Tag: 20th century
-
Over the past six months, I’ve seen four different women hailed by clickbait headlines as “the first woman to conduct a European orchestra”… but in taking a look at those articles, I noticed there was a 64-year range between the dates of those women’s conducting premieres. The biographical info about each conductor was factually correct…
-
I’ve seen several articles over the past several weeks discussing how Beyoncé and Taylor Swift’s recent tours have stimulated the U.S. economy. And although those articles focused on the economic power of women, they also got me thinking: if Clara and Robert Schumann were like the 19th century Beyoncé and Jay-Z… who was the Romantic…
-
Happy Pride!! 🏳️🌈 Most of the resources for LGBTQ+ representation in classical music that I’ve seen center the biographies and works of queer composers. And while that visibility is great, this reminds me of the “add women and stir” approach to incorporating women into historical narratives – a method that’s at least 50 years out…
-
Happy February!! In the spirit of the month, I wanted to take a moment to highlight some resources for flute music by Black composers and performers that I’ve come across over the past several years. I’m always in full support of anything that amplifies voices from outside the narrow canon of Western classical music that’s…
-
Women’s Orchestral Uniforms from the 1880s – 1940s While I was going through the files on my phone to delete the photos I’d used in last month’s Instagram posts about early 20th century women’s orchestras, I noticed something odd – in all but one of the pictures, the women performing were wearing white dresses! Our…
-
Last month while I was researching women’s music salons, I came across a mention of ladies’ orchestra clubs in the United States. After some initial googling, I found out there was a whole movement of women’s orchestras who pioneered the way for female performers in professional ensembles. Many of these women were also active lobbyists…