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One source that looks useful to my topic is Women of exceptional accomplishments: eight women composers. It illustrates the reason women composers weren't as prominent in history and how the ones who were exceptional became so; along with this, it gave examples of eight exceptional women composers along with their biographies.

History (Major Contribution for Women in classical Music)

Historically, women were expected to master instruments along with learning music basics such as reading music, writing music, and performing it. However, until the 20^th century, it was seen as immoral to perform publicly and women were only expected to play in the private domestic setting . Until recently, women were not allowed to be taught at a conservatory level and were tracked into a less demanding curriculum that omitted topics that were considered complex. These subjects were composition, counterpoint, and orchestration. Women are even less encouraged to compose than perform it.The professional status of women composers was influenced by their family and marital status. Women who came from musical families and had the support of their husband and their father could make a name for themselves. A prominent example is Elisabeth Jacquet da la Guerre.

Elisabeth Jacquet da la Guerre was a French composer born on March 17^th, 1665. Her grandfather, Jehan Jacquet, and her father, Claude Jacquet, were harpsichord makers. Guerre came from a rich family of masons, musicians, composers, and instrument makers. Rather than just teaching his sons, Claude Jacquet taught both his sons and daughters how to survive and thrive in the world. This upbringing, support from her father, and her family’s rich history of musicianship was a major stepping stone for her musical career. At the age of five, Louis XIV took notice of her when she performed at his palace of Versailles. This eventually led to her becoming a musician in the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV. She wrote most of her works for her king, which was common.

In 1694 when she premiered her only published opera, it only had 5 or 6 performances. An explanation of this failure was how the opera depended on the text rather than the music. Cephale et Procris would soon be known as tragedie en musique, a tragedy put into music and French literary theatre recited musically (Beer 106). Her compositions were not received well by the French musical culture that was cautious about contemporary opera. It would have been accepted easier in Italy due to all the innovations occurring to the music. But in France, tradition was considered necessary in its music. The reception of Cephale et Procris tells us more about the world of opera in France in the 1690s and French music rather than her ability as a composer . This frustrates admirers of her work because it puts a stop to her operatic career as a composer completely. Despite this, she still continued to publish her work and take opportunities. Later in her life, her sonatas are considered triumphs of its genre . This is due to her development of the role for violin and how it blends French traditions with Italian innovations. After her death, her genius in compositions, her creativity in vocal and instrumental music, and her variety of genres are acknowledged. Her life and career success show that she was given a rare opportunity to succeed as a female composer, and how she took full advantage of it . 

Bibliographies for work on Women in Classical Music.

Bull, A, (2015).  Gendering the Middle Classes: the construction of conductors’ authority in youth classical music groups. The Sociological Review.

Bull, Anna. “Gendering the Middle Classes: the construction of conductors’ authority in youth classical music groups.” The Sociological Review, August 2015.

 This article is written by Anna Bull and it is a thesis paper. This article goes into how gender identifications are put upon middle class young people in classical music. It is based on young musicians in youth orchestras and a youth choir is south England. It explores the difference between a male conductor and a female conductor and the impact of their authority. Due to this difference of authority and gender power dynamics, young women and young men talked about their conductors differently, some young women experiencing discomfort or resistance. Observations of rehearsals showed the young people’s conformity to gendered authorities. This article is useful to my research because it goes into the topics of how each gendered is received by young children rather than adults, which is where children develop their ideas on the world.

Davidson, J. W., & Edgar, R. (2003). Gender and Race Bias in the Judgement of Western Art Music Performance. Music Education Research, 5(2), 169-181. doi:10.1080/14613800307111 

Davidson, Jane W., and Richard Edgar. “Gender and Race Bias in the Judgement of Western Art Music Performance.” Music Education Research, vol. 5, no. 2, 2003, pp. 169–181., doi:10.1080/14613800307111.

This article is written by Jane Davidson and Richard Edgar, who are both in the department of music at the University of Sheffield. This article goes into how women and black people are under-represented in the professional classical music world. These groups are affected by biases that affect their advancement in a classical music career. There was an experiment where 36 musicians aged 16 to 26 years judged eight pianist, 2 black women, 2 black men, 2 white women, and 2 white men. They were under three conditions to the judges, sound-only, full vision and point-display, along with two other conditions, the performers own interpretation and a set tempo. The results showed no racial bias and surprisingly, female performers were scored higher. This article then suggests further ways research can be conducted. This is useful to my research due to identifying different back grounds of musicians and how it effects how the world perceives them.

Freimuth, E (2018). Being female in an Orchestra Brass Section. The Horn Call.

Freimuth, Elizabeth. “Being Female in an Orchestra Brass Section.” The Horn Call. May 2018.

