WOMEN IN MUSIC AND DRAMA.
The prejudice which excluded women for centuries from the realms of science, interfered likewise with their participation in music and art. Up to the midst of the 19th Century almost all European conservatories and art academies were closed to female students. Previous to 1876 no women students of the violin were allowed at the High School in London, and for a long time they could not compete for prizes or receive diplomas. When Elizabeth Sterling presented her beautiful CXXX Psalm for five voices and orchestra to the university at Oxford for the degree of Mus. Bac., the degree, although the work was accepted and its merits acknowledged, could not be given for want of power to confer this degree upon a woman!
As the views of publishers of music and of conductors of orchestras were influenced by similar prejudices, nobody should wonder that women’s work in music has shown comparatively unsatisfactory results.
Yet, in spite of all these obstacles, there have been a number of women composers, whose works were appreciated by all their contemporaries. During the glorious time of the Renaissance Francesca Caccini, born in 1581 at Florence, was the pride of her city because of her magnificent church music and madrigals. Compositions of Vittoria Aleotti, a native of Argenta, were likewise much admired, especially her great opus, which was published at Venice, in 1593, under the flowery title “Ghirlanda dei Madrigali a 4 voci.” Maddalena Casulana of Brescia, produced also a number of fine madrigals, which were issued in two volumes in 1568 and 1583. Cornelia Calegari, of Bergamo, Barbara Strozzi, of Venice, belong also to the Italian composers of the Renaissance. Maria Teresa Agnesi, born during the 18th Century, produced a number of cantatas, and three operas, “Sophonisbe,” “Ciro in Armenia,” and “Nitocri,” which were the delight of all Italy.
In Austria at the same time appeared Maria Teresa Paradies, born at Vienna in 1759. Notwithstanding her blindness, dating from her fourth year, she had become a most remarkable pianist and composer, dictating her cantatas and several operettas. In 1784 she set out on a concert tour through Germany and England, everywhere exciting admiration by her rare endowments. She often moved her audiences to tears by a cantata, the words of which were written by the blind poet Pfeffel, in which her own fate was depicted. During the later part of her life she presided over an excellent musical institute in Vienna.
In another native of Vienna, Marianne Martinez, the qualities of many distinguished artists were combined. Not only did she sing beautifully, but she was likewise an excellent pianist; her compositions showed a vigor of conception together with extensive learning. She composed several cantatas, and a miserere, with orchestral accompaniment. Her oratorio “Isacca” was in 1788 produced by the Tonkuenstler Gesellschaft. Her salons, in which she gave weekly concerts, were the rendezvous of many musical celebrities.
Foremost among the women-composers of Germany was Clara Josephine Wieck-Schumann, the accomplished pianist and unexcelled interpreter of her husband’s, Robert Schumann’s, splendid works. She also produced a large number of songs of great merit, many of which have been published.
Francesca Lebrun, born 1756 at Mannheim, wrote several sonatas for piano, and trios for piano, violin and cello. Louise Reichard, of Berlin, Corona Schroeter, the famous artist of the 18th Century, Fanny Cecilia Hensel, born 1805 in Hamburg, and Josephine Lang, born 1815 in Munich, composed very beautiful songs. A “Suite for Pianoforte” (Op. 2) by Adele aus der Ohe has likewise received highest praise.
Among the women composers of France Elizabeth Claude Guerre, born at Paris in 1669; Edme Sophie Gail Garré, born in 1775, and Louise Bertin were the pioneers. Elizabeth Guerre’s opera “Cephale et Pœris” was performed at the Royal Academie. She also composed a Te Deum, and a number of cantatas.
The most successful composer of recent years was Cécile Louise Stephanie Chaminade, born at Paris in 1861. Her most ambitious compositions are “Les Amazones,” a lyric symphony with choruses; “La Sevillane”; “Callirhœ”; “Etude Symphonique,” and a large number of compositions for piano, many of which became very popular.
Of Augusta Mary Ann Holmes, likewise a native of Paris, the opera “Hero et Leandre” had great success.
Of the women composers of England M. Virginia Gabriel was very popular. She wrote the cantatas “Evangeline” and “Dreamland,” and the operettas “Grass Widows,” “Widows Bewitched” and “Who’s the Heir?” Leza Lehman was the author of the song cycle “In a Persian Garden,” and of “Nonsense Songs.” Clara Angela Macirone’s anthem “By the Waters of Babylon” has been sung in all the cathedrals of Great Britain.
Lady Helen Dufferin is known principally for her songs and ballads, which, both for comic humor and pathos, rank among the best in the English language. “The Irish Emigrant’s Lament” compares favorably with any English lyric. Charlotte Sainton Dolby, Elizabeth Mounsey and Harriet Abrams composed likewise numerous songs, and Kate Fanny Loder the operette “Fleur d’Epine.”
There exist also many splendid compositions by American women. When in 1893 the Woman’s Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago was dedicated, Mrs. H. A. Beach’s “Jubilate” was received with greatest enthusiasm. Also her “Gaelic Symphony” was played by many famous orchestras.
The “Dramatic Overture” (Op. 12) of Miss Margaret Ruthven Lang has been frequently performed by the famous Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Of the innumerable virtuosos, who interpreted works of the above-named composers and others, the American violinists Arma Senkrah and Maud Powell, the Italian Teresina Tua, the German Maria Soldat, and the South-American pianists Terese Careno and Giomar Novaez, not to forget the Hungarian Sophie Menter and the Russian Annette Essipoff have been the most eminent.
“Dem Mimen flicht die Nachwelt keine Kränze,” the great German poet Schiller has said in one of his poems, pointing out that, while the painter, sculptor, composer and writer transmit their works to remote generations, the glory won by the actor and singer exhales with their disappearance from the stage as quickly as does the fragrance of a delicate flower. The record of the performer’s and singer’s gift remains only as a tradition, as a legend.
