melody with a driving ostinato bass. ANTHOLOGIES: At the Piano with Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, ed. Hinson (Alfred, 1990). Out of print; contains Hensel’s Abschied von Rom, Il saltarello romano, Notturno, and O Traum derJugend, o goldener Stern. See Collections. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 6, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Prefatory essay and three untitled pieces edited by Camilla Cai.
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Page 107 Untitled Piece in D Minor [1825]. Level: Mid-Late Intermediate. (6/8, andante, 2 pp). A pastorale. Untitled Piece in F Minor [?1827]. Level: Mid-Late Intermediate. (3/4, [andante], 3 pp). Chordal opening, expanding into octaves and LH tremolos in second section; Picardy-third final chord. Untitled Piece in A Minor. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (6/8, allegro molto, 10 pp). Longer and more mature, a modified rondo with two episodes. The heroic, ballade-like theme is moved forward by a galloping dotted-rhythm accompaniment. Frauen Komponieren, ed. Rieger/Walter (Schott), At the Piano with Women Composers, ed. Hinson (Alfred), and Great Women Composers, ed. Smith (Mel-Bay): Op. 4/2, Op. 5/4. See Six Mélodies . SOURCES: A-Z, Baker, B&T, ClagS, Cohen, Dubal, Elson, FRK, Gordon, HAMW, Heinrich, H&H, Hinson, Hyde, Jezic, Johnson, Kirby, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Magrath, Meggett, MLA, N-B, NewGrove, Pendle, SCB, Sperber, S&S, Stern, scores HERR, Miss Marie (var. Mils Marie) fl. America, 1874 The only available information about this composer comes from John Baron’s preface to the score below: “Mils Marie Herr was the wife of the head of the White League, an organization formed after civil disturbances in 1874 and disbanded in 1877, a few months after it had successfully elected Francis T. Nicholls as the first post-Reconstruction governor of Louisiana.”92 ANTHOLOGIES: Piano Music from New Orleans, 1851–1898, comp. John Baron (Da Capo, 1980). White League Waltz [1874]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (F/C/B-flat majors, 3/4, avec entrain, 5 pp). A Viennese-style waltz of four strains arranged in seven sections. Competent writing with good contrast between sections. SOURCES: score HERZOGENBERG, Elisabeth von (née von Stockhausen) b. Paris, Apr 13, 1847—d. San Remo, Italy, Jan 7, 1892 Elizabeth von Herzogenberg and her husband Heinrich, members of the nobility and fine amateur pianists and composers, were close friends of Johannes Brahms. In the late 1860s, Elizabeth contracted to study with Brahms in
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Page 108 Vienna, but Brahms felt so dangerously attracted to the beautiful blond aristocrat that he cancelled the lessons. In 1874, Heinrich convinced the Leipzig Gewandhaus to stage a “Brahms Week,” which began their lifelong friendship. The gifted and wealthy Herzogenbergs had no children, and opened their home to Clara Schumann, Brahms, Ethyl Smyth, and other composers of the day. Ethyl Smyth, Elisabeth’s close friend and protégé, described her as charming, humorous, enthusiastic, supportive—and a wonderful Hausfrau, who loved to cook special dishes for Brahms and her friends.93 In his turn, Brahms helped Heinrich get his first works published, and he greatly appreciated Elizabeth’s insightful responses and profound understanding of his music. Brahms dedicated his Op. 69 Zwei Rhapsodies to Elizabeth, and frequently sent manuscripts to her even before sending them to Clara Schumann, who was somewhat jealous of the rich young noblewoman.94 Both Heinrich and Elizabeth suffered from ill health: in 1887, Heinrich developed a crippling rheumatism which kept them from society for some years, and Elizabeth was plagued by a heart ailment which ended her life in 1892. Joachim Draheim writes, “After her early death, which was preceded by a year-long period of suffering, her husband published her 8 Piano Pieces (Mann, 1892), which he subsequently dedicated to several people in their circle of friends. Among them, in addition to Clara Schumann, was Mendelssohn’s daughter, Lily Wach.”95 ANTHOLOGIES: Johannes Brahms und seine Freunde, ed. Joachim Draheim (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1983). Drei Klavierstücke, from 8 Klavierstücke [Mann, 1892]. Three attractive character pieces in expanded binary forms. II. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (A major, in 4, allegretto, 2 pp). Rounded binary with repeats, plus a long coda based on main theme. Simple Schumanesque melody and rocking duplet accompaniment; slightly more daring harmonies in second section. VI Level: Mid-Late Intermediate. (F-sharp minor/A major, 3/4, andante, 3 pp). Expanded ternary form, with skillful handling of color and modulation, with some middle-European folk inflections. VIII. Level: Late Intermediate. (F-sharp minor/D major, 2/4, allegro appassionato, 4 pp). Brahmsian figurations in expanded ternary form. The ardent ballade-like first section is contrasted with a polka-like peasant dance. SOURCES: Baker, Cohen, Ebel, H&H, Hyde, Kirby, KOM, Laurence, Meggett, New Grove, SCB, Stern, score HILDEGARD von Bingen, Saint Bemersheim, Germany, b. 1098—d. nr. Bingen, Germany, Sep. 17, 1179 Hildegard von Bingen, the great German abbess, mystic, and writer, is the
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Page 109 earliest woman composer whose music is available to us today. Her literature includes recorded visions, medical and scientific treatises, and lyric and dramatic poetry, much of which she set to chants of her own composition. There is no evidence that she performed on or composed for keyboard instruments. However, in the interest of introducing students to this inspired woman, the arrangement below is included in this catalog. ANTHOLOGIES: Great Women Composers, ed. Gail Smith (Mel Bay, 1996). Piano works by twelve women, including this arrangement of a chant by Hildegard. O Choruscans lux stellarum. Level: Early Intermediate. (A minor, 4/4, chant-like, 1 pp). Two-voice texture: RH plays the meditative chant as LH accompanies on broken-chord duplets, with occasional block chords. A copy of the original chant in medieval notation with Latin text is included. SOURCES: Ammer, Baker, Briscoe, B&T, ClagH, ClagS, Cohen, Grove, HAMW, H&H, Jezic, Laurence, NB, Pendle, S&S, Stern, score HODGES, Faustina Hasse b. Malmesbury, England, Aug 7, 1822—d. Philadelphia, Feb 4, 1895 Organist and composer Faustina Hodges, named after the 18th century opera singer Faustina Bordoni Hasse, was the daughter of Edward Hodges, an English organist who became music director of Trinity Church in New York in 1838. (All seven Hodges children were named after musicians: the youngest son, also a composer, rejoiced in the name of John Sebastian Bach Hodges). Following in her father’s footsteps, Faustina came to America in 1841, and took a position at a girls’ seminary teaching keyboard music and singing. Later, she served as organist for two Philadelphia churches. Hodges began composing in the 1850s, but published most of her works, which comprise a set often sacred songs, a Te Deum, about twenty-five secular songs, and eight keyboard pieces, after 1870.96 Many of her songs were included in recitals by famous opera singers of the day, and three of them achieved great commercial success: Dreams, The Rose-Bush, which sold over 100,00 copies, and the duet, Suffer Little Children.97 ANTHOLOGIES: American Keyboard Music: 1866 through 1910, ed. Glickman, Vol. 4 of series Three Centuries of American Music: A Collection of American Sacred and Secular Music, gen. eds. Schleifer and Dennison (G.K. Hall, 1990). Marche Brilliante. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (B-flat minor, common time, tempo di marche, 6 pp). A Verdi-like heroic march with an ostinato dotted-note figure, in ternary form. The more legato Trio (G-flat major) uses a fragment of the first theme in the bass.
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Page 110 American Women Composers: Piano Music from 1865–1915, ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1990). Lake Shore Dream (from the three Reveries by the Waterside ). Level: Late Intermediate. (E major, 6/8, andantino con moto, 4 pp). A Barcarolle in ternary form. After the four-bar introduction of harp arpeggios and a descending scale in parallel thirds, the rather trite melody is accompanied by the strummed chords and reiterated bass tones typical of the genre. The contrasting section (C major) has a triadic melody oddly reminiscent of the trumpet theme to Carnival in Venice . A reprise of the introductory flourish heralds the return of the first theme. Women Composers: Music through the Ages, Vol. 6, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (O.K.Hall, 1999). Little May. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (E-flat major, common time, andantino, 3 pp). An introductory dominant-chord flourish leads into a sentimental twenty-bar melody formed of two contrasting periods and an extension. The texture, a solo soprano set against a march bass, is ornamented in the second half with 16th note arpeggios and occasional double note passages, and accompanied by 8th note divided chords. Siciliana: Pensée Originale. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Intermediate. (F major, 6/8, vivace brilliante, 4 pp). A repetitive theme based on arpeggiated parallel sixths, with a divided and broken-chord accompaniment. Tempo and dynamic contrasts, occasional RH octave passages, and a trill on high C are added for brilliance. SOURCES: Ammer, Baker, B&N-B, B&T, ClagAm, ClagS, Cohen, Dubal, Ebel, ElsonA, Fuller, H&H, Heinrich, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, NewGrove, S&S, Stern, Tick, Dubal, scores HOHNSTOCK, Adele (Adelaide) b. Brunswick, Germany, ?—d. Philadelphia, January 1856 Adele Hohnstock was the sister of Carl Hohnstock, a piano and violin teacher in mid-19th century Philadelphia. In 1848, after concerts in Paris and Hamburg, she emigrated to Philadelphia to join her brother. As a teacher at the Cherry Valley Seminary in New York, she included her compositions in sophisticated commencement programs.98 Known as an excellent pianist and teacher, Adele accompanied her brother on concert tours and lived with him until her death.”99 ANTHOLOGIES: American Keyboard Music: 1866 through 1910, ed. Glickman (G.K.Hall, 1990), Vol. 4 of series Three Centuries of American Music: A Collection of American Sacred and Secular Music, gen. eds. Schleifer and Dennison.
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Page 111 Le Diamant: Polka Brilliante Op. 7 [1894]. Level: Advanced. Concert polka in theme and variations form. “A flashy, technically demanding concert piece. Masses of rapid arpeggios, repeated notes, and sweeping octave and scale passages decorate the straightforward polka melody” (score preface). REFERENCE WORK: American Women Composers before 1870 (University of Rochester Press, 1995). A book by Judith Tick, with score facsimiles. Concert Polka with Variations. Level: Advanced. (F major, 2/4, tempo di polka, 12 pp). Elaborate, ambitious variations of a lovely polka tune, in the style of Thalberg and Herz, with repeated notes, trills, tremolos and arpeggios. Described by Tick as ‘the most difficult keyboard piece published by a woman composer before 1870, and indeed the outstanding concert work.”100 SOURCES: B&N-B, Cohen, G&G, Gillespie, H&H, Tick HOLMÈS, Augusta (née Mary Anne Holmès; pseud. Herman Zenta) b. Paris, Dec 16, 1847—d. Paris, Jan 28, 1903 This strong-willed French composer, pianist, and singer was a child prodigy born of Irish parents who settled in Paris. Her father, Dalkeith Holmes, was a retired army officer.101 At age eleven, after the death of her mother, she began her formal studies with Henri Lambert, organist of Versailles Cathedrale; later teachers included Hyacinthe Klosé, César Franck, and Camille Saint-Saëns. The music of Franck and Richard Wagner were dominant influences on her compositional style, in works ranging from songs, chamber music, and piano pieces, to operas and large orchestral and choral works based on mythological subjects. Critics of the time praised her music for its strength, drama, and virility, and the French government selected her orchestral Ode triomphale en l’honneur du centaire de 1789 as a fitting celebration of the centenary of the French Revolution. Ethyl Smyth, a contemporary, dedicated an essay to her, entitled “Augusta Holmès, pioneer.”102 Reported to have been an exceptionally beautiful young woman with a mass of red-gold hair and a forceful, vivacious personality, Holmès declined an offer of marriage from Saint-Saëns to became the longtime companion of writer Catulle Mendès, father of her five children.103. Very few of her more than two hundred works are in print today. SINGLE WORKS: Rêverie Tzigane [Gypsy reverie], ed. Christel Nies (Furore, 1989). Level: Advanced. (A-flat major, 3/4, allegro, 7 pp). A vivid Hungarian czardas with the flamboyant gestures of a gypsy violinist; in ternary form. The capricious main theme, in alternating meters, is filled with
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Page 112 runs, trills, arpeggios, graces, and “double stop” notes the length of the instrument. The contrasting section is a fierce and tragic lament in C minor, with the melody in the tenor. ANTHOLOGIES: Collection Moderne for the Piano by Contemporary Composers, ed. Max Hirschfield (Edward B.Marks, 1935). En Mer [By the sea]. Level: Late Intermediate. (A minor/D-flat major, 6/8, andante misterioso, 5 pp). An imaginative barcarolle in early 20th century style, with traces of both Impressionistic harmonies and late Romantic gestures. In the opening, chords a tritone apart shift back and forth, like ocean waves swelling and receding. The barcarolle melody begins on page three ( un poco più lento, D-flat major). A contrasting theme brings the piece to a climax, and the barcarolle theme returns, piano. SOURCES: Ammer, A-Z, Baker, Boenke, Brown, B&T, Cohen, ClagH, ClagS, ElsonA, ElsonL, Heinrich, H&H, Hyde, Mac, Johnson, KOM, Laurence, Meggett, MGG, NewGrove, Pendle, SCB, S&S, Stern, score HOPEKIRK, Helen b. Edinburgh, May 20, 1856—d. Cambridge, MA, Nov 19, 1945 Helen Hopekirk, concert pianist and composer, studied piano in Edinburgh with George Lichtenstein, a Hungarian pianist, for six years, and violin with Sir A.C. Mackenzie. She attended the Leipzig Conservatory for two years, where she studied composition and counterpoint with Reinecke, Jadassohn, and Richter, and piano with Louis Maas. It was there that she met and formed a lifelong friendship with the American composer, George Chadwick. Later studies were in Vienna, with Leschetizky and Navrátil, and in Paris, where she studied composition with Richard Mandl.104 After successful debuts at the Leipzig Gewandhaus and London’s Crystal Palace, she toured England, Scotland, and America, and in 1897 accepted a teaching post offered by Chadwick at the New England Conservatory, where she taught for four years. In her performances, she promoted music by Edward MacDowell, Fauré, Debussy, and d’lndy. Hopekirk is a member of Boston’s Second New England School of composition, led by Paine and Chadwick, which included the other women composers Rogers, Lang, and Beach (q.v.). Hopekirk composed orchestral and chamber music, many piano pieces, and over one hundred songs, and often made use of Scottish folk tunes and neo-classical ideas. In 1900, she premiered her Piano Concerto in D Major with the Boston Symphony. An ardent supporter of women’s rights, Helen Hopekirk continued to compose and perform in public until the age of eighty-two.
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Page 113 SINGLE WORKS: Serenata (Suite) [1920] (Hildegard; GKH reprint). Level: Mid-Intermediate to Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. Five movements in quasi-Baroque style, dedicated to the composer Arthur Foote. I. Maestoso. Level: Late Intermediate. (C minor, common time, 5 pp). A fantasia-prelude for piano. Pedal tones under massive block chords alternate with a lute texture, with the melody is plucked from 16th note arpeggios. II. Minuet. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (G major, 3/4, allegretto moderato, 5 pp). Minuet: simple, Scottish-sounding binary dance, ending in a “Scotch snap.” Trio: slightly varied repeat of the minuet. III. Sarabande. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (E minor, 3/4, andantino, 1 p). Stately, solemn block chords with LH octaves in a repeated rhythm. IV. Arioso. Level: Late Intermediate. (A minor, 6/8, andante, 3 pp). A pastorale/siciliano. Wide-rolled bass strums underlie legato chords in the opening. Melody is in the tenor, between soprano countermelody like a shepherd’s pipe and a drone bass drone. The movement ends with bass octaves under RH chords, in a hemiola rhythm. V. Rigaudon. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (E major, common time, allegro ma non troppo, 5 pp). In ternary form. The main section is true to its genre: a lively, witty dance in two, with an upbeat and staccato articulations. The contrasting section is a modal, legato variant of the theme. ANTHOLOGIES: American Women Composers: Piano Music from 1865–1915, ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1990). Dance [1914]. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (B major, 3/4, molto moderato, 5 pp). Archaic stylized dance in ternary form. The repetitive melody uses pentatonic scale forms, dotted rhythms, grace notes, occasional triplet divisions and some rolled chords to achieve the feel of an authentic Scottish folk song. In the middle section (E major) open 4ths and 5ths cavort high above sweeping LH arpeggios. A slowly spelled-out C-sharp minor triad serves as a pivot chord for the reprise of the main theme. Prelude. Level: Late Intermediate. (A minor, 3/4, marcato, 5 pp). A single theme is treated in two contrasting ways to produce this strong work in rondeau form. The opening motive is stark and tragic, with full chords and octaves climbing and falling in a nervous rhythm, as LH plays widely spaced block chords. In the second section ( tranquillo, E major) parallel sixths, slower rhythms and a rocking dividedchord bass transform the theme. Versions alternate again, and the work finishes with a five-octave dim. 7th arpeggio, four bars of allargando block chords, and a triumphant A-major chord.
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Page 114 American Keyboard Music: 1866 through 1910, ed. Glickman, Vol. 4 of Three Centuries of American Music: A Collection of American Sacred and Secular Music, eds. Schleifer and Dennison (G.K.Hall, 1990). Gavotte [1885]. Level: Mid/Late Intermediate. (B minor, common time, allegro, 4 pp). Characteristic gavotte rhythms and articulations. In ternary form, with a lyric middle section in D major. Skillful handling throughout of relative key relationships, with phrases alternately cadencing in major and minor. Sundown [1909]. Level: Late Intermediate. (F-sharp major, 3/4, andante sostenuto, 5 pp). Late Romantic tone painting in ternary form, with melodic lines and chords reminiscent of Strauss leider. In the opening and closing sections, broad, unhurried chords change colors over tonic and dominant pedals. In the center section (G-flat major), the melody rises through a sequence of appogiaturas over richly sweeping arpeggios. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. Six, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Serenata (Suite) —see Single Works. SOURCES: Ammer, Baker, Brown, B&NB, B&S, B&T, ClagS, Cohen, Dubal, ElsonA, ElsonAm, Fuller, G&G, Grove, GroveAm, H&H, Johnson, Kehler, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, Pendle, S&S, Stern, scores HOWE, Mary Alberta Bruce (née Carlisle) b. Richmond, VA, Apr 4, 1882—d. Washington, DC, Sep 14, 1964 Mary Howe, American pianist, singer, and composer, was the daughter of an international lawyer. After her early training with the private teacher Herminie Seron, she studied piano with Ernest Hutcheson and Harold Randolph at the Peabody Institute, and for a few months with Richard Burmeister in Dresden. Composition studies were with Gustav Strube at the Peabody Institute and Nadia Boulanger in Paris, but it was not until age forty that Howe received her diploma in composition from Peabody. In 1912, she married Walter Bruce Howe, her brother’s law partner, and they had three children. She sang madrigal concerts with her children, performed with chamber groups, and toured in duo piano programs for fifteen years with her partner, Anne Hull. An active member and officer in the National Federation of Music Clubs, and a founder of the Friends of Music at the Library of Congress, in 1925 she and Amy Beach co-founded the Society of American Women Composers. Howe and her husband also helped found the National Symphony Orchestra. In 1961, she received an honorary doctorate from George Washington University. Among her compositions are over twenty orchestral works played by several leading orchestras, including the Vienna Symphony, a great deal of chamber and vocal music, one ballet, and some twenty-two pieces for piano and piano duo.
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Page 115 ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 6, ed. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Prefatory essay, “Mary Howe,” by Dorothy Indenbaum. Two inventive, musical works in the duo piano repertory. Sand. For two pianos. Level: Early Advanced. (C major, 4/4, allegretto leggiero senza rall., 8 pp). A short, imaginative scherzo, transcribed from a work for orchestra. Extensive use of staccato triplet figures describes the gritty texture of grains of sand. Stars. For two pianos. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (D major, 3/4, lento sonore, 5 pp). Originally titled Mists, this was written in 1927 for orchestra, arranged for solo piano in 1934, and transcribed for piano duo in 1961. Howe described it as a “miniature tone-poem inspired by the gradually overwhelming effect of the dome of a starry night—its peace, beauty, and space. A crashing sense of great rhythms is felt and then the emergence once more into the all-embracing peace and space” (score preface). LISTED but not found in print: Solo arrangements of Stars and Whimsy (Composer’s Press, 1938), Hinson’s Guide, 3rd edition. SOURCES: Ammer, Anderson, B&NB, Baker, Boenke, ClagAm, ClagS, Cohen, Fuller, Goss, GroveAm, grovemusic, H&H, Heinrich, Hinson, Johnson, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, Pendle, Skowronski, S&S, Stern, score J JACQUET DE LA GUERRE, Elisabeth-Claude (var. Jaquet, La Guerre) bap. Mar 17, 1665—d. Paris, Jun 27, 1729 French composer and harpsichordist Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre was the first major female composer of instrumental music.105 Her keyboard works are the earliest extant examples of the genre by a woman. Daughter of an organ and harpsichord builder, Elizabeth-Claude was a child prodigy who from the age of six sang difficult music at sight and accompanied herself and others at the harpsichord. At age eleven, Louis XIV singled her out for special favor at the court of Versailles, putting her in the care of his mistress, Madame de Montespan, and permitting her to dedicate works to him. By 1684, Elizabeth-Claude had married the organist Marin La Guerre, with whom she had one son, but both died in 1704. After their deaths, she gave a series of salon concerts in her home in Paris attended by the greatest musicians and connoisseurs of the
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Page 116 time; she is reported to have had a special talent for extemporizing lengthy fantasias on a given tune. Her compositions include two volumes of harpsichord pieces published in 1687 and 1707, songs, sacred and secular cantatas, a Te Deum, one opera, and chamber sonatas. After her death, a commemorative medal was struck in her honor, with this inscription, “With the great musicians I competed for the prize.”106 Jacquet de la Guerre was one of only four French composers to publish collections of harpsichord pieces in the seventeenth century, the others being d’Anglebert, Chambonniéres, and Lebègue. Of these four, she alone published collections in both centuries, making her works important to scholars studying the changes between eras. Titon du Tillet, in Parnasse française, a monumental record of the achievements of French poets and musicians, awarded La Guerre a place of honor second only to Lully.107 (N.B: It is probably irrelevant and misleading to grade the harpsichord works below in terms of piano repertoire. The unadorned pieces are brief, repetitive, narrow-ranged, and written in easy keys, twovoice textures and simple rhythmic patterns. However, ornaments, tempos, articulations, phrasing, and fingerings all present scholarly and technical challenges. The musical ideas and practices are based on three hundred year-old verse and dance forms idiomatic to the lute and harpsichord. As with Bach, the question of whether to play harpsichord works on the piano is a matter of personal taste, but this author recommends the study and performance of Jacquet de la Guerre’s works to any serious keyboard student). COLLECTIONS: Pieces de Clavecin [1687 and 1707 collections], ed. Carol Henry Bates, Vol. LXVl (66) of Le pupitre (Heugel & Cie, 1982. Also available Editions Minkoff). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. Bates’ scholarly edition of both collections includes an informative preface and ornament table. In the book of 1687, thirty-four pieces are divided into four key groups (or suites): D minor, G minor, A minor, and F major. The pieces in each group follow this order: introductory movements, Allemande, Courante I, Courante II, Sarabande, Gigue(s), and other works, such as a Tocade (the only such piece in French harpsichord literature)108, Menuets or Chaconnes. Three unmeasured Preludes are included, and use of the style brisé (writing in imitation of a lute) is prominent. In the 1707 collection, there are two groups, or Suites, in D minor and G major, with fourteen pieces between them. Arranged like the 1687 sets, these have no opening movements and only one Courante each. In the two “La Flamande” allemandes, traditional elements join newer ideas, such as chains of suspensions and seventh chords, circle-of-fifth progressions, fast figurations, and the chaconne.109 Pièces de Clavecin, ed. Thurston Dart (Editions de L’Oiseau-Lyre, 1956, rev. of 1938 Brunold edition). This edition contains only the 1707 collection; see the Bates edition, above, for fuller discussion. Hinson
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Page 117 describes them as “12 rich dance pieces of austere dignity and intricate skill,” while Gillespie says they are “subtle, delicate adaptations of current Italianisms,” forward-looking for their time.110 ANTHOLOGIES: Early French Keyboard Music, An Anthology, ed. Howard Ferguson (Oxford University Press, 1966). Suite I in D minor, from the 1707 collection. Two dances; editor’s suggestions for ornaments and performance. Sarabande. Level: Early Advanced. (D major/minor, 3/4, 2 pp). An intense, dignified dance in binary form, with dotted rhythms and poignant alternations from major to minor modes. Rigaudon. Level: Early Advanced. (D minor, 2/2, 2 pp). A witty country dance pair from Provençal, to be performed ABA. Frauen Komponieren, ed. Rieger/Walter (Schott, 1992). Suite II in G major [1707]: Rondeau. Level: Late Intermediate. (G minor, cut time, 1 pp). The elegant main theme is a sinuous, descending G minor scale; LH counterpoint uses identical rhythms. Rondo theme is contrasted with two “couplets” in B-flat major and in F major/D minor; the second couplet then modulates to the dominant for the return of the rondeau refrain. Ornaments abound in this lovely miniature. Great Women Composers, ed. Smith (Mel Bay, 1996). Three works from two of the 1707 Suites. Suite I in D minor. La Flamande. Level: Early Advanced. (D minor, common time, 5 pp). An elegant allemande in binary form, followed by a double (variation) of both sections. As in the music of Chambonnières and Couperin, there is a great deal of ornamentation. Chaconne. Level: Early Advanced. (D major and minor, in three, 4 pp). Five couplets in a virtuosic combination of variation and rondeau forms. Suite II in G major Rondeau: see Rieger/Walter, above. Harpsichord Method, Maria Boxall (Schott). Menuet from Pieces de Clavecin, as cited in Hinson Guide, 3rd ed. Historical Anthology of Music by Women, ed. Briscoe (Indiana University Press, 1987). Suite I in D minor, 1707: La Flamande and Chaconne. See Smith edition. Les Maitres Français de Clavecin des XVIIme et XVIIIme Siécles, ed. Brunold, (Editions Maurice Senart, 1921). Suite H in G Major, 1707 collection: Sarabande andGigue. See Ferguson and Bates editions. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 2, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1998). Suite II in G major, 1707: La Flamande, Chaconne. See other editions. SOURCES: Ammer, A-Z, Baker, Boenke, B&T, ClagH, ClagS, Cohen, Eitner, Elson, Friskin, FRK, G&F, Gillespie, Gustafson, Heinrich, H&H, Hinson, Hyde,
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Page 118 Jackson, Jezic, Johnson, Kirby, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, N-B, NewGrove, Pendle, SCB, S&S, Stern, scores JACOBS-BOND -see BOND, Carrie Minetta Jacobs JAËLL-TRAUTMANN, Marie (var. Jaëll; née Trautmann) b. Steinseltz nr Strasbourg, France, Aug 17, 1846—d. Paris, Feb 5, 1925 Pianist, composer, and teacher Marie Trautmann was born in a small village near Strasbourg, France. A child prodigy, she gave piano recitals in Germany, Switzerland and France at the age of nine. Her teachers included Hamma in Stuttgart, Moscheles in Leipzig, and Herz at the Paris Conservatory, where at age sixteen she won the premier prix in piano. She married Alfred Jaëll, a famous Austrian virtuoso, in 1866, and together they toured Europe and Russia, performing much of the duo repertoire. After her husband’s death in 1881, she became a pupil and friend of Liszt, spending time at Weimar each year where she performed in his musicales and acted as a secretary for him. Saint-Saëns and Chabrier dedicated compositions to the gifted pianist, who had a marvelous technique as well as an amazing capacity for performing large bodies of work. In 1891, Jaëll-Trautmann performed all of the solo music by Liszt; in 1893, she became the first French pianist to play the entire cycle of Beethoven sonatas in Paris; and in 1901, she programmed all of Schumann’s solo works. After 1895, Jaëll-Trautmann devoted most of her time to pedagogical writing and teaching at the Paris Conservatoire, where she worked for many years, her most famous student being Albert Schweitzer. Fascinated by Liszt’s sensitive, efficient facility at the keyboard, she was the first to study the physiological characteristics of piano technique, and produced eleven books on piano pedagogy. Her method, still promoted today by the Association Marie Jaëll in Paris, emphasizes economy of movement, careful use of arm weight, posture and practice methods, as well as the importance of forming a mental image of the desired sound. Jaëll-Trautmann studied composition with Saint-Saëns and Franck, and her piano music was, of course, also influenced by Liszt. Her music is fundamentally late Romantic in style, with later works displaying some impressionistic characteristics, and comprises wrote cello, violin, and piano concertos, chamber works, songs, and choral music, a symphonic tone poem, and over eighty pieces for the piano.111
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Page 119 SINGLE WORKS: Sonata [1871], ed. Lea Schmidt-Rogers (Hildegard, 1996). Level: Advanced. Four movements, many key and meter changes in each movement, 42 pp. Dedicated to Franz Liszt, and similar to his works. “Harmonic similarities abound…virtuosity, ad lib. sections, short melodies, unexpected key relationships, and the abundance of meter changes characterize both” (score preface). I: Allegro ma non troppo (C major, 3/4, 10 pp). Modified sonata-allegro form. II: Adagio (F minor, 6/8–3/4, 7 pp). A pastorale. III: Tempo di minuetto (E major, 3/4, 8 pp). Schumannesque. IV: Allegro (C major, 3/4, 16 pp). Lengthy, thick-textured. COLLECTIONS: French Character Pieces, ed. Lea Schmidt-Rogers (Hildegard, 1998). Character pieces suitable for the intermediate student, from four loosely organized cycles similar to collections by Robert and Clara Schumann. Bagatelles [1872]. Level: Mid Intermediate. Four brief pieces of pastoral character, in compound meters. No. 1. Moderate. (G major, 6/8, 2 pp). A simple pastorale, with a trill and a solo cadenza for the shepherd’s pipe. No. 2. Allegro. (C major, 9/8, 1 pp). A galloping hunting song, with dotted rhythms and triplets versus duplet figures. No. 3. Lento. (G minor, 6/8, 1 pp). A wistful Siciliano, in three-voice counterpoint. No. 4. Allegro non troppo. (G major, 6/8, 2 pp). A joyful peasant dance. Ce qu’on entend dans l’Enfer [1884]. Alanguissement [Languidness]. Level: Late Intermediate. (C major, 3/4, assez animé mais très doux, 3 pp). A subtle study in different articulations between the hands. Sparse texture, with hands generally close together in the middle of the keyboard. The theme in the tenor voice is made of two-note slurs, sighing in sequence. There is some chromaticism, and the middle section is written in five sharps. Valses mélancholiques. Level: Mid-Intermediate. Five gentle waltzes in various styles; a nice recital group for the intermediate student. No. 1. Pas trop lentement. (C minor, 3/4,2 pp). Wistful and Chopinesque, made of two opposing figures: a questioning, ascending ninth, and a answering descending third or fifth. No. 2. Assez animez. (F-sharp major, 3/4, 2 pp). Delicate two-voice texture; a will-o′-the-wisp melody appears in interrupted, syncopated fashion. No. 4. Très décidé. (C-sharp minor, 3/4, 2 pp). The most robust of the group, with the character and mood of a mazurka. No. 5. Vite. (A minor, 3/4, 2 pp). Fleeting; gossamer two-voice texture, with LH notes widely spaced. RH theme alternates rising and falling intervals, like the first waltz in the set.
