Historically, women have been marginalized in countless ways. So much has been written on this topic that I offer the following commentary somewhat reluctantly. It is nearly impossible to offer a succinct comment regarding the need to highlight female composers, artists, poets, and visionaries. And yet I persist, and offer my ca. 750 words to elucidate and celebrate women artists and musicians, poets, composers, and creative contributors alike. / Shad Ryan Wenzlaff

The Women in the Arts Foundation, Inc. (WIA) was founded in 1971 and incorporated in 1973 by artists, writers and other art world professionals during a time of great unrest and creative ferment. Women in the Arts quickly grew into a national organization. Throughout its history, WIA has proved to be adaptable and creative in its ongoing work to change outdated concepts and attitudes about women as professional artists.

On their website, the National Museum of Women in the Arts cites several statistics that, while only telling part of the story, illuminate the fact that female artists are disproportionately marginalized.
”A recent survey of the permanent collections of 18 prominent U.S. art museums found that the represented artists are 87% male and 85% white.”

A significant factor that contributes to the lack of acknowledgment, much less recognition, of female composers in history stems from the role of the music critic. Some composers and critics disliked the idea of women entering the field of composition. (McClary 19, see also The Recognition of Female Composers, Matthew Scott Johnson, accessible online - https://digitalshowcase.lynchburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=agora)

In the early 1990s, I explored my then budding interest in the music of Amy Beach in my BA thesis. By assessing the attendant criticism of Beach’s work, and looking at similar attitudes regarding the reception of Georgia O’Keeffe, I documented similarities in the way the public regarded each. Both figures were repeatedly compared to their male counterparts, and oftentimes were regarding in relatively disparaging terms in the midst of these comparisons. For instance, Amy Beach’s symphony and piano concerto were defined as evoking a Brahms-like quality, and defined as somehow “lesser” and not as robust as Brahms’ own writing. Georgia O’Keeffe grew frustrated at the attribution of her works as being made by a female artist - famously decrying such remarks: “…men put me down as the best woman painter… I think I’m one of the best painters”. Here, allow me to echo Toria Thomson, writing for the online journal “That’s What She Said” magazine published by the University of Bristol - Thomson remarks: “…can’t we appreciate O’Keeffe’s work for its artistic value, not for its artistic value for a woman? Surely, as viewers, we don’t react to art differently depending on the gender of the artist? Is there even such a thing as ‘female’ art?”

Matthew Scott Johnson writes: “social constraints, prejudice from the music community (primarily as a result of years of social constraints), and the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the women who did manage to gain an adequate music education (namely, being overshadowed by the men that surrounded them). As a result of these hindrances in their time, their music was seldom performed and quickly forgotten, leaving little chance for the circulation of their compositions. Though these hardships have become less onerous to female composers over time, the effects of a history without representation have made it difficult for many women to make names for themselves and for most of the compositions of nineteenth century women to spark interest in today’s society.” Scott Johnson further elucidates the gendered-aspects of music history and theory which define aesthetics in terms of either masculine- or feminine terms.

While Marxist/Feminist scholars seek ways to recast the erasure and overt sexism from the annuls of historicism, there exist countercurrents in contemporary society that aim to strike against the impetus to include and recast the story of the historically marginalized artist preemptively, before we can even articulate the need to do so. This fear of recognizing the erasures, hiding the stories from public discourse, and dismantling of credibility of anyone who wishes to reveal and remember these histories serves as proof positive that these erasures are abundant and recurring. Nevertheless, there exists in our popular culture a systemic dismantling of history. Wendy Rouse describes this story in relation to the rainbow scare: an attitude that rides a wave of far-right extremism and Christian nationalism. She writes “confronting the rainbow panic” https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/confronting-the-rainbow-panic/ chronicling the ongoing discourse among historians, story tellers, commentators, artists, musicians, poets, and inclusive minded individuals to draw attention toward the need to pursue change. To render sexist commentary as itself outdated and cast it as a historical condition unto itself, and furthermore foster the obliteration of erasure as a mode of telling stories, remains a primary goal in the minds of many indeed educated and significant contemporary scholars, artists, and feminists alike. This brief essay is intended to empower any and all who - unfortunately, I can use this word - dare to engender oneself a feminist. May we seek ways to give primacy and voice to the stories of the marginalized but no less significant and noteworthy voices - particularly - of the female artist, musician, poet.

Photo by the author: SRWenzlaff

Why must “music by women” demonstrate itself as if a shadow of the “other” sex, marginalized somehow? By asserting that musicians must actively seek out works for performance and study by female composers, we give agency to the marginalizing effects of secondary otherness. And yet, we must enact this prioritization in the midst of the prevalent sexist omission of the female composer from the canon and performance record in order to one day realize a post-marginalist, post-othering condition.

This website will continue to add performances, repertoire, and commentary that aims to advance such a goal.

content forthcoming