The many female composers working during Mozart’s time crafted many haunting vocal settings, songs that illustrate compellingly the breadth and depth of the era’s musical richness. Unlike many of the Mozart gems that we hear frequently, these works have been rarely performed and would be a welcome addition to any recital program. For years, works of women composers have been overlooked by music historians, voice teachers, and performers alike. Live performances of these treasures feed a growing realization and recognition of their beauty, and several newly published collections make including these works in your next program less of a quest and more of a vocal delight. Whether you decide to program a set dedicated to a single composer, to fashion a mixed set of Mozart-era women, or to offer an entire program of unusual offerings, here are some suggestions and resources to assist you in your musical explorations.
A recent inexpensive and widely available collection edited by Carol Kimball and published by Hal Leonard is something that should be on everyone’s musical shelves: Women Composers: A Heritage of Song. It is available in both high and low versions, so for each song you may choose the key that works best for your voice. Various songs by Isabella Colbran (1785-1845), including my personal favorites from her oeuvre, “La speranza al cor mi dice” and “Povero cor tu palpiti.” These vocally gratifying songs were obviously written by an opera singer and prove that Gioacchino Rossini’s first wife not only inspired operas—eighteen of Rossini’s finest works, ranging from Otello to Semiramide were written for and premiered by her—but was likewise blessed with a brilliant muse.
Kimball also includes works by Bettine von Arnim (1785-1859). Bettine was a true Renaissance woman of the Classical era, and composed songs to texts by Goethe (with whom she enjoyed a celebrated correspondence), by her famous brother Clemens Brentanto, and also by Achim von Arnim, whom she eventually married. Fans of her songs might be delighted to know that the Pierpont Morgan Library collection includes fifty additional manuscripts of her gems for future musical excavation. Her “Ein Stern der Lieb’ am Himmelslauf,” a setting of Arnim’s poetry included in this edition, was composed during their courtship, and the text’s intimate tenderness ends with the touching sentiment, “I swim in the perfume of love.”
This valuable edition also highlights works by another Mozart contemporary, Louise Reichardt (1779-1826). Like many composers, she inherited both her musical gifts as well as her (sporadic) training from her father. Her folk songlike settings convey with charming directness both the dreamlike state of “Unruhiger Schlaf” and the agitated despair of the jilted bride in “Se non piange un infelice.”
Fans of Reichardt should also discover Frauen komponieren: 25 Lieder für Singstimme und Klavier from Shott Music and edited by Eva Rieger. Three additional songs by her are included, along with works by another fascinating figure, Corona Schröter (1751-1802). Schröter’s career was noted for a theatrical performance in 1779 of the title role in Îphigenia with Goethe as Orestes. Perhaps inspired by this impressive experience, she set Goethe’s famous poem “Die Erlkönig” in a spare yet haunting setting. This book also includes many of my favorite nineteenth-century songs by women (Josephine Lang, Alma Mahler, and Clara Schumann) and can be purchased at www.sheetmusicplus.com.
Goethe inspired countless composers, and at www.furore-verlag.de you can purchase for €25 a collection of rare delights, Von Goethe inspiriert Lieder von Komponstinnen des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts. You’ll find works by some of the more well-known women composers mentioned above, such as Reichardt and Bettine von Arnim, but also songs by composers not so easily located, such as Jeannette Bürde’s lovely “Heidenröslein” and Elise Müller’s “Nachgefühl.”
The company’s website is also a handy reference for biographical information. This enjoyable collection offers numerous programming possibilities both inside and outside the Mozart year, and any Goethe fan will treasure these engaging juxtapositions of compositional approaches toward the German poet master. I might also note that Furore has an additional volume of six settings of Goethe by Bettine von Arnim (none of which are included in the more well-known collection Von Goethe inspiriert).