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Page 120 Valses mignonnes [Sweet waltzes]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. Three fast, light dances; not the standard Viennese type. No. 1. Très animé. (G major, 3/4, 3 pp). A giddy little piece, spinning in tight circles. Late Romantic chromaticism, two-voice texture and ternary form. No. 2. Assez vite. (F major, 3/4, 3 pp). A gay circus waltz, with stepwise staccato two-note chords accompanied by an “oom-pah” bass. No. 3. Mouvt. très modéré. (G major, 3/4, 2 pp). A murmuring, repetitive melody is made more interesting with some chromaticism. The G minor center section is placed in high registers. Les Jours Pluvieux [Rainy days]. Level: Early Intermediate. Five brief descriptive teaching pieces. No. 1. Quelques gouttes de pluie [Some raindrops]. (A minor, 2/4, léger pas trop vite, 2 pp). Sixteenth note pickups in the RH, and grace notes in the LH, occur before each lightly-played close position chord. No. 4. Petite pluie fine [A little light rain]. (A natural minor, common time, vite, 2 pp). A perpetuo moto study in two voices. RH plays pianissimo staccato eighth notes in ornamented stepwise patterns; LH bounces on alternating chord tones. Use of the natural minor mode gives it a slightly unusual sound. No. 6. A l’abri [Sheltered]. (A-flat major, 3/4, pas trop lent, mais calme et espressif, 1 pp). Quiet, soothing, and repetitive. No. 10. Roses flétries [Faded roses]. (C-sharp minor, 3/4, mélancholique, 1 pp). A sad little piece, like melancholy strains of a long-ago waltz. No. 11. Ennuyeux comme la pluie [Boring, like the rain]. (C-sharp minor, 6/8, pas trop lent, 1 pp). Repeated one-measure motifs provide the yawns. Les Beaux Jours, 1894 [Pretty days]. Level: Early Intermediate. Two teaching pieces. No. 11. On rit [Laughing]. (A major, 2/4, très rapide, 1 pp). Hands play staccato chords in close position in the treble registers, using “laughing rhythms” of accented eighth and quarter notes. LH has some chromatic scale passages. No. 12. On rêve au mauvais temps [Dreaming about bad weather]. (G-sharp minor, common time, agité mais pas trop vite, 2 pp). LH is a murmuring ostinato in rocking eighth notes; the soprano melody moves by whole notes; and the alto fills in with another ostinato figure in quarter notes Promenade Matinale [Morning walk; after 1878]. Aube [Dawn]. Level: Mid-Late Intermediate. (F major, moderate, 4/4, très calme, 3 pp). Some early Impressionistic effects. RH alternates two-note intervals in a rocking motion over a drone bass. The LH melody appears twice, briefly; most of the interest is in the shifting chord colors. LH has some tenths; reportedly, Jaëll’s hands spanned an eleventh.112
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Page 121 ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 6, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Prefatory essay and three works edited by Lea Schmidt-Rogers. Aube, Petite pluie fine. See French Character Pieces. Valses pour Piano à quatre mains Op. 8. (Duo, four-hands). Level: Late Intermediate. Includes I, III, IV, VI, and the Finale. A favorite of Liszt, who premiered it with Saint-Saëns. Lyrical and lush late Romantic writing; the variety of styles includes a grand waltz and a fervent Hungarian dance. SOURCES: Baker, Cohen, Dubal, Ebel, ElsonA, Gordon, Grove, H&H, Hinson, Kehler, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, S&S, Stern, scores JAPHA, Louise Langhans—see LANGHANS, Louise Japha K KINNEY, Viola L. b. Sedalia, Missouri, ca. 1890—d. ? Little information is available about this African-American woman. After studying harmony and choral music at Western University in Quindaro, Kansas, she returned to Sedalia, where she married Fred Ferguson, an undertaker, and for thirty-five years taught music and English in the segregated Lincoln High School. In 1908, her composition below, Mother’s Sacrifice, won the Inter-State Literary Society Original Music Contest. Published in Kansas the next year, a copy housed in the Library of Congress is her only extant composition.113
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Page 122 ANTHOLOGIES: Black Women Composers: A Century of Piano Music (1893–1990), ed. Helen Walker-Hill (Hildegard, 1992). Mother’s Sacrifice. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (F major/G minor, 4/4 and 3/4, andante cantabile/moderato/vivace, 3 pp). In ABCBA form, three different themes present musical vignettes of a woman’s life in 1908; the music could serve as background for a silent film. Rolled chords in the introduction usher in a pleasant, if repetitive, melody, which hums contentedly over whole-note block chords. In the second section, a RH octave figure modulates a half step upward every two bars, perhaps indicating difficulties or the striving for higher things. The third section, in G minor, presents a picture of misery and loneliness; then the theme modulates to E-flat major, gathers strength in repetition, and builds to fff . A reprise of “B” follows, and the work closes with a slightly ornamented version of the first strain, as the right hand crosses over into the tenor register. Two repetitions of a plagal cadence bring the story to a quiet but happy ending. SOURCES: H&H, KOM, Walker-Hill score KOCHER-KLEIN, Hilda b. Germany, 1894—d. 1974 Almost nothing is known about this composer, other than the fact that she lived in Germany in the twentieth century.114 SINGLE WORKS: Kobolde: 9 Klavierstücke Opus 1 (Tübingen: C.L.Schultheiss, n.d.). Level: Early-Mid-lntermediate. These nine “imps” or “gnomes” are short character pieces in late Romantic style, with Schumannesque textures but more adventurous harmony. Engaging additions to the repertoire, mostly one page in length and in easy keys. 1. D major, cut time, lebhaft und zierlich (lively and graceful). In ternary form, with repeats. A lively polka-like dance, in rounded binary form, is followed by a slightly slower Musette, then repeated. 2. G major, 4/8, einfach (simply). A sweet song in rounded binary form with a repeated second half; phrases are unsymmetrical. 3. D minor, 3/8, sehr rasch (very quickly). A scherzo, this fleeting piece fairly skips across the pages. The middle section is in D major. 4. F-sharp minor, 3/4, ruhig (peacefully). In this hymn-like work, tones are borrowed from the modes. 5. E major, common time, singend, in ruhiger Bewegung (singingly, with quiet motion). Another song in hymn texture, with periods built of unsymmetrical phrases.
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Page 123 6. E minor, 6/8, äusserst rasch und leicht (extremely quick and light). Broken chords shared between alternate hands give a pointillistic texture to this tricky piece. 7. F major, 3/4, ruhig fliessend (gently flowing). Pastoral-sounding, a gentle melody in right hand chords plays over a drone bass, with the tenor moving on the inner beats. 8. D minor, 3/4, getragen, nicht zu langsam (sustained, but not too slow). A gentle, sad folk tune in chordal texture. 9. D major, 3/4, im walzer tempo. In ternary form, the main theme is gay and lilting, rather like a dance tune from an operetta. The contrasting center section has an extensive circle-of-fifths progression; an augmented sixth, played pianissimo, provides a nice touch just before the end. SOURCES: Boenke, Cohen, FRK, H&H, KOM, SCB KONINSKY, Sadie Late 19th century American Sadie Koninsky was a song-plugger who composed piano rags and the related 19th century genre shamefully referred to as “coon songs.” In 1896, Koninsky’s Eli Green’s Cakewalk was one the first successes in the genre, helping to spark a worldwide craze during the gay ‘90s.115 Written by both white and African-American composers, the songs and dances often included descriptive settings, such as this one included in the original publication of Phoebe Thompson’s Cakewalk: “On the occasion of the birth-day anniversary of Miss Phoebe Thompson, the society leader of Darktown, all the colored aristocrats assembled at Lime-Kiln Hall, to celebrate in her honor. During the evening, Miss Thompson proposed a cakewalk, having baked a magnificent birthday cake which she desired to present to the winner. All agreed readily, and the band played: Phoebe Thompson’s Cake Walk .”116 ANTHOLOGIES: American Keyboard Music 1866 through 1910, ed. Glickman, Vol. 4 of Three Centuries of American Music (G.K.Hall, 1990), and American Women Composers: Piano Music from 1865– 1915, ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1990). Phoebe Thompson’s Cakewalk [1899]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (2/4, C/F major, moderato, a la marcia, 3 pp). A charming, sprightly piece, with strong melodic ideas, good contrast between sections, and a straightforward approach to the genre. Like many rags based on march forms, the three-strain piece divides into two distinct parts, with three sixteen-bar sections in the first half (ABA) and two in the second (C, C1); four of the sections are repeated. C and B sections have identical rhythms and very similar tunes. Adding octaves during the repeats,
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Page 124 which may have occurred in performance, creates color and bravura; the work is a good candidate for orchestration. Ragtime Rarities: Complete Original Music for 63 Piano Rags, sel. Tichenor (Dover Publications, 1975) and Ragtime & Early Blues Piano, comp./ed. Appleby and Pickow (Amsco, 1995). Eli Green’s Cakewalk (Characteristic March) [1898]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (2/4, D minor/F major, March, 4 pp). One of the first cakewalk successes, described on the title page as a “March and TwoStep, also published for all mandolin and guitar arrangements, zither, quartette, full orchestra and band.” Four repeated sixteen-bar sections (ABAC), with the A sections in D minor and the others in F major. Well constructed melodies, good contrast between sections, and typical cakewalk syncopations; an enjoyable piece. SOURCES: B&NB, Hasse, KOM, scores KRUMPHOLTZ, Anne Marie (var. Mme Krumpholtz; née Steckler/Stekler) b. Metz, France, ca. 1755—d. London, Nov 15, 1813 Virtuosa harpist and composer Anne-Marie Krumpholtz was the daughter of Christian Steckler, a harp maker. She studied with the great harpist Johann Baptist Krumpholtz, whom she married in 1783. She and her husband gave numerous performances at the concerts spirituels in Paris from 1778–1788. Accounts differ on her birth and death dates, the number of her children, and the name of the lover with whom she fled to London in 1788. Most encyclopedias relate that she ran off to London with Jan Ladislav Dussek, the brilliant pianist and composer, causing her husband to drown himself in the Seine. However, Ursula Rempel believes her lover was Alexandre Gossec, and that the long-standing rumor of the suicide is false.117 Regardless of discrepancies in accounts of her private life, contemporary reviews unanimously applauded her technical prowess and great sensitivity. Considered by many the finest harpist in Europe, she played at benefit concerts and at the Salamon concerts with Haydn, J.L. Dussek, and the young Sophia Corri, actively performing until 1797.118 Although Krumpholtz apparently composed sonatas and other serious pieces, most of her published music was in the form of harp arrangements of well-known tunes, which found an eager audience in young women of the rising middle class. The only modern examples of her music are the three sets of theme and variations below, which use the standard harmonic and textural vocabularies of the period. Each set of variations is idiomatic both to the harp and keyboard.
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Page 125 COLLECTIONS: Three Pieces for Harp, ed. Ursula Rempel (Hildegard; GKH reprint). Straightforward, workmanlike examples of the variation genre, following the principle of progressive complexity. A Favorite Piemontois Air with Variations by Dalvimare. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (C major, 3/4, andante, 11 pp). Theme and four variations. Lison Dormoit with an Introduction & Variations. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (E flat major, common time, resoluto/andante, 9 pp). Lengthy introduction, theme and three variations. The Favorite Air of PrayGoody Arranged for the Harp. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (G major, common time, allegretto/presto, 9 pp). Theme and three variations; cadenzas separate the variations, and there is a presto final section. ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3; series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall & Co., 1998). Ursula Rempel, prefatory essay and edition of the three works listed above. SOURCES: Baker, Brown, Eitner, Cohen, grovemusic, H&H, Jackson, Mac, MGG, Pendle, S&S, Schonberg, score KRUMPHOLTZ, Fanny —see PITTAR, Fanny Krumpholtz KUYPER, Elisabeth (var. Lize; née Lamina Johanna) b. Amsterdam, Sep 13, 1877—d. Viganello, Switzerland, Feb 26, 1953 Dutch conductor, composer, and music teacher Elisabeth Kuyper studied with Daniel de Lange and Frans Coenen at the Maatshappij tot Bevordering der Toonkunst in Amsterdam. After receiving a piano teaching certificate in 1895, she studied with Max Bruch at the Berlin Hochschüle fur Musik, where from 1908 to 1920 she was that institution’s first female teacher of theory and composition. In 1905, she became the first woman to win the Mendelssohn state prize for composition, and the Berlin Philharmonic and numerous other German and Dutch ensembles played her works. Kuyper saw herself as a pioneer: in 1926, she said, “For a woman, today perhaps even more than in earlier times, being a pioneer in a sphere towards which my talent directed me—predestined to compose and conduct—means having to struggle and fight for every step that leads forward.”119 Between 1910 and 1924, Kuyper founded and conducted four women’s orchestras in Berlin, The Hague, London, and New York. All were well received, but unfortunately disbanded because of financial problems. From
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Page 126 1939 until her death, Kuyper lived in Muzzano, near Lugano, Switzerland. She wrote orchestral, chamber and choral music, solo songs, and several salon pieces for piano. Much of her music displays rich harmonic coloring and daring modulations; influences on her style include Bruch, Brahms, Schumann, Mahler, and Richard Strauss. ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 6, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Dreams on the Hudson Waltz, ed. Helen Metzelaar [1925]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (G-flat major, 3/4, cantando, 7 pp). A traditional waltz with three strains, in rondo form with contrasting episodes in D and D-flat majors. Originally written for orchestra, it is a pleasant if unremarkable example of salon music in mid-19th c. style. SOURCES: Ammer, A-Z, Baker, B&T, Cohen, grovemusic, H&H, Laurence, Mac, S&S, Sperber, Stern, score L LADY, A Early 19th c. American No further information is available about this anonymous American woman, who may or may not be the person referred to as “A Lady of Philadelphia.” REFERENCE WORK: American Women Composers before 1870, a book by Judith Tick (University of Rochester Press, 1979/95) from Studies in Musicology, 57 (UMI Research Press, 1983), 67–71. The variations below are reproduced in this study. Oft in a Stilly Night, with Variations for the Piano Forte [1827]. Level: Late Intermediate. (C major, 5 pp). A charming and inventive parlor piece. This popular set of variations on Thomas Moore’s song was included in four publishers’ catalogues by 1870. Theme and five variations: Andante doloroso (2/4), Spiritoso (3/4), Allegretto (2/4), Marcia (common time), Allegretto (2/4), and Larghetto affettuoso (2/4, C minor/major). SOURCES: Clark, Glickman, Heinrich, H&H, Jackson, Tick
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Page 127 LADY, A fl. 18th century England No biographical information is available regarding the anonymous composer of the work below. Her music displays considerable talent and skill. ANTHOLOGIES: Eighteenth Century Women Composers for the Harpsichord or Piano, ed. Barbara Harbach (Vivace Press, 1992). Urtext edition of sonatas by Gambarini, Park, and A Lady. It includes two pages of biographical information and performance notes. Lesson VI in D Major, from Six Lessons for Harpsichord. Level: Mid/Late Intermediate. I: Largo (common time, 1 pp). A stately processional with dotted rhythms, in the style of a French overture. II: Allegro (cut time, 7 pp). Joyous and spirited, extremely well written and idiomatic. Reminiscent of D.Scarlatti or early Hadyn, in a sort of rondo form. Two-voice counterpoint, with hands nearly equal partners; there are passages in parallel octaves and tenths, RH 16th note scales, LH arpeggio figures. Creative, irregular phrase lengths form periods. III: Minuet (3/4, 2 pp). Simple and gracious; binary repeated form, with a short segment in the relative minor. Elisions and extensions create irregular phrase lengths. SOURCES: Jackson, score LADY, A Canadian fl. Quebec, 1841 No information is available about this mid-19th century resident of Quebec. Inspiration for the composition was the union of the Upper and Lower Canadas, known today as the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is worth noting that until Gena Branscombe (q.v.), Canadian women published their music under pseudonyms. ANTHOLOGIES: Le Patrimoine Musical Canadien (The Canadian Musical Heritage), Vol. 1, Piano Music, ed. Elaine Keillor (Ottawa, 1983). The Canadian Union Waltz [1841]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (A-flat major, 3/4, 2 pp). A gracious and charming salon piece in three strains; middle section is in E-flat major; very European in style and mood. SOURCES: Hinson, score
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Page 128 LADY, A Young, of Charleston, S.C. —see MURDEN, Eliza Crawly LA GUERRE, Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet de —see JACQUET de La Guerre, LANDOWSKA, Wanda Alexandra b. Warsaw, Poland, Jul 5, 1879 -d. Lakeville, CT, Aug 16, 1959 Harpsichord virtuosa Wanda Landowska, a leader in the twentieth-century revival of early music and period instruments, studied piano with Kleczynski and Michalowski in Warsaw and Moszkowski in Berlin, where she also studied composition with Heinrich Urban. After her marriage to Henry Lew, an authority on Hebrew folklore, they moved to Paris, where she continued to compose songs and piano music, winning both first and second prizes in the 1903/4 Musica International Competition. At about the same time, Landowska started performing in public on the harpsichord. While interned in Berlin during World War I, she began teaching a harpsichord class at the Hochschule für Musik.120 Merging her studies in early music with her compositional skills, she composed cadenzas for concertos by Mozart, Haydn, Handel, and C.P.E.Bach, as well as piano transcriptions of Schubert Ländler, Lanner waltzes, and Mozart dances.121 In 1925, after her husband’s death, Landowska settled north of Paris, where she founded the École de Musique Ancienne. In 1940, the German occupation forced her to flee, abandoning her library often thousand volumes, her valuable period instruments, and all the manuscripts of her own compositions; only a few of her piano pieces are extant. Landowska moved to the United States, and for many years continued to teach and perform, touring widely to rapt audiences. One description of the famous musician is particularly vivid: “…she had the stage fixed up as though it were her living room—the harpsichord dominating, a studio lamp to the left of the keyboard, the stage nearly\darkened…Finally the stage door opened and The Presence approacned…Her palms were pressed together in prayer a la Dürer, her eyes were cast to the heavens, and everybody realized she was in communion with J. S.Bach, getting some last-minute coaching and encouragement… It was one of the great entrances of all time.” 122 One of the most respected musicians of the century, Landowska’s devotion to early music was rewarded with decorations from the French and Polish governments. A gifted performer, teacher, and scholar, her efforts include a book, Musique Ancienne, and many articles for musicological journals. ANTHOLOGIES: At the Piano with Women Composers, ed. Hinson (Alfred, 1990). Berceuse, from Four Pieces. Level: Early Intermediate. (E minor, 2/4, andantino, 6 pp). Soothing and plaintive, similar to Bartok’s Rumanian Folk Dances . Dominant drones both in the melody and the perpetually
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Page 129 rocking bass produce a mesmerizing effect, contrasted by a chorale section in E major. Expanded song form/rondo structure (AABACA), with balanced periods of six-bar phrases. The occasional borrowed tone adds a bit of piquancy to the tonic/dominant harmony. Composer-Pianists (Schaum Publications, 1971). En route Op. 4 [Paris: Enoch, 1901]. Level: Mid-Late Intermediate. (C minor, 6/8, allegro, 4 pp). An invigorating chromatic-scale study for RH; double notes and chords on strong beats make fingering challenging. Scales and turning figures are in continuous triplets, like a perpetuo moto or tarantella; modal borrowing provides interesting color. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 6, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Liberation Fanfare , ed. Denise Restout. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (D minor/major, common time, 2 pp). Written on fleeing France in 1941, this was dedicated to General DeGaulle in anticipation of his destruction of the Nazi oppressors. A rousing trumpet call to arms, complete with triplets and dotted notes, changes to a triumphal march. SOURCES: A-Z, Baker, Cohen, Dubal, Grove, GroveAm, Heinrich, H&H, Hinson, Kehler, KOM, Laurence, LePage, Mac, Meggett, MGG, LePage, S&S, Stern, scores LANG, Josephine Caroline b. Munich, Mar 14, 1815—d. Tübingen, Germany, Dec 2, 1880 Josephine Lang, singer, pianist, composer, and teacher, inherited musical talent from both sides of her family. Her mother, three aunts, and maternal grandmother were professional singers; her father, Theobald Lang, and his father were virtuoso instrumentalists and directors. Lang’s early studies were with her mother and a Fräulein Berlinghof.123 At age fifteen, she met Felix Mendelssohn, who became so enamored of her talent and personality that for months he gave her free daily lessons in fugue, counterpoint, and theory, and encouraged her to compose. Mendelssohn described her as “one of the loveliest creatures I have ever seen. She has the gift of composing and singing songs in a manner I have never heard anything to match.”124 Robert and Clara Schumann, Stephen Heller, Ferdinand Hiller, and Robert Franz all praised the efforts of the young woman. Lang composed over 150 lieder and many small works for piano. She set texts by Heine, Goethe, Schiller, and Lord Byron, as well as poems by her husband-to-be, Christian Reinhold Koestlin, a law professor and amateur poet. The lovers married in 1842 and had six children; sadly, her husband died in 1856, and she subsequently lost three of her four sons. Lang’s songs, which are often compared to those of her contemporaries Mendelssohn and Schumann, show considerable individuality, a singer’s grasp of line, and pianistic accompaniments independent of the melody. The delightful mazurkas described below appear to be her only piano works currently in print.
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Page 130 ANTHOLOGIES: Nineteenth Century German Keyboard Music, intro. Martha Furman Schleifer (Hildegard, 2000). Works by Weyrauch, Langhans, and Lang. Mazurka I Op. 49/1. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (G minor/major, 3/4, tranquillo, 4 pp). Graceful, tuneful and inventive. In expanded ternary form, the first section is in rounded binary; each section has two repeated strains. The center section and the final repeat of A are in the parallel major. Mazurka II Op. 49/2. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (F minor, 3/4, allegretto, 5 pp). Airy and agile; one of the quicker sort of mazurkas; ternary form, with an extended Trio in F major/d minor. SOURCES: Baker, B&T, ClagS, Cohen, Ebel, ElsonA, FRK, HAMW, H&H, Jezic, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, MGG, N-B, NewGrove, Pendle, Sperber, S&S, Stern, score LANG, Margaret Ruthven b. Boston, Nov 27, 1867—d. Jamaica Plains, MA, May 30, 1972 Born in Boston in the same year as Amy Beach, Margaret Lang was the first American woman to have a work performed by a major orchestra. The work was her Dramatic Overture Op. 12, composed in 1893, and played by the Boston Symphony under the direction of Arthur Nikusch.125 Lang studied piano and composition with her father, Benjamin Johnson Lang, an organist, conductor, and teacher, and violin with Louis Schmidt. Further studies took her to Munich, where she worked with Dreschler, Abel, and Gluth. Returning to Boston, she studied orchestration with Chadwick, Paine, and MacDowell. Her father championed her music, programming many early performances with his own groups and promoting her works with other conductors whenever possible. She first received acclaim as a composer of songs, with works performed at gala expositions and in recitals by leading singers such as Schumann-Heink. After the reception accorded her Dramatic Overture, other works were played by major orchestras and well received by the public. At an 1889 concert in Paris featuring American composers MacDowell, Buck, Chadwick, and Foote, she was the only woman represented. Her compositions, all written before 1930, include choral, chamber, and orchestral music, piano pieces, and over one hundred songs.126 Though her musical style displayed a more restrained harmonic vocabulary than many of her contemporaries, she explored dissonance and developed an individual treatment of harmonies, and occasionally drew on folk music for her ideas. Lang lived to be 104 years old: upon the occasion of her 100th birthday, the Boston Symphony under Erich Leinsdorf played the Doxology, “Old Hundredth,” in her honor.127
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Page 131 SINGLE WORKS: Le Chevalier Op. 18. Petit roman pour le piano en six chapitres [1894]. (Hildegard Publishing, 2000). Level: Late Intermediate. A quasi-epic late Romantic ballade in six movements, with a through story line in French; translation provided in score. Lyrical with dramatic contrasts; movements can be performed as separate character pieces. Le Chevalier (the Knight). (G major, common time, tempo di gavotta, 5 pp). ABA form, with an eightmeasure introduction. A courtly dance, with a contrasting lyrical section (m. 40) as the Chevalier “speaks of love.” Madame la Princesse. (Cminor/major, 6/8, andantino, 4 pp). ABA; first section is a mildly flirtatious sicilienne; second section provides contrast with a repeated-chord accompaniment and LH melody. Gavotte theme from first movement serves as introduction and transition. Bal Chez Madame la Princesse (Ball at the Home of the Princess). (E major, 3/4, waltz tempo, 8 pp). A waltz with a lengthy introduction created from theme of second movement; in the development, swift modulation occurs through a number of keys. RH octaves build to a ff coda. Monsieur le Prince. (G minor, 3/4, andante con moto, 5 pp). Introduction of a new character to the story; ABA form uses keys of relative major, subdominant, and F minor. LH melody in piu mosso section. L’Épée de M. le Prince (the Sword of the Prince). (B major, 2/4, allegro con fuoco, 6 pp). A duel: the story springs into action, with furiously accented octaves, augmented chords, tremolos, and wide scale passages. Prince’s theme appears in canon. La Mort du Chevalier (the Death of the Knight). (E minor, common time, andante, 4 pp). Contains fragments and sad variants of themes from other movements; the opening Gavotte is transformed into a funeral march. ANTHOLOGIES: American Keyboard Music 1866 through 1910, ed. Glickman, vol. 4, Three Centuries of American Music: A Collection of American Sacred and Secular Music, gen. eds. Schleifer and Dennison (G.K.Hall, 1990). Meditation Op. 26 (1897). Level: Late Intermediate. (E major, common time, maestoso, 4 pp). In hymn texture, a dignified processional wends its way through various keys and accompaniments to a final climax. American Women Composers: Piano Music from 1865–1915, ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1990). Rhapsody [1895]. Level: Late Intermediate. (E minor/A-flat major/E major, common time, maestoso, 7 pp). Soprano and tenor voices double on the powerful opening theme, which descends the E minor scale, then leaps back up, accented by full chords on strong beats. A sweeping seventh-chord arpeggio begins the theme anew. The con molto espressivo section, in A-flat, is in song-without-words texture, with a lyric soprano accompanied by eighth note triads in the inner voices and bass whole notes. Borrowed chords, enharmonicism, and added notes
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Page 132 provide Romantic color; a short reprise of the original theme, in the parallel major and pianissimo, forms the coda. SOURCES: Ammer, Baker, B&NB, B&T, Chase, ClagH, ClagS, Cohen, ElsonA, ElsonAm, Fuller, G&G, groveAm, Heinrich, H&H, Johnson, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, NewGrove, Pendle, S&S, Stern, Tick, scores LANGHANS, Louise (var. Langhans-Japha, Luise; née Japha) b. Hamburg, Germany, Feb 2, 1826—d. Wiesbaden, Germany, Oct 13, 1910 Louise Langhans, a German concert pianist, was held in particular esteem in Paris, where she was believed to be one the finest pianists of her time. She studied under Fritz Warendorf, G.A.Gross, and Wilhelm Grund, and in 1853 under Robert and Clara Schumann in Düsseldorf. In 1858, she married the concert violinist and composer Friedrich Wilhelm Langhans, but they divorced in 1874. Publishing under both her maiden and married names, Langhans composed works for keyboard, chamber ensembles, voice, and one opera, and “is usually given an honorable place in the German lists of women composers.”128 ANTHOLOGIES: Nineteenth Century German Keyboard Music, intro. Martha Furman Schleifer (Hildegard, 2000). Works by Weyrauch, Lang, and Langhans. Sieben Klavierstücke Op. 36. Level: Mid to Late Intermediate. Six lovely character pieces in late Romantic style. Praeludium Op. 36/1. (G major, 12/8, ziemlich langsam, gebunden [somewhat slowly, connected] 2 pp). A lyrical melody sings in dotted quarters above the constant texture of strummed 16th note chords, shared between the hands. Humoreske Op. 36/2. (D major, common time, frisch; heiter [fresh, gay], 2 pp). Staccato four-voice chords alternate with offbeat triplets to create a piece of good-natured clowning. Albumblatt Op. 36/3. (F major, 3/4, ruhig [peacefully], 2 pp). A sweet portrait in quiet colors, with a stepwise melody doubled at the sixth or tenth; rounded binary form. Siciliano Op. 36/4. (C minor, 6/8, mässig [moderately], 2 pp). Characteristic dotted rhythms in a gracefully swaying meter; 8th notes move the two-voice texture forward, with occasional rolled chords on important beats. Altered mediants and augmented sixths provide harmonic interest. Walzermässig Op. 36/5 [moderate waltz]. (F minor, 3/4, walzermässig nicht schnell, 3 pp). A quirky little piece in rounded binary form, with the second theme in the relative major. The eighth note theme, which uses
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Page 133 chromatic borrowed tones, consists of five- and eleven-note slurs, made hesitant by eighth note rests between. The up-beat phrase openings must be handled carefully to avoid undue accents. A trill signals the return of the first theme. Bauerntanz Op. 36 No. 6 [Farmer’s dance] (C major, common time, lebhaft [lively], 4 pp). Boisterous, energetic dance, characterized by leaping open fifths in the bass and a two-beat pickup to the theme. In ABA form; the contrasting section is in A minor, legato and lyric; soprano solo is accompanied in close position by bass and alto drone and the tenor countermelody. Lied Op. 36 No. 7. (E major, common time, sanft bewegt [gently moving], 2 pp). A lovely cantabile melody, motivic and through composed, is accompanied by half notes in the bass and inner-voice chords on the off-beats. Reminiscent of Schumann and Wolf lieder, or shorter Brahms pieces, with some attractive late 19th c. harmonies and use of tonic and dominant pedal. SOURCES: Baker, Cohen, Ebel, ElsonA, H&H, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, New Grove, Stern, score LE BEAU, Luise Adolpha (var. Louisa/Louise) b. Rastatt, Germany, Apr 25, 1850—d. Baden-Baden, 1927 Luise Le Beau, pianist, composer, and music critic, was born into a Baden officer’s family, and first received instruction in violin, piano, voice, and theory in Karlsruhe. She produced her first compositions at age fifteen and debuted as a pianist three years later in Baden. Encouraged in her work by Hans von Bülow, she was briefly a pupil of Clara Schumann, but from 1874 studied with chiefly with Joseph Rheinberger in Munich. During this period, she wrote many of her best works, winning composition prizes and favorable reviews, and was regarded by major critics as the first woman successfully to compose large orchestral and vocal works.129 Le Beau also made extensive concert tours during which she met Brahms, Liszt, and Hanslick. After the 1880s, she had difficulty arranging hearings of her works in Munich, possibly because of her opposition to the pro-Wagner contingent. Her family moved to Wiesbaden and then to Berlin in search of a more favorable reception for Le Beau’s works. They finally moved to Baden-Baden, where she worked as a critic, taught, and performed chamber music. Le Beau composed two operas, choral music, lieder and vocal music with instruments, orchestral and chamber works, and pieces for piano. Her music is distinguished by strong, well-constructed themes, and in the larger works, strict sonata structure, with some use of non-functional harmonies and leitmotifs. Her most successful genres are considered to be choral music and smaller pieces in strophic or dance forms; thirty-five of her sixty-six works were published, and works of hers were performed at the Chicago World’s
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Page 134 Fair.130 In 1910, she published her autobiography, Lebenserinnerungen einer Komponistin (“Reminiscences of a Woman Composer”), discussing the obstacles confronting a female composer and championing equal opportunities for women in all aspects of music.131 SINGLE WORKS: Acht Praeludien für Clavier Op. 12 (Ries & Erler, 1997). Level: Late Intermediate. Eight brief character pieces in mid-Romantic style, written in simple ternary or song forms, and unrelated in theme or key. Stepwise arched melodies, symmetrical phrases, and three-voice textures predominate. Rhythmic motives and harmonies are reminiscent of short works by Schumann. Op. 12/1. Mässig bewegt [moderately lively]. (G minor, 2/4, 2 pp). An opening march in rounded binary form. Short phrases of block chords in a dotted, martial rhythm are followed by a flourish of sixty-fourth notes. Two-handed arpeggios roll upward in “A” (LH crosses over for final notes) and downward in the center “B" section, with an extended arpeggio in G major for the final chord. Op. 12/2. Munter [cheerful, merry]. (B-flat major, common time, 2 pp). A folk-like tune, conjunct and symmetrical, hums smoothly over a counterpoint bass; continual eighth notes in the alto move the piece along. Like the old virelai form, pairs of repeated phrases (aa bb cc dd aa) form the tune. Op. 12/3. Munter und leicht [cheerful and light]. (D major, 2/4, 2 pp). In this rustling, playful texture, right and left hands alternate on inward-rocking pairs of sixteenth notes; the syncopated melody is formed from the top (initial) right hand notes. Op. 12/4. Ziemlich ruhig [rather calmly]. (B minor, common time, 2 pp). Another piece in three-voice counterpoint, with the melody moving smoothly in symmetrical arched phrases over a supporting bass in similar rhythm, while between them the alto murmurs on eighth notes. Op. 12/5. Mässig bewegt [moderately lively], (F-sharp minor, common time, 2 pp). In this duet between soprano and bass, the alto and tenor fill in the chord on the after-beats. Op. 12/6. Bewegt [animated, with motion]. (D-flat major, cut time, 3 pp). Triads ripple downward in triplets, right hand and then left, in this harp-like etude. Op. 12/7. Einfach [simply, plainly]. (F minor, cut time, 1 p). Set in absolutely symmetrical periods, this eight-measure march theme is played four times, with slight variations: doubled at the octave, harmonized, set in the subdominant key, and melodically ornamented. Op. 12/8. Mit grazie [with grace]. (A-flat major, 3/4, 2 pp). A rising bass triplet figure, like Schubert’s “Trout,” plays under the supple, pastoral melody. Sixteenth note arpeggio figures and trills seem to describe a mild, sunny day with birds singing.
