Wendelin Bitzan
Music by Female Composers

Music by Female Composers

The following playlist was created in 2022 after I tried to enhance my music theory syllabi with a selection of examples by female composers. Most of them turned out easy to integrate into the curriculum and suited my topics and purposes very well. Here is a list of pieces I found particularly useful, and I hope that others might be inspired to refer to these examples in their teaching or performance practice as well.

16th and 17th Centuries

  • Maddalena Casulana (c1544–c1590): First Madrigal Book (1568), Morir non può l mio cuore
    recording | sheet music
  • Raffaella Vittoria Aleotti (1575–1620): Motet Ego flos campi (c1593)
    recording | sheet music
  • Caterina Assandra (c1590–after 1618): Motetti, Op. 2 (1609), O quam suavis est Domine
  • Claudia Sessa (c1570–1619): Occhi o vissi. Aria sopra gli occhi (1613)
  • Francesca Caccini (1587–1640): Il primo libro delle musiche (1618), Lasciatemi qui solo
    recording | sheet music
  • Barbara Strozzi (1619–1677): Ariette a voce sola, Op. 6 (1657), Sospira respira

18th Century

  • Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665–1729): Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor (1707), Aria
  • Anna Amalia of Prussia (1723–1787): Sonata for flute and continuo in F major (1771), Adagio
  • Maria Theresia Paradis (1759–1824): Morgenlied eines armen Mannes after Hermes (1786)
  • Sophie Westenholz (1759–1838): Piano Sonata in C major (c1783), Allegro
  • Juliane Reichardt, née Benda (1752–1783): Piano Sonata in G major (1782), Allegro

19th Century

  • Louise Reichardt (1779–1826): Unruhiger Schlaf after Achim von Arnim (1811)
  • Maria Szymanowska (1789–1831): Six Menuets for piano (1819), No. 1 in A minor
  • Clara Schumann, née Wieck (1819–1896): Scherzo for piano in G major, Op. 15 No. 4 (1845)
  • Fanny Hensel, née Mendelssohn (1805–1847): Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 11 (1847), Lied
  • Louise Farrenc (1804–1875): Trio for flute, cello and piano in E minor, Op. 45 (1857), Andante
  • Emilie Mayer (1812–1883): Tonwellen. Waltz for piano in D major, Op. 30 (1871)
  • Pauline Viardot-García (1821–1910): Haï-luli! after Xavier de Maistre (1880)
  • Ethel Smyth (1858–1944): Cello Sonata in A minor, Op. 5 (1887), Allegro moderato
  • Amy Beach, née Cheney (1867–1944): Gaelic Symphony in E minor, Op. 32 (1896), Siciliana
  • Mélanie Bonis (1858–1937): Mélisande for piano, Op. 34 No. 5 (1898)

20th Century

  • Cécile Chaminade (1857–1944), Concertino for flute and orchestra in D major, Op. 102 (1902)
  • Ella von Schultz-Adaïewsky (1846–1926): 24 Preludes for voice and piano (1903), Nos. 1 and 10
  • Leokadiya Kashperova (1872–1940): Symphony in B minor, Op. 4 (1905), Allegretto
  • Alma Mahler, née Schindler (1879–1964): Die stille Stadt after Dehmel (1910)
  • Lili Boulanger (1893–1918): Thème et variations pour piano (1914)
  • Dora Pejačević (1885–1923): Symphony in B minor, Op. 41 (1917), Allegro con moto
  • Florence Price (1887–1953): Fantasie nègre for piano No. 1 in E minor (1929)
  • Germaine Tailleferre (1892–1983): Album des Six pour piano (1919), Pastorale
  • Elena Gnesina (1874–1967): Eleven Miniatures for piano (1926)
  • Grażyna Bacewicz (1909–1969): String Quartet No. 4 (1951), Allegro giocoso
    recording | sheet music
  • Sofiya Gubaidulina (born 1931): Musical Toys for piano (1969), Barabanshchik
    recording