Thursday, January 20, 2005
What is important? Future ears decide.
I think that it is not necessary (although it may be fun to try) for us to decide who is central to our understanding of American classical music, or who made the most useful experiments in music or who is a niche composer or who is part of the canon or the standard repertory. Its not a race between John Adams and Morton Feldman, or between small and big concert halls, or between influence and fame. All of these things will be decided by time.
Beauty is important. Fairness is important. Inclusiveness is vital.
Beauty is a large topic and I'll leave it for now.
Consider, just to get you started, the music and work of Elizabeth Austin, Marilyn Bliss, Victoria Bond, Alla Borzova, Chin Yi, Nancy Bloomer Deussen, Elisenda Fábregas, Jennifer Higdon, Katherine Hoover, Lori Laitman, Mary Jane Leach, Anne LeBaron, Beata Moon, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Winter Owens, Maggie Payne, Alla Pavlova, Anna Rubin, Judith Shatin, Alice Shields, Hilary Tann, Joan Tower, Nancy Van de Vate, Aleksandra Vrebalov, Melinda Wagner, Judith Lang Zaimont, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.
Some of these women composers have been very influential as teachers, all are an inspiration especially to other women, some have won major prizes and had major performances and recordings, but none are yet in either the canon or the standard repertory. But then neither are John Adams or Morton Feldman. Some of their music is more beautiful to me than others but all of it needs to be played and recorded and made available so that all of our ears can hear it, so that future ears have the opportunity of hearing it and deciding if they want to listen to it more or less or never. Future ears will decide what music is performed and what will languish unheard—perhaps to be rediscovered as Hildegard von Bingen’s was 900 years later.
Inclusiveness is not served by having 3 contemporary composers out of 100 performed per year by either large or small ensembles in large or small halls. It is also not served by having 3 women composers on a contemporary music festival out of 100 composers performed. The rules for funding such organizations and events must be changed to stimulate fairness and inclusiveness. Including women composers in this consideration of who and what is most important is just the tip of the topic.
posted by Beth Anderson
10:55 AM
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