She Said Boom

On a bright Sunday afternoon, I went to a piano recital at Gallery 345. Instead of yet another retread of Beethoven and ilk, classical pianist Sarah Hagen highlighted women composers in a show entitled Wonder Women. She actually had a hard time researching these composers as for the most part, they've faded into obscurity. So in addition to playing their music, Hagen gave short bios on them before various pieces.

It's no surprise that the patriarchal cultures they lived under limited their opportunities during their lifetime and erased them afterwards. Yet under these conditions, some of these women still created a large repertoire. Most of these works are probably lost forever, such as the other 24 sonatas by Marianna Martines, but Hagen is hopeful they are simply gathering dust in some basement archives at European universities. It was interesting that their families were supportive including Felix who published some of Fanny Mendelssohn's work under his name. It was usually domineering husbands who scuttled their career. It was amazing, Hagen noted, that Germaine Tailleferre still believed in the power of love and romance. The other forces were dismissive critics. Cécile Chaminade was popular enough to have "Chaminade [listening] clubs" throughout the U.S. but the unfair label of "domestic music" has tarnished her reputation. A few like Dora Pejačević and Lili Boulanger probably just died too young.

There were many eyebrow-raising (from a modern perspective) details but Hagen tried to keep it fairly breezy and upbeat. As a performer who also has a comical Fringe sketch called Perk Up, Pianist!, she got lots of laughs with her dry wit. Whether it was Toronto's moniker of The 6 was surely "professed love" of 1920s French music or Agathe Backer Grondahl being from the "Holy Land" (Hagen's ancestral Norway), it was enjoyable listening to her banter.

The music itself was wonderful. I was particularly taken with Hermit Thrush at Morn (Amy Beach), the Largo from Sonata in E-flat Major (Marianne von Auenbrugger), the Adagio from Sonata in G Major (Marianna Martines) and Nocturne Op. 6 No. 2 (Clara Schumann). These gentler passages shouldn't be taken as evidence that women write "pretty music", another biased charge against these composers. Hagen pointed out that some of them were "wicked pianists", among the best in their day, and it came through in some of the more fiendish passages. After the show, I picked up a copy of Hagen's new album, Women of Note, that highlighted Auenbrugger and Martines.

It wasn't all sad stories. Clara Schumann had an equal and loving marriage, though given some of her biographical details, she definitely carried the heavier load. She was also likely the first pianist to play from memory, inspiring (positively or otherwise) Liszt to do the same when he heard about her exploits. The happiest people were probably the Martines sister. They remained unmarried and devoted themselves to music; knew and lived in the same building in Vienna with Haydn and Porpora; and hosted soirées where Mozart would drop by with duet sonatas, specially written to be played with Marianna.

And if the modern audience thought that those sexist days were in the past, Hagen told an amusing story about a recent showcase where she played some of Martines' music. A man accosted her afterwards, disbelieving her about Marianna. His source of knowledge? He was from Vienna and would obviously know.