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Page 135 SOURCES: A-Z, Baker, Boenke, B&T, Cohen, Ebel, ElsonA, ElsonL, FRK, H&H, Johnson, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, N-B, Pendle, SCB, Sperber, S&S, Stern, score LEFÉVRE LEBOUT, Jeanne b. France, 1886-d. ?) Almost no information is available about this early twentieth-century composer.132 She studied under Vincent d’lndy, and her compositions include a Sonata in G for violin and piano, published by Senart and reportedly strongly influenced by César Franck.133 SINGLE WORKS: Ames d’Enfants: Douze petite pieces pour Piano [Children’s sentiments: 12 little pieces] (Durand&Cie, 1963). Level: Early/Mid-Intermediate, 14 pp. Like Schumann’s Album for the Young, these one-page character pieces portray various activities and emotions of a young child’s day. Designed to be played straight through without interruption, they are through-composed in easy keys, with simple, repetitive ideas and short phrases. The texture is in two voices throughout, with hands often in close position. Register changes, tempo fluctuations, and expressive markings place them as transitional works from Early to Mid-Intermediate grades. Metronome markings are included. I. Je m’éveille avec le jour! [I wake up with the day!]. (B-flat major, cut time, calme). A melodic fragment is hummed repeatedly, growing longer, higher and louder. The left hand fills in empty beats with two-note slurs. II. Vite! Vite! Vite! [Hurry!]. (G major, 2/4, animé). The melody gallops up and down two and a half octaves in a Rossini-like motive consisting of an eighth- and two sixteenth notes. Tempo and dynamic changes add drama. III. Comme il fait bon respirer l’air pur du matin! [How good to breathe the pure morning air!]. (D major, common time, modéré). Long conjunct phrases arch up and back, inhaling and exhaling. IV. J’ai l’âme légère [I have a light heart!]. (G major, 2/4, modéré, avec délicatesse et souplesse). The hands are nearly two octaves apart in this airy concoction; grace notes chirp gaily before each of the eighth notes in the melody. V. Papa, maman, mes chéris! [Papa, Mama, my dears!] (A-flat major, 4/4, doux, avec tendresse). Written as a free canon, this is a lyric song of family love, using sweet stretches of sixths and thirds to appogiaturas. VI. Je suis heureux! [I’m happy!] (G minor, 2/4, animé, gaîment). Staccato eighth notes hop up to tumbling sixteenth notes in a lively dance; a three-octave arpeggio rolls down the keyboard at the end.
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Page 136 VII. Alors, dansons! [Let’s dance!] (G major, 3/4, modéré, mouvment de valse). A turning bass figure supports the melody, a triadic motive with grace-notes followed by an arching, scalar line. Phrases are of uneven length; these are not professional dancers, clearly. VIII. Vite, au travail! [Hurry to work!] (C major, 3/8, animé, aussi vite qui possible). Scurrying sixteenth note scales imitate busy people on their way to work. IX. Je suis têtu! [I am stubborn!] (C minor, 2/4, animé, lourdement détaché [strongly detached]). A dominant-tonic figure emphatically answers “unh-unh!” to every little staccato question. Hands share the treble-clef octave. X. Raconte encore! [Tell it again!] (F major, 4/4, modéré 9rêveur) [dreamy, pensive]). The tune walks calmly down the scale with the barest of accompaniments by the left hand on empty beats. As the story progresses, the melody is fragmented, with appropriate changes in dynamics and tempo. XI. Je marche avec mon ombre! [I march with my shadow!] (C major, 4/4). Quarter-note steps up and down the tetrachord are echoed (“shadowed”) an octave below on off-beats. XII. Je m’endors avec la nuit! [I fall asleep with the night!] (D-flat major, 3/4 and cut time, berceusecalme). A soporific rocking movement changes to high, sweet dreams as the piece slows and fades to an end. SOURCES: Cohen, H&H, KOM, Mac LELEU, Jeanne b. Saint-Mihiel, Meuse, France, Dec. 29, 1898—d. Paris, Mar 11, 1979. French composer and pianist Jeanne Leleu, born to a bandmaster father and a piano teacher mother, began studying at the Paris Conservatoire at age nine, with teachers Marguerite Long, Alfred Cortot, and Charles-Marie Widor. She won first prizes for piano and composition, and in 1923 won the Prix de Rome for her cantata Béatrix. Later, she won the Georges Bizet and Monbinne prizes and was honored by the Institut de France. In 1947, Leleu became a professor at the Conservatoire teaching sight-reading and harmony. She composed for orchestra, ballet and stage, piano, and voice. Her style does not belong to any particular school of composition, and has been described as clear, fresh, witty, rhythmically alive, and adventurous harmonically. ANTHOLOGIES: Musique et Musiciens d’Aujour’hui. Vol. 3: Humor, 6 pièces pour piano, ed. Henri Classens (Editions L.Philippo, 1954). Monsieur Badin badine [Mr. Jester jests]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (B-flat major, common time, assez lent, avec délicatesse et precaution, 2 pp). An amusing little piece in ternary form, showing a clown’s two faces.
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Page 137 The first theme, played rather slowly, is in a dotted rhythm with hands three and a half octaves apart, in a carefully nonchalant, rather wistful balancing act. In the hectically center section, played twice as fast as the first theme, the LH plucks wide arpeggios upward, against two-note slurs and descending staccato chromatic scales in the RH. SOURCES: Cohen, H&H, KOM, MGG, NewGrove, SCB, S&S, Stern LIEBMANN, Hélène (née Riese) b. Berlin, 1796—d. after 1835 Hélène Riese, born to a well-to-do Berlin family, was a child prodigy who performed on the piano to an admiring public by the age often, and wrote and published her first sonatas before the age of fifteen. She received an excellent musical education from teachers Franz Lauska, a virtuoso pianist who also taught Meyerbeer, and was himself a student of Clementi, Johann Gurrlich, a popular theory and composition teacher in Berlin, and Ferdinand Ries, a pupil of Beethoven. After Riese’s marriage in 1813– 1814 to Herr Liebmann (his given name and occupation are unknown), she composed under her married name. The Liebmanns moved to London around 1816, where she continued to compose and publish until at least 1819. In 1835, Friederic Wieck referred to her as a “Komponistin aus Berlin.”134 Although Liebmann was a contemporary of Beethoven, her music is more Mozartean in style. Her works include sonatas and shorter works for the piano, chamber music such as the (extant) Op. 11 Grand Sonata for Cello and Piano, and a number of Lieder, including a setting of Goethe’s “Kennst du das Land.” Published in Berlin in 1806, the cello sonata is an amazing work for a ten-year old child, particularly noteworthy for equality between piano and cello. The final movement is a set of seven variations on “La ci darem la mano,” the famous duet from Don Giovanni. SINGLE WORKS: Grande Sonata for the Pianoforte Op. 15, ed. Eve R.Meyer (Hildegard; reprint GKH). Level: Early Advanced. A late Classical-early Romantic work in three movements. I: Allegro agitato (G minor, 4/4, 13 pp). In sonata-allegro form; passionate, with rubato rhythm and a Mozartean second subject. II: Minuet and Trio (C major, 3/4, 6 pp). A charming, quiet interlude between the two outer movements. III: Rondo alla Polacca (G minor, 3/4, 9 pp). A robust polonaise. ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3; series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1998). See Grande Sonata for the Pianoforte Op. 15.
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Page 138 SOURCES: A-Z, Cohen, Ebel, ElsonA, Fetis, FRK, H&H, Jackson, Laurence, Meggett, Mac, S&S, Stern, scores LIKOSHIN, Ekaterina (var. Licoshin, Likoshchina, Catherine de-) fl. 1800–1810, St. Petersburg, Russia A Russian pianist and composer of numerous short sets of piano pieces, Likoshin may have been in the service of Count Uvarov. Her polonaises are based on themes from Russian folksongs, like those of her contemporary, Jozef Kozlowski.135 LISTED but not found: Polonaise in a minor, in Russische Klaviermusik, 1780–1820, ed. Lubimow (Heinrichshofen, 1983), in Hinson’s Guide, 3rd edition. SOURCES: Hinson, Jackson, SCB, S&S LINZ, Martha (var. Marta Linz von Kriegner) b. Budapest, Hungary, Dec 21, 1898—d. ? A Hungarian violinist, conductor, and composer, Linz studied violin in Budapest with Hubay, Flesch, Thomas, and Koessler; her composition studies were with Zoltan Kodaly.136 In 1924, she became the first woman accepted as a conducting pupil at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik. Later conducting studies were with von Weingartner in Basle and Krauss in Salzburg. During the 1930s, she traveled with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Guerzenich Orchestras of Cologne as a violinist and conductor. Linz married Dr. Kalman von Krieger, a jurist, philologist, and musicologist. Her compositions include chamber, orchestral and vocal works, a few piano pieces, and violin-piano arrangements of Dvorak pieces. SINGLE WORKS: Caprice und Capricetto (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1922). Caprice. Level: Late Intermediate. (D major/B minor, 2/4, allegro, 2 pp). Dedicated to Walter Gieseking. A playful work with accents and staccatos, chromatic borrowed tones, rapid hand-crossing and alternation, and a fickle melody with frequent and abrupt changes in direction, register, tempo, and dynamics. Capricetto. Level: Early Advanced. (B minor, common time, presto, 2 pp). Dedicated to Dohnányi. A study in rapid staccato triads, played jointly by the hands in close position; like a pizzicato string choir. SOURCES: Cohen, FRK, H&H, Mac, Meggett
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Page 139 M MANA-ZUCCA (née Gisella/Augusta Zuckermann; Mrs. Irwin Cassel) b. New York, Dec 25, 1884—d. Miami Beach, Mar 8, 1981 Mana-Zucca, pianist, singer, composer, and patroness, was a child prodigy who performed with symphony orchestras in New York before the age often. Her piano teachers included Alexander Lambert in New York and Busoni and Godowsky in Berlin. In London, she studied composition with Hermann Spielter. Although accounts differ, she appears to have toured in Europe, perhaps with the violinist Juan (Joan?) Manen, and she also appeared as a singer in some light opera productions. A gifted tunesmith, Mana-Zucca wrote many songs to her husband’s lyrics. The most popular of these, Honey Lamb, There’s Joy in My Heart, Time and Time Again, The Big Brown Bear, and I Love Life, were performed by some of the most famous singers of the 1920s and 30s, such as Galli-Curci, Lawrence Tibbett, and Nelson Eddy. A private catalogue of her published works lists around 390 undated titles, including two operas, chamber pieces, piano concertos, nearly two hundred songs, and many piano pieces. This amazingly prolific composer claimed to have published eleven hundred compositions and written a thousand more, including My Musical Calendar with 366 pieces (one for each day of a Leap year). Very few of her huge number of compositions are currently in print. In 1940, the Cassels settled in Florida, and a great many of her compositions, manuscripts, and private papers are housed in the Albert Pick Music Library at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. COLLECTIONS: Four Piano Works (Hildegard; GKH reprint). Late Romantic harmonies, idiomatic piano figurations, and a good sense of line and movement. Prelude Op. 73. Level: Mid/Late Intermediate. (C-sharp minor, common time, moderato esspressivo, 4 pp). Based on a two-measure motif that outlines and resolves a seventh chord, the work is throughcomposed with strong cadences dividing it into three parts. Interlude Op. 184/16. Level: Late Intermediate. (E minor, 12/8, vivace, 4 pp). Continuous figuration, as in an etude or toccata: hands alternate on eighth note duplets (octaves and divided chords), creating hemiolas in the 12/8 meter. Very chromatic; A A1 form. Rency Étude Op. 188. Level: Early Advanced. (D-flat major, common time, allegro, 5 pp). Alternation of major and minor modes, neo-Impressionist harmonies, and gracefully rising and falling broken-chord
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Page 140 figuration in RH over a steady, syncopated bass figure. In A A1 form, with harmonic changes in the repeat leading to a coda of block chords alternated rapidly between the hands. Étude d’hommage Op. 26. Level: Early Advanced. (C major, common time, allegro, 6 pp). Dedicated to Josef Hofmann, this is the most difficult of the collection. RH plays the melody in sixths throughout, with continuous repeated 16th notes for the alto (thumb); LH has wide stretches in arpeggios and wide leaps in the bravura ending. ANTHOLOGIES: Album of American Piano Music: From the Civil War through World War I, ed. David Dubal (International Music, 1995). Valse Brilliante, Op. 20. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (F-sharp major, 3/4, tempo di valzer, 11 pp). A waltz in rondo form, its main theme is based on the alternation of I and vi chords, with chromatic passing tones in the alto voice. The lyric second section, in D major, is marked meno mosso, using a broad arched form with plenty of chromatic scale passages. The third theme (D major/F-sharp minor) is built on quarter and half notes and emphasizes the interval of a sixth. In the coda, seventh chord arpeggios and presto alternating octaves with LH a half-step below RH, bring the work to a brilliant finish. One final enharmonic spelling of the mediant gives us a ending with two B-flat major chords leading to a V#7 chord, and then to the tonic. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 6, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). See Four Piano Works. SOURCES: Ammer, Anderson, Baker, B&NB, ClagAm, ClagS, Cohen, Dubal, Grove, Heinrich, H&H, HinSup, Johnson, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, Stern, S&S, scores MARTINEZ, Marianne von (var. Martines, Marianna/Maria Anna; née Anna Katharina) b. Vienna, May 4, 1744—d. Vienna, Dec 13, 1812 Born into a Spanish-Neapolitan family of minor nobility, Martinez was the daughter of the master-ofceremonies to the papal nuncio in Vienna. The Martinez family lived on different floors of the same large house with the Dowager Esterhazy, the young Haydn, and Metastasio, the court poet and renowned opera librettist.137 Under Metastasio’s guidance, Martinez studied singing, piano, and composition with Haydn, Nicola Porpora, Giuseppe Bonno, and possibly J.A.Hasse. Acclaimed for her singing and harpsichord playing, by the 1760s Martinez was writing large sacred works, and in 1772 Charles Burney praised both her singing and composition highly.138 In 1773, she was elected to honorary membership in the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna, a signal honor involving rigorous scrutiny of set compositions. Although she was
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Page 141 an active performer, Martinez never held a professional appointment, probably because of her social position. On Metastasio’s death in 1782, the family inherited a large fortune, and she began to hold weekly musicales with distinguished guests and performers, including Haydn and Mozart; Mozart wrote and played four-hand sonatas with her. In 1796, Martinez opened a singing school, which produced many fine professional singers. Her more than two hundred compositions include oratorios, masses, arias, secular cantatas, an overture, two keyboard concertos and a number of sonatas.139 Stylistically, her music is typical of the early Classic period in Vienna: Italianate, virtuosic and fluid. SINGLE WORKS: Sonata da Cimbalo G-dur, ed. Sally Fortino (Furore, 1992). Level: Late Intermediate. Early Classical style. Written in 1769, it is the latest of the three available sonatas by Martinez, with more complex transitions, developments, and harmonies. I: Allegro brilliante (G major, common time, 5 pp). Sonataallegro form. Two-voice texture, with headlong scales and arpeggios charging up and down the keyboard. Rests between sections help delineate the structure, while an occasional figuration change to lilting triplets adds to the general gaiety. II: Andante (G minor, 3/4, 3 pp). An arioso, with a highly embellished melody supported by block triads. III: Allegro assai (G major, 2/4, 4 pp). Rounded binary, with a brief development section beginning in B-flat major. Harmonic language includes secondary dominants, diminished sevenths, and augmented sixths. COLLECTIONS: Three Sonatas for Keyboard, ed. Shirley Bean (Hildegard, 1994). Sonatas in E, A, and G majors, heavily edited. The first two, composed ca. 1763–1765, are similar to works by C.P.E.Bach, Scarlatti, and Haydn, with typical rococo features: motivic themes punctated with rests, simple harmonies, and melodies highly embellished, as in the operatic arias of the day. Binary dance forms predominate, and the primary means of development is through sequences. Sonata in E Major. Level: Late Intermediate. I: Allegro (2/4, 5 pp). Like a perky gavotte, the theme begins with an ornamented upbeat, then outlines the tonic triad. Two-voice textures alternate accompanied eighth note melodies and broken chords, shared between the hands. In early sonataallegro form, with both sections repeated; the brief development begins with primary theme in the dominant. II: Andante (A major, 3/4, 4 pp). A dignified movement in sonata-allegro/rounded binary form, marked by syncopated, reiterated tonic notes over a descending bass. III: Allegro (3/4, 4 pp). An ebullient jig with repeated eighth note triplets in both theme and accompaniment; hands frequently exchange rhythms and functions.
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Page 142 Sonata in A Major. Level: Early Advanced. I: Allegro (A major, common time, 5 pp). Martial theme, with ornate embellishments. Quadruple and triple subdivisions of the beat; rounded binary/sonata-allegro form. II: Adagio (A minor, 3/4, 5 pp). A lyrical Italianate arioso, full of graceful pathos; rounded binary. III: Minuetto (A major, 3/4, 4 pp). Triplet and quadruplet beat divisions alternate in this sweet and graceful closing movement. Sonata de Cimbalo (G major). See Single Works. ANTHOLOGIES: Alte Meister: Sammlung wervoller Klavierstücke des 17, und 18. Jahrhunderts, Vol. 6, ed. E.Pauer (Breitkopf & Härtel, n.d.). Sonata No. 3 in E Major and Sonata in A Major. See Three Sonatas. At the Piano with Women Composers, ed. Hinson (Alfred, 1990), Great Women Composers, ed. Smith (Mel Bay, 1996) and Women Composers for the Harpsichord, ed. Harbach (Elkan-Vogel, 1986). Sonata in E Major: Allegro (I). See Three Sonatas, above. Eighteenth Century Women Composers for the Harpsichord or Piano, Vol. II, ed. Harbach (Vivace Press, 1992), Frauen Komponieren: 22 Klavierstücke, ed. Rieger & Walter (Schott, 1983) and Great Women Composers, ed. Smith (Mel Bay, 1996). Sonata in A Major. See Three Sonatas, above. Historical Anthology of Music by Women, ed. James Briscoe (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987). Sonata in A Major: Allegro (I). See Three Sonatas, above. LISTED but not found: Sonate E-Dur, Sonate A-Dur. Die Cembalo Musik der Maria Anna Martinez, ed. Traud Kloft (Edition Donna, 1989), cited in Jackson, 449. SOURCES: A-Z, Baker, B&T, ClagH, ClagS, Cohen, Eitner, Fetis, FRK, Gordon, Grove, Heinrich, H&H, Hinson, Jackson, Kirby, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, MGG, N-B, Pendle, Sperber, S&S, SCB, Sperber, Stern, wcmta4, scores MARY Mid-19th century American No biographical information is presently available about this composer. Judith Tick, below, lists three other published works composed by “Mary,” but it is not clear whether all four works were composed by the same woman. Two songs by “Mary” with lyrics by Eliza Hurley, “Adieu, Sweet Companion” and “Oh, Leave Me Not in Sorrow,” were published in 1848 and 1849 by Firth, Pond & Co., the same publisher as listed below.
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Page 143 REFERENCE WORK: American Women Composers before 1870, a book by Judith Tick (University of Rochester Press, 1979/95). Rosebud Quick Step, composed and arranged for the Pianoforte [Firth, Pond & Co., 1848]. A charming example of the many functional dance pieces for the parlor written in mid-19th century America. Written in regular eight-bar phrases, with dynamic contrasts used for whimsical effect, the piece was later included in The Folio of Music No. 2, published in Philadelphia in 1888. SOURCES: B&NB, Glichnan, Tick MENTER, Sophie b. Munich, Jul 29, 1846—d. Stockdorf, nr Munich, Feb 23, 1918 One of the greatest piano virtuosi of her time, Sophie Menter studied with J.E. Leonhard, Friedrich Niest, Carl Tausig, Hans von Bülow, and Liszt, who described her as “my only legitimate piano daughter.”140 Daughter of cellist Josef Menter and singer Wilhelmine Diepold Menter, the fifteen-year old Sophie made her debut playing Weber’s Konzertstück in Munich, and then embarked on the first of many extensive tours throughout Europe. Contemporary accounts of her playing praised both her dazzling virtuosity and elegant taste in the highest possible terms. Ernst Pauer lauded her “nobility of feeling, tenderness and warmth of expression. Her technical execution baffles description.”141 Liszt himself admired her “singing hand,” and her concerts “got a type of reception normally reserved for prima donnas. In Copenhagen the students unharnessed her horses and drew her coach through the streets.”142 Menter’s numerous awards included appointments as Court Pianist to the Prince of Hohenzollern and the Emperor of Austria, medals from Denmark and Sweden, honorary membership in the London Philharmonic Society, and the title “Camera Virtuosa” in Munich. Menter married the famous cellist David Popper in 1872 but they divorced in 1886. In 1883, she was appointed piano professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, but left in 1887 to continue her touring career. After her second marriage, to Captain O.Schultze, she lived at the Schloss Ittel in the Tyrol near Munich until her death. Menter composed a number of attractive works for piano. The Ungarische Zigeunerweisen, a concert work for piano and orchestra attributed to her, however, may have been composed by Liszt.143 COLLECTIONS: Mazurka, Étude en Sixtes, and Etude en la bémol majeur ed. Martha Furman Schleifer (Hildegard; GKH reprint). Three brilliant works. Mazurka. Level: Late Intermediate. (D minor, 3/46 pp). Characteristic rhythms and figures; ABA structure. B section is more difficult, with sixteenth and thirty-second note flourishes. Triumphant ff ending of alternating chords and octaves.
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Page 144 Étude en Sixtes Op. 8. Level: Advanced. (C-sharp minor, common time, allegro vivace, 6 pp). A musical setting of RH parallel sixths, with LH on chords and octaves; very chromatic. Étude en la bémol majeur Op. 9. Level: Advanced. (A-flat major, common time, con anima, 5 pp). RH plays a sixteenth note pattern of broken chords with repeated notes throughout; many metric shifts. ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 6, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Three pieces ed. Martha Furman, above. SOURCES: Baker, Cohen, Dubal, Gordon, grovemusic, H&H, Hutcheson, Hyde, Kehler, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, Pendle, Schonberg, S&S, Stern MERELLE, Mademoiselle fl. France, 1800 Mlle Merelle, a French composer, “lived in Grenze in the 18th century, and probably in London as a harpist, and is known through these compositions: ‘New and Complete Instruction for the Pedal Harp in 2 Books’ and ‘2 Drucke von Piecen und Variationen für die Harfe.’“144 SINGLE WORKS: “Les Folies d’Espagne” Variations for harpsichord or fortepiano [1800, for harp] (Editions Ars Femina, 1997). Level: Mid-Intermediate. (G minor, 3/4, 8 pp). An enjoyable example of the late 18th c. variation form: ostinato bass theme and five progressively complex variations in alternating tempi, with broken-chord and arpeggiated figures typical of harp music. Third variation uses an ascending 32nd note scale on each first beat; fourth employs broken octaves in alternate hands; in the final variation, upper notes of each arpeggio create a lyric melody. In this edition, watch for occasional errors; also, bar lines between treble and bass are not connected, making it a bit difficult to read. SOURCES: Cohen, Eitner, H&H, Jackson, Stern MESRITZ VAN VELTHUYSEN, Annie (var. Mesritz-van Velthuisen) b. Salatiga, Java, Sep 2, 1887—d. Amsterdam, Mar 29, 1965 Dutch composer and pianist Annie Mesritz van Velthuysen studied piano and composition at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, winning a gold medal for piano and the Nicolai prize for composition. She went on to study with Arthur
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Page 145 de Greef in Brussels and Dohnányi in Berlin, and then toured as a concert pianist, playing her own works in Europe and Indonesia.145 Some of her orchestra compositions were performed by the Concertgebouw orchestra. She also wrote chamber music, songs and piano pieces. SINGLE WORKS: 6 Preludes voor piano (Donemus, n.d. Facs. of autograph manuscript, composed late 1930s/40s). Level: Advanced. Six preludes, each two to four pages long. Highly chromatic mid-20th century composition; idiomatic writing for the instrument, with tonal centers, clear melodic shapes, and flowing movement. The facsimile copy is not easy to read, but repays study. Allegro appassionato (common time), Andante misterioso (3/4), Allegretto giocoso (6/8), Andantino (3/4), Allegro energico (common time), and Vivace-Chinoiserie (2/4). SOURCES: A-Z, Cohen, H&H, KOM MONTGEROULT, Hélène de Nervo de (Countess de Charnay/du Charnage) b. Lyons, Mar 2, 1764—d. Florence, May 20, 1836 A virtuoso pianist and composer, Mme Montgeroult received her training from Hüllmandel, Clementi, and J.L.Dussek, and later studied with Anton Reicha. She was married twice, first to the aristocrat Marquis de Montgeroult, and after his death to Charles-Hyacinte His, whom she divorced, and finally to the Count du Charnage.146 As an aristocrat, she was condemned to death on the guillotine, but spared when Bernard Sarette, an observer at the tribunal, insisted the National Institute of Music (predecessor of the Paris Conservatoire) needed her teaching and performing skills. A harpsichord was brought into the proceedings, on which she played the Marsellaise with such fervor that “all present impulsively joined in singing, led by the President of the Tribunal.”147 She fled to Germany after her release, but returned two years later as one of the highest-ranking professors at the Conservatoire, where she taught for several years. She then taught privately until 1830, and her home became an important musical salon. Her three Opus I sonatas were published by the Conservatoire in 1795. A comprehensive piano method, written for her students and containing 972 exercises and 114 progressive etudes, was ranked by Fetis with those of Clementi, Dussek, and Cramer. Other published works include six more sonatas, the Pièce discussed below, three fantasies, and six nocturnes for voice and piano. Montgeroult’s late Classical works are similar in style to the other composer/pianists of her time. COLLECTIONS: Sonatas for Piano, Vol. I, ed. Calvert Johnson (Vivace Press, 1994).
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Page 146 Sonata I Opus 1. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. Two movements, 22 pp. I: Allegro con spirito (F major, common time). A march-like first theme in dotted rhythms; also, RH scales in parallel thirds. II: Prestissimo (F major, 12/8). A gay, brilliant tour-de-force in jig time, with triplet figures, RH scales in thirds, and LH octaves. Pièce pour le Forte Piano Opus 3. Level: Late Intermediate. (E-flat major, common time, 30 pp). A lengthy late Classical work, similar in some respects to clementi and early Beethoven. Dynamic and textural contrasts create dramatic effects in this worthy piece, which (like a French overture) consists of a slow introduction followed by a fast movement. Introduzione. A stately theme similar to “Adeste fideles” is accompanied by block chords with a tenor countermelody; octaves and judicious ornamentation lend an orchestral, Beethoven-like appearance to the work, and a cadenza complete with trill and octaves closes the section. Agitato. Sonata-allegro form with an arching, triadic, arching theme; in two-voice texture, with RH echoing LH on single notes. Lyric second theme is accompanied by a pedal tone and murmuring thirds. Sonatas for Piano, Vol. II, ed. Calvert Johnson (Vivace Press, 1994). A pair of lengthy two-movement works, with both movements in the tonic key. Worthy and welcome additions to the late Classical/early Romantic repertoire, with similarities to Clementi, Cramer, Dussek, and the young Beethoven. Sonata II Opus 1 in E-flat major, 20 pp. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. I: Allegro con moto (cut time). Strong, heroic themes with broken octave and Alberti accompaniments. II: Allegro vivace (2/4). Briskly running 16th note figures. Sonata III Opus 1 in F minor, 26 pp. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. I: Maestoso con espressione (4/4). Passionate early Romantic effects, including the syncopated echoing of theme one 16th note later. II: Allegro agitato (cut time). Fiery second movement. LISTED but not found: Etude de vélocité pour le piano (No. 53), ed. Isidore Philipp, in Cours Complete pour 1’Enseignment du FortePiano (vol. 2), Pantheon des Pianistes (Henry Lemoine, 1929), and Trois Sonates pour le piano-forte oeuvre 5 (Minkoff, 1983). Cited in Jackson, 450. SOURCES: B&T, Ebel, Eitner, ElsonA, Fetis, grovemusic, H&H, Hinson, Jackson, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, SCB, S&S, Stern, scores MURDEN, Eliza (pseud: A Lady of Charleston, S.C.; née Crawly/Crawley) b. Baltimore, Maryland, ca. 1783—d. Charleston, South Carolina, Jan 1, 1847 Eliza Crawly Murden, a teacher, poet, and composer, was the “Young Lady of
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Page 147 Charleston, S. C,” author of a volume of poems and the march included here.148 Born in Baltimore, she resided in Charleston from childhood, married Jeremiah Murden, a merchant, and had one son and four daughters. She and her eldest daughter founded a seminary for girls in 1828, which remained in existence, operated by her granddaughters, until just before World War I, serving as many as five generations of Charleston families. The march below was evidently a popular work: four editions were printed between 1814 and 1825; it appeared in G.Willig’s Musical Magazine around 1815, and it was reprinted as late as 1867 by a Cincinnati publisher (preface to score). Marches were important and popular forms in the early republic, as much for their political uses as their musical value, being frequently written to honor public figures or organizations. Although intended for performance by bands, many marches were also arranged as parlor music for the piano. ANTHOLOGIES: Anthology of Early American Keyboard Music 1787–1830, Part 1, ed. J. Bunker Clark (A-R Editions, 1977). March (composed for and dedicated to the United States Marine Corps by a Young Lady of Charleston, S.C. ) [1815?]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (C major/minor, 2/4, 3 pp). Justly popular, this is a charming, well-constructed work with rousing themes. In ternary form with two strains in each section, it is well suited for the keyboard. LH octaves, brief RH passages in thirds, scale flourishes, and occasional ornaments provide interest and a degree of challenge for the intermediate player. SOURCES: Clark, G&G, H&H, Jackson, Tick, score N NIEBERGALL, Julia Lee b. Indianapolis, Feb 15, 1886-d. Indianapolis, Oct 19, 1968 Unlike many women who composed ragtime music, pianist Julia Niebergall maintained a career as a musician all her life. She accompanied silent movies and played for dance and physical education classes in local schools and colleges, and seems to have been one of those lucky and justly popular pianists able to play and harmonize songs by ear. One of the leaders in Indianapolis ragtime, Niebergall was a friend of May Aufderheide (q.v.), whose father published two of Julia’s later works. An independent woman for her time, Niebergall married and divorced early, became one of the first women in Indianapolis to own a car, and maintained her own home until her death at the ripe age of eighty-two. Her music is, not surprisingly, spirited and capable.
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Page 148 ANTHOLOGIES: American Women Composers, ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1990), American Keyboard Music 1866 Through 1910, ed. Glickman (G.K.Hall, 1990), Giants of Ragtime (Marks Music, 1971), Ragtime & Early Blues Piano, comp./ed. Appleby and Pickow (Amsco, 1995), and Women Composers of Ragtime, comp. Lindeman (Presser, 1985). Hoosier Rag: March Two Step [1907]. Level: Mid-Late Intermediate. (B-flat/E-flat majors, 2/4, not too fast, 3 pp). “An apt title for an Indiana rag, and one of the best.”149 A cheerful work with three themes in four sections (AA, BA, C, B). The music bubbles merrily along with a chromatic melody in smooth thirds, traditional syncopated rhythms and a spare bass line. Ragtime Rediscoveries, sel. Tichenor (Dover, 1979), and Ragtimes für Klavier, ed. Kaluza (Furore, 1994). Horseshoe Rag [1911]. Level: Mid-Late Intermediate. (F major, 2/4, moderato, 3 pp). A fine melody in octaves alternates 8th notes with syncopated 16 note figures. The second section is more sedate, with repeated 8th notes and descending scales. The trio, in B-flat, uses the same rhythm as the first section, but the melody is inverted and played in a lower register, making it surprisingly sweet. Chromatic sixths and borrowed chords lend interesting color. Unusually, the work ends with a repeat of A in the original key. SOURCES: B&NB, Cohen, Hasse, H&H, Hinson, Jasen, KOM, MLA, scores O ORGER, Caroline —see REINAGLE, Caroline Orger OTERO, Ana Hernandez b. Humacao, Puerto Rico, Jul 24, 1861—d. San Juan, Apr 4, 1905 Ana Otero, a fine pianist and the first woman composer in Puerto Rico, was the fifth of eight children born to Ignacio Otero, a craftsman, journalist, and music teacher. Otero and his brothers Antonio and Rafael were émigrés from Cadiz, Spain, who first went to Caracas, Venezuela, and then, in 1836, to Puerto Rico. Ana’s early music teachers included her father, her mother, Carmen Hernandez, Concepcion Gadea, and Ramón Tinajero. In 1887, Otero continued her studies in Paris with Alexis Fissot and M.Teaudon, making her formal debut at the Salle Pleyel in 1889 to excellent reviews. In 1890, she returned to Puerto Rico,
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Page 149 and during 1891/92 toured extensively in Venezuela, Colombia, Costa Rica, New York, Philadelphia, and Boston on the official roster of Chickering artists. Otero taught in New York for the next two years, then returned home to San Juan, where, with government support, she founded an Academy of Music for girls. The only surviving example of Otero’s few compositions is her Opus 1 Waltz, below, dedicated to her father.150 ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 6; series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (O.K.Hall, 1998). Première Pemée Valse Sentimentale Op. 1. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (D major and related keys, 3/4, 6 pp). A charming example of the 19th century stylized salon waltz. Four melodic strains in five sections, ABCDA in form; Chopinesque with a Spanish feel. SOURCES: Thompson, prefatory essay in score P PANZERA, Magdeleine (var. Madeleine Baillot?) b. France, 1893-d.? Almost no information is available about this French composer.151 COLLECTIONS: Children’s Piano Recital 1st Vol. (Editions MusicalesTransatlantiques, 1966). Level: Early-Mid Intermediate. Five attractive, well-written examples of early 20th c. French writing for children; neoclassic or neo-Romantic in style, with hands close together in center of keyboard. Berceuse pour Anneleine (C major, 6/8, 1 pp). A sweet cradle song. Sicilienne (D minor, 12/8, un peu melancolique, 1 pp). Gentle country dance, with typical dotted rhythms. Le petit ruisseau chant (D major, in 4, doux and rapide, 2 pp). A snappy little etude in 8th notes, doubled at the sixth; a good many accidentals. Je suis punie (E minor, 2/4, doux et triste, 2 pp.) Slow and regretful, with sighing two-note slurs. Pastorale (F major, 6/8, 2 pp). Characteristic repeated rhythm patterns and drone bass; “shepherd’s pipe” solo in center section. Children’s Piano Recital 2nd Vol. (Editions MusicalesTransatlantiques, 1966). Level: Early-Mid Intermediate. Five more characteristic pieces.
