Female composers have almost always had to fight harder for recognition than their male colleagues. Fanny Hensel (1805-1847, sister of Felix Mendelssohn) wrote more than 400 works, many of which have never been published. Her father wrote to her in a letter that Felix could build a career in music, but that it could never become more than an 'ornament' in her life. Yet she persevered and achieved
… a great deal before then. "Oratorium auf Worte aus der Bibel" is actually more of an 'elongated' cantata set to biblical texts from the Old Testament. The music was written in memory of the victims of the cholera epidemic of 1831. Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) was the first woman to win the "Prix de Rome". This gave her the opportunity to continue the study in Italy. Her career came to an early end when she died of tuberculosis. She wrote two psalms: "Psalm 129" for baritone, female choir and orchestra and "Psalm 130 Du fond de l'abîme" for soloists, double quartet, choir, orchestra and organ. The aforementioned works are on a CD by various soloists and Philharmonia Koor and Orchestra Stuttgart conducted by Helmut Wolf. (LW) _ Helmut Wolf. (LW) _ Helmut Wolf. (LW) _more
