Aural History: From Kassia to Gabriela Lena Frank, Female Composers Have Shaped Music All Along
Women have been writing music since the Byzantine Empire, yet they lack significant recognition for their contributions. Whether two millennia ago or today, female classical composers deserve space in the music world.
Written by Gracie Warhurst
Photos courtesy of Creative Commons, AKG Images, and Mariah Tauger
Kassia, the composer of Byzantine Chant, was born in 810 A.D. She is hailed as the first female composer and there are modern recordings of the hymns that she wrote thousands of years ago. Even in an ancient language, the beauty of Kassia’s music breaks through, alluring in its harmonies, and entrancing in its dissonance.
Despite the historical practice of women writing and performing music, almost all of the acclaimed composers are men. Names like Bach and Beethoven, or even Vivaldi and Dvorak, are recognizable right off the bat. However, composers like Barbara Strozzi and Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre don’t ring a bell. The reason isn’t a lack of female interest in composition, and certainly not a lack of ability — there simply haven’t been as many opportunities for women in music, dating back to the earliest composers. Publishers would consistently choose a male composer over a female one, and with societal skepticism of the abilities of women, performances or recordings of their pieces were not likely. Still, there are cases where women composers have broken out of this mold, utilizing the opportunities of a male counterpart.
Strozzi (1619 - 1677) composed dramatic vocal music in Baroque-era Italy, as well as found success as a singer. In her lifetime, she composed eight volumes of music, and her work was the most published secular music of the time. The success she found as a singer and as a composer went hand in hand — much of her music relied on strong vocal talent. She wrote lyrics using text from her father, his colleagues, poets, as well as her own writing. She often used texts from writers like Arcangela Tarabotti in her compositions, which reflected her support of their ideas. Tarabotti specifically criticized elements of the patriarchy at the time. Although she is hailed as "the most prolific composer – man or woman – of printed secular vocal music in Venice in the middle of the [17th] century," by musicologist Beth L. Glixon, most people outside the realm of Baroque music enthusiasts are oblivious to her work.
Born into a family of musicians, and having played for Louis XIV at the age of five, de La Guerre (1665 - 1729) wrote operas, as well as compositions for instruments including the harpsichord and violin. She married Marin de la Guerre, an organist, in 1684, which facilitated the pursuit of her music career. Her opera, Céphale et Procris, was the first in France written by a woman. She is especially known for her originality and experimentalism because of her use of unmeasured works. Her set of trio sonatas were some of the first in France, and even the French king praised their quality. She was said by Titon du Tillet in his Le Parnasse françois (1732) to have sometimes improvised her performances for 30 minutes. De La Guerre is another strong example of a breakout woman composer whose reputation has been seemingly lost throughout history.
These gendered obstacles are pervasive today, with only 5% of pieces performed in classical concerts today being composed by a woman. Other statistics on female representation in composition are just as disheartening — almost 90% of composers in the U.S. are men, and for every dollar they make, their female counterparts within the same industry make 90 cents. There is little race representation in the field, with 82.8% of composers being white. Modern female composers face a unique challenge — not only receiving discrimination for their gender but also because concert performances more often than not favor works by historic composers over modern ones.
Gabriela Lena Frank is an example of a woman who has used her identity to inspire her music. She comes from a multicultural background, her dad having Lithuanian Jewish ancestry and her mom being Peruvian and Chinese. She explores themes of identity, especially drawing from her Peruvian culture, incorporating a Latin American sound reminiscent of the Peruvian pan flute or charango guitar through her scores for Western instruments. In 2008, she said of her compositions, "I think the music can be seen as a by-product of my always trying to figure out how Latina I am and how gringa I am." These expressions of heritage and belonging have garnered her success — Frank was listed as one of the 35 most significant women composers in history. Among her many awards and positions, Frank is currently a composer-in-residence for the Philadelphia orchestra. Her compositions and successes are ongoing and have been praised by outlets like the Washington Post, yet she lacks a spotlight in comparison to historical male composers.
Bulgarian-born Dobrinka Tabakova, who currently lives in London, has been applauded for her deeply moving and original scores. Having received awards for music since she was 14, Tabakova attended the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, before earning her PhD in composition from King’s College London. She was nominated for a Grammy in 2013 for "Best Classical Compendium" and has numerous original scores, spanning from the late 1990s to work coming out this year. Currently, Tabkaova is the composer-in-residence with the BBC Concert Orchestra and has had many significant residencies in the past, such as with the Leipzig MDR Orchestra. With this impressive resume, Tabakova seems to be greatly underplayed. Her orchestral, chamber, and choral works are changing the definition of contemporary compositions and aren’t widely recognized outside her community.
Women have been practicing and excelling in music composition since the time of Kassia in the Byzantine empire. Some works prevail to this day, like “Hymn of Kassiane,” during Holy Tuesday Vespers, surviving the test of history and time, yet we can be sure that just as many are lost. Kassia, Strozzi, de La Guerre, Frank, and Tabakova come from different countries, backgrounds, and time periods, yet all exist within the same force: Women who have defied the obstacles of gender and society to create meaningful music. It is the duty of history, patronage, and even the casual listener to uplift female composers, past and present.
This article was added to Aural History after its publication, upon the creation of the Aural History series.