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Page 150 Promenons-nous (E major, in 4, moderate, 1 pp). A march with occasional sprightly triplets on pickup beats. Habanera (A major, 2/4, assez lent et très expressif, 2 pp). Characteristic tango rhythm in the bass, duplets against triplets. Carillon (E major, in 4, vif, gai, 2 pp). Bells chime fast and high in the treble register. Mon beau jouet s’est brisé (A minor, in 4, triste et doux, 2 pp). A sad hymn to a broken toy. Voici les vacances! (G major, 4/4, 2 pp). Joyful celebration of vacation time. SOURCES: Cohen, H&H, Hinsonl, KOM, NewGrove PARADIS, Maria Theresia von (var. Paradies) b. Vienna, May 15, 1759—d. Vienna, February 1, 1824 Maria Paradis was named for the Empress Maria Theresa, for whom her father was imperial secretary. After Maria became blind at age three, the Empress provided her with an annual stipend which helped pay for her musical education. She studied piano with Kozeluch, singing with Righini and Salieri, and composition with Salieri, Friberth, and Vogler. By age sixteen, she amazed the Viennese public with her prowess as a singer and pianist, playing at least sixty sonatas and concertos from memory; Mozart, Haydn, and Salieri all composed concertos for her.152 During a two-and-a half-year concert tour of Europe, Paradis played in Switzerland, Salzburg (where she visited Mozart), Frankfurt and other German cities, and then went on to Paris, where she met Valentin Haüy, a pioneering Parisian educator for the blind who was greatly interested in methods used in her education. A contemporary Parisian reviewer said, “this gifted player is truly astonishing…More faultless, more precise, more polished playing is not known.” 153 She next went to England, where she played for George III, then continued on to Brussels, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Berlin, and Prague. During this lengthy tour she began composing for solo piano as well as voice. Her friend Johann Riedinger, a librettist, developed a pegboard system for her to notate her works, which were then transcribed by a copyist. Her compositions, most of which are unfortunately lost, include five operas, three large cantatas, two piano concertos, songs, sonatas, and a piano trio.154 In 1808, Paradis opened a music school for both blind and sighted students, producing many fine pianists and singers. SINGLE WORKS: Fantasie pour le piano forte [1807], ed. Matsushita (Hildegard; GKH reprint). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (G major, F-sharp minor, C minor, B-flat major, 21 pp). A lengthy work in six sections, rather like a dance suite: Adagio, a prelude; Allegro, with brilliant scales;
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Page 151 Andante, gavotte-like; Allegro assai, more scales and octaves; Andante grazioso, a minuet; and Presto, a bravura jig in 6/8. Contains Alberti bass and other figurations of the time, while modulations to remote keys show the influence of Abbé Vogler (score preface). Sicilienne, arr. Samuel Dushkin (Schott, 1931). Level: Mid-Intermediate. (E-flat Major, 6/8, Andante, 2 pp). Of dubious authenticity; neither the original manuscript nor any eighteenth-century editions exist. Dushkin claims to have found a copy in the library of a German publisher, and arranged it for pianoviolin/cello duo and solo piano.155 The lyric, sentimental melody is accompanied by block chords in the standard pastorale rhythm of alternating quarter and eighth notes, with modal shifts between major and minor chords. The ornamented melody, arranged in repeated phrase pairs, has unexpected chromatic inflections, and there are some unusual phrase extensions. In rounded binary form, A ends in the relative minor, preceded by a Neapolitan-sixth chord; B, expanded by two deceptive cadences, begins and ends in the original tonality. ANTHOLOGIES: Great Women Composers, ed. Smith (Mel Bay, 1996). Sicilienne. Level: Mid-Intermediate. G Major, 6/8, 2 pp. Rearranged a third higher than the Dushkin version. Two alternating textures: RH block chords over a scanty broken-chord bass, and song texture, with RH melody and LH block chords in sicilienne rhythm. Historical Anthology of Music by Women, ed. Briscoe (Indiana University Press, 1987). Sicilienne: a transcription for flute and piano by Pierre Paubon. See above. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1998). Fantaise pour le pianoforte; see Single Works, above. SOURCES: A-Z, Baker, B&T, Grove, ClagS, Cohen, Dubal, Ebel, Eitner, ElsonA, Fetis, FRK, HAMW, H&H, Heinrich, Jackson, Jezic, Johnson, Laurence, Loesser, Mac, Meggett, N-B, Pendle, S&S, SCB, Sperber, Stern, scores PARK(E), Maria Hester (var. Reynolds; Parke, M.H; née Reynolds) b. Sep 29, 1760—d. Hampstead, Jun 7, 1813 English composer, pianist, and teacher Maria Hester Reynolds Park played harpsichord and piano in public concerts, and gave lessons to members of the aristocracy. She was happily married to Thomas Park, a poet and antiquarian, with whom she had five children. Her extant compositions span twentyfive years and show her to have been a competent and professional composer. They
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Page 152 include solo keyboard sonatas, sonatas with violin accompaniment, short choral pieces, a keyboard concerto with strings, and a divertimento for piano and violin. Opuses 1 and 2 were published under her maiden name, Reynolds. Her later works are often mistakenly attributed to composer Maria F.Parke, a singer, pianist, and composer also active in late eighteenth century London, who was the daughter of oboist John Parke and married John Beardmore.156 Maria Hester Park’s works display vitality, competence, and a thorough knowledge of keyboard styles and technique. SINGLE WORKS: Maria Hester Park: Concerto for the Piano Forte or Harpsichord in E-flat Major, Opus VI, ed. Barbara Harbach (Vivace Press, 1993). Level: Early Advanced. String parts available. Maria Hester Park: Sonata in E-flat Major for Piano or Harpsichord Opus 4/2 [ca. 1790], ed. Harbach (Vivace Press, 1996). Level: Early Advanced, 14 pp. Three-movement galant work. “A fascinating addition in the study of women keyboard composers of the eighteenth century” (score preface). I: Allegretto (common time). Sonata form; short development opens with bravura thirtysecond notes. II: Andante e cantabile (3/4). A through-composed arioso with graceful ornaments. III: Rondo (2/4). Folk song-like main theme with continuous 16th note motion. First episode has duple vs. triple cross-rhythms and LH octave tremolo; second episode is in C minor with driving sextuplets. COLLECTIONS. Maria Hester Reynolds: Three Sonatas for Harpsichord or Piano Opus 2, ed. Barbara Harbach (Vivace Press, 1999). Level: Late Intermediate. Three two-movement works, with both movements in same key, regular phrase structures with much phrase repetition, use of sequences and Neapolitan Sixth chords, scalar transitions, and LH crossings (score preface). Sonata I in E-flat (op. 2/1), 17pp. I: Allegretto (in 4). Sonata form. II: Allegro (2/4). Five-part rondo. Sonata II in F Major (Op. 2/2), 12 pp. 1: Andante cantabile e sostenuto (3/4). Lyrical with some chromaticism and unexpected harmonies. II: Spiritoso (in 4). Sonata form with two contrasting themes. Sonata III in C Major (Op. 2/3), 12 pp. I: Allegretto (common time). Sonata form. Octave melody, tremolo accompaniment, with a contrasting second theme. II: Presto (6/8) A gigue in sonata form. ANTHOLOGIES: Eighteenth Century Women Composers for the Harpsichord or Piano, Vol. I, ed. Harbach (Vivace Press, 1992). Sonata I in F Major Opus 4/1, 11 pp. Level: Late Intermediate. A two-movement work in early Classical style, dedicated to the Duchess of Devonshire. I: Allegro (common time). Repeated binary form. The
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Page 153 theme alternates a half/quarter note motif with 16th note scales; contains broken chord and Alberti basses and simple ornaments. Two-voice texture occasionally changes to staccato triads under running sixteenth notes. II: Minuet and trio (3/4). A calm, graceful minuet with balanced phrases and periods flanks the more agitated trio in the parallel minor. Eighteenth Century Women Composers for the Harpsichord or Piano, Vol. II, ed. Harbach (Vivace Press, 1992). Sonata in C Major Op. VI [ca. 1796], 13 pp. Level: Late Intermediate. An energetic and typical late Classical work in three movements, with continuous scales and broken chord figures. I: Allegro spirito (common time). Sonata-allegro form; begins with a three-octave C major scale. II: Larghetto (G major, 3/4). A theme and “doubles,” or progressively faster textural variations. A two-measure cadenza of 32nd notes ushers in the last repetition. III: Rondo allegramente (6/8). An exhilarating five-part rondo in jig time. Episode 1 has a short passage in the parallel minor; Episode 2 is in the relative minor. Four Keyboard Sonatas by Early English Women Composers, ed. Fortino (Hildegard, 1995). Sonata II, Opus 4/2. See Single Works. SOURCES: Cohen, Ebel, Eitner, ElsonA, Fuller, Gordon, Grove, Heinrich, H&H, Hinson, Jackson, Johnson, KOM, Laurence, Meggett, MGG, S&S, Stern, wcmta5, scores PATTIANI, Eliza 19th century American Little biographical information is available about this virtuoso pianist and music teacher. Ms. Pattiani resided in Chicago and often performed her own works in concert. ANTHOLOGIES: American Keyboard Music 1866 through 1910, ed. S.Glickman, Vol. 4 of Three Centuries of American Music: A Collection of American Sacred and Secular Music, eds. Schleifer and Dennison (G.K.Hall, 1990). May Breeze: Variations Brilliante [1864]. Level: Early Advanced. (C major, 3/4-6/8, andante con espressione/brilliante/vivo allegretto, 6 pp). Two measures of arpeggios introduce the sentimental theme, accompanied by a cross-over waltz bass pattern. Three etude-like variations follow: rapid repeated notes, ascending arpeggios, and chromatic scales, and bravura octaves. American Women Composers: Piano Music from 1865–1915, ed. Sylvia Glickman (Hildegard, 1990). Grand National Medley with Variations [1885]. Level: Advanced. (C major/minor;common time and 2/4, allegro/allegretto/tempo di
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Page 154 marcia/presto, 6 pp). A challenging set of the popular variations form. Tunes include “Oh, Susanna,” “Home Sweet Home,” “The Marsellaise,” and “Yankee Doodle.” SOURCES: KOM, Tick, scores PEJACEVIC, Dora von, Countess (var. Pejacsevich; m. von Lumbe) b. Budapest, Sep 10, 1885—d. Munich, Mar 5, 1923 Dora Pejacevic, descendant of Bosnian aristocracy and daughter of a Hungarian baroness and a Croatian count, studied piano, violin and composition at the Croatian Music Institute in Zagreb under Huml, Junek, and Kaiser. During her travels, she studied briefly with Sherwood and Petri in Berlin and Courvoisier in Munich. For the most part a self-taught composer, she developed her talents and style through contact with other artists in the cultural centers of Budapest, Munich, Vienna, and Prague. After her marriage in 1921 to Ottomar von Lumbe, they lived in Dresden and Munich. In January of 1923, Dora gave birth to their son, but she contracted sepsis and died six weeks later. Her Marcia funèbre Op. 14 for piano was performed at her funeral service. Until recently, most of Pejacevic’s compositions were unpublished and her influence was unknown, but in 1972 her family donated her entire collection of manuscripts and papers to the Croatian Music Institute. Since that time, a number of her works have been published, and she is now credited with laying the foundation for modern Croatian chamber and concert music, and establishing high standards of professionalism and new opportunities for Croatian composers.157 Schumann, Brahms, Grieg, and Tchaikovsky were her models, and her harmonic idiom is late Romantic, with occasional impressionist colors. Pejacevic composed for voice, orchestra, chamber ensembles, and piano. Of her fifty-seven extant opus numbers, forty-nine are for piano solo, piano with orchestra, or chamber works with piano.158 SINGLE WORKS: Impromptu and Rose, ed. Sondra Wieland Howe (Hildegard; GKH reprint). Two lovely additions to the late Romantic repertoire. Impromptu Op. 32b [1912]. Level: Late Intermediate. (B major, 6/4, adagio/agitato con passione, 6 pp). Brahmsian. Ternary form begins with an Adagio section; the faster Agitato has many dynamic contrasts, and the Adagio returns after a dramatic transition with ff descending octaves. Rose Op. 19/5 [1904–5]. Level: Late Intermediate. (E major, 6/4, moderate con moto, 4 pp). From Blumenleben Op. 19, a set of eight pieces named after flowers. Upward-wafting arpeggios enhance a gracious, lyrical melody. “The wide range of dynamics reinforces the beautiful and complex impressionistic harmonies” (score preface).
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Page 155 ANTHOLOGIES. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, vol. 6, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Impromptu and Rose; see Single Works. SOURCES: A-Z, Cohen, FRK, grovemusic, H&H, Mac, Meggett, S&S, scores PETERSON, Clara Gottschalk (var. Gottschalk) b. ? England, October 4, 1837—d. America, ?) Little is known of Clara Peterson, besides the fact that she was a younger sister of Louis Moreau Gottschalk and a stalwart defender of his works. She is reported to have produced a great deal of music for piano, but the title below appears to be her only extant work.159 ANTHOLOGIES: American Women Composers Piano Music from 1865–1915, ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1990), and American Keyboard Music 1866 Through 1910, ed. Sylvia Glickman, Vol. 4 of Three Centuries of American Music (G.K.Hall, 1990). Staccato Polka [1909]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (G major, 2/4, vivace, 4 pp). A jaunty, clever little piece in five-part rondo form. The seven-measure introduction establishes the main rhythmic motif. LH plays a standard oom-pah bass pattern, and hops up to play alternate 16th notes in the descending melodic figure; the entire rondo theme is played staccato. In the first episode, the rondo rhythm becomes pomposo with full triads on every beat. A shortened version of A appears; then the second episode (Eflat), with a lyrical, triadic melody accompanied by staccato bass chords. A brief passage in G minor is marked con melancholia, but the sadness is short-lived, as the irrepressible theme returns. 16th note scales in RH bring the dance to a flourishing finish. SOURCES: Cohen, H&H, KOM, Laurence, score PITTAR, Fanny Krumpholtz (var. Mrs. Pittar; née Krumpholtz) b. London, ca. 1784/8—d. after 1823 English harpist and composer Fanny Pittar was the elder of two daughters born to the famous harpist and composer Anne-Marie Krumpholtz (q.v.). Fanny’s date and place of birth as well as her parentage are uncertain: she may have been born in France between 1784–1788, during an apparent hiatus in her
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Page 156 mother’s career, or after her mother’s elopement and relocation to London in 1788. Further, a marriage settlement made to her by the Earl of Hardwicke suggests that he may have been her father, rather than her mother’s husband, the Parisian harpist/composer Jean-Baptiste Krumpholtz.160 In any case, Miss Krumpholtz married Isaac Pittar, a diamond merchant, in 1814, and unlike her famous mother pursued music in the domestic spheres of teaching and salon performances. “Fanny Krumpholtz’s Manuscript Book of Her Own Compositions for the Harp, 1811,” an autograph manuscript collection housed in the British Library, includes twenty-one complete works largely based on dance forms, as well as a set of seventeen preludes probably intended as progressive teaching pieces. Five pieces in the collection are designated as suitable for either harp or piano; two of the three extant works published between 1810 and 1817 are described below. SINGLE WORKS: Two Works for the Harp, ed. Ursula Rempel (Hildegard, GKH reprint). “Dedans mon petit Reduit,” Air, Arranged with Variations for the Harp [ca. 1815]. Level: MidIntermediate. (F major, in 4, andante/piu lento espressivo/vivace, 4 pp). Theme and three variations dedicated to the memory of her mother. Following the prevailing practice, a well-known air is succeeded by increasingly elaborate variations. Frequent and dramatic dynamic contrasts, rolled chords and arpeggio passages, and the special guitar effect known as pres de la table are characteristic of the domestic music popular at the time for both piano and harp. A Military Divertimento for the Harp or Piano Forte [1817]. Level: Late Intermediate. (E-flat major, in 4 and 6/8, largo/maestoso/allegretto, 8 pp). A lengthy introduction is followed by the Divertimento. A quick-march Allegretto in rounded binary form closes the work. Martial dotted rhythms, arpeggio flourishes, passages in thirds, sixths, and tenths, and LH crossovers all add to the interest. ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3; series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1998). The two works described above. SOURCES: Cohen, Grove, H&H, Jackson, S&S, scores PLÉ-CAUSSADE, Simone (née Plé) b. Paris, Aug 14, 1897—d. Bagnères-de-Bigorre, France, Aug 6, 1985 French pianist, teacher, and composer Simone Plé studied piano at the Paris Conservatoire with Alfred Cortot and composition with Georges Caussade, whom she later married. In 1828, she became a professor of harmony and counterpoint at the Conservatoire, with such students as Gilbert Amy and Betsy
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Page 157 Jolas. Plé-Caussade’s works for organ, piano, orchestra, and chamber ensembles are described as Impressionistic in style. The works described below are skillfully written teaching pieces using early twentieth-century techniques. COLLECTIONS: Les Chants et Les Jeux (Éditions Henry Lemoine, 1931). Level: Nos I-VII, Mid-Late Elementary. Nos XIII-XX, Early Intermediate. Twenty descriptive “songs and games” of progressive difficulty, many less than a page in length. The first, easiest works begin with five-finger melodies played in octaves, both hands in the treble clef, in C, F, G, D, and A major keys, with a few modal pieces, and one each using whole tone and pentatonic scales. In use: a variety of tempos, articulation, dynamics, registers, textures, and moods; rhythms use 8ths and 16ths in simple meters. Les Chants de Mon Moulin (Éditions Henry Lemoine, 1957). Level: Elementary to Early Intermediate. Thirty tuneful, descriptive pieces for children, much like the first set. Some interesting modes and textures occur, as well as incidental chromaticism and register shifts. The pieces in the second half are appropriate for Early Intermediate students. Concert à l’O. R.T. F. (Paris: Éditions Henry Lemoine, 1967). Level: Late Elementary-Early Intermediate, nos. 1–12. Mid-Intermediate, nos. 13–25. Twenty-five attractive, carefully crafted musical vignettes of people and landscapes; antique, neo-Renaissance air, through use of church modes, open fifths, and repetitive rhythms. LISTED but not found in print: Fleur d’Eau (Henry Lemoine: 1958), cited in Butler’s Guide to Contemporary Music. 161 ANTHOLOGIES. Musique et Musiciens d’Aujourd’hui Series, ed. Henri Classens (Editions L. Philippo). Level: MidIntermediate. Three charming two-page teaching pieces in three volumes: Vol. 1. La forêt enchantée. Dans le Nid merveilleux (The wonderful nest). Perched high in the tallest tree, birdlings sing joyous trills and arpeggios under the direction of M.Merle, the wise professor of music. Vol. 2. Scènes de cirque. Danse de Baby l’Acrobate. The baby acrobat makes many mistakes (lots of “wrong” accidentals) but keeps his balance. Vol. 3. Humour. Le petit Jockey nègre. Cakewalk rhythms, dissonant bitonal writing. DUETS: Six danses pour piano 4 mains (Éditions Henry Lemoine, 1983). Level: Late Elementary to Early Intermediate. Précieuse, Pittoresque, Rustique, Nostalgique, Languissante, Joyeuse. SOURCES: Baker, Butler, H&H, Heinrich, KOM, Mac, Meggett
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Page 158 PRICE, Florence Beatrice (née Smith) b. Little Rock, Arkansas, Apr 9,1887/8—d. Chicago, Jun 3, 1953 The first African-American woman to be recognized for her symphonic compositions, Florence Smith Price studied composition and counterpoint with Benjamin Cutter and Frederick Converse at the New England Conservatory, and privately with George Chadwick. She graduated with honors, receiving a Teacher’s Diploma and an Artist’s Diploma in organ, and returned to the South, where she taught at colleges in Arkansas and Atlanta, Georgia. Price married Thomas Price, an attorney, with whom she had three children. Shamefully, Price was denied membership to the Arkansas Music Teachers Association because of her race, and in 1927 the family moved to Chicago, hoping for an improved racial climate. Price continued her studies at Chicago Musical College and the American Conservatory of Music. In 1932, she won two Wanamaker Foundation awards, for her Piano Sonata, and for her Symphony in E minor, premiered in 1933 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Century of Progress Exposition. A prolific composer, Price wrote art songs and arrangements of spirituals, choral music, organ and piano pieces, four symphonies, and more than sixty works for orchestra and solo instrument, including three piano concertos and one violin concerto. Much of her music is descriptive and programmatic; though she did not quote African-American music directly in her compositions, she often used aspects of its rhythms and tunes: Mildred Denby Green said Price “spoke the language of the black musical idiom with authority and blended it with the logic of traditional European music.”162 A practical musician and prolific composer, she remained active all her life as a teacher and performer, giving private lessons, playing theater organ, and writing and arranging commercial music for the radio. Today, Price is remembered best for her art songs and spirituals, performed by many of the most famous singers of her time, including Marian Anderson, Blanche Thebom, and Leontyne Price. Her Songs to a Dark Virgin, a setting of Langston Hughes poetry, and her arrangement of the spiritual “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord” achieved great success. Although widely performed during her lifetime, very few of Price’s over three hundred works are currently available. The Sonata in E minor and the Fantasy Negre, below, are the only piano works currently in print, but many of her excellent teaching pieces are available in public and university libraries.163 SINGLE WORKS: Dances in the Canebrakes (Affiliated Musicians, 1953. St. Louis Public Library). Level: Late Intermediate. Based on lively syncopated rhythms and big, satisfying handfuls of chords, these wonderfully good-humored dances are as American as cornbread and greens. Solidly crafted and idiomatic, they are written in a homophonic texture, with hands alternating a good deal to accent the short bursts of melody.
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Page 159 Offbeat triads and rocking 16th note figures provide the setting; staccatos, catchy bass patterns, careful dynamic markings, and judicious jazz harmonies add local color and personality. Bubbling through the whole fabric are irrepressible, irresistible, toe-tapping rhythms. Nimble Feet. (E major, 4/8, allegro, 3 pp). Set over a tonic pedal, through-composed with contrasting episodes; dense texture, rich harmonies and an ostinato rhythm. A wide range of the keyboard is used; the pianist needs, a light touch as well as a hand big enough for full chords. Tropical Noon. (A major, 4/8, andantino, 4 pp). Ternary form, with a sultry calypso beat. Triadic motives with added seconds suggest balmy breezes through palm leaves. The contrasting middle section is a brief habanera in D minor; augmented sixth chords provide particularly nice effects. Silk Hat and Walking Cane. (F Major, 2/4, Moderate, 4 pp). Characteristic cakewalk rhythm; ternary form. A jaunty walking bass steps down the scale, in tandem with a perky sequential melody in syncopated sixteenths. Some fun occurs with modal borrowing for a “Moorish” effect in the D minor center section; a series of sliding half-diminished sevenths hails the return of the main theme. Sonata in E Minor [1932], ed. Rae Linda Brown (G.Schirmer, 1997). Level: Advanced. Three movements, 27 pp. “A large-scale, expansive work in the Romantic tradition,” with LH octaves, large chords, tenths, and polyrhythms. I: Andante-allegro (in 4/cut time). In sonata form, it begins with a stately chordal introduction in dotted rhythms. First theme is confident and spiritual-like; second theme is more lyrical. II: Andante (4/8). A rondo, with a lyrical main theme and two contrasting episodes. III: Scherzo-allegro (6/8). A virtuosic and rhapsodic close, technically challenging (score preface). ANTHOLOGIES: Black Women Composers: A Century of Piano Music (1893–1990), ed. Helen Walker-Hill (Hildegard, 1992). Fantasie Negre [1929/1932]. Level: Early Advanced. A wonderfully idiomatic theme and variations on the yearning, sorrowful spiritual, “Sinner, Please Don’t Let This Harvest Pass,” composed for Price’s pupil Margaret Bonds, who became a respected composer herself. CHECK LIBRARIES for: Cabin Song, Bright Eyes, A Morning Sunbeam, Levee Dance, Hoe Cake, Ticklin’ Toes, and Rabbit Foot (Theo. Presser). The Sea Swallow, The Old Boatman, The Goblin and the Mosquito (Clayton F. Summy). The Gnat and the Bee, The Rose, The Butterfly (Carl Fischer). Cotton Dance (Oxford Univ. Press). At the Cotton Gin (G.Schirmer). Dances in the Canebrakes (Mills Music).164
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Page 160 SOURCES: Ammer, Anderson, A-Z, Baker, B&NB, Boenke, B&T, ClagAm, ClagS, Fuller, Green, Heinrich, H&H, Hinson, IDBC, Johnson, Kirby, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, Pendle, S&S, Southern, Stern, Walker-Hill, scores R REICHARDT, (Bernhardine) Juliane Benda (var. Benda) b. Potsdam/Berlin, May 14, 1752—d. Berlin, May 9, 1783 Born to a large and illustrious Bohemian family of musicians, Bernhardine Juliane Benda was the youngest of the six children of Franziska and Franz Benda, concertmaster to Frederick the Great. When Juliane was only six years old, their mother died. Under the tutelage of her father, she became an unusually expressive singer. In 1775, the young composer Johann Friedrich Reichardt came to Berlin as Kapellmeister. He “heard Juliane Benda sing and play the piano and fell in love with her.”165 The pair were married in less than a year, and Juliane, who had already published a number of works, continued performing and composing despite her duties as a wife and mother. In 1782, she published Lieder und Klaviersonaten, a promising collection of seventeen songs and two piano sonatas. During their seven years of marriage, Juliane Reichardt gave birth to three children: Friedrich Wilhelm, Louise, who became a celebrated lieder composer in the next century, and Wilhelmine Juliane. Juliane Reichardt died shortly after the birth of her third child in 1783, and was buried on her thirty-first birthday. SINGLE WORKS: Klaviersonata, ed. Linda Moot (Hildegard; GKH reprint). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. 11 pp. A three-movement work in early Classical style with frequent ornaments. I: Allegro (2/4). The longest and most elaborate movement, in rounded binary form with repeats. II: Alla polacca (E minor, 3/4). Very brief interlude between the outer movements, it emphasizes polonaise rhythm. III: Rondeau (vivace, 2/4). A toccata-like piece with bravura arpeggio passages and figurations (score preface). ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3; series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1998). Prefatory essay by Nancy B.Reich; Sonata ed. by Moot, above.
