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
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