On this last Sunday of Women’s History Month, we travel to France on “The Lost Chord” for an hour of neglected music by female composers.
We’ll hear from Augusta Holmès (1847- 1903), French composer of Irish ancestry. Holmès received encouragement from Liszt and Wagner, as well as multiple marriage proposals from Saint-Saëns (which she declined). She became a pupil of César Franck. It’s said that Franck’s Piano Quintet enshrines the teacher’s ardent longing for his student. Saint-Saëns, who participated in the work’s premiere, was not amused.
Holmès will be represented by her symphonic poem “Andromède,” from 1883. Andromeda, as you may recall from Greek mythology, is at the receiving end of divine envy because of her extraordinary beauty. She is chained to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea serpent, but rescued from her fate by Perseus, who arrives just in the nick of time, astride the winged horse Pegasus and bearing the severed head of the Gorgon Medusa, with which he turns the serpent to stone.
Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) was remarkable for, among other things, being the only woman on the teaching faculty of the Paris Conservatory during the whole of the 19th century. Beginning in 1842, she served as professor of piano there for 30 years. Of course, she was only allowed to teach women. By the end of the first decade, her stature was such that she was able to demand – and receive – equal pay.
A pupil of Moscheles (who taught Mendelssohn) and Hummel (who studied with Mozart), she also took composition lessons privately with Anton Reicha, who also taught at the conservatory. She paused in her career as a performer to start a successful publishing house, Éditions Farrenc, which flourished for nearly 40 years. Farrenc composed three symphonies. We’ll hear the third of those tonight.
Finally, we’ll have music by Marie Gandval (1830-1907). Grandval studied with Flotow, then Chopin, and later Saint-Saëns. Saint-Saëns dedicated his Christmas Oratorio to her. She was the most frequently performed composer on concerts of the Société Nationale de Musique, which Saint-Saëns founded to promote orchestral music, underserved in opera-mad France, where orchestras were tied to the theatres. Grandval herself was a composer of opera and choral music, but we’ll have just enough time for “Deux pièces” for oboe, cello and piano.
I hope you’ll join me for “Cherchez la Femme,” neglected music by French female composers, this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.