So it is. The majority of those actors and singers, who in bygone times held large audiences spellbound, are forgotten. There are only few exceptions which in the history of dramatic art and music will remain. So for instance with the history of the English stage of the latter part of the 17th Century the names of two great actresses are inseparably connected: Gwynn and Elizabeth Barry. The former especially was the darling of the people, and much favored by King Charles II. During the following century Anne Oldfield, Mary Porter, Elizabeth Billington, Anne Spranger Barry, Hannah Pritchard, Mary Robinson, Jane Pope, Susanne Cibber, Frances Abington and Margaret Woffington were celebrated for their talent, charm, and elegance. Of Sarah Siddons, called “the Incomparable,” it has been reported that by means of her excellent art as well as by her beauty, dignity and personal distinction she reduced her audiences to an awe-struck reverence. Edmund Gosse, in an article devoted to the memory of Sarah Siddons says: “Under the effect she produced, women as well as men lost all command over themselves, and sobbed, moaned, and even howled with emotion. Young ladies used suddenly to shriek; men were carried out, gibbering, in hysterics.”
Of the many excellent English actresses of the 19th Century and of our present days Louise Nisbett, Mary Stirling, Elizabeth O’Neill, Helen Faucit, Lillian Neilson, Deborah Lacy, Frances Kemble, Adelaide Kemble-Sartoris, Charlotte Dolby, Ellen Terry, Gertrude and Rose Coghlan have to be mentioned. Also we must remember the great triumphs of Nellie Melba, a native of Australia, but at home on the stages and in the concert halls of Europe as well as of America.
The United States produced likewise a number of brilliant actresses and opera stars. Among the former were Clara Fisher, Mary Vincent, Laura Keene, Anna Gilbert, Anna and Cora Ritshie, not to forget Mary Ann Dyke-Duff, whom the elder Booth declared to be “the greatest actress in the world.” Furthermore, there was the classic Mary Anderson, who was followed later on by such eminent performers as Ida Conquest, Adelaide Phillips, Julia Marlowe, Leslie Carter, Maud Adams, and Ethel Barrymore.
Our United States have been also the native land of the famous opera stars Minni Hauck, Lillian Nordica, Emma Eames, Olive Fremstadt, Florence Macbeth, Mary Garden, Anna Case and Geraldine Farrar.
Germany and Austria too have produced numbers of accomplished actresses and singers who stood high in public esteem and thrilled vast audiences by splendid revelations of their art. The name of Charlotte Wolter is forever connected with the famous Burgtheater in Vienna as the greatest tragedienne in the history of that famous institution. To the many actresses, whose fame is not limited to their native countries but has extended to America as well, belong the following stars of the 19th Century: Marie Seebach, Ottilie Genee, Kathie Schratt, Hedwig Niemann-Rabe, Fanny Janauschek, Magda Irschik, Anna Haverland, Marie Geistinger, Agnes Sorma, Helene Odilon, Francisca Ellmenreich, Fanny Eysolt, Irene Triebsch and Else Lehmann.
As stars in grand opera and concert singers the most famous of the former century have been Henriette Sontag, Pauline Lucca, Marie Schroeder-Hanfstängl, Teresa Tietiens, Etelka Gerster, Lilli Lehmann, Fanny Moran-Olden, Rosa Sucher, Amalie Materna, Marie Brema, Katharine Klaffsky and Marianne Brand. Our present generation has paid tribute to Milka Ternina, Marie Rappold, Alma Gluck, Elene Gerhard, Johanna Gadski, Julia Culp, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Melanie Kurt, Margarete Ober, and Frida Hempel.
With the history of the French drama the names of the great tragediennes Elizabeth Rachel and Sarah Bernhardt are inseparably connected, while in opera Madeline Arnould, Magdalene Marie Desgarcins, Louise Françoise Contat, Marie Felicite Malibran, Louise Angelique Bertin, Sophie Cruvelli, Emma Calvé, Lucienne Breval, Felia Litvinne and Desiré Artot have been stars of the first order.
Italy gave birth to the famous actresses and singers Guilia Grisi, Marietta Alboni, Angelica Catalani, Adelaide Ristori, Eleonora Duse, L. Scalchi, Louisa Tetrazzina, and Amelia Galli-Curci.
Poland had her superb Helena Modjeska and Marcella Sembrich; Bohemia the marvelous Emmy Destinn.
Sweden treasures the memory of Jenny Lind and Christine Nilsson as superlative artists. Jenny Lind was called “the Swedish Nightingale,” and was famous for her great charm as well as for her musical gifts. Her splendid tour in America under the management of P. T. Barnum in 1849 was one of the greatest artistic and financial triumphs ever achieved by one single artist.
A somewhat international position has been held by the famous Adelina Patti, born in 1843 at Madrid, as the daughter of a Sicilian tenor and the Spanish Signora Barilli. Taught singing by the Moravian Maurice Strakosch, she commanded an unusually high soprano of rich bell-like tone and remarkable evenness, and was equally at home in the tenderness of deep passion and the sprightly vivacity of comedy, and in oratorio. For these reasons she has been regarded as one of the greatest singers of all times. That her reputation was founded on her rare qualities, is best shown by the testimony of two of her fellow-artists, Marcella Sembrich and Lilli Lehmann. The former expressed her admiration in the words: “When one speaks of Patti one speaks of something that occurred only once in the history of the world.” The latter, famous in a totally different school of her art, wrote the following lines: “In Adelaine Patti everything was united—the splendid voice, paired with great talent for singing. All was absolutely good, correct and flawless, the voice like a bell that you seemed to hear long after the singing had ceased.”
