Violin videos: Women playing music written by women
March 1, 2015 9:26 PM   Subscribe

Each video inside depicts at least one woman playing Western art music composed by a woman, on a violin. Most of the videos include other performers and other instruments as well. Before you can perform the music of women composers, first you have to find it. Links are included to some sheet music and recordings of violin music by women composers.

Videos:
Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen (1745-1818) - Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, op. 6 no. 3
Clara Schumann (1819-1896)- Three Romances for Violin and Piano, op. 22
Amy Beach (1867-1944)- Romance
Florence Price (1887-1953)- The Deserted Garden
Undine Smith Moore (1904-1989) - Nobody Knows the Trouble I See, Lord (Afro-American Suite)
Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) - Violin Sonata no. 2
Lucrecia Kasilag (1918-2008) - Lullaby
Libby Larsen (b. 1950) - Trio for violin, cello, and piano

Sheet music and recordings:
Dr. Cora Cooper has edited a graded anthology of violin music composed by women, suitable for violin students at various levels.
Hildegard Publishing Company publishes music by women composers, including music for violin solo.
Sheet music in the public domain is available at the International Sheet Music Library Project. Try the subcategory women composers.
Dr. Helen Walker-Hill collected musical compositions of Black women and recorded a CD of music for violin and piano by African-American women composers.

Finale:
This post’s finale is a musical joke performed by the Salut Salon quartet. While the composers of the pieces referenced in this last video are not women, this delightful performance had to be included for the fun of it.
posted by Bentobox Humperdinck (10 comments total) 28 users marked this as a favorite
 
Nice post of historical music. There are more than a few terrific women composers active in the U.S. currently, too (most of whom are also performers). A few off the top of my head:

Jennifer HIgdon
Caroline Shaw
Alex Shapiro
Missy Mazzoli
Susan Botti
Kathryn Salfelder
Shulamit Ran
Julia Wolfe
Anna Clyne (well, British, but lives in NY)
Sarah Kirkland Snider
Cindy McTee
Roshanne Etezady
Kristin Kuster
posted by LooseFilter at 10:47 PM on March 1, 2015 [6 favorites]


I don't really know anything about music, but listening to these has been wonderful--such a terrific post idea too!
posted by Monsieur Caution at 10:52 PM on March 1, 2015 [1 favorite]


Thanks for the post - I've been listening to a little Clara Schumann & Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel (1805-47) lately. How about some Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) too.
posted by misteraitch at 2:16 AM on March 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


As a woman and a violinist. Thank you 🎻
posted by sconbie at 3:29 AM on March 2, 2015 [4 favorites]




Jennifer Higdon

In the spirit of this excellent post, Higdon's 2010 Pulitizer Prize-winning Violin Concerto was written with Hilary Hahn in mind. Hahn playing first movement of Higdon's Violin Concerto.
posted by gladly at 6:32 AM on March 2, 2015 [3 favorites]


Lindsey Stirling is a very modern violinist, with a great youtube channel of dance/electronica/dubstep/videogame music.
posted by autopilot at 7:40 AM on March 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


My contribution to this list of modern women doing good things in music together: Caeli Smith performing the solo violin piece kommós (sheet music) by Melissa Dunphy at the September 2012 Andrea Clearfield Salon in Philadelphia.
posted by Leviathant at 7:54 AM on March 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


Re Higdon's Violin Concerto, there's an interview of Higdon by Hahn on YouTube that's well worth watching. It's in three parts: Part One. Part Two. Part Three.
posted by yoink at 9:04 AM on March 2, 2015 [2 favorites]


Thanks for this! I was all set to link to that exact Bacewicz performance if it hadn't been on your list already. The end to that piece is ferocious.
posted by aws17576 at 8:35 PM on March 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


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