Back in December 2020, I listened to and commented on Fanny Mendelssohn's "Overture in C," HERE. Truth be told, though, there just aren't many pieces by women composers that I can name -- so I ran a Google-search on "classical music by women," and I found this list, "21 of the Greatest Women Composers in Classical Music," HERE. When I opened that article, I glanced through it and then decided to listen to a work by the woman listed in the 21st spot -- Phamie Gow -- so that I could hear (a) something by a female composer and (b) a contemporary work. The article mentioned "War Song," so I decided to listen to that. Since the work is under four minutes long, I thought I would try another work as well, and that's how I chose Ethel Smyth's "The March of the Women": when I scrolled back through the article of 21 female composers (from the bottom to the top), Ethel Smyth at number 14 on the list was the first composer from the end of the list who was no longer alive. Therefore "The March of the Women" would provide both a classical work by a woman composer as well as a piece from history as Smyth's march became the anthem of suffragettes at the turn of the twentieth century. I'll post my comments and ratings on these two works later this week so be sure to check back -- and since Smyth's march is also just over three minutes, I have one other piece by a woman which I'll mention at the bottom of the post! : ) UPDATE: First I listened to Phamie Gow's "War Song" because -- as stated above -- that was where I fist landed after reviewing the article on 21 women composers. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but "War Song" was nothing at all what I thought I would hear. I suppose I anticipated a song for full orchestra with some sort of martial tune featuring brass and drums -- lots of brass and drums -- and "War Song" was nothing of the sort. It was a gentle piece for the piano with mellifluous melodies, airy harmonies, and gentle grace notes. It reminded me a lot of tunes I've heard before by George Winston, and -- since it was called "War Song" -- it called to mind "Ashokan Farewell," a song composed by the American folk musician Jay Ungar. For many years "Ashokan Farewell" served as a goodnight or farewell waltz at the annual Ashokan Fiddle & Dance Camps run by Ungar and his wife Molly Mason at the Ashokan Field Campus of SUNY New Paltz in Upstate New York. However, it was also used as the main title them for the 1990 PBS miniseries "The Civil War" by Ken Burns. Despite the song's date of composition -- 1982 -- it has a definite old-timey feel to it, so it was included in the PBS series and its 1991 companion album "Songs of the Civil War." Listen to "Ashokan Farewell" HERE. Some music historians have noted similarities between Ungar's work and Stephen Foster's song, "Massa's in the Cold Cold Ground," written in 1852, so some have speculated that that might have been the reason why Burns included a contemporary song in his series and on an album about the Civil War. Most YouTube videos of Forster's work included the song's very racist lyrics; however, I did find one of the piece played on acoustic guitar -- HERE -- so you can listen (without the awful lyrics) and compare Foster's melody to Ungar's "Ashokan Farewell." So back to Phamie Gow's "War Song." Was she purposefully making reference to works like Ungar's and/or similar songs by Stephen Foster? Was she alluding to a certain war -- or just any war? Was she touching on war from a women's point of view? Or perhaps is the song alluding to some sort of post-war perspective?
I did enjoy the piece. It is pleasant, although it is short and very much like an "easy listening" tune. Because Gow's work was so short, I thought that I would also listen to Ethel Smyth's "The March of the Women," and again, it was not quite what I expected. Oh, it is a stirring piece, and it certainly works as a rousing anthem and call to battle for suffragettes -- but I expected something more traditional in the way of form.
"The March of the Women" is a nice enough tune -- supposedly based on a melody of a traditional tune Smyth had heard in Italy -- but there is no other development, expansion or augmentation. Just the one tune. As Jerry Seinfeld might say, "not that there's anything wrong with that." One other bonus work: I heard classical WQXR mention Charlotte Blake on International Women's Day, so I looked her up, and I listened to "Gravel Rag." It's a very fun piece, and I bet it's even more fun to play! You can listen to it on piano, HERE, and as an instrumental piece HERE. For information on Charlotte Blake and a list of her compositions, click HERE.
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A New Hope:As the header above says, each week I will listen to a piece of classical music that I've never heard before, and then I will report out what I thought about it. Archives
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