Tag: Romantic era

  • Will the real “first woman to conduct a European orchestra” please stand up?

    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…

  • The Biggest Tour of 1900s America

    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…

  • Why I Won’t Play “Syrinx”

    A while back on my Instagram stories, I posted a video about reframing anti-feminist works and why I’ve never played Debussy’s Syrinx.  At the time, I couldn’t figure out how to upload a video of longer than one minute to my main feed – but after I did figure it out, I realized this discussion…

  • What’s the Deal With Victorian Music Halls?

    Over the course of researching historical women flutists, I’ve come across several mentions of women who performed in Victorian music halls.  Just like in modern times, even though industry narratives center “traditional” concerts, in reality many performers also play other gigs – including pit orchestras for theatres and entertainment for weddings, parties, and/or local bars.  …

  • Free Flute Music by Women Composers!

    Flute solos by women composers in the public domain on IMSLP Maybe you want to start performing flute solos by women composers, but purchasing new music is outside your budget right now.  Maybe you’re curious what flute music by historical women is all about, but aren’t quite ready to invest your time & energy… or…

  • A Quick-Start Guide to Virtuosa Flute Solos

    If you just scrolled through the Virtuosa Flute Solos database and feel overwhelmed… now what??  It’s a lot of information if you’re new to flute music by women composers – so here’s a brief rundown of some suggestions for where to start and a few programming tips, to help make sure this database doesn’t become…

  • Additional Resources for Flute Music by Women Composers

    Virtuosa Flute Solos is great for finding flute solos by historical women composers, but what if you’re looking for chamber music or something more modern??  While those were outside the scope of my research for this particular project, there are many other educators and organizations with a variety of awesome resources.   Check out the list…

  • Women Composers Bingo – Romantic Era

    Happy Women’s History Month!! Guess what that means?  It’s also time for my annual Women Composers Bingo! The National Women’s History Alliance’s theme for 2023 is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories” – and I can’t think of a better way to do that than with music from the Romantic era, when character pieces, programmatic…

  • The Secret History of Amateurism in Classical Music

    Why does it feel like there’s something lesser about being an amateur, and where did the idea that musical clubs can’t be “serious” ensembles even come from?  Read on for a brief rundown of the history of amateurism in classical music. Early last month, I had a troubling discussion with someone who seemed to be…

  • Historical Women Flutists – From Astley to Taillart

    For a couple of months now, I’ve wanted to create a series of social media posts highlighting historical women flutists in Western classical music.  What started as a few notes on my phone quickly grew into a mess of memos and bookmarked articles, but when I sat down to organize the info I’d collected, I…