women composers

Hélène-Gabrielle Fleury-Roy (June 21, 1876 - April 18, 1957) was a French composer, pianist, and teacher, and the first woman ever to win a prize for the Prix de Rome composition competition. Continue reading →

Cécile Louise Stéphanie Chaminade (Aug. 8, 1857 - April 13, 1944) was a French pianist and composer. Her first teacher was her mother, and she also took violin and compositions; sadly her father disapproved. Continue reading →

Sophie Menter (July 29, 1846 - Feb. 23, 1918) was a German pianist and composer, born to musical parents. At the age of fifteen she soloed with an orchestra, and her concertizing after that took her all around Germany and Switzerland. Continue reading →

Maria Szymanowska (Dec. 14, 1789 - July 25, 1831) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. Born in Warsaw, the history of her musical studies is largely unknown, but we know that she gave her first public recitals in Paris and Warsaw in 1810. Continue reading →

Pauline Viardot (born Michelle Ferdinande Pauline Garcia, July 18, 1821 - May 18, 1910) was a pianist, mezzo soprano, and pedagogue.  Born in Paris in to a Spanish musical family, her father, Manuel Garcia, who was a tenor, teacher, and composer,  taught Viardot piano, in addition to giving her vocal lessons. By the age of six, she was fluent in Spanish, French, Italian, English, and later on, Russian. She was an incredible pianist, in addition to singing; she later on took lessons with Liszt and played duets with Chopin. She also studied counterpoint and harmony with Anton Reicha, who taught Liszt and Berlioz. Her career as a professional singer began around the age of twenty eight. She had a long and successful career, and later on taught at the Paris Conservatory, and afterward did much composing. Liszt considered her works genius. Continue reading →

Vítězslava Kaprálová (Jan. 24, 1915 - June 16, 1940) was a Czech composer and conductor. Born in to a musical family,  Kaprálová began studying composition and conducting at the age of fifteen at the Brno Conservatory, and later on studied with Bohuslav Martinu and Charles Munch. She conducted the Czech Philharmonic in 1937, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra just a year later. Continue reading →

Louise Farrenc (May 31, 1804 - Sept. 15, 1875) was a French pianist, teacher, and composer. Born in Paris, she started the piano at an early age, and later on also showed a knack for composition. At the age of fifteen, her parents let her study composition with Anton Reicha at the Paris Conservatory. Later on she embarked upon a successful concert career, started a publishing house with her husband, and eventually became a Professor of Piano at the Paris Conservatory. Continue reading →

Marie-Juliette Olga "Lili" Boulanger (Aug. 21, 1893 - March 15, 1918) was a French composer, and  the younger sister of the famed composition teacher/composer Nadia Boulanger. Born in Paris, Lili Boulanger was a child prodigy; at the age of two, it was discovered that she had perfect pitch. Her parents, both musicians, encouraged her musical education, and she would accompany her sister Nadia to classes at the Paris Conservatory, studying music theory and organ. Her sister Nadia was one of her teachers, and later on studied with Paul Vidal, George Caussade, and Gabriel Faure, who was particularly impressed by her abilities. Lili would go on to win the Prix de Rome at the age of 19; she was the first woman to ever win the composition prize. Continue reading →

Florence Beatrice Price (April 9, 1887 - June 3, 1953) was an African-American pianist and composer, and the first African-American woman to have a piece played by a major symphony orchestra. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Price's first piano teacher was her mother, a music educator, and Price's first recital was at the age of 4. After high school (which she graduated top of her class), she studied piano and organ at the New England Conservatory, and pretended to be Mexican, due to the stigma that African-Americans faced during that era. She also studied composition and counterpoint with George Chadwick and Frederick Converse, and graduated in 1906 with Continue reading →

Amanda Maier (February 19, 1853 - July 15, 1894) was born in the Swedish town of Landskrona, and was quite an accomplished violinist, cellist, organist, and composer. Her initial studies in piano and violin were with her father, and later studied at the Royal School of Music at Stockholm, and was their first female music graduate.  While she was there, she won numerous awards for her instrumental playing and compositions as well. After graduating, she moved on to the Leipzig Conservatory, to study composition with Carl Reinecke, and violin with Engelbert Rontgen. Brahms and Grieg spoke very highly of her compositions, though she stopped composing after she got married, and not many of her works were published in her lifetime. While in Leipzig, however, she continued winning awards, including one for her Violin Sonata in b minor. Continue reading →