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From Hildegard in the 12th century through to the present day, women have made a significant contribution to classical music which has often been overlooked... 1. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) Not only a composer of some 70 works, Hildegard was a writer, mystic and visionary. As a Benedictine Abbess, she founded two monasteries.
Our guide to the best female composers from history, many of whom have historically been wrongly excluded from the canon.
- Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179) Hildegard of Bingen was the OG of European music. This nun was a force to be reckoned with—besides being a composer, she was also a polymath, philosopher, visionary, and historian.
- Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677) Venetian composer Barbara Strozzi was a woman ahead of her time. Forward-thinking entrepreneur, prolific composer, and single mother (by choice) to four children, this illegitimate daughter of poet Giulio Strozzi grew up surrounded by liberal intellectuals.
- Marianna Martines (1744 – 1812) Once upon a time, a young woman named Marianna lived with her family in a beautiful plaza in Vienna. Among her neighbors were a noted singing and composition teacher and a starving musician named Joseph Haydn.
- Fanny Mendelssohn (1805 – 1847) When you think of the composer Mendelssohn, many people will think of Felix, but his sister Fanny was an incredible composer and musician in her own right.
- Hildegard Von Bingen
- Clara Schumann
- Fanny Mendelssohn
- Lili Boulanger
- Florence Price
- Rachel Portman
- Barbara Strozzi
- Amy Beach
- Teresa Carreño
- Francesca Caccini
As one of the most influential composers of the Middle Ages, Hildegard von Bingen was born as the youngest of 10 children. Experiencing visions at an early age, when she was only eight years old, her parents pledged her and her dowry to the church where her musical skills were developed as she learned how to play a ten-stringed psaltery. With the s...
Notable female composer Clara Schumann was born in Germany in the early 19th century and was considered one of the best pianists of the time. She was married to fellow German composerRobert Schumann. Not only was Clara one of the most accomplished pianists of her time as she toured with her husband, but she was also one of the youngest before that ...
Up next is Fanny Mendelssohn, a German composerfrom the early 19th century. She was one of the first female composers in the world to have her works published in books read around the world. She was raised by a family of famous composers and developed a close bond with her brother Felix, who also became a composer. As a composer, she focused mostly...
Considered a child prodigy, Lili Boulanger was a French composer who mastered many different instruments and was also the sister of another famous French composer, Nadia Boulanger. Born in Paris, Lili, like many other prodigies, was raised in an environment of musical prowess with her mother, a Russian princess, marrying a professor from the Paris ...
Born in 1887 in Little Rock, Arkansas, Florence Beatrice Price (née Smith) enrolled in Boston’s New England Conservatory with a major in piano and organ as well as studying orchestration and composition. After divorcing her husband due to his abusive behavior, she moved in with her student, another African American composerand pianist, Margaret Bon...
The first female composer to ever win an Academy Award for an original score, Rachel Portman is an English composer of musicat a grand scale. She began composing music at 14, studying and reading music at the Oxford Conservatory. She gained much of her early experience writing music for shows on the BBC and began developing a name for herself as we...
Born in 1619 and baptized on her birthdate as a child of unwed parents, Barbara Strozziwas one of the most prolific female baroque composers with over 8 collections of her compositions published while she was alive. With her father’s encouragement, she developed her musical skills as a vocalist and playing the theorbo and lute. He also arranged for...
Born in 1867 in New Hampshire, Amy Marcy Beach (née Cheney) showed a tremendous aptitude for music from a very early age. She had the ability to sing 40 songs from the age of one, improvise counter-melody at the age of two, and had the ability to read at the age of three. By the time she was four, she started composing with the help of her mother. ...
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1853, Teresa Carreñobecame a world-famous pianist known for her bravado and spirit on the stage. However, concert halls played her music less as time wore on, and her memory is only truly served in her home country, where she is revered as one of the greatest composers to come from the region. While her main focus was...
Born in Florence, Italian composerFrancesca Caccini, a.k.a. La Cecchina, began her musical career with lessons from her father, making her singing debut for the wedding of Henri IV of France and Maria de Medici at the age of 13. Besides singing for her family’s productions, she played guitar, harp, harpsichord,theorbo, and lute, as well as composin...
Dec 2, 2016 · This month at the Metropolitan Opera, audiences can see and hear, for the first time there in over a century, an opera composed by a woman — Kaija Saariaho's “L’Amour de Loin.” The milestone...
Mar 8, 2024 · Who are the best female composers in classical music? Discover our selection of the greatest female composers throughout history.
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Aug 4, 2017 · The top 35 female composers in classical music. Composer Missy Mazzoli, whose next opera will be premiered by the Washington National Opera in January. (Marylene Mey) By Anne Midgette....
