. B. DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

An expansion into the United States influenced conservatories to include women in composition and performance (Ammer 2001, 92).

Society's reliance on women is as old as humanity, as is its need for music. With each era, the voices and musical skills of women in choral music intensified; increased access to music education and high quality music output threatened patriarchal powers. How did these women survive and thrive? Did the music evolve accordingly?

Entrenched Expectations and Nuanced Relationships

Young women living in Romantic era Europe and the United States experienced patriarchal expectations. The role of homemaker and mother were socially accepted aspirations for women. If a woman desired to become an accomplished musician, her family and friends assumed it would be in the role of an entertainer, not as a professional (Dunbar 2011, 110). Post Enlightenment, science was a driving force alongside religion which pushed people towards their goals. Scientific leadership was also controlled by a patriarchal presence that negatively affected women in the pursuit of professional music making.

Scientists and psychologists codified traditional gender roles using new methods and language. These efforts were explained by the psychologist Havelock Ellis in 1894: “Genius is more common among men by virtue of the same general tendency by which idiocy is more common among men. The two facts are but two aspects of a larger zoological fact—the larger variational range of the male… It thus comes about that women… possess less spontaneous originality [than men] in the intellectual sphere. This is an organic tendency which no higher education can eradicate,” (Gates 1992, 61). Facing entrenched gender roles from scientists, religious leaders, music organizations, friends, and family, women composers of the Romantic era had their work cut out for them.

When Fanny Mendelssohn turned 23, her father wrote, “you must become more steady and collected, and prepare more earnestly and eagerly for your real calling, the only calling for a young woman—I mean the state of housewife,” (Dunbar 2011, 112). While he supported Fanny in pursuing music lessons, he supported her brother Felix’s pursuit of a musical career. Her talents were meant to stay in the home.

As young British composer Ethel Smyth found continued success in her music lessons, she dreamed of studying at the Leipzig Conservatorium. Her father attempted to dash her dreams by firing her instructor, but she continued studying nevertheless. When he intended to present her for male suitors, she made her behavior untenable which drove her father to kick her out of the house; coincidentally, this freed Ethel tomove away and pursue her compositional goals in Leipzig (Gates 1992, 147). These are dramatic, damaging examples. There were, however, more nuanced relationships between women composers of the time and the men in their lives that could support and encourage their careers.

While marriage in the Romantic era was often an end to a woman’s career, Fanny Mendellsohn Hensel lived a different reality. Letters from her husband Wilhelm encouraged his wife’s publications and included evidence that he used own artistic social circle to enhance her network and performance opportunities (Dunbar 2011, 113).

Amy Cheney’s marriage to Dr. Henry Harris Aubrey Beach increased her compositional output, using financial resources from his career as a surgeon and network of affluent supporters in the greater Boston area (Ammer 2001, 97).

Clara Weik’s father encouraged her musical prodigy from a young age and her life goals beyond domestic life. With resources and encouragement, her father’s support transcended traditional gender roles and contributed to Clara having an international performance career by age 12 (Dunbar 2011, 121).

These positive impacts are not to be mistaken for hero worship. Although Fanny Hensel’s husband supported her compositional career, Fanny’s music could only be published under her brother Felix’s name. This has caused confusion about compositional ownership between the siblings. To the detriment of her success, Felix performed and published her works as his own and would only admit his sister’s compositional ownership if inquired. On the other hand, Felix revered his sister’s work as superior to his own and made it known to critics, publishers, and the musical elite in his sphere of influence (Dunbar 2011, 112).

Although Amy Beach’s husband supported her compositional craft, she only revived her performance career after his death. She solidified her name in the US and Europe as a leading composer of the Romantic era (Ammer 2001, 101).

Clara Weik’s father’s intentions were documented in forms and letters to be greedy, focused on helping his daughter profit for his own benefit and at the expense of

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

his other children (Dunbar 2011, 121). While engaged to Robert Schumann, Clara Weick’s father ruthlessly attempted to end their relationship and severed most communication with her after the marriage (Dunbar 2011, 122).

