We were thrilled to hear the stream of Miriam Gideon’s 1958 chamber opera, Fortunato, last week. This was the world premiere of this work, which Gideon apparently wrote hoping that it would be performed by the NBC Opera Theatre. She composed it in three acts, and orchestrated the first act. While her hope was that it would be performed, there was no plan, so was a real labor of love, to write a major work with no expectation hearing it. The story of how this premiere was brought about is worth discussing, but that will be one of the details…
Category: academia
SAM Conference: Day 3
Our adventures at SAM in New Orleans continue with more fantastic papers, food, and camaraderie! On Saturday morning I attended a truly wonderful session focusing on the lives and music of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds, and considering new and intersectional ways to analyze and appreciate their respective bodies of work. Kori Hill presented on Florence Price’s Second Violin Concerto: Kate Pukinskis presented on Margaret Bond’s Three Dream Portraits: And Marquese Carter presented on Florence Price’s song “The Washer Woman”. Together this panel brought into conversation vital conversation on the intersectional nature of studying, analyzing, and appreciating the works of Black…
SAM Conference: Day 1
We are at the Society for American Music Conference in New Orleans and looking forward to many days of great papers, conversations, and opportunities to advocate for the works of women composers. Today was filled with fascinating and intersectional conversations about music and meaning, race and gender, and how individuals are represented and given a voice through music. I had chance to listen in on a great conversation including many of these ideas in the discussion of works by women in popular music, as well as the way themes from opera moved from concert hall to parlor rooms, and was…
Featured Guest blogger: Musicologists on Fanny Hensel's songs
Dr. Penny Brandt continues her report on the 2018 joint conference of the American Musicological Society/Society for Music Theory. My favorite session at AMS/SMT this year was the Sunday morning joint session on “The Songs of Fanny Hensel” chaired by R. Larry Todd (Duke University). In this session, ten scholars gave “lightning” presentations describing their research and analysis of a song by Hensel. [The description of the session and paper titles, as given in the conference program, are copied following this essay]. Each presenter will contribute an essay to The Songs of Fanny Hensel, edited by Stephen Rodgers (University of…