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Page 161 SOURCES: Baker, B&T, Cohen, Eitner, Fetis, H&H, Jackson, Jezic, Laurence, Meggett, NewGrove, Pendle, S&S, Stern, score REINAGLE, Caroline Orger (var. Orger) b. London, 1818—d. Tiverton, Devon, Mar 11, 1892 Caroline Orger, English composer, pianist, and writer, was the daughter of the famous actress and dramatic writer Mary Ann Orger. Little is known of her early musical training, but Miss Orger began giving recitals in 1840, and in 1843 performed her Piano Concerto at Hanover Square Rooms. This work is one of the earliest piano concertos written by a nineteenth century Englishwoman.166 The Society of British Musicians performed a number of her chamber works, but unfortunately, none has survived. In 1846, Caroline Orger married Alexander Robert Reinagle, an Oxford organist, teacher, and composer. She taught piano and continued to compose many songs and piano pieces, and in 1855 produced a pedagogical treatise entitled A Few Words on Pianoforte Playing . Nigel Burton describes Orger’s music as ‘the product of an original, cultured mind…characterized by unremitting psychological power.”167 SINGLE WORKS: Sonata in A Major for Piano Opus 6, ed. Harbach (Vivace Press, 1999). Level: Advanced. 55 pp. An unusual and welcome addition to 19th century sonatas, this is a difficult and well-structured fourmovement work, Schubertian and massive. The long Allegro moderate (6/8) is followed by a spirited Scherzo (3/4, C major) and a tuneful Andante (A minor, common time), ending with an intricate Allegro capriccioso (common time).168 Tarantella for Solo Piano Opus 4, ed. Harbach (Vivace Press, 1998). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced (E minor, presto, 6/8, 15 pp). A scintillating, breath less perpetuo moto example of the tarantella genre. Preceded by a Lento introduction in 3/4, it is in ABAB form, with two themes in each section constructed in balanced parallel periods. Interesting, well written, and fun to play and to hear. SOURCES: Baker, Brown, B&T, Cohen, Ebel, ElsonA, Fuller, grovemusic, H&H, Hyde, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, S&S, Stern, scores REYNOLDS, Maria Hester —see PARK, Maria Hester
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Page 162 RICKETTS, Estelle D. American, b. Jul 1871—d.? Almost nothing is known of this African-American woman, listed in the 1900 national census as “Stella D.Rickets, black” and living with her parents and younger brother in Darby, Pennsylvania. Mrs. N.F.Mosell referred to her as a composer in The Work of the Afro-American Woman (Philadelphia, 1894). Rickert’s only extant work, the waltz below, is from the Library of Congress collection, and is the earliest known solo piano piece by a black woman.169 ANTHOLOGIES: Black Women Composers: A Century of Piano Music (1893–1990), ed. Walker-Hill (Hildegard, 1992). Rippling Spring Waltz [1893]. Level: Early Intermediate. (G major, 3/4, allegretto, 3 pp). A dance in many brief sections, consisting of simple variations over an unvarying four-measure, three-chord bass: I, ii, V7, I. Scalar patterns predominate. The tunes are unexceptional, but the movement is graceful. SOURCES: H&H, KOM, Walker-Hill, score RIESE, Hélène —see LIEBMANN, Hélène Riese ROGERS, Clara Kathleen (née Barnett; stage name Clara Doria) b. Cheltenham, England, Jan 14, 1844—d. Boston, Mar 8, 1931 Singer, composer, teacher and writer Clara Barnett first studied music with her mother, daughter of the cellist Robert Lindley, and her father, John Barnett, a composer of operas and songs. She entered the Leipzig Conservatory at age twelve, where she studied piano with Moscheles, Plaidy, and Hans von Bülow, harmony with E.F.Richter, and singing with Hermann Goetz, but was barred from attending composition classes because of her gender. Among her chamber works is a fine string quartet written at the age of fourteen, which supposedly helped break down the barrier against women at the Leipzig Conservatory, but only after she had gone on to become famous. Making her professional debut in Italy as an operatic soprano under the name Clara Doria, she continued her concert career in England and America. In 1873, Clara settled in Boston to compose and teach, and married Henry M.Rogers, a Boston lawyer. She wrote extensively on the art of singing and teaching, and in 1902 was appointed Professor of Voice at the New England Conservatory. Active in the Boston music community, Rogers founded a Bach Club and gave weekly musicales at her home, frequented by such musical luminaries as Edward MacDowell,
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Page 163 George Chadwick, Benjamin Lang, and Arthur Foote. Rogers composed about one hundred songs, but only a few works for piano. SINGLE WORKS: Romanza Op. 31 [1894], ed. Judith Radell and Delight Malitsky (Hildegard; GKH reprint). Level: Mid/Late Intermediate. (F minor, 3/4, larghetto, 9 pp). A late Romantic character piece. Lyric, inventive and idiomatic, in extended rondo form. ANTHOLOGIES: American Women Composers: Piano Music from 1865–1915, ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1990), and American Keyboard Music 1866 Through 1910, ed. Sylvia Glickman, Vol. 4 of Three Centuries of American Music (G.K.Hall, 1990). Scherzo in D Op. 32 [1882]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (D major, 3/8, allegro giocoso, 4 pp). Standard scherzo and trio form, with each section in rounded binary. Lively theme consists of descending staccato triads and a dotted-note figure. In the Trio (B minor/D major), RH 16th note figures are accompanied by a divided-chord bass, and punctuated by frolicsome leaps to higher grace-noted tones. Women Composers: Music through the Ages, Vol. 6, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Romanza Op. 31—see Single Works. SOURCES: Ammer, Baker, B&NB, B&T, ClagAm, ClagS, Cohen, ElsonL, Fuller, G&G, H&H, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Pendle, S&S, Stern, score RUDISILL, Bess E. Late 19th century American Bess Rudisill was a St. Louis ragtime pianist and composer. Among her compositions are these rag-time marches and two-steps, published from 1900 to 1912 in Chicago and St. Louis: Ain’t I Lucky; Bright Eyes; Burning Rags; The Eight O’Clock Rush; Polka Dot; and Way Down East.170 ANTHOLOGIES: Ragtime Rediscoveries: 64 Works from the Golden Age of Rag, sel. Tichenor (Dover, 1979) and Ragtimes für Klavier, ed. Kaluza (Furore, 1994). The Eight O’Clock Rush Rag, arr. Don Bestor [1911]. Level: Mid-Late Intermediate (G/C majors, 2/4, tempo di Rag, 3 pp). “An intriguing descriptive rag (whose) eccentric syncopations and bass rumblings suggest the sounds of the hectic early morning hours” (score preface). Delightful work; cover shows a crowded streetcar under a clock. SOURCES: Hasse, Hinson, KOM, score
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Page 164 S SAMUEL, Madame L. (née Marguerite Elie) b. Paris, fl. America, late 19th c. Marguerite Elie achieved recognition in the United States as a virtuoso pianist and teacher, signing her compositions as “Mme L.Samuel” after her marriage. ANTHOLOGIES: Piano Music from New Orleans, 1851–1898, comp. John Baron (Da Capo, 1980). Vers le Soir (Twilight), Poésie Musicale [1878]. Level: Late Intermediate (D-flat/G-flat majors, 3/4, moderate, 5 pp). A charming and graceful salon piece in ternary form. Ornaments and figurations show the influence of Liszt and Chopin. SOURCES: Cohen, H&H, Panzeri, Stern, score SAVAGE, Jane b. ? London, 1752/3—d. Camberwell, London, Nov 9, 1824171 Jane Savage was the daughter (and probably student) of William Savage, a Gentleman-in-Ordinary in the Chapel Royal. She was a virtuoso keyboard player and composer in the galant style of the late 18th century, and according to the title page of her Opus 2 sonatas, “Organist of the Asylum” (score preface). Her compositions date from before her 1793 marriage to Robert Rolleston, “a respectable merchant of Mincing Lane.”172 Savage composed popular keyboard music, songs, and a cantata setting of poems by her mother, Strephan and Flavia . SINGLE WORKS: Six Sonatas for Piano or Harpsichord, Op. 2 [1783, as “Six Easy Lessons for Harpsichord or Piano Forte”], ed. Harbach (Vivace, 1996). Level: Late Intermediate. Worthy additions to the repertoire of the period: six three-movement sonatas (No. IV has only two) (G, F, C, B-flat majors, 5–7 pp. each). Written in typical galant style, with two-voice textures, energetic rhythms and constant 16th note figures, ornamented triadic and scalar melodies, broken-chord and Alberti basses, and predominantly binary forms. Movements 1 and 3 are in duple meter;
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Page 165 the middle movements generally use triple meter and the relative minor. Harmony consists of primary triads with occasional secondary dominants. This Urtext edition contains suggested metronome settings, but no fingerings and few dynamic or articulation markings. Rondos I, III, and V from Six Sonatas for Harpsichord or Pianoforte Op. 3, ed. Deborah Hayes (Hildegard; GKH reprint). Level: Mid-Intermediate. “Attractive and subtly expressive, with intriguing surprises within the Classical homophonic texture” (score preface). Rondo I. Grazioso. (G major, 2/4, 4 pp). A contredanse with rondo theme and three episodes in related keys. Rondo III. Andantino. (C major, common time, 4 pp). Plaintive quality with sighing appogiaturas and chromaticism. Rondo V. Amoroso. (F major, common time, 4 pp). “Dreamy and floating” (preface). ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, vol. 3, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1997). Rondos I, III, and V, ed. Deborah Hayes; see above. SOURCES: Brown, Cohen, Eitner, grovemusic, Heinrich, H&H, Hinson, Jackson, KOM, Meggett, MGG, S&S, Stern, score SCH-L-N, Mademoiselle German, fl. mid-18th c. No information is available about this composer. ANTHOLOGIES: Musikalisches Allerley von verschiedene Tonkunstlem, 1ste Sammlung (Alamire, 1992. NewYork: OMI Facsimile Editions), 119, 149. 2 Menuets [Berlin: Birnstiel, 1761]. Level: Early Intermediate (D major, 3/4, one page each). Two melodious minuets in standard binary dance form. Two-voice texture with simple but skillful counterpoint; ornaments at cadences. RH is written in C-clef, making it a good transposition exercise for today’s student. SOURCES: Jackson
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Page 166 SCHUMANN, Clara Josephine (née Wieck) b. Leipzig, Sep 13, 1819—d. Frankfurt, May 20, 1896 Clara Wieck Schumann, one of the greatest pianists of the nineteenth century, was a child prodigy both as pianist and composer. Clara’s mother, a singer and pianist from a family of professional musicians, divorced Friedrich Wieck, a music teacher and businessman, when Clara was five years old. Her father retained custody of Clara and supervised every aspect of her education and early career. He himself taught her piano, and provided her with the best teachers available in composition, voice, violin, instrumentation, counterpoint and fugue, as well as ensuring her systematic exposure to concerts and operas. Clara made her formal debut in the Leipzig Gewandhaus at the age of eleven, performed in Paris at twelve, and pursued an extremely successful career as a concert pianist for over sixty years. Indeed, her performing career and the magnitude of her repertoire may be unequaled.173 Renowned throughout Europe for her brilliant technique and musical sensitivity, in 1838 she became the first foreigner honored by the Viennese Empress with the title Kammermusikerin.174 In 1840, Robert and Clara were wed after a bitter legal battle with Clara’s father. Clara subsequently bore eight children, but continued concertizing, composing, and teaching. Robert died young, and Clara’s earnings were the sole support of her children and grandchildren during most of her life. Considered the peer of such pianists as Liszt, Thalberg, and Anton Rubenstein, Schumann played the showy, virtuosic works popular at the time, but also programmed serious music by Bach, Scarlatti, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Beethoven, and she was a staunch supporter of Chopin, Robert Schumann, and Brahms, her closest friend for the last forty years of her life. Clara Schumann is credited with being one of the first to present an entire evening of solo piano music, and of playing a program from memory. She was as influential a teacher as a performer, holding from 1878–1892 the position of principal piano teacher of the Frankfurt Hochschen Conservatory. Many of Schumann’s compositions, widely published in her lifetime, are available in modern editions, and comprise around fifty solo works in sixteen opus numbers for piano. Schumann also wrote cadenzas to Mozart and Beethoven concertos, a few orchestral and chamber pieces, and many lovely lieder. In her use of bold harmonies and rhythmic freedom, she displayed some of the more advanced tendencies of her day, as well as the intimate expression, extra-musical associations, phrase elisions, and melodic ornamentation found in Mendelssohn and Chopin. Although Clara Schumann believed her compositions to be inferior to those of her husband and other male composers, she loved to compose, and her music displays a great joyfulness, a real gift for melody, and a strong sense of structure. Intrinsically pianistic, they lie beautifully under the hand and are a delight to play.
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Page 167 SINGLE WORKS: Quatre Polonaises pour le Pianoforte Op. 1/1-4, ed. Babette Hierholzer (Ries & Erler, 1987. Also Carl Fischer, 1987, and Hofmeister, 1996, ed. Draheim & Nauhaus). Level: Late Intermediate. Four brief and joyous examples of the dance written by the nine-year-old Clara, in standard compound ternary form: polonaise-trio-polonaise, with two repeated parts to each section. The trios, with contrasting keys and themes, are generally more delicate than the robust, forthright polonaise sections. Each dance is two pages long and in triple meter, with the characteristic polonaise rhythms: the ostinato accompaniment (1 &a 2& 3&), strong downbeats, and occasional triplet figures. The melodies contain athletic leaps, occasional ornaments, and some brilliant arpeggios and scale passages. E-flat Major Opus 1/1. LH bass octaves on alternating chord tones support RH interrupted theme. A-flat Trio, delicato, has chirping grace notes on every tone, giving the effect of violin double-stops. C major Opus 1/2. A foreshadowing of Johann Strauss: a gay melody with turns, grace notes and scalar passages and a contrasting Trio, con delicatezza. Shorter than the others (16-bar sections). D Major Opus 1/3. Longest of the group. An ascending alto scale followed by hops to chord tones, including a RH cross-over leap of four octaves. The trio melody is as lovely as a Chopin nocturne or a Bellini aria. C Major Opus 1/4. Polonaise theme: ascending tonic arpeggio to an appogiatura is perfectly balanced by a descending dominant arpeggio to another appogiatura. In the vivace trio, scherzo-like, an ascending staccato scale is followed by an abrupt drop of an octave. Caprices en forme de Valse pour le Piano Op. 2/1-9 [1831–2], ed. Joachim Draheim and Gerd Nauhaus (Leipzig: Hofmeister Musikverlag, 1996). Level: Mid- to Late Intermediate. Nine brief (1–3 pp) and spirited waltzes written during Clara’s first major concert tour. Gay, graceful melodies, like Parisian opera tunes; a clear understanding of structural harmony and ternary form, with two related themes in each section. Op. 2/1. Level: Late Intermediate. (C major, allegro moderato, con fuoco). Staccato alto theme, played by thumb and second finger, is framed by a waltz bass and repeated soprano chord tones. A perky hop on beat one lands with a thump on the accented second beat. Both hands have some octave eighth note passages. Op. 2/2. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (D major, allegro moderato, con grazia). A “noodling” melody in dotted-eighths moves around the tonic by neighboring half and whole steps. LH melody in “B;” coda fades away gracefully. Op. 2/3. Level: Late Intermediate. (E-flat major, andantino). A gracious little theme: a dotted-note sequence rises to an appogiatura, resolves by step. Octave passages in both hands; one RH crossover of seven bars.
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Page 168 Op. 2/4. Level: Level: Late Intermediate. (A-flat major, 3/8, allegro, espressivo). Rushing sixteenth notes in a chromatic turning figure leap up to rolled octaves, while the bass plays wide arpeggios. The figure is inverted, and the left hand takes the melody in the first half of “B.” Op. 2/5. Level: Late Intermediate. (B-flat major, 3/4, allegretto). Eight measures of fanfare begin this flashy little work. A rising alto melody, some parallel sixths and thirds, and a repeated-note passage increase the level of brilliance. Op. 2/6. Level: Late Intermediate. (C major, allegro risoluto, marcato). Reminiscent of Beethoven. Double octaves outline a C-minor triad; the mood then lightens up with double grace notes and parallel sixths over a standard waltz bass. Op. 2/7. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (A-flat major, allegro ma non troppo). Anticipatory grace-note chirps on chord tones contrast with a swirling, arched theme. In “B,” sobbing grace notes ornament a descending F minor scale, for a double-stop effect. Op. 2/8. Level: Late Intermediate. (E-flat major, 3/8, allegro assai). Rapid contrasts in dynamics, register, tempo, and key make this a miniature ballad for the dance. Op. 2/9. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (D-flat major, allegretto, risoluto). Less than a page long. The strong opening theme rises in a series of appogiaturas for four measures, and then runs back down in eighth notes to a resolution in F minor. Valses romantiques pour le Pianoforte Op. 4 [1838], ed. Draheim and Nauhaus (Leipzig: Friedrich Hofmeister, 199). Level: Early Advanced. (C major, allegro, 3/4, 11 pp). Chopinesque brilliance, with repeated octaves, grace notes, staccatos and graceful slurs. Continuous short dances joined together, like a sectional ballroom piece, with strains in C, F, B-flat, A-flat, and G, and a dazzling, fiery coda. Quatre Pièces Caractéristiques pour le Pianoforte Op. 5/1-4 [1836], ed. Joachim Draheim and Gerd Nauhaus (Leipzig: Hofmeister, 1996). Impromptu: Le Sabbat Opus 5/1. Level: Early Advanced. (A minor, 3/8, allegro furioso, 5 pp). A “grotesque” also known as Hexentanz [Witch’s Dance], with rapid repeated notes, hands doubling twonote slurs and grace-noted octaves, and plenty of accents and dynamic contrast. Caprice à la Boleros Opus 5/2. Level: Early Advanced. (E minor/major, 3/4, presto, 9 pp). Repeated notes, accents, grace notes, and rolled chords on downbeats suggest a fiery Spanish dance. Romance Opus 5/3. Level: Late Intermediate. (B major/minor, 3/4, andante con sentimento, legato e dolce, 2 pp). Included in many anthologies. A miniature ballade. Homophonic texture; inner-voice eighth notes provide movement. ABA form; a static, contemplative motif contrasts with a more urgent, scalar one. Center section is in D major; the mood changes at the end, closing in B minor.
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Page 169 Scène fantastique: Le Ballet des Revenants [Ghost ballet] Opus 5/4. Level: Early Advanced. (B minor/G major, common time-2/4, 6 pp). Another “grotesque,” with LH octaves, accents, staccatos, and rapid chordal leaps; “spooky” themes, and dramatic contrasts. Soirées Musicales pour le Pianoforte Op. 6/1-6 [1835–6], ed. Draheim and Nauhaus (Hofmeister, 1996. Also ed. Glickman, Hildegard, 1996). Imaginative character pieces in the style of Mendelssohn and Chopin. Robert Schumann said they contain “a wealth of unconventional resources.” Toccatina Op. 6/1. Level: Early Advanced. (A minor/major, 3/4, presto, 6 pp). An etude in broken double notes, skittering up and down the keyboard. Ternary, with fleeting, leggiero outer sections flanking a lyric center. Notturno Op. 6/2. Level: Late Intermediate-Early Advanced. (F major, 6/8, andante con moto, 5 pp). A lovely work in song-without-words texture; sweet, melancholy, and graceful; similar to Field or Chopin. Mazurka Op. 6/3. Level: Mid-Late Intermediate. (G minor, 3/4, con dolore e legato, 3 pp). Ternary form, with contrasting halves in each section. Plaintive theme, with the characteristic dotted rhythm on beat three accompanied by a waltz bass. Center section (G major) is a shepherd’s pastorale, complete with drone bass. “A” returns with double-stop grace notes, and borrowed chords accompany as the bass descends by half-step and the melody climbs to a fermata, sforzando. The piece then folds back on itself, dying away to a pianissimo flatted-H chord, then closing with a flourish, a tempo. Ballade Op. 6/4. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (D minor, andante con moto, common time, 6 pp). Varied bass figurations in this ternary work include an ostinato chord progression, pedal points, “pizzicato” scales. Rich, warm harmonies, ornamented melodies, sweet double note figures. Mazurka Op. 6/5. Level: Late Intermediate. (G major, 3/4, con moto, 4 pp). Heroic theme, with a rousing dotted-note pickup followed by triplets on the downbeat, all in ornamented parallel thirds. “B” section (E major) is more lyric. A five-bar trill, diminuendo, brings “A” back. Polonaise Op. 6/6. Level: Late Intermediate. (A minor/major, 3/4, non troppo allegro, 5 pp). Characteristic polonaise rhythm, with rich harmonies and rousing martial themes, full of nationalistic fervor. Variations de Concert Op. 8 [1837] (Boca Raton, FL: Masters Music, M 2580, n.d.). Level: Advanced. A bravura crowd pleaser, with brilliant flourishes, arpeggios, chromatic runs, wide leaps, and fast passages in thirds and sixths. Quatre Pieces Fugitives Op. 15/1-4, ed. Joachim Draheim (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1993). Four character pieces dedicated to Clara’s half-sister, Marie Wieck; among Clara Schumann’s best-known works. Opus 15/1. Level: Late Intermediate. (F major, common time, larghetto, 2 pp). A lyric song without words, with a sequential, yearning melody
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Page 170 reaching up to appoggiature. Pedaling with bass tones provides lush harmonic texture. Contains a development section, with fragmented motive and modulations. At the close, a diminished-seventh chord over a tonic pedal resolves to a tonic chord with added sixth for a lovely effect. Opus 15/2. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (A minor, 9/8, un poco agitato, 3 pp). Tenor theme gallops up the scale in staccato triplets; the driving triplets continue in both melody and accompaniment. Rounded binary form, with a short development. Opus 15/3. Level: Late Intermediate. (D major, 3/4, andante espressivo, 3 pp). Opening theme is a serene, gently arching hymn in balanced periods. Transition and cadenza lead to a fretful middle section (F-sharp minor, poco animato) with delayed resolutions and anxious sixteenth note figures echoed between the hands. After another brief cadenza, “A” returns, and the two conflicting themes are resolved in the twelve-measure coda. Opus 15/4. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (G major, 3/4, scherzo, 3 pp). A lively little scherzo and trio, with each section in repeated binary form. The more sedate Trio is in the relative minor. Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op. 16/1-3 [1847], ed. Harbach (Vivace, 1994; also ed. Glickman, Hildegard, 1997; also Masters Music, n.d.). Level: Late Intermediate. Three well-crafted preludes and fugues composed during the Schumann’s joint study of counterpoint. Good Romantic examples of the Baroque form; fine legato studies. G Minor Opus 16/1. Level: Late Intermediate. Prelude (3/4, andante, 6 pp): A poignant, hesitant melody over a slow-moving and a countermelody in the tenor. Fugue (3/4, allegro vivace, 3 v.). Subject opens with a single quarter note on the dominant, followed by three vigorous measures of running sixteenth notes. B-flat Major Opus 16/2. Level: Late Intermediate. Prelude (3/4, allegretto, 6 pp). A dreamy melody in ABA form, suspended over ascending eighth note arpeggios; occasional secondary dominants and a Neapolitan II provide harmonic interest. Fugue (3/4, andante, sempre legato, 4 v,). A four-square, North German work, with a sturdy theme formed of two ascending fourths followed by a descending minor third to an altered tone, and then a stream of eighth notes. D Minor Opus 16/3. Level: Late Intermediate. Prelude (common time, andante, 6 pp). A serene chorale, half-notes, ties, and suspensions giving it the look of an organ prelude in 2/2. The long-breathed, arching opening theme begins with a leap of a fourth, reaches up another fourth, and then steps down, ending on the leading-tone a sixth below its starting point. Fugue (common time, andante con moto, 4 v.). The fugue theme has a similar shape and rhythm, but opens with a third and then climbs higher and faster. The final entrances and the stretto are marked by tonic and dominant pedal tones.
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Page 171 Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann Op. 20 (Alfred 1200; Süddeutscher). Listed as a single work in Hinson’s Guide, 3rd edition. See Collections: Ausgewählte Klavierwerke. Drei Romanzen, Op. 21/1-3 [1853], ed. Joachim Draheim (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1996). Another attractive group. Romanze Op. 21/1. Level: Early Advanced. (A minor, common time, andante, 5 pp). Rhapsodic gypsy violins in a Brahmsian texture. Romanze Op. 21/2. Level: Late Intermediate. (F major, 2/4, allegretto, sehr zart zu spielen). Airy and delicate detaché chords, interspersed with sixteenth-rests. The tender, cheerful melody is reminiscent of Mendelssohn; development moves through four key centers, and the coda has a fully-diminished seventh chord; some LH crossovers. Romanze Op. 21/3. Level: Early Advanced. (G minor, 3/8, agitato, 8 pp). Ternary; slower center section, more lyric, is in the parallel major. Main theme contains restless chromatic scale figures. Sonate in g-moll [1841–2], ed. Gerd Nauhaus (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1991). Level: Advanced. Four movements, 24 pp. “A singularly attractive, harmonically captivating, and pianistically demanding piece, which does full honor to its composer. Besides Weber and Schubert, the work’s ‘godfathers’ should also include Chopin and Robert Schumann” (score preface). I: Allegro (common time). II: Adagio (E-flat major, 3/4, con espressione e ben legato). III: Scherzo (and Trio) (G major, 3/4, leggieramente/einfach). IV: Rondo (2/4). COLLECTIONS: Clara Wieck Schumann: Ausgewählte Klavierwerke, Urtext, ed. Janina Klassen, fingering by Hans-Martin Theopold (Henle Verlag, 1986). Quatre Pieces Caractéristiques Op. 5/1-4; Aus Soirèes musicales Op 6/1, 2, 4, 5; Drei Romanzen Op. 21: see Single Works, above. Scherzo Opus 10 [1838], Level: Advanced. (D minor, 3/4, scherzo con passione, 10 pp). Dramatic and showy work, popular with Parisian audiences. Really a rondo/scherzo with two contrasting trios (episodes). Clara said: “It is not too long, I believe, since it goes very fast, ‘appassionato que possible.’ I like the final repetition of the theme to the end of the piece best…but don’t cut the misterioso as this is the most beautiful part of the entire piece” (score preface). Trois Romances Op. 11/1-3 [1839]. A satisfying group of miniature character pieces, dedicated to Robert Schumann the year before their marriage. I. Op. 11/1. Level: Early Advanced. (E-flat minor, 3/4, andante, 4 pp). Embodies romantic longing, and serves as a prelude to the other two. II. Op. 11/2. Level: Early Advanced. (G minor, common time, andante/allegro passionate, 7 pp). Affecting; full of rubato. III. Op. 11/3. Level: Late Intermediate. (A-flat major, 3/4, moderato, 4 pp). In five-part rondo form (ABACA). Theme: a harmonized scale climbs a ninth and returns, over a tonic pedal. First episode is a wistful little waltz in F minor; second is a “wrong note” scherzo in D-flat
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Page 172 major, with late-resolving appogiature and a jerky, off-beat bass. “A” returns and dissolves into a coda. Variationen Op. 20 [1853]. Level: Advanced. (F-sharp minor, ziemlich langsam, 2/4, 10 pp). Clara’s seven ambitious variations on a theme by Robert Schumann, from his Bunte Blätter Op. 99. “Flowing melodies, vivid harmonies, interesting rhythms, and some beautiful pedal effects. Its innate charm and fine construction make it an ideal work for a recital program.”175 Romanze ohne Opuszahl [1853]. Level: Late Intermediate. (A minor, 3/4, 3 pp). Ternary form. The opening theme, like a gypsy duet, is a restless motive in thirds, over a tonic pedal, with a contrasting lyrical transition. Broad center section (A major) has longer phrases in a smoothly arching melody, over a Brahmsian triplet accompaniment. Clara Schumann: Piano Music, sel./intro Nancy B.Reich (Dover, 2000). Thirteen of Schumann’s most popular works, all available in other editions. Op. 5/1, Op. 15/1-4, Op. 16/1–3: see Single Works. Op. 11/2, Op. 20, Op. 21/1-3: see Ausgewählte Klavierwerke. Clara Schumann: Preludes, Exercises and Fugues, ed. Valeric Woodring Goertzen (Hildegard, 2001). Three Fugues on Themes of Sebastian Bach [1845]. Level: Mid-Late Intermediate. (E-flat major/E major/G minor, 4/4-4/2-3/4, 3–5 pp). Three interesting and extremely capable four-voice fugues on Bach subjects from Book II, W.T.C. Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp Minor [1845]. Level: Early Advanced. (F-sharp minor, common time-3/4, 7 pp). Given to Robert Schumann on his birthday, 1845. Praeludien. (Seven Exercises, eleven Preludes). Clara Schumann began her daily practice by playing the exercises before her scales. Preludes are examples of her improvised introductions and interludes to short serious pieces by Chopin, Mendelssohn, and Bach. Einfach Praeludien für Schüler [Simple preludes for students]. Two brief harmonic progressions in C and A-flat major, perhaps intended as framework for improvised preludes. Clara Wieck Schumann: Selected Piano Music, preface by Susskind (repr. edition: Da Capo Press, 1979). Op. 5/1-4, Op. 6/1-6, Op. 8, Op. 16/1-3: see Single Works. Scherzo Op. 10, Op. 11/1-3: see Ausgewählte KlavierWerke . Romantische Piano Music, Vol. I, ed. Franzpeter Goebels (Bärenreiter, 1967). Op. 16 and Op. 21/3: see Single Works. Op. 20: see Ausgewählte Klavierwerke. Romantische Piano Music, Vol. II, ed. Goebels (Bärenreiter, 1976). Op. 3, Op. 5/3, Op. 15/1-4: see Single Works. Op. 11/1–3, Op. 21/1: see Ausgewählte Klavierwerke. Scherzo II Op. 14. Level: Early Advanced, (C minor, 3/4, con fuoco, 8 pp). Exhilarating and heartfelt melodies; compound ternary form (scherzo
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Page 173 and trio), with two themes in each section. Opening arpeggiated theme sweeps from hand to hand; middle section is a tranquil chorale in the relative major. Romanze in h-moll (WoO) [Christmas 1856]. Level: Early Advanced. (B minor, 2/4, langsam, 4 pp). Ternary form. Rich romantic harmonies. Opening theme, a syncopated, descending motif of sad longing, is accompanied by a lacy texture of broken duplets. Repeated triplet chords increase the urgency in the G-major middle section. ANTHOLOGIES: At the Piano with Robert and Clara Schumann, ed. Maurice Hinson (Alfred, 1988). Op. 5/3, Op. 6/1 and 3, Op. 15/1, Op. 16/2: see Single Works. Op. 20: see Ausgewählte Klavierwerke. At the Piano with Women Composers, ed. Hinson (Alfred, 1990). Mazurka Op. 6/5: see Single Works. Contemporaries of Schumann, sel/ed. Kurt Hermann (Hinrichsen, n.d.). Larghetto (Vier flüchtige Stücke) Op. 15/1: see Single Works. Frauen Komponieren, ed. Rieger/Walter (Schott, 1992). Andante con sentimento: see Quatres Pièces Caractéristiques Opus 5/3. Great Women Composers, ed. Smith (Mel Bay, 1996). Andante con sentimento: see Quatres Pièces Caractéristiques Opus 5/3. Mazurka: see Soirées Musicales Op. 6/5. Präludium II: see Preludes and Fugues Op. 16/2. Historical Anthology of Music by Women, ed. James Briscoe (Indiana University Press, 1987). Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann Op. 20: see Ausgewählte Klavierwerke. Johannes Brahms und Seine Freude, ed. J.Draheim (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1983). Drei Romanzen Op. 21/1-3: see Single Works. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 6, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). See Collections: Preludes, Exercises and Fugues, ed. Goertzen. LISTED but not found in print: Three Kleine Klavierstücke, containing Two Romances [1885–86] and Andante con sentimento [1838], ed. Marciano (Doblinger), and Souvenir de Vienne Op. 9 [1837–38] (Diabelli), cited in Hinson’s Guide, 3rd ed. SOURCES: Ammer, A-Z, Baker, B&T, ClagS, Cohen, Dubal, Ebel ElsonA, ElsonL, Faurot, FRK, Gillespie, Gordon, Grove, H&H, Hinson, Hutcheson, Hyde, Jezic, Johnson, Kenneson, Kehler, Kirby, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Magrath, Meggett, MGG, MLA, N-B, Pendle, S&S, SCB, Schonberg, Sperber, Stern, scores
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Page 174 SCOTT, Clara H.Jones b. Elk Grove, Illinois, Dec 3, 1841—d. Dubuque, Iowa, Jun 21, 1897 Clara Jones Scott, composer and hymnist, attended C.M.Cady’s Musical Institute in Chicago, and at the age of eighteen began teaching music at the Ladies’ Seminary in Lyons, Iowa. In 1861, she married Henry Clay Scott, and in 1882 became the first woman to publish a collection of anthems, the Royal Anthem Book. Her well-loved hymn, “Open my eyes, that I may see Glimpses of truth thou hast for me,” still appears in many hymnals. Scott wrote sacred and secular vocal and choral music, as well as a number of pieces for piano. On a visit to Dubuque in 1897, she was thrown from a buggy by a runaway horse and killed. ANTHOLOGIES: American Women Composers: Piano Music from 1865–1915, ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1990), and American Keyboard Music 1866 Through 1910, ed. Glickman, Vol. 4 of Three Centuries of American Music (G. K.Hall, 1990). Twilight Fancies (1875). Level: Late Intermediate. (D-flat major, 6/8, andante cantabile, 6 pp). Attractive writing distinguishes this sentimental salon piece with four contrasting strains. The symmetrical opening theme gracefully stretches up and then returns on descending triads. The second theme (A-flat major) has graceful treble scales and bass arpeggios. Theme 3 (piu mosso) is a conversation in B-flat minor: RH plays two measures in the soprano, then crosses into the bass for the answer, as LH murmurs on repeated triads. Theme 4 returns to tonic key, with the melody in rolled harp-like chords and a double waltz bass in each bar; then the first section is repeated. SOURCES: ClagH, ClagS, Cohen, H&H, KOM, Laurence, Stern, score SENFTER, Johanna b. Oppenheim am Rhein, Nov 27, 1879—d Oppenheim, Aug 11, 1961 Johanna Senfter, a member of the wealthy bourgeoisie, was educated at a private girls’ school in Frankfurt and studied music from an early age. When only sixteen, she became a student at the prestigious Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, where she studied piano, violin, organ, and composition with, respectively, Carl Friedberg, Adolf Rebner, Heinrich Gelhaar, and Iwan Knorr. After eight years of training in the conservative Romantic school, Senfter went to the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig, where she studied with Max Reger from 1908–1910, receiving the Arthur Nikisch prize in 1910 for best student composition. Reger’s
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Page 175 style of combining Bach’s polyphony with Brahms’ sonorities and motivic treatments was a significant influence on Senfter. Her extensive output of 134 individual works includes nine symphonies, concertos for piano, violin, viola and cello, a large amount of chamber and choral music, and a great many pieces for piano. At age 81, Senfter died in Oppenheim, her home town. SINGLE WORKS: Drei Stücke für Klavier Op. 77 (Heinrichshofen’s Verlag, 1987). Level: Early Advanced. Written rather late in the composer’s life, these works explore the boundaries of tonality and show the influence of Brahms and Reger. I: Geschwind (C-sharp minor/major, 3/8, 8 pp). A playful scherzo. II: Ruhig (F major, common time, 6 pp). A gentle, heart-felt love song, extremely lyric. III: Lustig. (D-flat major, 3/4, 6 pp). A cheerful Ländler. Vogelweise (Bird Song), ed. Christiane Maier (Schott, 1999). Level: Late Intermediate. (G minor, 2/4, allegretto, 5pp). Written during Senfter’s student years, this is a descriptive character piece in late Romantic style, perhaps inspired by actual bird calls. The theme consists of five repeated tones followed by a twittering cluster of 32nd notes. A good study in close hand position work and subdivisions of the beat. COLLECTIONS: Ausgewählte Werke (Selected Works), ed. Christine Maier (Schott, 1997). A collection showing the range and development of Senfter’s technique as a composer, from technically simpler, romantic character pieces to more complex writing exploring the limits of tonality (score preface). Klavierstudie [1898]. Level: Late Intermediate. (E minor, common time, allegro, 4 pp). Reminiscent of Chopin etudes, with a cantabile bass melody and RH double note figures. Sechs kleine Stücke für Anfänger. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (E/D major, D/A/B minor, simple meters, 1–2 pp). Early character pieces for students. Wiegenliedchen [Cradle song], Morgenspaziergang [Morning walk], Erster Schmerz [First hurt], Im Kahn [On the river barge], Lustige Begehenheit [Merry happenings], Ernste Gedanken [Grave thoughts]. Berceuse (C-sharp minor, 2/4, 4 pp), Mazurka (F minor, 3/4, 3 pp), Vogelweise (G minor, 2/4, 5 pp), and Scherzo (D minor, common time, 9 pp). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. Four descriptive character pieces written during her student years. Late Romantic style song forms, periodic construction, smooth melodies, clear-cut rhythms and harmonies. The Scherzo is in rondo form. Three Passacaglias (Nos 5, 7, 8) and three Fugues (Nos 4, 5, 7). Level: Advanced. From her two cycles, Neun Passacaglien and Sieben Fugen für Klavier, probably written when Senfter was studying with Max
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Page 176 Reger. Remarkable polyphonic technique, with a wealth of melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic ideas, broad cantabile themes, and inventive counterpoint. Drei Klavierstücke Op. 83 [1937–38]. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. Orchestral quality, with octave doublings, expressive harmonization, polyphonic writing and unison passages, wide melodic leaps, complex rhythms, subtle phrasing and dynamics. I: Gemächlich [comfortably] (F major, 3/4, 4 pp). II: Ziemlich ruhig [rather peaceful] (B major, common time, 4 pp). III: Wiegend [rocking] (G major, 3/4,4 PP). Zwei Klavierstücke Op. 129 [1957]. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. Composed at the age of 78. Mature, expressive writing, with melodic and harmonic invention, expressive chromaticism. I: Ruhig [restfully] (F major, 3/4, 4 pp). II: Lebhaft [lively] (A minor, 3/8, 6 pp). A scherzo. SOURCES: A-Z, Boenke, Cohen, H&H, KOM, Mac, SCB, S&S, Sperber, scores SHEPHERD, Adaline (var. Adeline) b. Algona, Iowa, Aug 19, 1883—d. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mar 12, 1950 Born in Iowa, ragtime composer Adaline Shepherd lived in Milwaukee most of her life. She began composing in her early twenties, and although she lived to be sixty-seven, wrote most of her music before she was thirty-five. In 1908, William Jennings Bryan used her immensely popular Pickles and Peppers Rag as his campaign song. Wireless Rag (1909) and Live Wires (1910) reflected the new technology of the time. In 1910, Shepherd married an insurance company executive, Fred Sherman Olson. They had three children, and were comfortably well off. After her publication of Victory March in 1917, she apparently gave up composing, but continued to play the piano in spite of arthritis. ANTHOLOGIES: American Women Composers: Piano Music from 1865–1915, ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1990) and At the Piano with Women Composers, ed. Hinson (Alfred, 1990). Wireless Rag [1909]. Level: Late-Intermediate (E-flat major, 2/4, not too fast, 3 pp). This unusual rag is a theme and three melodic variations over an ostinato bass, with a closing section in the subdominant key. In variation 1, octaves with grace notes replace block chords. Next, the syncopated sixteenths. Finally, the theme sounds an octave lower with simpler voicing and even more syncopation. In the final section, full block chords on every eighth note accelerate to the end.
