Sounds and Sweet Airs: The Forgotten Women of Classical Music

Name: Sounds and Sweet Airs: The Forgotten Women of Classical Music
Price: 14.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Anna Beer
ISBN: 9781780748566

This is the hidden history of the women who dared to write music in a man's world! In Sounds and Sweet Airs, cultural historian Anna Beer reveals the hidden stories of eight remarkable composers, taking the reader on a journey from seventeenth-century Medici Florence to London in the Blitz. Exploring not just the lives and works of eight exceptional artists, Beer also asks tough questions about the silencing of their legacy, which continues to this day. Why do we still not hear masterpieces such as Hensel’s piano work "The Year," Caccini’s arias and Boulanger’s setting of Psalm 130?

Beer's essays on composers Francesca Caccini, Barbara Strozzi, Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Marianna Martines, Fanny Hensel (née Mendelssohn), Clara Schumann, Lili Boulanger, and Elizabeth Maconchy capture the sexism these incredibly gifted women faced — and the way that lingering prejudice affects how we decide whose stories are told. A long-overdue celebration of neglected virtuosos, Sounds and Sweet Airs presents a complex and inspirational picture of artistic endeavour and achievement that deserves to be part of our cultural heritage.