FAQ
Ethel Smyth Place Setting Group
Ethel Smyth
(b. 1858, London, England; d. 1944, Woking, England)Ethel Smyth was a twentieth-century British composer and a champion of women's rights and female musicians. During her lifetime, she composed symphonies, choral works (musical pieces written for a choir)... Read more
Elfrida Andrée
b. 1841, Visby, Sweden; d. 1929, Göteborg, SwedenElfrida Andrée was a Swedish musician, composer, and advocate of women's rights. She became a professional organist in 1857—a unique accomplishment for a woman at this time—and served as the... Read more
Amy Beach
b. 1867, Henniker, New Hampshire; d. 1944, New YorkAmy Beach was an American pianist and the first acclaimed female composer in the United States. In 1885, though still a teenager, Beach became a soloist with the Boston Symphony... Read more
Antonia Bembo
b. circa 1640, Venice; d. circa 1720, ParisAntonia Bembo, an Italian composer and singer born in Venice, moved to Paris some time before 1676 and performed for King Louis XIV, who granted her a pension (government funding)... Read more
Faustina Bordoni
b. 1697, Venice; d. 1781, VeniceFaustina Bordoni, an Italian mezzo-soprano opera singer, was renowned for her impeccable breath control, great vocal range, beauty, and acting talent. Bordoni performed in Venice, London, Munich, Vienna, Dresden, and... Read more
Lili Boulanger
b. 1893, Paris; d. 1918, Mézy, FranceLili Boulanger, a French performer and composer, was the first woman to win the Prix de Rome, for the cantata Faust et Hélène, in 1913. Though she suffered from poor... Read more
Nadia Boulanger
b. 1887, Paris; d. 1979, ParisNadia Boulanger, sister of Lili Boulanger, was a French composer, teacher, and conductor. She is regarded as one of the principal compositional teachers of the twentieth century, and one... Read more
Antonia Brico
b. 1902, Rotterdam, Netherlands; d. 1989, Denver, ColoradoAntonia Brico, a Dutch-born American pianist, was the first woman to gain international recognition as a conductor of professional symphony orchestras, including companies in Berlin, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and... Read more
Marguerite-Antoinette Couperin
b. 1705, Paris; d. circa 1778, ParisFrench harpsichordist Marguerite-Antoinette Couperin was the first woman to hold the position ordinaire de la musique de la chambre du roi pour le clavecin (court musician to the king of... Read more
Marguerite-Louise Couperin
b. 1675/76 or 1678/79, Paris; d. 1728, VersaillesMarguerite-Louise Couperin, a French singer and harpsichordist, came from a family with prolific musical talents. The Frenchman Évrard Titon du Tillet, in his 1732 book Le Parnasse françois, describes her... Read more
Elizabeth de la Guerre
b. 1665, Paris; d. 1729, ParisThe correct name of this person is ELISABETH JACQUET DE LA GUERRE. French composer Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre began her musical career at the age of five, playing... Read more
Margarethe Dessoff
b. 1874, Vienna; d. 1944, Locarno, SwitzerlandMargarethe Dessoff came from a musical family; her father was a conductor in Frankfurt, Germany. After World War I, Dessoff moved to New York where, in 1924, with Angela Diller... Read more
Sophie Drinker
b. 1888, Haverford, Pennsylvania; d. 1967, Chestnut Hill, PennsylvaniaSophie Drinker, a writer, historian, and amateur musicologist, studied the history of women in music. Her extensive research resulted in the 1948 publication Music and Women: The Story of Women... Read more
Jeanne Louis Farrenc
b. 1804, Paris; d. 1875, ParisThe correct spelling of this name is JEANNE-LOUISE FARRENC. Jeanne-Louise Farrenc was a Parisian pianist, composer, teacher, and scholar. She composed numerous pieces for piano, including Air russe varié... Read more
Carlotta Ferrari
b. 1837, Lodi, Italy; d. 1907, Bologna, ItalyItalian composer and poet Carlotta Ferrari lived mostly in Bologna, where she taught piano, wrote, and sang. Ferrari authored the librettos for her own operas (Ugo [dramma lirico, 4], 1857;... Read more
Wanda Landowska
b. 1879, Warsaw; d. 1959, Lakeville, ConnecticutWanda Landowska, a Polish composer and harpsichordist, conducted extensive research on all aspects of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music, and published her book Musique ancienne in 1909. Landowska toured throughout Europe... Read more
Jenny Lind
b. 1820, Stockholm; d. 1887, Wynds Point, Herefordshire, EnglandSwedish opera singer Jenny Lind was immensely popular throughout Europe and the United States. Nicknamed "the Swedish nightingale" for her naturally beautiful singing style, Lind performed regularly in Stockholm throughout... Read more
Fanny Mendelssohn
b. 1805, Hamburg, Germany; d. 1847, BerlinThe elder sister of famed composer Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny was a gifted pianist and prolific composer in her own right, today recognized as one of the most important composers of... Read more
Rose Mooney
b. 1740, County Meath, Ireland; d. 1798, Killala, County Mayo, IrelandRose Mooney was an Irish harp player. Like many other Irish and Scottish harpers of her era, Mooney was blind. She was the only woman to compete in the first... Read more
Clara Schumann
b. 1819, Leipzig, Germany; d. 1896, Frankfurt, GermanyClara Wieck Schumann was one of the most distinguished concert pianists of the nineteenth century. She often premiered compositions by Johannes Brahms, Frédéric Chopin, and Robert Schumann, whom she married... Read more
Maria Theresia von Paradis
b. 1759, Vienna; d. 1824, ViennaBlind from a very early age, Maria Theresia von Paradis played piano and worked as a composer in her hometown of Vienna, where Mozart wrote a piano concerto for her.... Read more
Mary Lou Williams
b. 1910, Atlanta, Georgia; d. 1981, Durham, North CarolinaMary Lou Williams, American jazz instrumentalist, composer, and arranger, was a master of blues, stride, swing, and boogie-woogie. In the 1940s, she inspired and popularized the revolutionary new sound of... Read more
Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum