“Il tuo bel nome eterno:” A Performance Thesis of Women Composers

Abstract

In the field of classical music, there exists what is known as a “canon” of often performed, highly valued music. This repertoire is often well known to the general public, and includes iconic works such as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony or Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. This canon is heavily populated by male, Caucasian composers; one 2022 study found that 87.7% of repertoire performed by orchestras globally was composed by white men (DiLaccio et al., 2022). Having participated in the field of classical music for nearly a decade, this is a trend I have also personally observed. For this reason, I decided to program a performance of choral music by women composers to fulfill my Honors College thesis. I felt that merely writing about these composers was not enough, and the most effective way to share their music with the general public was to perform it. There are six composers on the program for this performance: Hildegard von Bingen, Maddalena Casulana, Julia Perry, Chen Yi, Andrea Ramsey, and Mari Esabel Valverde. The musical styles and eras range from 11th-century chant to contemporary-style choral music by living composers. My goals with this project are twofold. First, I want to provide more resources for musicians to be able to program this music in their own concerts by providing a high quality, freely available recording of this performance. Second, I want to expose wider audiences to this music, emphasize its value through performance, and show fellow musicians that it is possible to bring these women’s voices to life with dedication and research.