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Page 177 Ragtime & Early Blues Piano, comp./ed. Appleby and Pickow (Amsco, 1995) and Women Composers of Ragtime, comp. Lindeman (Theodore Presser, 1985). Pickles and Peppers. A Rag Oddity. [1906]. Level: Mid-Intermediate (A-flat major, 2/4, not too fast, 5 pp). In 1908 alone, this immensely popular rag sold 200,000 copies, and continued selling through 1913; at least one piano roll and four recordings were made of it. It contains three strains; in the altered repeat of C, the genteel 8th note motif becomes a rowdy, syncopated sixteenth note figure, changing the cakewalk to a stomp. Wireless Rag [1909]. See above. American Keyboard Music 1866 Through 1910, ed. Sylvia Glickman, Vol. 4 of Three Centuries of American Music (G.K.Hall, 1990). Pickles and Peppers. SOURCES: B&NB, Hasse, J&T, KOM, MLA, scores SLOMAN, Jane (var. Torry, Sloman Torry) b. England, 1824—d. United States, after 1866 In 1839, Jane Sloman emigrated from England with her parents, becoming one of the first female piano virtuosi to perform in the United States. A prodigy who played opera overtures at age five, she studied in England with Madame Dulcken, pianist to Queen Victoria. Her New York debut concert in 1841 marked the beginning of ten years of extremely successful concertizing. Contemporary reviewers noted her extraordinary talent and ease of execution, as well as her “grace, sentiment, expression, and pathos.”176 As a composer, Sloman appears to have been entirely self-taught. After 1850, she published her compositions under the name Sloman Torry, and they appeared in print until 1902. Extant works include nine hymns in The Melodist, a song collection described on its title page as “selected gems from celebrated composers arranged for the use of female seminaries.”177 Twenty-two other songs written in a cultivated, full-blown Romantic style are in existence, including Titania, Barbara Fritchie, Queen of the Night, Take Back the Ring, and The Maiden’s Farewell . Four keyboard works have been located, including the only one in modern print, below. ANTHOLOGIES: American Women Composers: Piano Music from 1865–1915, ed. Glickman (Hildegard, 1990), and American Keyboard Music 1866 Through 1910, ed. Glickman, Vol. 4 of Three Centuries of American Music (G. K.Hall, 1990).
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Page 178 La Favorite: Etude Mazurka [1866]. Level: Early Advanced (F/B-flat/E-flat majors, 2/4, allegro marcato, 4 pp). In mazurka form, an enjoyable etude in right hand octaves with inner thirds. The introduction is formed of three ascending chromatic scales and some graceful twitters, while the main theme would not be out of place in Verdi’s La Traviata . Two contrasting sections are followed by a repeat of the opening idea. SOURCES: Ammer, B&NB, Cohen, H&H, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Pendle, Stern, Tick, score STIRLING, Elizabeth b. Greenwich, England, Feb 26, 1819—d. London, Mar 25, 1895 Organist Elizabeth Stirling studied piano, organ, and composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London with W.B.Wilson, Edward Holmes, George MacFarren, and J.A.Hamilton. In 1837, when only eighteen years old, she gave a lengthy and remarkable organ recital of Bach’s works, including five preludes and fugues and three trios. All the pieces required extensive use of the pedals, unusual for that period of English organ playing; Meggett credits her with introducing the pedal board in England.178 At age twenty, Stirling embarked on a successful forty-year career as a church organist and recitalist, with well-paid positions in two prominent London churches (All Saints’, Poplar, and St. Andrew’s, Undershaft). In 1856, her Psalm 130 for five-part chorus and orchestra passed the examination for the Music Baccalaureate at Oxford, but the university refused to grant the degree, declaring that women were not eligible.179 In 1863, Sterling married Frederick Bridge, bass soloist and choirmaster at St. Andrew’s, and twenty-two years her junior. Sterling wrote many organ works, including arrangements of Handel, Bach, and Mozart pieces, over fifty part-songs, an unpublished opera, and a few pieces for piano. Some of Sterling’s organ works have been reprinted, but none of her piano pieces is available in modern edition. AVAILABLE ORGAN WORKS: English Romantic Classics for Organ, ed. Barbara Owen (Belwin-Mills, 1984). Air with Variations Romantic Pieces for Organ, ed. Barbara Harbach (Vivace Press, 1996). Six Fugues for Organ, ed. Harbach (Vivace Press, 1997). Six Pedal Fugues, ed. Owen (Belwin-Mills, 1984). Women Composers: Music through the Ages, Vol. 6, series eds. Glickrnan and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Moderate and Maestoso, ed. Barbara Owen. SOURCES: Baker, Brown, B&T, ClagH, ClagS, Cohen, Ebel, ElsonA, Fuller, grovemusic, H&H, Heinrich, Hyde, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, S&S, Stern, score
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Page 179 SZYMANOWSKA, Maria Agata (née Wolowska) b. Warsaw, Poland, Dec 14, 1789—d. St. Petersburg, Russia, Jul 24, 1831 Maria Szymanowska, the first Polish pianist to gain a European reputation, received a fine musical education with Lisowski, Gremm, and Lessel in Warsaw, and later, with Elsner, Cherubini, Hummel, and, according to some sources, John Field.180 In 1810, she made debuts in both Warsaw and Paris, and married the landowner Josef Szymanowski. They had three children together, but because he objected to her career, she left him after ten years of marriage, taking her children with her and supporting them by concertizing widely to great acclaim. In 1822, the Tzar of Russia appointed “the female Field” court pianist in St. Petersburg, and she continued touring the continent, England, and Russia. Her cantabile playing, based on the bel canto singing style of the day, was widely hailed as a brilliant innovation, and her command of dynamics was especially renowned. Hummel, Field, and Cherubini all dedicated works to her, and Schumann praised her twelve Concert Etudes. Szymanowska’s music embodies two early Romantic ideals: an emphasis on the individual, evident in her virtuoso works, and patriotism, in her use of folk melodies and dances. She composed more than one hundred works, including some songs and chamber music and nearly ninety compositions for the piano: nocturnes, waltzes, preludes, fantasies, variations, caprices, and etudes, as well as mazurkas and polonaises. Impressively, most of her works were published during her lifetime by the major publishers in Europe and Russia.181 Credited with being one of the first to write concert music based on Polish dance forms, Szymanowska was of enormous influence on the young Chopin. In 1828, she ceased touring and settled in St. Petersburg, where she kept a brilliant salon for musical and literary cognoscenti and Polish expatriates. In July of 1831, she became ill with cholera one afternoon, and died the following morning. SINGLE WORKS: 25 Mazurkas [1820], ed. Irene Poniatowska (Hildegard Publishing, 1993). Level: Mid-Intermediate. Unlike Chopin’s later stylized examples of the genre, Szymanowska’s twenty-five mazurkas retain the simplicity and lively character of the original dance, and represent some of her finest work. Folkloric patterns include characteristic rhythmic figures, irregular accents on beats two and three, and leaps to appogiaturas. All are in 3/8, with no tempo indications; constructed in symmetrical eight-bar periods, each dance is one page long. Sixteen are in ternary form, seven binary, one in five parts, and one has only a single section. All except two remain in their major keys, and all employ primary chords in simple accompaniment patterns, with sectional movement governed by tonic-dominant relationships.
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Page 180 Caprice sur la Romance de Joconde pour le Pianoforte [1819] (Hildegard; GKH reprint). Level: Early Advanced. (E major, 6/8, 11 pp). An imaginative study based on French opera themes, full of melodic embellishment and improvisational effects. Cinq Danses pour Piano, ed. Regina Smendzianka (PWM, 1985). Level: Mid-Intermediate. Five tuneful, brief and lively dances of the period, in ternary form. Except for the first 2-page work, each is one page long; all are in a quick 2/4 except for the final “Quadrille” in 3/8. Turns and grace notes ornament the melodies, which supported by primary chords in basic accompaniment patterns. This edition includes fingerings, metronome indications, and pedal markings. Three Etudes ed. Anne Swartz (Hildegard; GKH reprint). Level: Advanced. From Vingt exercises et preludes pour le pianoforte. Etude No. 6 in C major. A study in changing-note melody over static repeated chords; ornamented melodic writing. Etude No. 12 in E-flat Major. Bravura divided chords in contrary motion. Etude No. 17 in B-flat Major. Rapid parallel thirds and sixths in scales and chromatically altered passages. COLLECTIONS: Character Pieces (Hildegard; GKH reprint). Level: Mid Intermediate. Court dances popular in early 19th c. Russia created a market for Szymanowska’s compositions. This collection contains No. 2 in B-flat major from Six Menuets pour le Pianoforte, and the following from Dix-huit Danses: No. 1, Polonaise and Trio in C major; No. 5, Valse in E-flat Major; No. 6, Valse in A major; No. 7, Valse for three hands in B-flat Major; No. 8, Valse in F major; Nos 9, 10, 11, 12, Anglaises in E-flat, B-flat, and A-flat Major. Maria Szymanowska: Music for Piano, ed. Sylvia Glickman (Hildegard, 1991). Contradanse in A flat major. See Single Works, Cinq Danses. Etude in F major. Level: Late Intermediate. (6/8, vivace, 3 pp). An invigorating study in RH arpeggio sequences, with accents. Etude in D minor. Level: Late Intermediate. (6/8, risoluto, 3 pp). Legato fingering in continually shifting hand positions, for soprano and alto voices. Etude in C major. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (3/8, vivace, 8 pp). A study in balance and endurance, with legato outer voices supported by fluttering alto and tenor; occasional LH octaves. Menuet in E major. Level: Late Intermediate. (3/4, allegro ma non troppo, 4 pp). This unusual minuet has two trios. LH octaves support the opening stepwise melody played in thirds. First trio has an arching melody accompanied by block chords; second trio has a harp-like accompaniment, and the melody is in octaves in second half.
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Page 181 Polonez in F minor. Level: Late Intermediate. (3/4, moderate, 3 pp). Fervently nationalistic dance in compound ternary form, evoking the spirit of a gypsy orchestra. The impassioned melody, harmonized in thirds and sixths, is characterized by modal scales and sudden octave leaps, and accompanied by thrumming octaves and divided chords. Turns, trills and alternating 16th notes add to the brilliance. The Trio (D-flat major) is calmer and more lyric. A truly delightful and unpretentious work, full of fire and romance and lying well under the hand. Four Valses for Three Hands (for two people). Maria Szymanowska: Album per pianoforte, ed. Maria Szmyd-Dormus (PWM, 1990). Interesting pieces from Szymanowska’s rich and varied output, aiming to evoke an epoch (score preface). Contents: Vingt Exercices et Preludes: Nos 1, 3, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18. Vingt-quatre Mazurkas: Nos 1, 2, 8, 17, 19, 20. Danse Polonaise. Dix-huit Danses: One Polonaise, two Anglaises, three Valses. Six Menuets I, V. La Murmure: Nocturne. Fantaisie in F Major. ANTHOLOGIES: At the Piano with Women Composers, ed. Hinson (Alfred, 1990), Frauen Komponiereo, ed. Rieger/Walter (Schott, 1992), Great Women Composers, ed. Smith (Mel Bay, 1996), and Historical Anthology of Music by Women, ed. Briscoe (Indiana University Press, 1987). Nocturne [1828/31]. Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (B-flat major, 12/8, moderate, 6 pp). Published posthumously in 1852. Similar to but more elaborate than Field’s nocturnes; arpeggiation, atmospheric pedal points, and the gracefully ornamented melody foreshadow Chopin. In rondo/variation form. The accompaniment undergoes figural variations with patterns and harmonies much more sophisticated and imaginative than in earlier works. Contrasting episodes provides contrast, and the final reprise of the opening theme is in RH octaves for the right hand, with a harp-like accompaniment. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Caprice sur la Romance de Joconde pour le Pianoforte, Character Pieces, and Three Etudes. See Single Works, above. LISTED but not found in print: Album of Piano Music: Maria Szymanowska, ed. Josef and Maria Mirsy (PWM, 1953). Contents: Polonaise f; Menuet E; Le Murmure; Song Setting; 7 Etudes (F, E-flat, d; rev. d, E, C, E-flat). Listed in Hinson’s Guide, 3rd ed., 763, and Jackson, 459. SOURCES: A-Z, Baker, Boenke, Cohen, Dubal, Ebel, ElsonA, FRK, Gordon, Grove, H&H, Hinson, Jackson, Johnson, Kirby, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Magrath, Meggett, MGG, MLA, Pendle, S&S, SCB, Schonberg, Sowinski, scores
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Page 182 T TAILLEFERRE, (Marcelle) Germaine (née Taillefesse) b. Parc-St-Maur-des-Fossés nr. Paris, Apr 19, 1892—d. Paris, Nov 6, 1983 Germaine Tailleferre, the only female member of “Les Six,” entered the Paris Conservatoire against her father’s will in 1904, where she proceeded to win first prizes for solfege, harmony, counterpoint, and accompaniment. A piano prodigy, she studied with Eva Sautereau-Meyer, Widor, Estyle, and Dallier. Because her father refused to support her, the young girl gave music lessons to pay her professors and support herself; she had, in fact, a lifetime of financial hardship. In Georges Caussade’s 1913 counterpoint class, she met Auric, Honegger, and Milhaud, her future cohorts in “Les Six,” the group of diverse French composers united in their dislike of Wagner and Impressionism. Erik Satie praised her work, calling her his “musical daughter,” and Alfred Cortot played her piano music at concerts in London. Other influences on Tailleferre’s style include Stravinsky, Fauré, and especially Ravel, with whom she studied orchestration; they remained in close contact during the 1920s. As the editor of six volumes of eighteenth-century French and Italian arias (in Les Maitres du Chant, 1924–1927), she grew to admire French composers of the eighteenth century, and her unique style, which retained its spontaneity and freshness throughout her life, displays some of the conciseness and qualities of movement found in Couperin and D.Scarlatti. During World War II, Tailleferre lived in the United States, but she returned to France, and her last position was professor of accompaniment at the Schola Cantorum from 1970 to 1972. A prolific and practical composer who worked to commission, her more than three hundred works include operas, ballets, incidental theater and radio music, many film and television scores, works for orchestra and wind band, choral music and songs, and piano pieces. Occasionally using extended tertian sonorities and some mild polytonality, the hallmarks of Tailleferre’s works are a gift for soaring melody, pastel hues and simple lines, natural musicianship, and solid craftsmanship. Her music, which she was far too apt to denigrate, is modernistic, charming, and joyfully musical; the small teaching pieces are as appealing, with as much integrity of workmanship, as the larger works. Tailleferre outlived all the other members of “Les Six,” and received among other awards the Grande Medaille d’Argent de la Ville de Paris, the Prix Italia, the Grand Prix Musicale, the GrandCroix de l’Ordre du Mérite, the Officier de la Légion d’Honneur, and the Prix Montaigne.
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Page 183 SINGLE WORKS: 3 Sonatines pour Piano [1975–78 ?] (Editions Henry Lemoine, 1993). Level: Late Elementary/Early Intermediate. (C/F major, E minor, simple meters, 3 pp each). Three short movements in each charming work; rounded binary forms, sparse textures, simple, repetitive melodies in narrow ranges, and simple accompaniments. Close position hands frequently share treble clef. Suggested fingerings, but no pedaling and few dynamic or articulation indications. Deux Pieces pour Piano (Henry Lemoine, 1997). Level: Early Intermediate. Two brief, quintessentially French works reminiscent of Satie and Poulenc. Larghetto. (C-sharp minor, common time, 4 pp). Improvisational “prelude” effect, with modal borrowing; spare 3- and 4-voice texture, with a continual 8th note murmur under a conjunct double-note melody. Hands are in close position in the upper middle register. Valse Lente. (C-sharp minor/E major, 3/4, 2 pp). Modal with chromatic borrowings, in ternary form. Gentle movement and sparse texture is not unlike Satie’s third Gymnopédie. Also arranged by the composer for two pianos (elementary). Enfantines pour piano [1975–78] (Henry Lemoine, 1993). Level: Late Elementary/Early Intermediate (15 pp). Thirteen brief character pieces composed for pupils of the École Alsacienne in Paris, in easy keys, simple meters, and dance patterns. Enfantines, Sautillé, Danse des bonnes femmes (jig), Berceuse, Valse, Scarlatina (perhaps a tarantella), Pastourelle, Galop, Berceuse du menerou, Gavotte, Poursuite, Adage, Course. Fleurs de France: Pieces Faciles pour Piano (Éditions Henry Lemoine, 1962). Level: Early Intermediate. In this charming musical nosegay, eight vignettes depict the flowers in different regions of France. Only one or two pages long, each is a fresh, delicate miniature in two-voice textures, tinted with Impressionist colors, folk-dance rhythms and melodies, and neo-classical forms. The use of modes and repeated phrase pairs creates an air of the Renaissance. Jasmin de Provence. (G minor, 6/8, andantino, alla Siciliana). The gentle old-fashioned melody in Aeolian and Dorian modes seems to give off a faint, dry scent. In typical Sicilian rhythm, the form is a perfect arch of four-measure phrases: aa, bb, c, aa, aa. Coquelicot de Guyenne. (D major, 2/4, allegro brilliante). A corn poppy, painted in bright, gay colors. The melody is played in thirds by the right hand, with accents on the second beat and chords on beat one. Four-part chords in the middle are reminiscent of Ravel’s Sonatine: a major chord drops a fourth, to a minor seventh chord. Rose d’Anjou. (G minor, 6/8, andantino tranquillo). Repeated notes, a rocking rhythm, and grace notes make a charming, serene picture. Some altered dominants appear in the transition section.
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Page 184 Tournesol de Languedoc. (C major, 2/4, allegro grazioso). The brazen sunflower is painted in bold, cheerful strokes, with hands doubling two octaves apart, alternating with piano seventh chords in hymn texture. Anthémis du Rousillon. (G major, 4/4, andantino). Six-bar theme constructed of two motifs, AAB. Major and Phrygian modes provide color, accompanied by murmuring eighth notes in a spinning-wheel pattern. Lavendin de Haute-Provence. (E minor, 2/4, allegretto grazioso). Gracefully rocking pairs of eighth notes form both melody and accompaniment; half-diminished 7th chords in the block chords at bridge and ending. Volubilis du Béam. (F major, 3/4, andante cantabile). The only piece in triple meter, this portrait of a convolvulus uses major and mixolydian modes in slowly turning spirals. Fragmented motive is used in a long transition back to the original theme. Bleuet de Picardie. (B-flat major, 2/4, allegramente). Blue-bottle, cornflower, or bachelor-button, this grows wild on the American prairie and roadside as well as in Picardy. A breezy, free feeling permeates this final vignette, characterized by wider intervals and rolling rhythms. Seule dans la forêt [Alone in the woods] (G.Billaudot, 1953). Level: Late Elementary/Early Intermediate. (D minor, 2/4, moderato, 2 pp). A fresh, appealing teaching piece: entrancing melody, piquant harmony, beautifully crafted. Ternary form, close two-voice texture in upper registers. ANTHOLOGIES: Album des Six: Six Pieces for Solo Piano (Masters Music, 1996). Pastorale [1919]. Level: Late Intermediate. (D major, 5/8-6/8, enjoué [jovial], 2 pp). Dedicated to Milhaud, this enjoyable and chromatically adventurous work has distinctive metrical alternations, a staccato melody, and a running sixteenth note accompaniment. A L’Exposition, ed. R.Deiss (Broude Bros., 1937). A collection of works by eight early 20th c. French composers: Auric, Delannoy, Ibert, Milhaud, Poulenc, Sauguet, Schmitt, and Tailleferre. Au Pavilion d’Alsace [1937]. Level: Early Advanced. (G-flat/B major, 3/4–3/8, moderato/allegro, 10 pp). Cheerful, spirited binary dance, written in three staves throughout; dotted rhythms over a tonic drone are reminiscent of a pastoral minuet or musette, followed by a quicker passepied. Musique et Musiciens d’Aujourd’hui, ed. Henri Classens (Philippo, 1953). Level: Late Elementary/Early Intermediate. Two descriptive teaching pieces. Vol. 1 Dans la Clairière [In the forest glade]. Vol. 2: Valse pour le Funambule [Tightrope dancer’s waltz]. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 6, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (G.K.Hall, 1999). Pastorale en la flat, ed. Janelle Gelfand. Level: Late Intermediate. (A-flat major, 5/8, allegro, 5 pp). A truly gratifying piece with two of
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Page 185 Tailleferre’s favorite devices: a smoothly arching melody in 5/8, harmonized in parallel sixths over a tonic pedal. Frequent meter changes, flowing movement, pastel colors, and some early 20th c. ambiguities: parallel fourths and fifths, hemiolas, bitonality, modal borrowing. DUETS: Deux Valses and Image (Lemoine, 1927). Jeux de Plein Air and Premières Prouesses (Jobert, n.d). Suite Burlesque (Lemoine, 1980). SOURCES: Ammer, A-Z, Baker, Boenke, ClagS, Cohen, Friskin, FRK, Gillespie, Gordon, Grove, HAMW, H&H, Hinson, Hutcheson, Johnson, Kirby, KOM, Laurence, Mac, Magrath, Meggett, MGG, N-B, Pendle, S&S, SCB, Stern, scores TENGBERGEN, Maria Elizabeth van Ebbenhorst (var. Ebbenhorst-Tengbergen) b. Hoorn, the Netherlands, Jul 11, 1885—d. ? Dutch organist, lyricist, and teacher Maria Tengbergen first studied with her aunt, Maria Elizabeth Gerlings, and later with Jean Baptiste de Pauw and Steven van Groningen. She studied harmony with Sem Dresden and counterpoint with Wilhelmina ter Huppen in Amsterdam. Besides writing many children’s songs to her own lyrics, she composed an operetta, a suite for violin and piano, and teaching pieces for piano. SINGLE WORKS: 50 Polyphonic Pieces for Piano (Broekmans & van Poppel, n.d.). Level: Early to Mid-Intermediate. Fifty progressive tonal studies in two-voice counterpoint, each two lines long and deceptively easylooking, using a wide variety of contrapuntal techniques: imitation, canon at the octave, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th; contrary motion, mirror-writing, textural inversion, and augmentation. Close-position hands frequently share the treble register; rhythms are progressively complex, but in simple meters and a variety of tempos. Articulations include legato, staccato, two-note slurs, accents, and non-legato; copious dynamic markings range from piano to forte, with many indications of mood as well. Good introduction to the art of counterpoint. More studies for beginners: Bedenkseltjez aan de Piano, Klimmen en Dalen, Muzikale Bouwstenen: 30 Studies for piano, and Oude Wysjes voor Jonge Handen, all published by Broekmans & Van Poppel. SOURCES: Cohen, H&H, KOM
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Page 186 TIDEMAN-WIJERS, Bertha (née Wijers, Albertha Wilhelmina) b. Zutphen, Netherlands, Jan 8, 1887—d.? Dutch pianist and composer Bertha Wijers first studied with her mother and sister. As a teenager at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin, she studied with Max Loewengard and Wilhelm Klatte, and Ernst von Dohnányi and Richard Roessler were her teachers at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik. Tideman-Wijers lived in the Dutch East Indies for seventeen years, but returned to her native Holland in 1929. Her compositions include songs, chamber music, and piano pieces, all published before 1952. SINGLE WORKS: “Oostersche Impressie” [1920] (Donemus, 1980). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (C minor, 6/8, allegretto, 4 pp). Facsimile of the autograph score, with eight systems per page; rather difficult to read. A pleasing ostinato rhythm, with dance figures; some duple vs. triple effects. Tonal, but chromatically adventurous. SOURCES: Cohen, H&H, KOM TURNER, Elizabeth fl. London, 1750s–1780s Very little is known about Elizabeth Turner, except that she published sacred choral music and song settings of English poetry in popular magazines in 1750s London. The harpsichord lessons below were published as “A collection of [19] songs with symphonies and a thorough bass; with six lessons for the harpsichord.” COLLECTIONS: Six Lessons for Harpsichord or Piano [1756], ed. Barbara Harbach (Vivace Press, 1993). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. (G/D/B-flat/A/F majors, G minor, 9–12 pp. each). Six late Baroque/Rococo sonatas for harpsichord. The three-movement works are predominantly in binary dance forms, with slower middle movements in the parallel minor. Texture is two-voice, predominantly continuous 16th notes in scale and arpeggio patterns, with standard accompaniments. Tempos are rapid and ornaments are frequent. Beautifully clear Urtext edition. SOURCES: Cohen, Gordon, Heinrich, H&H, Hinson, Jackson, score
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Page 187 V VALENTINE, Ann b. Leicester, England, Jan 11, 1762—d. Leicester, Oct 13, 1842 Ann Valentine, a member of a prominent family of musicians in Leicester, was an organist, music-seller, and composer. Christened on March 15, 1762, Ann was the daughter of Tabitha and John Valentine 11, teacher, composer, and instrument seller, and Leicester’s principal musician. Ann made her harpsichord debut at a family concert in Rugby. In 1785, she was appointed organist at St. Margaret’s Church, Leicester, a post she held nearly fifty years. Judging by their subscription lists, her compositions, which included chamber and keyboard music, were popular works of the time. Two publications from 1798 are currently available in modern editions: Ten Sonatas for the Piano Forte or Harpsichord with an Accompaniment for the Violin or German-Flute Op. 1, ed. Calvert Johnson (ClarNan Editions, 1994), and the variously named Monny Musk (Money musk, Monny Music), described below.182 ANTHOLOGIES: Women Composers: Music Through the Ages, Vol. 3; series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (O.K.Hall, 1998). Monny Musk, Arranged as a Rondo for the Piano Forte [1798], ed. Deborah Hayes. Level: MidIntermediate. (F major, common time, allegro assai, 6 pp). A standard five-section rondo based on a popular Scottish tune. Generally in two-voice texture, the lively dance tune consists of a continuous dotted “Scotch” rhythm with an ornamented beat in every measure. Triplet figures provide melodic and rhythmic contrast during the episodes. An energetic and enjoyable work for harpsichord or piano. SOURCES: Boenke, Brown, Cohen, Ebel, ElsonA, H&H, Heinrich, Jackson, Laurence, Mac, Meggett, MGG, New Grove, S&S, Stern, score preface VELLÈRE, Lucie (née Weiler) b. Brussels, Dec 23, 1896—d. Brussels, Oct 12, 1966 As a child, Vellère studied piano and solfege with her father; later musical studies were violin with Emile Chaumont, and harmony and composition with Paul Miry and Joseph Jongen. She had a career as a pharmacist, instead of
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Page 188 following the usual path for composers. Vellère composed more than one hundred works over a span of forty-five years, but belonged to no particular school of composition.183 Her music received several awards, including the 1935 first prize from the National Committee for the Promotion of Belgian Music, and in 1937, the Brabant Prize. In 1957, she won the only prize awarded by the American section of the International Council for Women, with Air de Syrinx for a capella choir. Her compositions include music for orchestra, many vocal and chamber works, and piano pieces. Impressionist influences can be traced in her modal and sometimes atonal harmonic language, and her writing is marked by cleverness and taste. SINGLE WORKS: Deux Danses (CeBeDeM, n.d.). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. I. (D minor [modal], modérément animé, 2/4, 4 pp). Staccatos alternate with short slurs in this vivacious dance. In rounded binary form with two contrasting rhythmic motives. Two-voice imitative texture with occasional triads or octave; modal harmony is modal with many borrowed chords; tonicdominant relationships exist, but the key center is perpetually shifting. II. (A-flat/E major [modal], gracieusement sans presser, 6/8–4/8–3/8, 4 pp). Dotted half-notes accompany a stepwise melody set in shifting meters and unsymmetrical phrases. Neo-classic in style; cadences are marked by hemiolas, in three beats instead of two, as in Renaissance courantes. Sonatine (CeBeDeM, 1960). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. Three movements, 14 pp. Dance rhythms, modal and chromatic harmonies, shifting meters, and thin textures. Facsimile manuscript is difficult to read. Trois Tanagra [1918] (Editions Musicales de L’Art Belge, n.d.). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. Three dance portraits. I. Danseuse [Female dancer]. (A-flat major, 3/4 valse lente, 3 pp). A markedly rhythmic waltz with shifting meters and tonal centers, melody in RH octaves. II. La Porteuse d’Offrandes [The portress of offerings], (E minor, 2/4, très calme, 4 pp). Sweet melody in a simple arpeggiated texture, shared between the hands. Ternary form, with an exciting middle section. III. Bacchante [Orgiastic dance]. (A minor, 6/8, vif, 4 pp). Driving, primitive rhythms; good contrasts of dynamics and register; exciting accelerando to the end. SOURCES: Boenke, Cohen, FRK, H&H, Johnson, K800, S&S, Zaimont
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Page 189 VTLLEBLANCHE, Madame de (née Dreux) late 18th century France Nothing is known about this composer, except that after her untimely death at age twenty-four, her husband published her sonatas as a memorial. She may have studied piano or composition with Nicholas Hüllmandel, who dedicated his Opus 6 to her. Composers Armand de Villeblanche, Pitre-Michel Villeblanche, and Zoï Villeblanche were all active in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but it is unclear if any relationships exist with this composer. COLLECTIONS: Four Sonatas for Piano or Harpsichord [1782], ed. Calvert Johnson (Vivace Press, 1993). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. Late galant or early Classical works, with scalar and triadic melodies, two-voice textures, and continuous subdivided rhythms. Phrases are short, and the sonata-allegro form is in its developmental stage. Accompaniment patterns include Alberti bass, broken-chord, and tremolo octaves. Beautifully clear Urtext edition with no editorial intrusions; excellent prefatory material includes a discussion of ornaments. Sonate I in C Minor, 16 pp. I: Allegro (cut time). Binary form, with parallel thirds in the right hand. II: Andante (E-flat major, cut time). III: Presto (C minor, 6/8). A jig. Sonate II in B-flat Major, 14 pp. I: Allegro (2/4). II: Menuetto and trio (F major, 3/4). Ternary form. III: Allegro (B-flat major, 2/4). Sonate III in C Major, 16 pp. I: Allegro moderato (3/4). II: Andante (C major, 2/2). III: Presto (C major, 6/8). Sonate IV in D Major, 9 pp. I: Allegro maestoso (2/4). II: Andantino (D major/minor, 2/4). SOURCES: G&F, Hinson, Jackson, score VOLKART-SCHLAGER, Käthe b. Vienna, Feb 7, 1897-d. ? Austrian concert pianist, composer, and teacher Käthe Volkart-Schlager graduated from the Stuttgart Music Academy in 1917, after studying piano with Max Pauer and Wilhelm Kempf and composition with Joseph Hass. She continued her studies until 1929, after that giving concerts and advanced courses for teachers in Sweden, Finland, and Turkey. From 1947 to 1969, she taught composition and improvisation in Stuttgart, and became the head of the music teaching department. Volkart-Schlager composed chamber and vocal works and teaching pieces for the piano.