Clara’s natural musicianship skills were superior to Robert’s. Robert’s sense of self, purpose, and masculinity, wavered as he struggled with the dynamic difference in their abilities.Clara covered their public relations and business as his mental health declined. After his death, she persevered for the sake of their children and her own musical prowess, continuing on to compose, publish, and tour the world.

Relationships between women composers of the Romantic era and the men in their lives were complex, but common themes included: having grit to pursue music before the beginning of a relationship, and commitment to continue no matter the state or ending of those relationships. Romantic era actress Edith Wynne Mathison said it well: ”Nobody pays me for my art. That I give to the best of my ability. What I am paid for is what I must put up with in trying to give the world my art,” (Drinker 1948, 235). These composers experienced substantial setback by men in their personal lives; however, they persevered to make beautiful music, boldly claiming their place in history.

Along the way, these composers' relationships with other women served as a lifesource, sustaining careers through friendship, patronage, and romance. In the later half of her career, Amy Beach traveled Europe to perform and indulge in artistry. The First World War prompted her return to the east coast where she turned her attention towards teaching (Thomas, n.d.). She mentored girls and women in piano and composition and her legacy became well known and appreciated. ‘Amy Beach Clubs’ spread throughout the United State which honored her piano skills, compositional craft, and feminist spirit.

Dame Ethel Smyth lived her life as an openly Queer woman, composer, writer, and activist. Of her four largest donors and supporters, three were women, including her sister Mary Hunter, the Empress Eugénie, and Mary Dodge. Her relationship with the Empress went beyond patronage, with a deep friendship and public romance (Brooklyn Museum, n.d.). Her most high profile relationship was one of intimacy and mutual reverence with the author

Virginia Woolfe. Woolfe wrote about their first meeting and commented that Smyth had “descended upon me like a wolf on the fold in purple and gold, terrifically strident and enthusiastic—I like her—she is as shabby as a washerwoman and shouts and sings… As a writer she is astonishingly efficient—takes every fence,” (Gates 1992, 164). In a time where patriarchal expectations created firm, imposing barriers for women, these composers drew on their relationships with women as a source of love, connection, patronage, intimacy, friendship, and fervor. These women supported women, and supported by them too.

Double Standards, Struggles, and Movements

Breaking out of imposed gender roles and navigating complex relationships of all kinds, Romantic era women composers were grappling with the music industry’s blatant sexism. To be known as a composer in the 19th and 20th centuries, one needed to bridge the gap from an excellent education to publication.

At the beginning of her career, Fanny Hensel wrote to Felix that she had to “shove [her music] down Schlesinger’s throat.” Schlesinger, initially a gatekeeper of her publication, would one day become her biggest advocate (Dunbar 2011, 112). Once Fanny and her contemporaries could break into publication, the next step was securing performances of their works. Amy Beach showed a prolific talent for having her work programmed in the greater Boston area, especially in the realm of orchestral and symphonic works. Her performance debut at Boston Music Hall in 1883 featured the Moscheles G Minor Concerto, but not until the end of the decade were her compositions performed in those same halls. Initially, local reviews read that her music was “dainty yet sufficiently passionate” and “a fine piece of bravura work and an excellent study piece, but as a cadenza it violated good taste,” (Ammer 2001, 97).

Of Clara Schumann’s early work, a local review said, “One has to marvel approvingly at the masculinity of the spirit that pervades and the technical difficulties leave absolutely no doubt about the widely admired virtuosity of the composer,” (Dunbar 2011, 124).

At the height of her compositional career, Ethel Smyth booked her opera TheWreckers at Queen’s Hall in London. Many reviews were patronizing, claiming the work was a ‘remarkable achievement for a woman,’ but one local journalist challenged these reviews, writing “Indeed! Why, no one in this country, man or woman, has written anything to compare with it for the last fifteen years,” (Gates 1992, 158).