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Also, famous and most-played are not necessarily synonymous....

This is from the Wikipedia about the Vienna Philharmonic:

Acceptance of women

Although the orchestra is widely acknowledged as one of the world's finest, in the 1990s it came in for some criticism by feminist groups because until 1997 it did not allow women to become full members of the orchestra (although some women performed with the orchestra, they were not full members). In 1997 the first woman, harpist Anna Lelkes, became a member after having performed with the orchestra as a "non-member" for over twenty years. After Lelkes' retirement, another woman harpist Charlotte Balzereit eventually replaced her as the orchestra's only female member at the time.[8] Currently, the orchestra has three female members: Ursula Plaichinger (viola), the first non-harpist female member[9], Isabelle Ballot Caillieret (first violin)[10], and Balzereit.[11] Four other women, Albena Danailova, Daniela Ivanova, Olesya Kurylak, and Ursula Wex are confirmed members of the Vienna State Opera orchestra, but do "not yet belong to the association of the Vienna Philharmonic."[12]

The first woman to conduct the orchestra was Australian conductor Simone Young in January 2005.

The traditional attitude of the orchestra was expressed by Paul Fürst in the 1987 documentary A Woman Is a Risky Bet: Six Orchestra Conductors directed by Christina Olofson:

"There is no ban on women musicians playing here but the Vienna Philharmonic is by tradition an all-male orchestra. Our profession makes family life extremely difficult, so for a woman it’s almost impossible. There are so many orchestras with women members so why shouldn’t there be – for how long I don’t know – an orchestra with no women in it … A woman shouldn’t play like a man but like a woman, but an all-male orchestra is bound to have a special tone." [13]

In addition there were claims that the orchestra in the past had not accepted members who were visibly members of ethnic minorities.[citation needed] In 2001 a violinist who was half-Asian became a member.[14]

Some people[who?] associated with the organisation have been criticised for saying that it is important to maintain the ethnic uniformity of the orchestra (i.e., white Europeans) in order to maintain high playing standards.[citation needed]

In 1970 Otto Strasser, the former chairman of the Vienna Philharmonic, wrote in his memoirs:

"I hold it incorrect that today the applicants play behind a screen; an arrangement that was brought in after the Second World War in order to assure objective judgments. I continuously fought against it, especially after I became Chairman of the Philharmonic, because I am convinced that to the artist also belongs the person, that one must not only hear, but also see, in order to judge him in his entire personality. [...] Even a grotesque situation that played itself out after my retirement was not able to change the situation. An applicant qualified himself as the best, and as the screen was raised, there stood a Japanese before the stunned jury. He was, however, not engaged, because his face did not fit with the ‘Pizzicato-Polka’ of the New Year's Concert."[14]

The first flautist in the Vienna Philharmonic said in a radio interview broadcast in 1996:

"From the beginning we have spoken of the special Viennese qualities, of the way music is made here. The way we make music here is not only a technical ability, but also something that has a lot to do with the soul. The soul does not let itself be separated from the cultural roots that we have here in central Europe. And it also doesn't allow itself to be separated from gender. So if one thinks that the world should function by quota regulations, then it is naturally irritating that we are a group of white skinned male musicians, that perform exclusively the music of white skinned male composers. It is a racist and sexist irritation. I believe one must put it that way. If one establishes superficial egalitarianism, one will lose something very significant. Therefore, I am convinced that it is worthwhile to accept this racist and sexist irritation, because something produced by a superficial understanding of human rights would not have the same standards."[15]

In 2003, an orchestra member said in a magazine interview:

"Three women are already too many. By the time we have twenty percent, the orchestra will be ruined. We have made a big mistake, and will bitterly regret it."[16]

Interestingly, when the VPO is on tour to London there are usually a lot more women playing (though still no where near the numbers in equivalent orchestras).

Off the top of my head, what about:

Adam Bede, Silas Marner, Daniel Deronda and others from George Eliot's pen? Aphra Behn's 'Orinooko'; Mary Shelley's 'Perkin Warbeck'; 'Orlando' and 'Jacob's Room' by Virinia Woolf; 'Cheri' by Collette etc etc.

To go back to the original question, I suggest y'all read an excellent book called 'The Weaker Vessel' by Antonia Fraser, who details the incalculable effect childbearing had on women right until the mid-C20th when at last contraception became widely available.

Women composers who have emerged since then have still to be evaluated. One of my favourites is Judith Weir, who has written some absolutely gorgeous operas.

