This interview was first published with New Classical Guitar on July 17, 2024.
In the canon of the classical guitar repertoire, the term "underrepresented" is still a rather euphemistic way of talking about female composers! Why is that?
Well, we can thank the 19th century in particular, where the bourgeoisie with its patriarchal structures assigned women for the most part a very limited role in society: children, cooking, church. Most structures of the classical music industry emerged during this period and remained the same until today. All areas of music theory and practice, from orchestras and academia to musicology and music criticism were male-dominated, and - to little surprise - the canon of works as well. Much has changed, but if we look at a typical exam program today, we will only once in a blue moon discover a work by a female composer.
Then, of course, there were always influential artists such as Andrés Segovia, who played a decisive role in shaping the canon for our instrument. It is no secret that Segovia rejected works that did not suit his personal taste – and these were by no means only works by women. One example that comes to mind is Teresa de Rogatis, whose beautiful works bridge the gap between impressionism and neoclassicism. Perhaps she would have composed much more if Segovia had noticed her?
(Listen: Teresa de Rogatis: Sonatina, 1st Adagio, https://youtu.be/zr8sg0TZ0Eg?si=1f2j_nX06zufMgWS)
The topic has many angles – the guitar is certainly only one small area, but it is vital for us! If you want to find out more for yourself, I recommend Eva Rieger's book with the dauntingly glorious title Frau, Musik & Männerherrschaft (Woman, Music & Patriarchy).
When did you take up this issue? Can you remember the starting point? And what has happened since then?
Around 2020, during the pandemic. I was thinking more and more about such topics – plus, there were few distractions. I devoured a number of books that shook me up, such as Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez – a recommendation by my Argentinian colleague Carolina Folmer. But as a consequence, I no longer enjoyed looking at the guitar scene and its programs at concerts, competitions and festivals.
At some point, the question arose: Why do I hardly ever play a piece written by a woman? And what does that mean for me as a female musician? Then I researched, exchanged ideas with colleagues such as the late Heike Matthiesen, who was a veritable encyclopedia for female composers, with Jiji Kim and colleagues from Netzwerk Gitarre Berlin (link: https://www.netzwerkgitarreberlin.de). The knowledge gap slowly began to close for me – and it still does.
Arrangements, chamber music, solo pieces, concerts – there's a whole world to discover! At no point should it be about replacing our beloved "standard repertoire" – that is an often-heard prejudice. Rather, it means moving away from a eurocentric, male-dominated canon towards a broader idea of classical music that does not exclusively circle around works by "white men".
Which three female composers in music history do you find particularly exciting and which three contemporary female composers are currently inspiring you?
There are so many! Germaine Tailleferre (link: Guitare https://youtu.be/QUV_gmpO5f0?si=L7hVetjxjkHlDUxy), who decided to compose against the will of her father and two (!) husbands, supported by her teacher Maurice Ravel. Or Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre – born in Paris 20 years before J.S. Bach, she was a true baroque superstar and court composer for Louis XIV! I recently transcribed one of her harpsichord suites for the guitar.
Hildegard von Bingen, of course, the mystic of the late Middle Ages – generally known for her herbalism and recipes – but she was also a poet, a composer and polymath. She wrote the only surviving medieval music drama (link: https://youtu.be/f1sJ91rS0o0?si=UM1pz-CsdcEnTMYO), both the text and the music.
Composers are still inspired by Hildegard today, such as Sofia Gubaidulina, and her piece for solo alto called From the Visions of Hildegard von Bingen in 1994. Serenade & Toccata will certainly be familiar to some – two wonderful and expressive solo pieces, full of imagery and colors. Her chamber music with two or three guitars and strings is also very much worth exploring – there's a whole evening's worth of repertoire for us guitarists to discover!
At the moment, I find the music of young Hungarian composer Petra Szászí remarkable. I have just recorded her solo piece Hommage à Charles Bukowski (link: http://www.evabeneke.com/new-album-page) for a new album – and there is also a very cool, rhythmic guitar quartet, Dyslexia, plus a new piece for cello and guitar, Ice, which was premiered last year by Jesse Flowers and Ildikó Szabó.
Apart from that, of course, it's always worth doing some research outside the guitar world – the Korean composer Unsuk Chin (link: https://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/wunderlandmusik-unsuk-chin-erhaelt-ernst-von-siemens-musikpreis-ld.1830886) for example, has been living in Berlin for many years and writes incredible music, complex, highly virtuosic. For instance the cello concerto, or the piano études that were considered unplayable for a while – now they are a part of the repertoire in piano competitions. I had the opportunity to meet her once as a student in an orchestral project and, sadly, Mirroirs des temps was the only piece written by a woman that I performed as a student – but at least with orchestra!
How do you think (and hope) the issue will have developed in 10 years' time? What will it take to counteract the imbalance?
Hopefully one day we won't need this discussion any more and concentrate on what is essential: to perform good music.
Many factors contribute to whether and how often something is being performed. It is in large parts up to the organizers and to the taste of the audience. But also marketing, agencies, the wheels of the music industry and, ultimately, us performers. There are still many barriers to be broken down. As we all know, new things are often welcomed with resistance.
I can imagine: a kind of "quota" for compulsory pieces in competitions, entrance exams, exam programs – that may sound a bit crass, but it is already the case in art and literature. Next semester, for example, I'll be working in a group that will compile a diverse catalog for the entrance exam repertoire of music universities in Norway.
I can recommend a cleverly written and important article by Jiji on this topic, which moved me a lot at the time: “How audition requirements exclude” (2020) (link: https://newmusicusa.org/nmbx/how-audition-requirements-exclude/).
Can you tell us something about your research project?
Absolutely! Together with two fantastic colleagues, we formed a research team at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo on the topic of Challenging Musical Canons (link: https://nmh.no/en/research/projects/challenging-musical-canons).
The two of them come from the fields of music education and musicology, while I represent musical practice and instruction as well as artistic research. The aim is to academically question common standards and conventions – such as the statement that "women have not contributed any relevant works to music history" or "there simply weren’t that many good female composers in the past".
But also questions like: how does a work become part of the canon? Who decides that? Which works prevail and why? We also need to consider that for the longest time music reception and music criticism were exclusive male professions, as were the publishers. It's all really incredibly fascinating. There will be articles, presentations, lecture recitals and much more.
How do you make young guitarists (your students) aware of and enthusiastic for the topic?
My own musical research automatically led to a number of projects with the students at NMH – in 2021 we carried out a project week on the topic of "Female composers". In the fall of 2023 – and I'm a bit proud of this – the entire Norwegian Academy of Music organized a week of chamber music solely by women. All instruments and departments were involved: jazz, classical and Norwegian folk music.
I got to listen to so much new repertoire!
There were several concerts a day, world premieres, a student-led orchestra project: they worked completely without a conductor (yet another traditionally male position!) and performed a work by a 19-year-old female student. On top, discussions and talks – the time is simply ripe, students want to actively work on these issues, and they want to do it now!
In one-on-one lessons, I encourage playing or arranging works by women. Next Fall a "Voice & Guitar" project week is in planning, where students will write out the basso continuo to arias by Barbara Strozzi (link: https://youtu.be/XWXAUnXQlhY?si=YEPl5iEsPnHr2e2K) or Claudia Sessa.
In general, I pay much more attention to suggesting etudes by female composers as well, or looking for audio examples or YouTube videos by female and male performers equally.
Imagine you could print one sentence on a poster to be displayed at every (classical) music festival in the world. What would it be?
"Today is the future!"