Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Notable classical female composers?

When he and Tchaikovsky dressed in drag and danced together. I wonder if either dressed up when they composed.

Oh of course, I had been told that before actually lol. I didn't know Tchaikovsky did too though.

Plenty. They're just not as famous as their male contemporaries... (No surprise)
There's Hildegard, Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann, and Nannerl Mozart. (was that he first name...?)
Hildegard's music is probably better known than the other three females'. It's rather lovely and I suggest you listen to her O Dulcis Divinitas. It's gorgeous! (My favorite Medieval piece by far)Here's a rather dramatic performance of it. LOL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMxBpPcoWf0

Mélanie Hélène Bonis (1858-1937) wrote a great deal of beautiful music. Check out her Echo et Narcisse Op.89 and 90:

Echo et Narcisse

written under the pseudonym Henry Wladimir Liadoff, but I think she still qualifies.


And here's Les Sylvains Op.60 by Cécile Chaminade:

Les Sylvains

Chaminade was the first woman composer to actually make a living at composing.


Let's not forget the magnificent Dora Pejacevic (1885-1923) with her Blumenleben and Phantasiestuecke. Red Carnations from Life of Flowers Op.19:

Crveni karanfili

Here's her Phantasie concertante Op.48 for piano and orchestra:

Phantasie concertante


Mel

What pieces in particular?

Jacquet de la Guerre was earlier.
Or Hildegard maybe but it depends how you count, it's not like her composing was separate from her other religious duties.

If by "Classical" you mean the time from Bach to the early 20th century, then there are not many female composers whose works have survived in the mainstream. Many have already been named on this thread (Clara Schumann, Fanny Hensel...)

There is also Wilhelmine von Bayreuth, who lived in the early 18th century and wrote a Cembalo Concerto.
Recording of Wilhelmine von Bayreuth Cembalo Concerto

From the 20th century on, there were more notable female composers. Sofia Gubaidulina comes to mind. She was mentored by Dmitri Shostakovich, and also wrote for piano.

There is also Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969); and in looking her up on Wikipedia, I found another Polish composer: Maria Agata Szymanowska (1789-1831).
I am however not familiar with their works.

EDIT: They are included in the Wiki list.

A violist friend wants to do the Clarke viola sonata (I typo'd her name on my post...), and Ustvolskaya's 6th piano sonata is fascinating to hear! I posted a recording on PW recently to much negative acclaim haha.

I've played that - great piece!

Germaine Tailleferre was a member of the famous Les Six, and her compositions are widely heard in France.

Another female French composer who was justly famous is Louise Farrenc - her chamber music is easily comparable to anything her male contemporaries were producing - listen to her piano quintets, for example. She also wrote a lot of very attractive piano music which was praised by Schumann.

I've mentioned in PW before about Judith Lang Zaimont, who has the distinction of having her Impronta digitale (the finale of her Piano Sonata) used as the contemporary piece in the 2001 Van Cliburn competition (the winner Olga Kern gave a truly dazzling account of it). And Kaija Saariaho is a truly unique (and lovely) voice among contemporary composers - listen to her beautifully ethereal Leino Songs, Laterna Magica and Asteroid 4179 - Toutatis (which just might hit Earth in 2016......... ). The piano is not really her instrument, though she has written a Ballade (2005) which is very attractive.

Lera Aurbach is one of the great modern piano writers, imo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBx4LbKOV6c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rjf9USjtaM

I heard this in a lecture from Robert Greenberg on Tchaikovsky. Some other famous person played piano for them while they did.

Szymanowska published a set of preludes et exercises in 1820, several of which are quite attractive (no. 1, for example, which has some similarities with Chopin's Op. 10 No. 8). She was quite well known as a pianist/composer in her lifetime. Schumann even refers to her in an essay on piano studies that he wrote in 1836, where he describes her music as distinguished by its "tenderness".

Must've looked quite comical with that beard.

Tekla Badarzewska-Baranowska wrote A Maiden's Prayer. Nobody ever went broke by underestimating popular taste.

Then there was Amy Woodforde-Finden, whose Kashmiri Song is still played.

Clara Schumann



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpCGCtK9GAM