Episode 11: Mystics, Muses & Mothers

For Women’s History Month, we spotlight and celebrate those who today would be called the “influencers” – the female figures of history who have either inspired, shaped, or created many of the landmark works of Western music, from Mozart’s time to our own!

This Episode’s Playlist

Maria Theresia von Paradis (1759-1824): Sicilienne
Yezu Woo, violin | Michel-Alexandre Broekaert, piano
South Market Stage, Grace Christian School
Heifetz Institute Recording | 03.25.202

Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979): Three Pieces for Cello & Piano
Noémie Raymond-Friset, cello | Michel-Alexander Broekaert, piano
South Market Stage, Grace Christian School
Heifetz Institute Recording | 03.25.2022

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957): Marietta’s Lied from Die tote Stadt, Op. 12
Yezu Woo, violin | Michel-Alexandre Broekaert, piano
South Market Stage, Grace Christian School
Heifetz Institute Recording | 03.25.2022

Robert Schumann: Romance in F, Op. 28, No. 2 [excerpt]
Lynne Mackey, piano
House Concert, Staunton, VA
Heifetz Institute Recording | Nov. 6, 2020

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805 – 1847): Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 11
III. Lied. Allegretto
IV. Finale. Allegretto moderato
Yezu Woo, violin | Noémie Raymond-Friset, cello | Michel-Alexandre Broekaert, piano
South Market Stage, Grace Christian School
Heifetz Institute Recording | 03.25.2022

Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867-1944): Romance, Op. 23
Rachell Ellen Wong, violin | Carlos Avila, piano
Sunspots Pavilion, Staunton, VA
Heifetz Institute Recording | 07.02.2016

Georg Philipp Telemann: Fantasia No. 7 in E-flat major: I. Dolce [excerpt]
Geneva Lewis, violin
Virtual Performance, Los Angeles CA
Heifetz Institute Recording | July 29, 2020

Lera Auerbach (b. 1973): 24 Preludes for Cello & Piano
No. 7
No. 8
No. 17
No. 12
Noémie Raymond-Friset, cello | Michel-Alexander Broekaert, piano
South Market Stage, Grace Christian School
Heifetz Institute Recording | 03.25.2022

 

Go Deeper

• Even though composer, pianist, inventor and advocate for the blind Maria Theresia von Paradis was celebrated in her own era (the Times of London called her the “Blind Enchantress”),  “our girl seems to have stayed on the hillside of history despite her popularity in her day and despite the fact that she was deeply respected by her musical peers, notes contemporary English critic Selena Mills.  Read all about the modern-day efforts to find the pleasures of Paradis.
• Meet The Musical Mendelssohns: Felix And Fanny is a fascinating NPR feature that explores the relationship between the siblings.  “The connection between Fanny and Felix was more than brother and sister,” opines Ebène Quartet cellist Raphaël Merlin. “It was almost soul mates.”
• Via the website womenyoushouldknow.net, music professor Dale Debakcsy offers a listening guide to the works of composer Lera Auerbach: “the polymath phenomenon whose mixture of tonality, atonality, storytelling, and visual unease answers at once the question of why composers still exist in a way that all of my yammering never could.”