By the way, does anybody else find it odd that Hummel and Alkan made the OP's list of famous composers, and that no Italian opera composers are included (Monteverdi, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini.)

Well, this is a piano forum. Even though the topic didn't specify piano composers, and even though Mahler and Wagner were in the list, this still could have influenced the list's formulation.


-Jason

Does anyone here actually think that if women in the 1700's and 1800's had the same rights as men, there would have been female composers comparable to Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart?

I'm doubtful. There's ample evidence that men are significantly better at math and spacial reasoning than are women. Since these abilities are strongly tied to music, I think it's safe to say that men are, on average, more musically talented than women. It's also worth noting that men tend to focus intensely on a few issues for years at a time, while women tend to multitask, so I doubt that many women would have had the drive of such composers as Liszt and Bach.

It is overwhelming to think about all the music, art, science, medicine and literature that was created and lost because people did not have the resources or freedom to bring them into the light. Don't limit your thinking to just European women. Great works were also created by the poor, the middle classes and people of varying religions, nationalities and races and sadly most of it has been lost. The art, music and literature that did survive did so primarly because a few were fortunate enough to find wealthy patrons.

It is staggering to think about what has been lost from the civilizations of China, Arabia, Egypt, India and Africa. Think about the destruction of the Library at Alexandria!

We can bemoan the past or we can rejoice in what we have. Hopefully, the future will nurture the fruits of all.

Perhaps not, but modern music as we know it probably wouldn't exist without the Pythagoreans. Furthermore, bring forth the Tsitsanis! I wonder if you could write piano arrangements of bouzouki music...

As far as female composers are concerned, I'm not sure I find that IQ argument very convincing. Marilyn vos Savant probably has a far higher IQ (by 21st Century standards) that say... Bach, who would have been educated to a very modest standard by both our standards and contemporary standards of those living in more affluent areas such as The Dutch Republic.

I also don't think statistics are of much benefit to this discussion, considering it's about fame, rather than quality. Rhianna is probably more famous than Chopin, even. What do you make of that?

Here's an excellent Greek composer. (Well, okay, he's from Cyprus, but it's close!)

http://www.tsitsaros.com/

Deborah,

This is all nicely expressed. To take it a step further, doubtless there will come a time when much of what we possess today will be gone. We tend to think of Mozart and Beethoven et al as eternal, but all things pass from this earth.

Too bad that drive isn't doing the guys today any good, eh? http://www.macleans.ca/education/universities/article.jsp?content=20070920_142820_8780

Deborah, I agree with you 100%. Our task should be to change the prejudices that still inhibit women today (and which are still present, if you've read this thread) rather than to speculate about the past.

I sometimes wonder how much women inspire the work that the men do. I've been exploring poetry lately, and a lot of these poems were directly inspired by some lady who the poet fancied... Beethoven seemed to dedicate a lot of his works to women. There's one girl I know, who doesn't like classical music and would probably think it pretty strange, but the idea of playing for her can fuel my practice for days. (Freud must have some bizarre theory for this sort of thing)

Why We Dont Have Famous Female Composer In History? That's why.

I actually think that women write music that is just as fantastic as the music written by men.

And I'm fascinated by the idea that high IQ is correlative with musical creativity: anecdotally I can think of examples that support the pro and the con of that argument.... But if musical creativity and high IQ are not proven to be causally linked then what is the point of raising IQ as an issue in this discussion?

btw, in Australia girls have been outperforming boys in the high school leaving exams for some number of years..... not sure how that anecdote fits into the scheme of things?

I believe you that in general girls will outperform boys in high school exam.Boys, in general, are not as serious and diligent as girls when come to study, but when we compare diligent boys to diligent girls, the statistic will be different. Boys will out perform girls.

Now the same in writing music, top composers are men as we have witnessed for centuries. Basically, when comes to the highest level of any activities, men ,in general, will out perform women.

Oink. Oink. Now is one of those(many)times I miss Steven's acerbic wit.

Wow. I now understand why some people are driven to extreme feminism. Now, imagine looking your own mother in the eyes and telling her that.

Ah, no, the diligent girls outperform the diligent boys. The girls are topping the classes, there are more of them in the top cohort, any which way you look at it girls are performing stronger than their numbers would justify - and there have been some inquiries into the education of boys to find out what's going wrong with the kids with the Y chromosome.

Meantime, let's just clarify: you are saying that the achievements of females should be discounted because they are naturally more diligent?

lmao