Women in music still not equal

If asked to name some classical music composers, students would probably name Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, maybe Chopin. But how many women composers would be mentioned? Are there any?

Kristan Aspen and Janna MacAulan of Musica Femina, a flute and guitar duo, spoke on the history of these virtually unknown women composers. Along with a slide presentation and music samples, Aspen and MacAulan also discussed the women composers' surrounding circumstances preventing them to be established as their male counterparts.

Past attitudes toward women composers, Aspen said, ranged from referring to them "a dog walking on its hind legs, a freak of nature" to saying that "there is no music when a woman is in a concert."

In the past two decades, attention has focused on Hildegard von Bingen who was a powerful woman composer of the Middle Ages. Beside being a composer, Aspen said, von Bingen was also an abbess, a philosopher, a theologian, a painter and a writer.

"She was held in high esteem by emperors, kings, priests, archbishops and even the Pope," she said. "Her musical achievements include musical settings for more than 70 lyric poems and a morality play called ÔThe Order of Virtues.'"

During the Renaissance, "there was a real question as to whether [this period of time] existed for women," MacAulan said. Music was not readily available for them at the time. However, women in noble families were expected to be accomplished in music to perform at home.

As time went on, the three pressures that prevented women from being composers were marriage, motherhood, and lack of money, said Aspen. "There were some notable exceptions," she said. "In most cases, these women had a father who trained them."

Though Marianne Mozart was trained by her father, she and her brother Wolfgang were exploited for income and presented as novelties.

Another exception was Maria Thersia von Paradis, a friend of the Mozarts. Paradis lived in the court of the emperor of Austria. "She faced some unusual obstacles, not only the standard ones that all women face," said Aspen, "but this women was additionally blind. Yet, she had a full career and even toured Europe." When she returned from touring, Paradis founded a music school for girls.

Though the attitudes of the past are not as prevalent today and there are more women in music today, "the playing field is [still] not completely level," Aspen said.