This article was written by Elizabeth Freimuth, who is principal horn of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra along with being on the faculty of the Cincinnati College Conservatory. This article acknowledges the difficulties female musicians have, especially brass players, to be seen the same as their male peers along with getting picked for orchestral jobs. She talks about how due to male teachers assuming that women are emotionally sensitive, they tend to beat around the bush, which slows progress. The author also talks about her own experience on how she got to where she is today. She talks about the sexist comments when she became principal, a conductor who told her when he looks up he wants to see an Italian man playing the horn and being pregnant while in the beginning of her busy schedule. This is important for my research because it gives a first-hand view of what it’s like to be in classical music today as a woman, especially in a section that is associated with masculinity. It also goes into factors that women can control that men don't have to deal with at all.

Gregory, A (2016). A History of Classical Music (The women-only version). The New York Times.

Gregory, Alex. “A History of Classical Music (The women-only version).” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/02/arts/music/01womencomposers.html. Dec. 2, 2016.

This article was written by Alex Gregory in 2016. This article tells the basic history of women in classical music along with a list of women who made an impact in classical music. This article explains the reason most women weren’t as successful as men in classical music. One of the big reasons it states is presentation of self. The composer has to have a desire the audience attention, show themselves as confident, and have good work. The author argues that the lack of this along with status, family, and limited training was the downfall of most women. The article then has a list of women ranging from composers, to performers, to teachers. This source is useful to me not only for its information, but also for its relevance and how recently written it was. This source was published in 2016 and it shows that there’s at least someone who is interested and concerned about the lack of representation of women in classical music.

Macarthur, S. (2015). Dialoguing with the Divided Self as the Outline of a Becoming-Woman in Music. Australian Feminist Studies, 30(86), 386-401. doi:10.1080/08164649.2016.1148065

Macarthur, Sally. “Dialoguing with the Divided Self as the Outline of a Becoming-Woman in Music.” Australian Feminist Studies, vol. 30, no. 86, 2015, pp. 386–401., doi:10.1080/08164649.2016.1148065.

This article is written by Sally Macarthur, who has been researching contemporary women’s classical music for more than 30 years. In this article, she talks about the divided self and how the utopian idea in the 1990s is non-believable. She explores what the dividual has to go through to produce different stages of her work as a musician and a and as a feminist. This article, according to the author, aims to develop a new way to look at women in classical music. The series of questions this article acknowledges is who acts, who is the subject of action, and how do new ways of thinking transform real world situations. This is useful to my research because it includes feminist ideals and explains how it affects the music world for women.

Phelps, A. (2010). Beyond auditions: gender discrimination in America’s top orchestras. DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) thesis, University of Iowa.

Phelps, Amy Louise. "Beyond auditions: gender discrimination in America's top orchestras." DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) thesis, University of Iowa, 2010.

https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/874.

This source is a thesis done by Amy Louise Phelps in 2010 for the University of Iowa. The article states that although women are slowly becoming more prevalent in the top orchestras in America, they are still of minority. Some sections, such as brass, string bass, and percussion, is mostly male despite it being a blind audition. The inconsistent use to the blind screen is auditions is partly to blame for the discrepancy, but it is also cultural constructions that act as barriers for women. This thesis paper is useful to me because it not only explains why there are less women in the top orchestras, but it breaks it down by sections. This is really interesting because women, socially, are not supposed to play loud, big, physical instruments, despite proving that they perform such as well as men. This article goes into how that affects the number of women in the top orchestras.

Rupp, T. (2018). Women of Exceptional Accomplishment: Eight Women Composers. Clavier Companion, Vol. 10, No.1, 42-46.

Rupp, Teresa. "Women of Exceptional Accomplishment: EIght Women Composers." Clavier Companion, Vol. 10, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 42-46

This article is by Teresa Rupp. This source is a few pages from a journal about women composers. The introduction of this section is explaining the reasoning for the word exceptional being included in the title. These reasons include status, money, and family. The source then goes on to list eight women who despite the odds, became successful composers. These women are Elisabeth Jacquet da la Guerre, Maria Szymanowska, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Clara Wieck Schumann, Clara Gottschalk Peterson, Cecile Chaminade, Margaret Ruthven Lang, and Amy Beach. This is of use of me due giving me examples of successful women in classical music. This article told me the reasonings behind while there were so little women in classical music, while also telling me the ones that did become successful.

Scharff, C. (2015). Blowing your own trumpet: exploring the gendered dynamics of self-promotion in the classical music profession. The sociological review, 97-112.

Scharff, Christina. "Blowing your own trumpet: exploring the gendered dynamic of self-promotion in the classical music profession." The Sociological Review, pp. 97-112. 2015

This journal is written by Christina Scharff. It talks about how gender along with race and ethnicity can affect how well women promote themselves and how well they are perceived. The author interviewed 64 diverse young women, 32 from London and 32 from Berlin. She goes into how the performative of women being modest causes them to not want to be self forward and not to brag about themselves, which leads to them not accurately representing themselves to the world as a musician. Her interviewees talk about how they have to show themselves as a product to be successful, which a lot of them hate doing. There is a fine balance between commerce and art, this is hard for women to achieve due to these factors along with many more. These pages in this journal is useful to my research due to the discussion of physiological and racial factors of each individual woman rather than outside factors, which is also needed to understand the gap in classical music.