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Page 190 SINGLE WORKS: Für Kleine Leute [For little people] (Willy Müller Süddeutscher Musikverlag, 1938). Thirty brief progressive pieces for beginners, in two-voice textures and many keys. SOURCES: A-Z, Cohen, FRK, H&H, Heinrich, KOM, SCB VON ZIERITZ, Grete —see ZIERITZ, Grete von VUIET, Caroline —see WUIET, Caroline W WERTHEIM, Rosy b. Amsterdam, Feb 19, 1888—d. Laren, the Netherlands, May 27, 1949 Dutch composer Rosy Wertheim earned a piano teaching certificate in 1912 from the Koninklijke Nederlandse Toonkunstenaars Vereniging. She then studied harmony and counterpoint with Bernard Zweers and Sem Dresden. As an instructor at the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum, she taught piano and solfège and directed choirs; her earliest compositions were for chorus. Concerned about the plight of the poor, Wertheim gave piano lessons to poor children, conducted a children’s chorus, and supported a number of families herself, as well as conducting the Jewish women’s chorus of the Religieus Socialistisch Verbond in Amsterdam. Her first compositions were songs and choral works. Attracted by music of Debussy, Stravinsky, and Ravel, she lived in Paris from 1929–1935, and studied briefly with Aubert. Among the many composers who gathered in her home in Paris were Elsa Barraine, Honegger, Ibert, Messiaen, and Jolivet. She spent a year each in Vienna and the USA, and then returned to Amsterdam in 1937, where she spent World War II in hiding. Her works include orchestral, chamber and choral music, as well as a few pieces for piano. SINGLE WORKS: 6 Morceaux de Piano (Amsterdam: Broekmans & van Poppel, n.d.). Level: Late Intermediate/Early Advanced. Each of these six interesting pieces is dedicated to a different person, with theoretician Paul Pisk as the first dedicatee. In simple ternary form, they use chromaticism and shifting modal harmonies, melodic motives of descending tetrachords, characteristic repeated rhythms, and unsymmetrical phrases.
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Page 191 1. Marche. (Common time, allegro energico, 4 pp). Dotted rhythms and triplets, two-voice counterpoint, some homophony, and lots of chromaticism. 2. Etude. (2/4, leggiero, 4 pp). Dissonant triads are played by hands sharing the same position on alternating sixteenth notes, in a mad sprint across the pages. Some quartal harmony and sudden dynamic changes are used; the melody is made up of repeated phrase pairs. 3. Jeu d’Enfants. (E-flat, 4/4, allegretto, 2 pp). The simple theme, created from a descending tetrachord, is like children humming as they play. The middle section suggests the international taunting tune, but uses fourths and fifths. 4. Berceuse Slav. (E-flat minor, 3/4, molto cantando, 3 pp). In this Slavic lullaby, a wide arpeggiated bass is rocking underneath the melody, harmonized in parallel triads. In the center section, marked più animato, the key changes to B major, and the right hand plays a rippling sixteenth note pattern. 5. Danse champêtre. (F major, 3/4, moderato, 2 pp). Hands play close together in this pert country dance. Contrasting articulations suggest nods and bows, steps and skips. Meters change frequently, and the harmony is full of modal borrowing. 6. Petite Valse. (E major, 3/4, moderato, 2 pp). In this delicate piece, a sketchy waltz bass of open fifths supports the flirtatious conjunct melody, ornamented with grace notes. LH plays a second, broader motive, with RH tweaking seconds on the offbeats. In the brief development section, the themes appear in E-flat, the enharmonic spelling of the leading-tone. The work gradually fades into the distance. SOURCES: A-Z, Cohen, Fetis, grovemusic, H&H, KOM, S&S, Stern WEYRAUCH, Anne de (var. Von Weyrauch, Anna Julie) Early 19th century German In 1794, a Madame de Weyrauch was the “First Singer” in the ducal Hoftheater at Weimar. It is unclear whether this was Anna Julie or Sophie Auguste von Weyrauch. In any case, the composer wrote three etudes and a number of dances for pianoforte. ANTHOLOGIES. Nineteenth Century German Keyboard Music, intro. Martha Furman Schleifer (Hildegard). Works by Lang, Langhans, and de Weyrauch. De Weyrauch’s etudes are worthy musical additions to the early Romantic repertoire.
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Page 192 Three Études. Level: Early Advanced. No. 1 (A-flat major, common time, allegro giusto, 5 pp): A tour-de-force in double notes for the right hand. No. 2 (E major, common time, andante grazioso, 3 pp): Hands in triplet parallel tenths. No. 3 (A major, 3/4-6/8, andantino con sentimento/piu animate, 8 pp). In two sections. A serene, ornamented melody, like a nocturne, changes to a fluttering ballatella with rapidly alternating octaves and double notes for the right hand. SOURCES: Cohen, Eitner, H&H, Jackson, score WHITEHURST, Stella (var. Whitehurst) fl. New Orleans, late 19th century No information is available about this composer. ANTHOLOGIES: Piano Music from New Orleans, 1851–1898, comp. John Baron (Da Capo, 1980). “Rex.” March-Two-Step (Souvenir de Carnival) [1897]. Level: Mid-Intermediate. (B-flat/E-flat majors, 6/8, tempo di marcia, 5 pp). Dedicated to the King of the Carnival and his Krewe, this march was probably written for use in Mardi Gras parades. Constructed in compound ternary form (aba-cdc-aba), the march proper and its E-flat Trio each have two repeated strains, with second strains in the relative minor keys. The main march theme is similar to “A Bicycle Built for Two,” while the Trio is very Sousaesque, adding up to a thoroughly enjoyable piece of Americana. SOURCES: score WUIET, Caroline (var. Vuiet, Wulet, Vuyet; m. Auffdiener; pseud. Donna Elidora) b. Rambouillet, France, 1766—d. Paris, 1835 Child prodigy Caroline Wuiet first studied with her father, an organist. After obtaining the patronage of Marie Antoinette, she studied music with Grétry, literature with Beaumarchais, and art with Greuze, and subsequently became an honorary member of the French Academy. Wuiet was arrested during the Revolution, but fled to Holland and England, returning to Paris society afterward. She married a Colonel Auffdiener, lived with him for a time in
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Page 193 Lisbon, and then returned to France, where she continued to compose and write fiction for the theater. Her writings include comedies and operas, and she composed works for keyboard and chamber ensembles. ANTHOLOGIES: Marie-Emmanuelle Bayon and Caroline Wuiet: Operatic Transcriptions for Keyboard, ed. Calvert Johnson (Vivace Press, forthcoming). Ouverture de l’heureux Stratagême. Level of difficulty: Medium. Transcribed for pianoforte with ad libitum violin accompaniment by the composer. (Notes on publication by Calvert Johnson). SOURCES: Cohen, Ebel, Fetis, G&F, H&H, Jackson, Laurence, Mac, NewGrove. S&S, Stern Z ZIERITZ, Grete von (var. Von Zieritz) b. Vienna, Mar 10, 1899-d? From 1912 to 1917, the Austrian composer and pianist Grete von Zieritz studied at the Styrian Conservatory in Graz with Hugo Kroemer and Roderich Mojsisovics. She continued her education in Berlin with Martin Krause and Rudolf Maria Breithaupt, and from 1919 to 1921 was herself a teacher at the Sternschen Conservatory there. In 1921, her Japanese songs for soprano and piano attracted attention. From 1926 to 1931, she studied with Franz Shreker at the Berlin Hochschüle für Musik, whom she credits with allowing her to follow her inner voice and develop her individual style. In 1928, she received both the Mendelssohn Prize in composition and the Schubert Grant from the Columbia Phonograph Company. Von Zieritz frequently performed her distinctive compositions during extensive tours of Germany and other countries. Her prestigious awards include the title of Honorary Professor, bestowed upon her in 1958 by the Austrian president; she was the first woman to receive that honor. In the late 1970s, she received the Austrian Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst, and the Verdienstkreuz am Bande der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Her substantial volume of work includes chamber music, orchestral, choral and solo vocal pieces, as well as compositions for piano and other solo instruments. Von Zieritz’ music is strongly individual and picturesque, using clear forms, vivid colors, and tonal, with twentieth-century harmonies. In her own words, von Zieritz said, “Before 1945 it was male composers’ claim to dominance, and after 1945 the prevalence of the ‘New Music,’ that time and again placed obstacles in my way. 1 always remained deaf and blind to fashionable trends because I followed my inner voice, and that caused me a lot of problems over the years.”184
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Page 194 SINGLE WORKS: Präludium und Fugue (Ries & Erler, 1926). Level: Early Advanced. (C minor, 4/2-2/2-4/4 and 3/4, maestoso/ruhiger and allegro energico, 9 pp). A tremendously clever, interesting, and skillfully written twentieth century work. The imposing Prelude, in ternary form, changes meter and tonal centers frequently, enhancing the improvisatory effect. Bitonal scales, doubled at the seventh, alternate with strong thick chords. Triplets usher in a metric feel and a surprisingly sweet, romantic passage; then a more peaceful section enters in the relative major, a processional with an ostinato rhythm. This grows excited, turning into doubled chromatic octaves, and the original theme returns, finishing in ff octaves. The angular four-voice Fugue theme opens with an upward leap of a minor 9th, followed by a pair of ascending 3rds and a descending major 7th , repeated a third lower. SOURCES: A-Z, Boenke, Cohen, grovemusic, H&H, Heinrich, Kehler, KOM, Mac, MacAuslan, Pendle, rieserler online, SCB, Sperber, S&S, Stern ZUYLEN, Belle van —see CHARRIÈRE, Isabella de
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Page 195 Notes 1. Malcolm Brown, in The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers, ed. Julie Ann Sadie and Rhian Samuel (New York: W.W.Norton & Co., 1995), 3, claims the pseudonym was derived from the kettledrum part in Glinka’s opera Ruslan and Lyudmila (A-D-A). However, M.Lobanova, in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1949–1968; repr. 1994), 97, claims the composer adopted the pseudonym on the advice of Prince V.Odoevskij. 2. Lobanova, ibid., 97. 3. Brown, in Sadie & Samuel’s Norton/Grove Dictionary, 3. 4. Antje Olivier and Karin Weingartz, eds., Frauen als Komponistinnen: Eine Bestandsaufnahme, 2nd ed. (Düsseldorf: Frauenmusik-Vertrieb, 1987). 5. For a more extensive biography, see Sophie Fuller, The Pandora Guide to Women Composers: Britain and the United States 1629-Present (London: Harper Collins Publishers, 1994), 36–37. 6. For works housed in special library collections, see Helen Walker-Hill, Music by Black Women Composers: A Bibliography of Available Scores (Chicago: Center for Black Music Research, 1995), 8. 7. William Newman, The Sonata in the Classic Era (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1963), 465–466. 8. Glickman gives Aug. 25, 1782 as a possible date of death in “Marianna von Auenbrugger,” vol. 3 of Women Composers: Music through the Ages, series eds. Sylvia Glickman and Martha Furman Schleifer (New York: G.K.Hall, 1998), 142–143, n. 4. Other sources believe she died in 1786. Also in question is the publication date of the
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Page 196 sonata: Harbach, in the preface to Women Composers for the Harpsichord (Elkan-Vogel, 1986), lists it as ca. 1781. 9. David A.Jasen and Trebor Jay Tichenor, Rags and Ragtime (New York: Seabury Press, 1978), 148. 10. John Edward Hasse, “May Aufderheide,” vol. 1, The New Grove Dictionary of American Music, ed. H.Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan, 1986), 90–91. 11. For a more complete biography, see “May Aufderheide and the Ragtime Women,” by Max Morath, from John Edward Hasse’s Ragtime: Its History, Composers, and Music (New York: Schirmer Books, 1985), 154–165. 12. Jasen and Tichenor, Rags and Ragtime, 149. 13 Harold C.Schonberg, The Great Pianists from Mozart to the Present (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1963), 336. 14. Marcia Citron, “European Composers and Musicians, 1880–1918,” in Women & Music, A History, ed. Karin Pendle (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991), 130. 15. For a complete listing of the published and unpublished piano works of Bäcker-Grondahl, see Jane M.L.Iverson, “Piano Music of Agathe Bäcker-Grondahl” (D.A. dissertation, University of Northern Colorado, 1993), appendices. 16. Iverson, ibid., believes the twenty works in Opus 30 and Opus 33, based on Norwegian folk songs, dances, and stories, comprise some of Backer-Grøndahl’s most important pedagogic work. Judging from their titles and Iverson’s evaluation of technical requirements, they appear to be very similar to the Fantasistykker discussed in this volume. Unfortunately, this author was unable to locate copies in print by time of writing. 17. Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 8th ed., rev. Slonimsky (New York: Schirmer, 1992), 90. 18. For an extensive list of Badarzewska’s piano works, see Aaron Cohen’s International Encyclopedia of Women Composers (New York: R.R.Bowker Co., 1981), 26. 19. Deborah Hayes, “Cecilia Maria Barthelemon,” Women Composers: Music through the Ages, vol 3, series eds. Glickman and Schleifer (New York: G.K.Hall, 1998), 213. 20. A modern edition of the accompanied sonatas is available: Cecilia Maria Barthélemon: Accompanied Keyboard Sonatas, ed. Calvert Johnson (ClarNan Editions, 1993).
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Page 197 21. Christine Ammer, Unsung, A History of Women in American Music (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1980), 124. 22. J.Michele Edwards, “Modern Music in the Americas,” in Women & Music, ed. Pendle, 212. 23. David Dubal. The Art of the Piano: Its Performers, Literature, and Recordings (New York: Summit Books, 1989), 428. 24. For lists of teaching pieces and thorough analyses of Bauer’s solo piano works in chronological order, see Nancy Stewart, “The Solo Music of Marion Bauer” (Ph. D. diss., University of Cincinnati, 1990), 87–215. 25. Maurice Hinson, Guide to the Pianist’s Repertoire, 3rd edition (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000), 81. James Friskin and Irwin Freundlich, Music for the Piano (New York: Dover, 1973), 253. 26. Deborah Hayes, “Marie-Emmanuelle Bayon, Later Madame Louis, and Music in Late EighteenthCentury France,” in College Music Symposium 30, no. 1 (1990): 17. 27. For a complete catalog of her solo piano works, see Jeanell Wise Brown, Amy Beach and Her Chamber Music: Biography, Documents, Style (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1994), 348–353. 28. Adrienne Fried Block, ed., Amy Beach Piano Music, (New York: Dover, 2001), score preface. 29. Ibid. 30. David Dubal, ed., Album of American Piano Music from the Civil War through World War I (New York: International, 1995), score preface. 31. Block, Amy Beach Piano Music, score preface. 32. The complete opus may contain eight works: see Jane Magrath, The Pianist’s Guide to Standard Teaching and Performance Literature (Van Nuys, Calif.: Alfred Publishing Co., 1995), 123. 33. Colette S.Ripley, in “Mlle Benaut,” vol. 3, Women Composers, eds. Glickman and Schleifer, 201– 202. 34. Cohen, International Encyclopedia, 48. 35. Donald Jay Grout, A Short History of the Opera, 3rd edition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), 384. 36. All biographical information is from the prefatory essay by the composer’s daughter, Edith Borroff, “Marie Christine Bergersen,” in Women Composers. Vol. 6, eds. Glickman and Schleifer, 498–501.
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Page 198 37. Helen Metzelaar, “Gertrude van den Bergh,” in Vol. 3, Women Composers, eds. Glickman and Schleifer, 330–331. 38. L.Polansky and J.Kennedy, “Johanna (Magdalena) Beyer,” grovemusic (online New Grove Dictionary, 2001). 39. Helen Metzelaar, “Jeanne Beijerman-Walraven,” The Norton/Grove Dictionary, eds. Sadie and Samuel, 55–56. 40. Calvert Johnson, ed., Marie Kiene Bigot de Morogues (Pullman, Wash.: Vivace Press, 1992), score preface, 4. 41. Soon-Bok Lee, “Marianne Martinez, Marie Bigot, and Maria Szymanowska: An Examination of Selected Keyboard Works in Historical Perspective” (D.M.A. diss., University of Washington, 1994), 70. 42. Barbara Harbach, Elizabeth Billington: Six Sonatas, Op. 2, (Pullman, Wash.: Vivace Press, 1995), score preface. 43. Stanley Sadie, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 3rd ed., vol. 2, (London: Macmillan, 2000), 705–6. 44. Cohen, 82. 45. Unlike all other sources, Freia Hoffman in Grovemusic (online New Grove) lists d.o.b. as 15 Nov 1809, d.o.d. 17 Jan 1885. 46. Marcia Citron, “European Composers and Musicians, 1800–1900,” in Women & Music, ed. Pendle, 110–111. 47. Sally Fortino, “Anna Bon,” Women Composers, eds. Glickman and Schleifer, 16–18. 48. Adrienne Fried Block, “Women in American Music, 1800–1918,” in Women & Music, ed. Pendle, 159. 49. Respectively, Sadie & Samuel, 75; Stanley Sadie, New Grove, Vol. 1:45; and Joan Meggett, Keyboard Music by Women Composers: A Catalog and Bibliography (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1981), 47. 50. Sadie and Samuel, Norton/Grove Dictionary, 76. 51. Marcia J.Citron, “European Composers and Musicians,” in Pendle, 131. 52. Diane Peacock Jezic, in Women Composers: The Lost Tradition Found, 2nd ed. (New York: Feminist Press, 1994), 141, believes Boulanger had Crohn’s disease. Ammer, in Unsung, 134, reports she died of tuberculosis. 53. Cited in Meggett, 48.
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Page 199 54. Madeleine Goss, Modern Music-Makers: Contemporary American Composers (Westport. Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1970), 87. 55. Sophie Fuller, “Dora Bright,” Vol. 6, Women Composers, eds. Glickman and Schleifer, 322. 56. For charming photographs of the young mother with her children, see the sympathetic biography by Marta Milinowski, Teresa Carreño: “by the grace of God” (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1940), 145,263. 57. John Jerrould claims she also studied with Bizet and Saint-Saëns; see his “Piano Music of Cécile Chaminade,” American Music Teacher 37, no. 3 (January 1988): 46. 58. Cited by C.Leonard-Stuart, Selected Pieces (Boca Raton, Fla: Well-Tempered Press, n.d. Reprint of Schirmer 1899 edition), score preface. 59. For a classified list of works, see Marcia J.Citron, Cécile Chaminade: A Bio-Bibliography (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1988), Appendix 11, 210–215. 60. Jezic, 134. 61. Jerrould, “Piano Music of Chaminade,” 22–23. 62. Ibid. 63. Chaminade, Etude 26 [Dec. 1908]: 759, as cited by Hinson, score preface. At the Piano with Women Composers (Van Nuys, Calif.: Alfred Publishing, 1990), 8–9. 64. Hélène Teysseire-Wuilleumier, liner notes to recording, Schweizer Komponisten, Concerto Op. 7 (Switzerland: Communauté de travail pour la diffusion de la musique suisse, 1964?). Sonata No. 3 pour clavecin by de Charrière, with Germaine Vaucher-Clerc on harpsichord. 65. KOM: Komponistinnen im Musikverlag: Katalog lieferbaren Musikalien, ed. Clara Mayer (Kassel: Furore Verlag, 1996). 66. The “additional keys” in the title refer to ottava treble notes on the newer pianos of the period. J.Bunker Clark, in The Dawning of American Keyboard Music (New York: Greenwood Press, 1988), 111, refers to a set of variations on “Adeste fideles” by Sophia Corri Dussek, pub. in the U.S. in the 1820s; possibly that is actually the 2nd mvmt. of her sister-in-law’s work. Conversely, perhaps this work was composed by Sophia Dussek; or perhaps both women wrote variations on the popular tune. 67. James W.Bastien, How to Teach Piano Successfully (San Diego: General Words and Music Company, 1995), 149.
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Page 200 68. Hermann Mendel und August Reissman, Musikal. Conversationslexikon, 11 Bde. (Berlin-New York, 1870–1879), 143, as cited in preface to Marche Solennel (Bremen: Eres Edition, 1992). Trans. by this author. 69. Editors, cover of Marche solennel, trans. by this author. 70. There is confusion concerning the date of her death. Several sources state she died around 1830, Baker 8th edition says “after 1828,” and the rest of the references claim she lived until 1847. 71. Grovemusic online, February 2001. 72. Martha Secrest Asti, ed., Eighteenth Century French and English Music for the Harpsichord, (Hildegard, 1998), score preface. 73. Jackson, 441. 74. Hinson, Guide, 3rd edition, 858. 75. Bea Friedland, Louise Farrenc, 1804–1875: Composer, Performer, Scholar (Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Research Press, 1980), 111–117. 76. Jezic, 125. 77. Antje Olivier and Karin Wiengartz-Perschel, Komponistinnen von A-Z (Düsseldorf: Tokkata Verlag, 1988). Translation by this author. 78. Louis C.Elson, The History of American Music, New York: Macmillan Company, 1915), 307. 79. Anya Laurence, Women of Notes: 1,000 Women Composers Born Before 1900 (New York: Richards Rosen Press, 1978), 20. Gene Claghorn, Women Composers and Songwriters: A Concise Biographical Dictionary (Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1996), 79. 80. Dorothy Gaynor Blake, the composer’s daughter and herself a composer, in Ernst C.Krohn’s Missouri Music (New York: Da Capo Press, 1971), 109–110. 81. Helen Walker-Hill, ed., Black Women Composers: A Century of Piano Music (1893–1990) (Hildegard, 1992), score preface. 82. Julie Ann Sadie, Sadie & Samuel’s Norton/Grove Dictionary, 207. 83. Judith Tick, American Women Composers before 1870 (University of Rochester Press, 1995), 66. 84. Martha Secrest Asti, “Elizabeth Hardin,” Vol. 3, Women Composers, eds. Glickman and Schleifer, 34.
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Page 201 85. Elaine Keillor, in Sadie, Vol. 11, New Grove, 68. 86. Sylvia Glickman, ed., American Keyboard Music 1866 through 1910, Vol. 4 of the series Three Centuries of American Music: A Collection of American Sacred and Secular Music, gen. eds. Schleifer and Dennison (Boston: O.K. Hall, 1990), xxviii. 87. For an index to Hensel’s published and unpublished works, see Marcia J. Citron, ed.. The Letters of Fanny Hensel to Felix Mendelssohn (New York: Pendragon Press, 1987), 679. 88. Camilla Cai, “Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel,” in Vol. 6, Women Composers, eds. Glickman and Schleifer, 21–27. 89. Sarah Rothenberg, CD liner notes for Das Jahr, New York: Rebot Corporation/Arabesque Recordings, 1996. 90. Victoria Ressmeyer Sirota, “The Life and Works of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel” (D.M.A. diss., Boston University, 1981), 151. 91. Magrath, The Pianist’s Guide, 189. 92. The variant spelling of her name may have been a misreading of the German double ess. 93. Malcolm MacDonald, Brahms (New York: Schirmer Books, 1993), 130, 237. 94. Nancy B.Reich, Clara Schumann: The Artist and the Woman (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1985), 206. 95. Joachim Draheim, Johannes Brahms und seine Freunde (Wiesbaden: Breitkoph & Härtet, 1983), score preface. Trans. by this author. 96. Glickman, American Keyboard Music, xvi. 97. For a copy of Dreams, see Tick, American Women, 164. 98. Glickman, Vol. 4 , American Keyboard Music, xxviii. 99. John Gillespie and Anna Gillespie, A Bibliography of Nineteenth-Century American Piano Music with Location Sources and Composer Biography-Index. Music Reference Collection, Number 2. (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984), 266. 100. Tick, 126. 101. Philip Hale, ed.. Famous Composers and Their Works (Boston: J.B.Millet Company, 1906), 135. Holmès became a naturalized French citizen in March 1879. 102. Olivier and Wiengartz-Perschel, Komponistinnen von A-Z, 154.
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Page 202 103. Christel Nies, ed., Rêverie Tzigane (Kassel: Furore Edition, 1989), score preface. 104. Martha Furman Schleifer, “Helen Hopekirk,” in Women Composers, Vol. six, eds. Glickman and Schleifer, 286. 105. Edith Borroff, “Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre: Composer and Harpsichordist,” in Women in Music: An Anthology of Source Readings from the Middle Ages to the Present, ed. Carol NeulsBates (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1996), 62. 106. Carol Henry Bates, ed., Jacquet de La Guerre: Pieces de Clavecin, in Le pupitre, Ixvi (Paris: Heugel & Cie, 1982), score preface, xii. 107. Borroff, in Neuls-Bates, 63–64. 108 Bates, score preface, xiii. 109. Ibid. 110. Hinson, Guide, 3rd edition, 362. John Gillespie, Five Centuries of Keyboard Music (New York: Dover Publications, 1965), 91. 111. Lea Schmidt-Rogers says the Association Marie Jaëll of Paris has reissued Le toucher (the threevolume method book) and Sept pieces facile for solo piano. For a list of piano works, see the preface to the score French Character Pieces, ed. Schmidt-Rogers (Hildegard, 1998). 112. Lea Schmidt-Roger, “Marie Jaëll,” in Vol. six of Women Composers, eds. Glickman and Schleifer, 148. 113. Helen Walker-Hill, ed., Black Women Composers (Hildegard, 1992), score preface, 4. 114. Dates are from Mayer’s Komponistinnen, 27. 115. Trebor Jay Tichenor, score preface. Ragtime Rarities: Complete Original Music for 63 Piano Rags (New York: Dover Publications, 1975). 116. Sylvia Glickman, ed., American Women Composers: Piano Music from 1865–1915 (Hildegard, 1990), score, 65. 117. Ursula Rempel, “Madame Krumpholtz,” Vol. 3, Women Composers, ed. Glickman and Schleifer, 55. Encyclopedic accounts of Krumpholtz’s life vary considerably. Grovemusic (online) gives her birthdate as Aug. 10, 1766, while many sources claim she died after 1824. Anne-Marie had two daughters. Fanny, the elder, was also a harp composer (q.v.), while V.Krumpholtz, who published harp music in London in the 1820s, may have been Fanny’s younger sister; see Sadie & Samuel, 255.
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Page 203 118. She may have performed as late as 1803. See Sadie and Samuel, 254. 119. Roswitha Sperber, ed., Women Composers in Germany (Bonn: Inter Nationes, 1996), 39. 120. Adel Heinrich, Organ and Harpsichord music by Women Composers (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991), 290. 121. For a list of works including cadenzas and realizations, see Denise Restout, “Wanda Landowska,” in Women Composers, Vol. 6, eds. Glickman and Schleifer, 382–386. 122. Schonberg, 397. 123. Or Frau Berlinghof-Wagner; see Albert E.Wier, comp./ed., Macmillan Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians (New York: Macmillan Company, 1938), 1013. 124. Mendelssohn, as cited by Arthur Elson, Woman’s Work in Music (Boston: L. C. Page), 170. 125. Ammer, 86. 126. For a complete chronological listing of Lang’s works, see Judith Ann Cline, “Margaret Ruthven Lang: Her Life and Songs” (Ph.D. dissertation, Washington University, 1993), 155–172. 127. Ammer, 88. 128. Elson, Woman’s Work, 166. 129. Neuls-Bates, ed., Women in Music, 167. 130. Heide Boenke, Flute Music by Women Composers: An Annotated Catalog (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1988), 68. 131. Neuls-Bates, 167. 132. Birthdate was obtained from the Catalogue Musique pour piano (Paris: Editions Durand, Janvier 1995), 24. 133. Albert E.Wier, Macmillan Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians. 1033. 134. Eve R.Meyer, “Hélène Riese Liebmann,” Women Composers, vol. 3, ed. Glickman and Schleifer, 340. 135. Hinson gives her dates as ca. 1780–1840, in his Guide, 3rd ed., 896. 136. Wier, in Macmillan Encyclopedia, 1061, lists Thomán, not Thomas, as one of Linz’s teachers.
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Page 204 137. Barbara Garvey Jackson, “Musical Women of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,” in Women & Music, ed. Pendle, 86. 138. For Charles Burney’s account, see “Marianne von Martinez: Composer and Singer,” in Women in Music, ed. Neuls-Bates, 80–85. 139. A bibliography of Austrian music written sixty-five years after Martinez’ death states she wrote thirty-one sonatas. See Karen Lynn Fremar, “The Life and Selected Works of Marianna Marlines (1744–1812),” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Kanasas, 1983), 45. 140. Cohen, 474. 141. Dubal, 179. 142. Schonberg, 246. 143. Cohen, 474. 144. Eitner, Robert, ed., Biographisch-Bibliographisches Quellen Lexikon der Musiker und Musikgelehrten christlicher Zietrechnung bis Mitte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, 11 vols (Leipzig: 1900–04. Rev. 2nd ed. with supplement, Graz: Akademisch Druck-und Verlagsanstalt, 1959–60), 442, trans. by this author. 145. Olivier and Weingartz-Perschel, A-Z, 220, trans. by this author. 146. Julie Ann Sadie, “Montgeroult, Hélène,” New Grove (grovemusic online, 1/24/01). 147. Calvert Johnson, ed., Hélène Montgeroult, Sonatas for Piano (Pullman, Wash.: Vivace Press, 1994), score preface. 148. See Jackson, 240, 414. Murden was identified as “Lady of Charleston, S.C.,” by Richard J.Wolfe in Secular Music in America, 1801–1825: A Bibliography, 3 vols. (New York: New York Public Library, Astor, Lennor, and Tilden Foundations, 1964). 149. Jasen and Tichenor, 162. 150. Sylvia Lamoutte de Iglesias, “Ana Otero,” vol. 6, Women Composers, eds. Glickman and Schleifer, 311. 151. It is possible that she is the talented pianist referred to as Madeleine Baillot, wife of Swiss/French baritone Charles Panzéra (1896–1976); see his entry in Sadie’s New Grove 2000, 49. 152. Dubal, 198: Mozart composed his B-flat Concerto K. 456 for Paradis.
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Page 205 153. “Spectacles: Concert Spirituel,” Mercure de France, Apr. 24, 1784, pp. 176–77, as cited in Women in Music, ed.Neuls Bates, 85–86. 154. Barbara Garvey Jackson, “Musical Women of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,” in Women & Music, ed. Pendle, 88–89. 155. Hidemi Matsushita believes the Sicilienne is spurious, probably written by Dushkin himself; see Paradis entry, Sadie and Samuel, 359–361. 156. Olive Baldwin and Thelma Wilson, “Park, Maria Hester,” Sadie and Samuel, 361. 157. Sondra Wieland Howe, “Dora Pejacevic,” in Women Composers, Vol. 6, eds. Glickman and Schleifer, 431–433. 158. Olivier and Weingartz, A-Z, 242. 159. Laurence, 20. 160. Ursula Rempel, “Fanny Krumpholtz Pittar,” Women Composers, Vol. 3, eds. Glickman and Schleifer, 263. Cohen suggests that Fanny may be the same person as Charlotte Esprit, born Feb. 28, 1785; see his International Encyclopedia, 386. 161. Stanley Butler, Guide to the Best in Contemporary Piano Music: An Annotated List of Graded Solo Piano Music Published Since 1950, 2 vols. (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1973). 162. Mildred Denby Green, Black Women Composers: A Genesis (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1983), 35. 163. Much of Price’s music is housed in a Special Collection at the University of Arkansas Library in Fayetteville. For a complete listing of library collections, see Walker-Hill, Bibliography of Available Scores, 15. 164. For succinct descriptions of these intermediate-level teaching pieces, see Kim Nagy, “Florence Price Music as Teaching Pieces,” Clavier, Volume 34, No. 1, January 1995. 165. Barbara Jackson, in Pendle, 84. 166. Derek Hyde, New Found Voices: Women in Nineteenth Century English Music, 3rd ed., (Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 1997), 53. 167. Nigel Burton, “Orger, Caroline,” in Sadie & Samuel, 355. 168. Fuller, 266. 169. Helen Walker-Hill, ed., Black Women Composers, A Century of Piano Music, (Hildegard, 1992), score preface.