There are several collections published by Hildegard Publishing Company www.hildegard.com that I can wholeheartedly recommend. A series entitled The First Solos: Songs by Women Composers is comprised of three volumes: Volume one is for high voice, volume two is for medium voice, and three is for low voice. Each volume contains different songs, so purchasing all three will provide a variety of offerings. The ranges are not extreme, so perusing all three for songs is a possibility for most voice types. The first volume includes songs by an English contemporary of Mozart, Margaret Essex (1775-?), as well as additional works by Schröter and Colbran. One of the most fascinating composers one might discover here is the French Creole (born in the West Indies) composer, Pauline Duchambge (1778-1858). Her “Adieu tout” lovingly sets a heart-rending text that includes lines such as “What do you want from me? My life?/Go away heart./Run from the lover who does not want you.” What singer could resist?
The second volume includes a Parisian counterpart of Mozart’s time, Sophie Mercken (1776-1821). Mercken was the daughter of the first Parisian piano maker, and she composed a collection of charming romances, one of which is included here alongside additional works by Schröter and Reichardt. The third volume contains another song by Mercken, works by Bettine Arnim and Reichardt, and the Margaret Essex gem “The Silent Admirer.”
If you enjoyed the Duchambge songs included in the Hildegard volume, six additional songs by this Martinique-born composer are included in the excellent but out-of-print (widely available in libraries) Da Capo Press collection Pauline Duchambge, Loïsa Puget, Pauline Viardot, Jane Vieu: Anthology of Songs, edited by Susan Cook and Judy Tsou. You might try Glendower Jones at Classical Vocal Reprints to see if he can help you locate a copy of your own.
Another great source is www.clarnan.com. ClarNan Editions publishes several series, including Lieder and Other Songs by Women Composers of the Classic Era (five volumes in print), Arias and Sinfonias from Oratorios by Women Composers of the Eighteenth Century (seven volumes in print), and Eighteenth-Century Theater Songs and Concert Arias Composed by Women (one volume in print). These are little-known editions filled with wonderful works by women composers, including Salieri’s voice student Maria Theresia von Paradis (1759-1824)—one of my favorites—to Sophia Maria Westenholz. Composers that I found particularly satisfying to sing include the Bellini-like lines of Maria Cosway (“Ogni dolce”), Maria Theresia von Paradis (“Morgenlied eines armen Mannes”), and the sinuous vocal writing of Anne-Louise Brillon de Jouy (“O nuit, que tu me semble belle”). Additional books of music dedicated to single composers are easily located on ClarNan’s website, should any one of these fine composers leave you wanting to learn more.
Another website, www.musicalsource.com, can connect you to Ruth Drucker and Helen Strine’s A Collection of Art Songs by Women Composers. I love this volume’s Italianate slant, as it includes numerous songs destined to make your throat dance with joy, including Reichardt’s “Vanne felice rio” as well as her “Giusto amor.” Another gift is Isabella Colbran’s “Sempre più t’amo.” The song examples of women composers of later eras are also delightful.
The excellent series Women Composers: Music Through the Ages has an entire issue dedicated to Mozart’s time: volume four is subtitled Composers Born between 1700 and 1799—Vocal Music. It’s fairly expensive (about $150), but used copies on Amazon were recently selling for about $50. It’s worth the investment. This is a gold-standard edition with extensive biographical sketches, helpful bibliographies and works lists, in addition to excellent translations of all the songs included. It not only has information on all of the composers listed above, but also includes thrilling works by Maria Szymanowska (her “Se spiegar” should not be missed), delightful duets by Miss Abrams (1758-1822) and chamber music by Marianna Martines (1744-1812) and an opera seria aria by Maria Teresa Agnesi (1720-1795). This series is a work of love, and the care lavished on each volume makes this an invaluable resource.
I have found great joy in performing (and assigning to my students!) these songs, and although this list is by no means comprehensive, the scores are all readily available. I’m indebted to their editors and publishers for making these works so accessible. Thanks to their work, I find programming works by women composers to be a special pleasure, a form of musical joy where my singing voice finds not another Don Giovanni but a donna waiting to be rediscovered and performed.
