WOMEN COMPOSERS Essay

WOMEN COMPOSERS concert was performed by the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra with Harout Fazlian, Ph.D. as conductor, the Swiss pianist soloist Andrea Wiesli, Ph.D. and the alto singer Fadia Tomb El Hage. It took place in Saint Joseph’s church, Ashrafiyeh, Lebanon, on Friday, the eighth of March 2019 at 8:30 PM. Six pieces were performed on that day which are all created by women composers. The pieces performed respectively in order are the following : Concerto for Piano Єt Orchestra, Faust Overture, Sequentia O Successores , Aria Che si puo fare , How blue the Sun for Voice Єt Orchestra, Pleusis No.

2 (Moments in Somnus).References : The first piece was written by Clara Schumann, who was born in 13 1819 and died in 1896. She was a German musician and composer. She started composing at the age of 13 and is considered one of the most distinguished composers and pianists of the Romantic era. Some of Schumann’s work : Caprices en forme de valse (1832), Romance vari©e (C major) (1833), Valses romantiques (1833), O weh des Scheidens, das er tat (1843), Impromptu (E major) Album de gaulois (1844), Die gute Nacht, die ich dir sage (1841) and Scherzo #2 (C minor) (1842).

Concerto for Piano Єt Orchestra is a romantic piece and is divided into three movements : Allegro affettuoso, Intermezzo and Allegro vivace. The work was premiered in Dresden on December 4, 1845.The work is scored for a solo piano and a classical orchestra consisting of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons two horns, two trumpets, timpani, strings and isn’t a part of a larger work .The second piece was written by Emilie Mayer, who was born in 1812 and died in 1883. Mayer was also a German composer of Romantic music. The list of her work is long with 8 Symphonies, 7 Overtures, 1 Opera, 1 Piano Concert and numerous piano solo pieces, violin sonates , cello sonates, piano trios and quartet, string quartet and quintets etc, such as Salonstјcke, Op. 29/2 . Faust Overture is also a romantic piece and its sections are respectively Adagio and Allegro. The work consists of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets (A), two bassoons two horns (D), two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, strings. This piece’s fisrt publication was in 1880 ” Stettin: Paul Witte and is not a part of a larger work. The third piece Sequentia O Successores was composed by Hildegard von Bingen, who was born in 1098 and died in 1179. She was the tenth child of a noble family and she is also known as Saint Hildegard and Sibyl of the Rhine. She was a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher , Christian mystic, visionary, and polymath. Saint Hildegard wrote liturgical songs, and poems. Hildegard’s works include three great volumes of visionary theology; a variety of musical compositions for use in liturgy, as well as the musical morality play Ordo Virtutum. The composer time period was the medieval one , and this piece played in the concert is a monophonic chant. In this concert Fadia Tomb el Hage sang it. Its movements was 75 works, and morality play. The fourth piece Aria Che si Puo fare was composed by Barba ra Strozzi who was born in 1619 and died in 1677.Strozzi was an Italian singer and composer of baroque compositions.This piece is a baroque style one . Its instrumention consist of voice, continuo (Hor che Apollo also contains parts for 2 violins). Its movements are 12 works (5 cantatas, 6 arias and one serenata) and it was first published in 1664. The fifth piece How Blue the Sun for Voice Єt Orchestra was composed by Joelle Khoury who was born in 1963. Khoury was a Lebanese-American pianist and a jazz and contemporary classical music composer. Her maor achievements were that In 1995, she founded In-Version, a jazz quintet performing original compositions which combine a contemporary bebop style with complex counterpoint lines. The piece played in the concert. Was originally composed for contralto Fadia Tomb El Hage. In fact this piece is based on a text extracted from a book by Sabah Zwein.The last piece Pleusis No. 2 (Moments in Somnus) was composed by Hiba el Kawas who was born in 1972. Hiba Al Kawas is a Lebanese operatic soprano, composer, and academic. Hiba Al Kawas has composed for symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra, string orchestra, various ensembles, piano, and voice. In her compositions traditional Arabic instruments are included in the orchestra. The start of the piece played in the concert reminds of the invented style by the 20th century Polish composeres. The adagio is the awakened emotions and the oriental Arabic intrventions reflect roots in the unconscious of the composer dream. Finally the percussion announces the broiling love and rythms f the Levant.The title in fact, points to the moments lived beyond and above space and time where it only exits in Somnus. Actually, this is my first time attending a classical music concert. I honestly enjoyed it and it wasn’t boring as I expected . You can feel the music in a different, more pleasant way at a live classical concert. My ears felt the difference, live instrumental music sounds more pleasant. In addition I never imagined to see this amount of people still interested in this sort of concerts. The church was full ! However, I suggest they change the location to a larger one or more strategic one because I sat on a chair, but my vision was blocked by a column.