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Page 206 170. Hasse, Ragtime: Its History, 373. 171. Rachel E.Cowgill, “Savage, Jane,” in grovemusic.com, 1/24/01. 172. Meggett, 148. 173. Dubal, 236. 174. Cohen, 415. 175. Maurice Hinson, At the Piano with Robert and Clara Schumann (Alfred, 1988), score preface. 176. Tick, 189–190. 177. Ibid., 38. 178. Meggett, 159. 179. In fact, women were not permitted to receive music degrees from Oxford until 1921, sixty-five years later; see Fuller, 298. 180. This is disputed in Cohen, vol. 2. 455, and by Szmyd-Dormus in notes to her collection, Szymanowska Album per pianoforte (score preface). 181. Soon-Bok Lee, “Marianne Martinez, Marie Bigot, and Maria Szymanowska: An Examination of Selected Keyboard Works in Historical Perspective” (D.M.A. diss., University of Washington, 1994), 96. 182. Deborah Hayes, “Ann Valentine,” Vol. 3, Women Composers, eds. Glickman and Schleifer, 148– 149. 183. Judith Lang Zaimont and Karen Famera, eds., Contemporary Concert Music by Women: A Directory of the Composers and Their Works (Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1981), 127. 184. Sperber, 45.
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Page 207 Selected Bibliography Ammer, Christine. Unsung: A History of Women in American Music. Contributions in Women’s Studies, Number 14. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1980. Anderson, E.Ruth, comp. Contemporary American Composers: A Biographical Dictionary. Boston: G.K.Hall, 1976. Avins, Styra. Johannes Brahms: Life and Letters. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Bastien, James W. How to Teach Piano Successfully. San Diego: General Words and Music, 1995. Block, Adrienne Friede, and Carol Neuls-Bates, eds. Women in American Music: A Bibliography of Music and Literature. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1979. Boenke, Heide M., comp. Flute Music by Women Composers: An Annotated Catalog. Music Reference Collection, No. 16. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1988. Borroff, Edith. Music Melting Round: A History of Music in the United States. New York: Ardsley House, 1995. Bowers, Jane, and Judith Tick, eds.. Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition, 1150–1950. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987. Briscoe, James. Historical Anthology of Music by Women. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.
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Page 208 Brown, Jeanell Wise. Amy Beach and Her Chamber Music: Biography, Documents, Style. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1994. Brown, J.D., and S.S.Stratton. British Musical Biography: A Dictionary of Musical Artists, Authors, and Composers Born in Britain and Its Colonies. Birmingham: Stratton. 1897. Reprint, New York: Da Capo Press, 1971. Butler, Stanley. Guide to the Best in Contemporary Piano Music: An Annotated List of Graded Solo Piano Music Published Since 1950. 2 vols. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1973. Citron, Marcia J. Cécile Chaminade: A Bio-Bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1988. ______, ed. The Letters of Fanny Hensel to Felix Mendelssohn. New York: Pendragon, 1987. Claghorn, Charles Eugene. Biographical Dictionary of American Music. West Nyack, N.Y.: Parker Publishing, 1973. _______. Women Composers and Hymnists: A Concise Biographical Dictionary. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1984. Claghorn, Gene. Women Composers and Songwriters: A Concise Biographical Dictionary. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1996. Clark, Donna Elizabeth Congleton. “Pedagogical Analyis and Sequencing of Selected Intermediate-Level Solo Piano Compositions of Amy Beach.” D.M.A. diss., University of South Carolina, 1996. Clark, J.Bunker. The Dawning of American Keyboard Music. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1988. _______, ed. American Keyboard Music Through 1865. Vol. 3, Three Centuries of American Music: A Collection of American Sacred and Secular Music, gen. eds.. Martha Furman Schleifer and Sam Denison. Boston: G.K.Hall: 1990. _______, ed. Anthology of Early American Keyboard Music 1787–1830. Part I. Madison, Wis.: A-R Editions, 1977. Cline, Judith Ann. “Margaret Ruthven Lang: Her Life and Songs.” Ph.D. diss., Washington University, 1993. Cohen, Aaron I. International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1981. _______. International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. 2nd ed. 2 vols. New York: Books & Music, 1987.
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Page 209 Dubal, David. The Art of the Piano: Its Performers, Literature, and Recordings. New York: Summit Books, 1989. Eitner, Robert, ed. Biographisch-Bibliographisches Quellen Lexikon der Musiker und Musikgelehrten christlicher Zietrechnung bis Mitte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. 11 vols. Leipzig: 1900–1904. Revised 2nd edition with supplement, Graz: Akademisch Druck-und Verlagsanstalt, 1959–1960. Elson, Arthur. Modern Composers of Europe. Boston: L.C.Page, 1904. _______. Woman’s Work in Music. Boston: L.C.Page, 1903. Elson, Louis C. The History of American Music. Revised edition. New York: Macmillan, 1915. Ericson, Margaret D. Women and Music: A Selective Annotated Bibliography on Women and Gender Issues in Music, 1987–1992. New York: O.K.Hall, 1996. Faurot, Albert. Concert Piano Repertoire: A Manual of Solo Literature for Artists and Performers. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1974. Fetis, François. Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibilographie generate de la musicique. 10 vols. Paris: Firmin Didot Frères, 1866–1879. Reprint (2nd ed.) with supplements by Arthur Pougin, Brussels: Edition Culture et Civilisation, 1973. Fierro, Nancy. “Maria Szymanowska: Chopin’s Predecessor.” Clavier 23, no. 4 (April 1984): 16–23. Floyd Jr., Samuel A. International Dictionary of Black Composers. 2 vols. The Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1999. Fremar, Karen Lynn. “The Life and Selected Works of Marianne Martines.” Ph.D. diss., University of Kansas, 1983. Friedland, Bea, Louise Farrenc, 1804–1875: Composer, Performer, Scholar. Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Research Press, 1980. Friskin, James, and Irwin Freundlich. Music for the Piano: A Handbook of Concert and Teaching Materials from 1580 to 1952. New York: Dover Publications, 1973. Fuller, Sophie. The Pandora Guide to Women Composers: Britain and the United States 1629-Present. London: Harper Collins, 1994. Gibson, Nora. “Women Composers of Keyboard Music: An Historical Overview.” American Music Teacher 35, no. 2 (Nov/Dec 1985): 51–54.
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Page 210 Gillespie, John. Five Centuries of Keyboard Music. New York: Dover Publications, 1965. Gillespie, John and Anna Gillespie. A Bibliography of Nineteenth-Century American Piano Music with Location Sources and Composer Biography-Index. Music Reference Collection, Number 2. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984. Glickman, Sylvia, ed. American Keyboard Music 1866 Through 1910. Vol. 4 of Three Centuries of American Music: A Collection of American Sacred and Secular Music, gen. eds. Martha Furman Schleifer and Sam Dennison. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1990. Glickman, Sylvia, and Martha Furman Schleifer, eds.. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages. 12 vols., in progress. New York: G.K.Hall, 1996–200-. Gordon, Stewart. A History of Keyboard Literature: Music for the Piano and Its Forerunners. New York: Schirmer Books/Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1996. Gordy, Laura Ann. “Women Creating Music, 1750–1850: Marianne Martinez, Maria Theresia von Paradis, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, and Clara Wieck Schumann.” D.M.A. diss., University of Alabama, 1987. Goss, Madeleine. Modern Music-Makers: Contemporary American Composers. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1970. Green, Mildred Denby. Black Women Composers: A Genesis. Boston: G.K.Hall, 1983. Grout, Donald Jay. A Short History of the Opera. 3rd edition. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988. Gustafson, Bruce. French Harpsichord Music of the 17th Century: A Thematic Catalog of the Sources with Commentary. Vol. 1 (Commentary). Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Research Press, 1979. Gustafson, Bruce and David Fuller. A Catalogue of French Harpsichord Music, 1699–1780. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990. Hale, Philip, ed. Famous Composers and Their Works. Boston: J.B.Millet, 1906. Hasse, John Edward, ed. Ragtime: Its History, Composers, and Music. New York: Schirmer Books, 1985. Hayes, Deborah. “Some Neglected Women Composers of the Eighteenth Century and Their Music.” Current Musicology, 39 (1985): 42–65.
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Page 211 Hayes, Deborah. “Marie-Emmanuelle Bayon, Later Madame Louis, and Music in Late Eighteenth-Century France.” College Music Symposium 30, no. 1 (1990): IT-34. Heinrich, Adel, comp. Organ and Harpsichord Music by Women Composers. An Annotated Catalog. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1991. Hinson, Maurice. Guide to the Pianist’s Repertoire. 3rd ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000. _____. Guide to the Pianist’s Repertoire. 2nded. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987. _____. The Pianist’s Reference Guide: A Bibliographical Survey. Los Angeles: Alfred Publishing, 1987. _____. Guide to the Pianist’s Repertoire: Supplement. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979. _____. Guide to the Pianist’s Repertoire. Irwin Freundlich, ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973. _____. “Teresa Carreno: ‘The Walküre of the Piano.’” Clavier 27, no. 4 (April 1988): 16–23. Hitchcock, H.Wiley, and Stanley Sadie, eds. The New Grove Dictionary of American Music. 4 vols. London: Macmillan Press, 1986. Hixon, Don L., and Don A.Hennessee. Women in Music: An Encyclopedic Biobibliography. 2nd ed. 2 vols. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1993. Horne, Aaron. Keyboard Music of Black Composers: A Bibliography. Music Reference Collection, Number 37. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1992. Hutcheson, Ernest, rev. Rudolph Ganz. The Literature of the Piano: A Guide for Amateur and Student. 3rd ed. New York: Alfred A.Knopf, 1981. Hyde, Derek. New Found Voices: Women in Nineteenth Century English Music. 3rd ed. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 1997. Iverson, Jane Marie Leland. “Piano Music of Agathe Backer Grondahl.” D.A.diss., University of Northern Colorado, 1993. Jackson, Barbara Garvey. “Say Can You Deny Me.” A Guide to Surviving Music by Women from the 16th through the 18th Centuries. Fayetteville, Ark.: University of Arkansas Press, 1994. Jasen, David A., and Trebor Jay Tichenor. Rags and Ragtime: A Musical History. New York: Seabury Press, 1978.
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Page 212 Jenkins, Walter S., ed. John H.Baron. The Remarkable Mrs. Beach, American Composer. Detroit, Mich.: Harmonic Park Press, 1994. Jerrould, John. “Piano Music of Cecile Chaminade.” American Music Teacher 37, no. 3 (January 1988): 22–23,46. Jezic, Diane Peacock. Women Composers: The Lost Tradition Found. 2nd ed., prep. Elizabeth Wood. New York: Feminist Press, 1994. Johnson, Rose-Marie, comp. Violin Music by Women Composers: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide. Music Reference Collection, Number 22. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1989. Kallmann, Helmut, Gilles Potvin, and Kenneth Winters. Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981. Kehler, George, comp./annot. The Piano in Concert. 2 vols. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1982. Kern, Alice M., and Helen M.Titus. The Teacher’s Guidebook to Piano Literature: A Recommended Listing of Graded Repertoire for the Elementary, Intermediate, and Lower Advanced Grades. Ann Arbor, Mich.: J.W.Edwards, 1954. Kirby, F.E. Music for Piano: A Short History. Portland, Ore.: Amadeus Press, 1995. Krohn, Ernst C. Missouri Music. New York: Da Capo Press, 1971. Laurence, Anya. Women of Notes: 1,000 Women Composers Born Before 1900. New York: Richards Rosen Press, 1978. Lee, Soon-Bok. “Marianne Martinez, Marie Bigot, and Maria Szymanowska: An Examination of Selected Keyboard Works in Historical Perspective.” D.M.A. diss., University of Washington, 1994. Loesser, Arthur. Men, Women, and Pianos. A Social History. New York: Simon & Schuster , 1954. MacAuslan, Janna, and Kristan Aspen. Guitar Music by Women Composers. Music Reference Collection, Number 61. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1997. MacDonald, Malcolm. Brahms. New York: Schirmer Books, 1993. Magrath, Jane. The Pianist’s Guide to Standard Teaching and Performance Literature. Van Nuys, Calif.: Alfred Publishing, 1995. Mayer, Clara, ed. KOM: Komponistinnen im Musikverlag: Katalog lieferbaren Musikalien. Kassel, Germany: Furore Verlag, 1996.
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Page 213 Meggett, Joan, comp. Keyboard Music by Women Composers: A Catalog and Bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1981. Milinowski, Marta. Teresa Carreño: “by the grace of God.” New Haven: Yale University Press, 1940. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1949–1968. Nagy, Kim. “Florence Price Music as Teaching Pieces.” Clavier 34, no. 1 (January 1995): 22–29. Newman, William. The Sonata in the Classic Era. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1963. Neuls-Bates, Carol, ed. Women in Music: An Anthology of Source Readings from the Middle Ages to the Present. Rev. ed. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1996. Olivier, Antje, and Karin Weingartz, eds. Frauen als Komponistinnen: Eine Bestandsaufnahme. 2nd ed. Düsseldorf: Frauenmusik-Vertrieb, 1987. _____. Komponistinnen von A-Z. Düsseldorf: Tokkata-Verlag für Frauenforschung, 1988. Palmieri, Robert. Piano Information Guide: An Aid to Research. New York: Garland Publishing, 1989. Palmquist, Jane E. and Barbara Payne. “The Inclusive Instrumental Library: Works by Women.” Music Educators Journal 78, no. 7 (March 1992): 52–56 Panzeri, Louis. Louisiana Composers. New Orleans: Dinstuhl, 1972. Pendle, Karin, ed. Women & Music: A History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991. Plantinga, Leon. Romantic Music: A History of Musical Style in Nineteenth-Century Europe. New York: W.W.Norton, 1984. Pool, Jeannie G. “America’s Women Composers: Up from the Footnotes.” Music Educators Journal 65, no. 5 (January 1979): 28–41. Quin, Carol Lynelle. “Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel: Her Contributions to Nineteenth Century Musical Life.” Ph.D. diss., Boston University, 1981. Reich, Nancy B. Clara Schumann: The Artist and the Woman. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1985.
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Page 214 Rieger, Eva, Martina Oster, and Siegrun Schmidt, eds. Sopran Contra Bass: Die Komponistin im Musikverlag: Nachschlagewerke aller lieferbaren Noten. Kassel: Furore Verlag, 1989. The Royal Conservatory of Music. Piano Syllabus: Official Examination Syllabus. Oakville, Ontario: Frederick Harris Music, 1994. Sadie, Julie Ann, and Rhian Samuel, eds.. The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. New York: W.W.Norton, 1995. Sadie, Stanley, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 20 vols. London: Macmillan, 1980. Sadie, Stanley, ed., and John Tyrrell, exec. ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 3rd ed. 20 vols. London: Macmillan Publishers, 2000. Scanlan, Mary Kathryn. “The Development of Guidelines to Assess the Relative Difficulty of Intermediate Level Romantic Piano Repertoire.” Ed.D. diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1988. Schonberg, Harold C. The Great Pianists from Mozart to the Present. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1963. Sirota. Victoria Ressmeyer. “The Life and Works of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel.” D.M.A. diss., Boston University, 1981. Slonimsky, Nicholas, rev. Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. 8th edition. New York: Schirmer Books, 1992. Slonimsky, Nicholas, editor emeritus, and Laura Kuhn, Baker’s Series advisory editor. Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. Centennial Edition. New York: Schirmer Books, 2001. Southern, Eileen. Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1982. Southern, Eileen. The Music of Black Americans: A History. New York: W.W. Norton, 1992. Sowinski, Albert. Les Musiciens Polonais et Slaves. Paris: Librairie Adrien Le Clere et Cie, 1857. Reprint edtion. New York: Da Capo Press, 1971. Sperber, Roswitha, ed. Women Composers in Germany. Bonn: Inter Nationes, 1996. Stern, Susan. Women Composers: A Handbook. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1978. Stewart, Nancy Louise. “The Solo Piano Music of Marion Bauer.” Ph.D. diss., University of Cincinnati, 1990.
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Page 215 Thompson, Donald and Annie F.Thompson. Music and Dance in Puerto Rico from the Age of Columbus to Modern Times: An Annotated Bibliography. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1991. Tick, Judith. American Women Composers before 1870. Ann Arbor, Mich: UMI Research Press, 1983. Tillard, Francoise, trans. Camille Naish. Fanny Mendelssohn. Portland, Ore.: Amadeus Press, 1992. Walker-Hill, Helen. Music by Black Women Composers: A Bibliography of Available Scores. Chicago: Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College, 1995. _____. Piano Music by Black Women Composers: A Catalog of Solo and Ensemble Works. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1992. Wier, Albert E., comp./ed. The Macmillan Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians in One Volume. New York: Macmillan Company, 1938. Wolfe, Richard J. Secular Music in America, 1801-1825: A Bibliography. 3 vols. New York: The New York Public Library. Astor, Lennox, and Tilden Foundations, 1964. Zaimont, Judith Lang and Karen Famera. Contemporary Concert Music by Women: A Directory of the Composers and Their Works. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1981.
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Page 217 Composer Indexes I. Composers and Dates Adaiëwsky, Ella Georgiyevna, 1846–1926 Adair, Yvonne, 1897-? Agnesi-Pinottini, Maria, 1720–1795 Aldridge, Amanda Ira, 1866–1956 Auenbrugger, Marianna von, –1781/1786 Auernhammer, Josepha von, 1756–1820 Aufderheide, May Frances, 1888–1972 Backer-Grøndahl, Agathe, 1847–1907 Badarzewska, Thekla, 1834–1862 Barthélemon, Cecilia Maria, 1769-after 1840 Bauer, Katerina, 1785-? Bauer, Marion Eugenie, 1887–1955 Bayon, Marie-Emmanuelle, 1746–1825 Beach, Amy Marcy Cheney (Mrs. H.H.A.Beach), 1867–1944 Beekhuis, Hanna, 1889–1980 Benaut, Mademoiselle, 1778-? Bergersen, Marie Christine, 1894–1989 Bergh, Gertrude van den, 1793–1840 Beyer, Johanna Magdalena, 1888–1944 Beyerman-Walraven, Jeanne, 1878–1969 Bigot de Morogues, Marie, 1786–1820 Billington, Elizabeth Weichsell, 1765–1818 Blackwell, Mary Edward, 1887–1987 Blahetka, Marie Léopoldine, 1811–1887 Bolen, Grace M., late 19th c. Bon di Venezia, Anna, 1739-after 1767 Bond, Carrie Jacobs, 1862–1946 Bonis, Mélanie, 1858–1937 Bordewijk-Roepman, Johanna, 1892–1971 Bosnians, Henriëtte Hilda, 1895–1952 Boulanger, Lili, 1893–1918 Branscombe, Gena, 1881–1977 Bright, Dora, 1863–1951 Buckley, Olivia Dussek, ca. 1799–1847 Burgess, Mattie Harl, late 19th c. Campbell, Caroline, fl. 1780s Candeille, (Amélie) Julie Simons, 1767–1834 Carreño, Teresa, 1853–1917 Chaminade, Cécile, 1857–1944 Charrière, Isabella Sophie (Belle van Zuylen), 1740–1805 Cianchettini, Katerina Veronika Dussek, 1769–1833 Claude, Marie, 1895-? Cobb, Hazel, 1892–1973 Colaço Osorio-Swaab, Reine, 1881–1971 Courtaux, Amanda, O.P., 1859–1941
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Page 218 Cozad, Irene, late 19th c. Czermak, Wilma, 1845-? Dohyns, Geraldine, late 19th c. Dussek, Sophia Corri, 1775–1830/1847 Eckhardt-Gramatté, Sophie, 1898–1974 Edelmann, Mademoiselle, late 18th c. Farrenc, Louise Dumont, 1804–1875 Freer, Jane, fl. 1770s Fromm-Michaels, Use, 1888–1986 Fuglsang-Visconti, Use, 1895-? Gainsborg, Lolita Cabrera, 1895/6–1981 Gambarini, Elisabettade (Mrs. Chazal), 1731–1765 Gaynor, Jessie Love, 1863–1921 Giblin, Irene, 1888–1974 Giles, Imogene, late 19th c. Gnesina, Helena Fabianovna, 1874–1967 Goodwin, Anna Gardner, 1874-after1900 Guest, Jane Mary (Mrs. Miles), ca. 1762–1846 Gutierrez-Ponce, Maria, 1880–1915 Hagen, Joanetta van, 1750–1809 Harding, Elizabeth, ca. 1750–1780 Harrison, Susie Frances, 1859–1935 Hecksher, Céleste de Longpré, 1860–1928 Hensel, Fanny Mendelssohn, 1805–1847 Herr, Miss Marie, fl. 1874 Herzogenberg, Elisabeth von, 1847–1892 Hildegard von Bingen, Saint, 1098–1179 Hodges, Faustina Hasse, 1822–1895 Hohnstock, Adele, 19th c. Holmès, Augusta, 1847–1903 Hopekirk, Helen, 1856–1945 Howe, Mary Carlisle, 1882–1964 Jacquet de La Guerre, Elisabeth-Claude, 1665–1729 Jaëll-Trautmann, Marie, 1846–1925 Kinney, Viola L., ca. 1890-? Kocher-Klein, Hilda, 1894–1974 Koninsky, Sadie, late 19th c. Krumpholtz, Anne Marie Steckler, ca. 1755–1813 Kuyper, Elisabeth, 1877–1953 Lady, A, 18th c. Lady, A (of Philadelphia), early 19th c Lady, A Canadian, fl. 1841 Landowska, Wanda, 1879–1959 Lang, Josephine Caroline, 1815–1880 Lang, Margaret Ruthven, 1867–1972 Langhans-Japha, Louise, 1826–1910 Le Beau, Luise Adolpha, 1850–1927 Lefevre Lebout, Jeanne, 1886-? Leleu, Jeanne, 1898–1979
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Liebmann, Hélène Riese, 1796-after 1835 Likoshin, Ekaterina, fl. 1800–1810 Linz, Martha, 1898-? Mana-Zucca, 1884–1981 Martinez, Marianne von, 1744–1812 Mary, 19th c. Menten Sophie, 1846–1918 Merelle, Mademoiselle, fl. 1800 Mesritz Van Velthuysen, Annie, 1887–1965 Montgeroult, Hélène de, 1764–1836 Murden, Eliza Crawly, (A Young Lady of Charleston, S.C.), ca. 1783–1847 Niebergall, Julia, 1886–1968 Otero, Ana Hernandez, 1861–1905 Panzera, Magdeleine, 1893-? Paradis, Maria Theresia von, 1759–1824 Park, Maria Hester Reynolds, 1760–1813 Pattiani, Eliza, 19th c. Pejacevic, Dora von, 1885–1923 Peterson, Clara Gottschalk, 1837 Pittar, Fanny Krumpholtz, 1784–1823 Plé-Caussade, Simone, 1897–1985 Price, Florence, 1887–1953 Reichardt, Juliane Benda, 1752–1783 Reinagle, Caroline Orger, 1818–1892 Ricketts, Estelle D., 1871-?
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< previous page Page 219 Rogers, Clara Kathleen, 1844–1931 Rudisill, Bess E., late 19th c. Samuel, Madame L., late 19th c. Savage, Jane, 1752–1824 Sch-L-N, Mademoiselle, fl. mid-18th c. Schumann, Clara Wieck, 1819–1896 Scott, Clara H.Jones, 1841–1897 Senfter, Johanna, 1879–1961 Shepherd, Adaline, 1883–1950 Sloman Torry, Jane, 1824–1866 Stirling, Elizabeth, 1819–1895 Szymanowska, Maria, 1789–1831 Tailleferre, Germaine, 1892–1983 Tengbergen-Ebbenhorst, Maria van, 1885-?, Tideman-Wijers, Bertha, 1887-? Turner, Elizabeth, fl. 1750s-1780s Valentine, Ann, 1762–1842 Vellere, Lucie, 1896–1966 Villeblanche, Madame de, late 18th c. Volkart-Schlager, Käthe, 1897-? Wertheim, Rosy, 1888–1949 Weyrauch, Anna Julie von, fl. early 19th c. Whitehurst, Stella, fl. late 19th c. Wuiet, Caroline, 1766–1835 Zieritz, Grete von, 1899-? II. Couotry of Origin Austria/Czechoslovakia/Hungary Auenbrugger, Marianna Auernhammer, Josepha Blahetka, Marie Leopoldine Cianchettini, Katerina Veronika Czermak, Wilma Linz, Marta Martinez, Marianne von Paradis, Maria Theresia von Pejacevic, Dora von Volkart-Schlager, Käthe Zieritz, Grete von Branscombe, Gina Harrison, Susie Frances Denmark/Norway Backer-Grøndahl, Agathe Fuglsang-Visconti, Use France Bayon, Marie-Emmanuelle Benaut, Mlle Bigot De Mirogues, Marie Bonis, Melanie Boulanger, Lili Candeille, Julie
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Chaminade, Cécile Claude, Marie Courtaux, Amanda Edelmann, Mlle Farrenc, Louise Holmès, Augusta Jacquet de la Guerre, Elizabeth-Claude Jaëll-Trautmann, Marie Krumpholtz, Anne Marie Lefevre-Lebout, Jeanne Leleu, Jeanne Merelle, Mlle Montgeroult, Hélene Panzera, Magdeleine Plé-Caussade, Simone Samuel, Mme L. Tailleferre, Germaine Villeblanche, Mme de Wuiet, Caroline Germany Bauer, Katerina Beyer, Johanna Fromm-Michaels, Use Hensel, Fanny Mendelssohn Herzogenberg, Elizabeth von Hildegard von Bingen Kocher-Klein, Hilda Lang, Josephine Langhans, Louise Le Beau, Luise
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< previous page Page 220 Liebmann, Hélène Menter, Sophie Reichardt, Juliane Benda Sch-l-n, Mlle Schumann, Clara Senfter, Johanna Weyrauch, Anna von Great Britain Adair, Yvonne Aldridge, Amanda Barthélemon, Cecilia Billington, Elizabeth Bright, Dora Buckley, Olivia Dussek Campbell, Caroline Dussek, Sophia Corri Freer, Jane Gambarini, Elisabetta de Guest, Jane Harding, Elizabeth Hodges, Faustina Hopekirk, Helen Lady, A (18th c.) Park, Maria Hester Pittar, Fanny Krumpholtz Reinagle, Caroline Orger Rogers, Clara Savage, Jane Sloman, Jane Stirling, Elizabeth Turner, Elizabeth Valentine, Anne Hispanic: Venezuela, Mexico. Puerto Rico Carreño, Teresa Gutierrez-Ponce, Marie Otero, Ana Italy Agnesi-Pinottini, Maria Bon Di Venezia, Anna Netherlands/Belgium Beekhuis, Hanna Bergh, Gertrude Van Den Beyerman-Walraven, Jcanne Boredewijk-Roepman, Johanna Bosnians, Henriette Charrière, Isabella (Belle Van Zuylen) Colaço Osorio-Swaab Hagen, Joanetta Catherine van Kuyper, Elisabeth Tengbergen, Maria Ebbenhorst Mesritz van Velthuysen, Annie Tideman-Wijers, Bertha Vellere, Lucie
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Wertheim, Rosy Poland Badarzewska, Thekla Landowska, Wanda Szymanowska, Maria Russia Adaiëwsky, Ella Georgiyevna Eckhardt, Gramatté, Sophie-Carmen Gnesina, Helena Likoshin, Ekaterina United States Aufderheide, May Bauer, Marion Beach, Amy Bergersen, Marie Blackwell, Mary Edward Bolen, Grace Bond, Carrie Jacobs Burgess, Mattie Cobb, Hazel Cozad, Irene Dobyns, Geraldine Gainsborg, Lolita Gaynor, Jessie Giblin, Irene Giles, Imogene Goodwin, Anna Hecksher, Celeste Herr, Miss Marie Hohnstock, Adele Howe, Mary Kinney, Viola Koninsky, Sadie A Lady of Philadelphia A Young Lady of Charleston Lang, Margaret Ruthven Mana-Zucca Mary Murden, Eliza Niebergall, Julia
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< previous page Page 221 Pattiani, Eliza Peterson, Clara Gottschalk Price, Florence Ricketts, Estelle Rudisill, Bess Scott, Clara Shepherd, Adaline Whitehurst, Stella III. Musical Eras/Styles Medieval and Baroque Hildegard von Bingen, Saint Jacquet de La Guerre, Elisabeth-Claude Classical Agnesi-Pinottini, Maria Auenbrugg[er], Marianna von Auernhammer, Josepha von Barthélemon, Cecilia Bauer. Katerina Bayon, Marie-Emmanuelle Benaut, Mademoiselle Billington. Elizabeth Weichsell Bon di Venezia, Anna Campbell, Caroline Candeille, Julie Simons Charrière, Isabella Sophie Cianchettini. Veronika Dussek Dussek, Sophia Corri Edelmann, Mademoiselle Freer, Jane Gambarini, Elisabetta de Guest, Jane (Mrs. Miles Hagen, Catherine Elizabeth van Hardin(g), Elizabeth Krumpholtz, Anne Marie Lady, A Likoshin, Ekaterina Martinez, Marianne von Merelle, Mademoiselle Montgeroult, Hélene de Paradis, Maria Theresia von Park, Maria Hester Reynolds Reichardt, Juliane Benda Savage, Jane Sch-l-n, Mademoiselle Turner, Elizabeth Valentine, Ann Villeblanche, Madame de Wuiet, Caroline Romantic Badarzewska, Thekla Bergh, Gertrude van den Bigot de Morogues, Marie Blahetka, Marie Léopoldine Buckley, Olivia Dussek Farrenc, Louise Dumont
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Hensel, Fanny Mendelssohn Hodges, Faustina Hasse Hohnstock, Adele Lady, A (of Philadelphia Lady, A Canadian Lang, Josephine Caroline Liebmann, Hélène Riese Mary Murden, Eliza Crawly, (A Young Lady of Charleston, S.C Peterson, Clara Gottschalk Pittar, Fanny Krumpholtz Reinagle, Caroline Orger Rogers, Clara Kathleen Schumann, Clara Wieck Sloman Torry, Jane Stirling, Elizabeth Szymanowska, Maria Weyrauch, Anna Julie von
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< previous page Page 222 Late Romantic Adaiëwsky, Ella Georgiyevna Aldridge, Amanda Ira Backer-Grøndahl, Agathe Beach, Amy Marcy Cheney Bond, Carrie Jacobs Bright, Dora Carreño, Teresa Chaminade, Cécile Courtaux, Amanda, O.P Czermak, Wilma Gainsborg, Lolita Cabrera Gaynor, Jessie Love Good win, Anna Gardner Gutierrez-Ponce, Maria Harrison, Susie Frances Hecksher, Céleste de Longpré Herr, Miss Marie Herzogenberg, Elisabeth von Holmès, Augusta Hopekirk, Helen Jaëll-Trautmann, Marie Kinney, Viola L. Kuyper, Elisabeth Landowska, Wanda Lang, Margaret Ruthven Langhans-Japha, Louise Le Beau, Luise Adolpha Mana-Zucca Menter, Sophie Otero, Ana Hernandez Pattiani, Eliza Pejacevic, Dora von Ricketts, Estelle D. Samuel, Mme L. Scott, Clara H.Jones Senfter, Johanna Wertheim, Rosy Whitehurst, Stella Impressionist and Early 20thc. Adair, Yvonne Bauer. Marion Eugenic Beach, Amy (later works) Beekhuis, Hanna Bergersen, Marie Christine Bordewijk-Roepman, Johanna Bosmans, Henriëtte Hilda Beyer, Johanna Magdalena Boulanger, Lili Beyerman-Walraven, Jeanne Blackwell, Mary Edward Bonis, Mélanie Branscombe. Gena Claude, Marie Cobb, Hazel
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Colaço Osorio-Swaab, Reine Eckhardt-Gramatté, Sophie Fromm-Michaels, Use Fuglsang-Visconti, Use Gnesina, Helena Fabianovna Howe, Mary Carlisle Kocher-Klein, Hilda Lefevre-Lebout, Jeanne Leleu, Jeanne Linz, Martha Mesritz van Velthuysen, Annie Panzera, Magdeleine Plé-Caussade, Simone Price, Florence Tailleferre, Germaine Tengbergen, Maria van Ebbenhorst Tideman-Wijers, Bertha Vellere, Lucie Volkart-Schlager, Käthe Zieritz, Grete von Ragtime Aufderheide, May Frances Bolen, Grace M Burgess, Mattie Harl Cozad, Irene Dobyns, Geraldine Giblin, Irene Giles, Imogene Koninsky, Sadie Niebergall, Julia Rudisill, Bess E. Shepherd, Adaline
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Page 223 About the Author PAMELA YOUNGDAHL DEES is an Associate Professor in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at Saint Louis University, where she teaches studio piano, music theory, class voice, opera history, and the history of women composers. She also serves as vocal coach and musical director for university and community theater productions.
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