4 Presto

Louise Farrenc was a French composer and pianist who, in her lifetime, was quite famous. At the age of 15 her parents spotted her talent and encouraged it. She even studied secretly at the male-only Paris Conservatoire and later, married a man who supported her music so much that he started his own publishing house. Much of Farrenc’s early music was for the piano but when famous composer Robert Schumann praised her highly in a review she grew in confidence and started writing for larger ensembles. She held the prestigious post of Professor of Piano at Paris Conservatoire for over 30 years – the first woman to do so, and the only woman in the whole of the 19th century. She even argued for and got equal pay with her male colleagues!

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Clara Schumann is often thought of as a composer who was forced into the shadows after marrying a much more famous composer. In fact, she was a very, very famous world-class pianist in her own right and her composing had to be squeezed into a busy touring schedule and hectic family life (she had eight pregnancies). She stated that ‘women should not desire to compose’ but this is probably a reflection of her frustrations at not being able to devote more time to the craft. This Nocturne in F major is from a collection of piano pieces called Soirées musicales written when Clara was 17. She had not yet married but she had met Robert and was in love with him. Musically, it hints at the great pieces ahead and what might have been if her personal life had taken a different path.

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Venezuelan pianist, composer, conductor and opera star Teresa Carreño lived a life of almost constant touring. Born in Caracas, the family emigrated to the US in 1862 just after her debut as a concert pianist (aged eight) and within a couple of years she was performing for President Lincoln at the White House. The family moved again to Paris and here she met Gioachino Rossini, Franz Liszt and Charles Gounod, and switched to opera singing many of the famous soprano roles across Europe. During her varied career she wrote more than 75 works. This charming little waltz for piano was written for her daughter Teresita and, after she shifted back to performing piano, was one of her most requested pieces. One of her final public performances was back at the White House for President Woodrow Wilson, what a way to begin and end a career!

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Lili Boulanger was an extremely talented composer and the first woman to win the prestigious Prix de Rome composition prize. Born in Paris into a very musical family, her talent was spotted at age two by family friend, composer Gabriel Fauré. Lili’s sister was the famous composer and composition teacher Nadia and the two attended lessons at the Paris Conservatoire together aged five and ten. Sadly Lili was never in good health and died tragically young at just 24 years old leaving behind just a handful of compositions. D’un matin de printemps (A Morning in Springtime) is one of the most famous and also tragically, the last piece she completed.

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Florence Price was born in Little Rock Arkansas into a well-respected mixed-race family. Her father was a dentist and her mother was a music teacher. She began piano lessons with her mother at the age of four and composed her first pieces aged eleven. After moving with her husband to Chicago to escape the difficult racial situation of the Deep South, she became the first African American composer to have a piece played by a major US symphony orchestra. Florence Price was not only an African American working during a time of segregation, but she was a woman, working within the very male dominated area of orchestral music. Luckily, she had a very supportive family and came across very good teachers. Price often incorporated Southern African American spirituals into her works thus honoring her own history and she does so beautifully in Adoration written in 1951.

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Errollyn Wallen was born in Belize near the Caribbean and brought up in Tottenham, London. She is now one of the most performed composers in the world. She was the first black woman to have a piece played at The Proms, the first woman to win an Ivor Novello award, and, earlier this year, the first black woman to be appointed Master of the King’s Music. Sojourner Truth (1797–1883) was an abolitionist and activist from the US. Born a slave and sold at the age of 13, she escaped in 1826 and walked to freedom. She even managed to successfully sue her white captor to recover her son. After this she devoted her life to women’s rights. Wallen was commissioned by violinist Madeleine Mitchell in 2021 and chose a slave song The Crossing to base the piece on. In an interview in 2022, Wallen stated that she just wanted Sojourner’s name to come back into the light. Even if no one ever plays the piece, her name will forever be proudly on it.

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