Posts in 2022
THE CASE FOR EQUITY

…Canon is a human creation. It is dangerous to buy into the belief that all of the “great masters” rose into the pantheon of their own accord, simply on their own merit, like some sort of cream rising to the top. The narrative that as the classical music world leans into being more “woke”, we are being relegated to some sort of morass of mediocre music is a destructive fallacy…

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DORMÉS...

Another composer featured this Thursday evening as we begin our nearly 5-century exploration of music by composed by women for San Francisco Performances’ Salon series is Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre. The daughter of a harpsichord-maker and organist, Elisabeth Jacquet was trained by her father in music and displayed exceptional talent at the harpsichord from a young age. She was taken into the French court…

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THE FUTILE ERROR OF MEN

“…show the world the futile error of men who believe themselves patrons of the high gifts of intellect, which according to them cannot also be held in the same way by women.” — MADDALENA CASULANA

In 1568, Maddalena Casulana published her First Book of Madrigals, the first complete volume of music by a woman to be published in recorded western music history. The quote above is excerpted from her dedication in the front of the book…

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