Barbara Strozzi's Che si può fare (sung by soprano, Sophie Negoïta).
Strozzi was a 17th century singer and composer, said to be one of the most prolific composers of secular music of her time. You can read more about her here.
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The feminism that took root in the 1970s spawned a lot of interest in women composers who had been sidelined in their day and largely forgotten to history. Too often that scholarship focused more on the sins of men than the merits of the music. But the music of women composers from earlier generations is now receiving attention for a better reason. The internet has changed the economics of music. Before, someone had to make a significant investment in publishing music, and there was no incentive to do that with a composer who lacked wide name recognition.
ReplyDeleteNow that the internet is flooded with very accomplished performances that are cheap to produce, the focus has shifted to more obscure composers—both men and women. A young performer can attract more attention by performing the music of a composer like Barbara Strozzi than by adding to the huge pile of recordings of Bach and Beethoven.
Since I also write a weekly post featuring a performance of enduring music, I’m always interested to see what you come up with. And this one has me following a thread from Strozzi and Sophie Negoïta into some interesting new areas of exploration.
Have you got a link to your page A & A ?
ReplyDeletePS, you could add that buying records used to be a male thing, because men controlled household money until the mid 1960s when women were given equal pay by various laws.
ReplyDeleteThey had it during WW2 when the men were away, but things went back when the men returned, because men were traditional providers. Give the girls a taste of freedom and they never go back! I say the 1960s were just a delayed reaction to WW2.
I remember that transition in the 1960s. Bank adverts targeting young women 'Don't let money burn a hole in your pocket'. When I joined the civil service 50 yrs ago, men were the 'class one' clerks served by female 'clerical assistants', typists, filing, secretaries. Great times, soon to be gone forever.
The ultimate effect was in the 1980s when record shops were replaced by fashion shops, because again men bought a few records, but working women built huge wardrobes of clothes they mostly never wore. Profit!
The 1950s were just an interlude by my reckoning, before the girls figured out they could demand equal pay like they had in the war - and businesses figured that women were more effective consumers. People want the 1950s back, but that was never going to happen once the cat got out of the bag.
ReplyDeleteA&A: Thanks for your informative comments. To echo Bruce's inquiry, do you have a blog link you can share?
ReplyDeleteHappy to share. I write at www.professorcarol.com and do a "Friday Performance Pick" each week, now at number 468 and counting.
ReplyDelete