Songs for the night
An astonishing number of previously unknown names appear in this collection of piano songs by 19th century female composers.
While recordings and recitals of songs by female composers in the 1980s were still limited to a few names such as Clara Schumann and Fanny Hensel, Cécile Chaminade, Mel Bonis and Alma Mahler, in 1992 the music series "Frauen komponieren" ("Women compose") published by Schott from the 19th century also included Josephine Lang and Luise Adolpha Le Beau, as well as Luise Reichardt, Emilie Zumsteg and Johanna Kinkel.
The wealth of vocal music created by female composers for one voice with piano accompaniment is presented for the first time in Maria Behrendt's extremely carefully edited compilation Evening sounds Night songs expressed. It makes it clear that songs occupied a central position in the work of Romantic women composers within the German-speaking cultural area. Fanny Hensel, Clara Schumann, Josefine Lang and Johanna Kinkel are now joined by ten female composers who, it must be assumed, were previously hardly known to the specialist world.
The diversity of the texts is also noteworthy, as the poets Wilhelmine von Gersdorf, Anna Ritter, Aline Sello and Friederike Serre stand out alongside the frequently set poets Goethe, Heine, Lenau, Geibel and Heyse. The lack of biographical data on Isidore von Bülow, Mary Norris and Julie Wilhelmine von Tschirschky shows how much biographical information remains to be researched.
As Maria Behrendt concentrates her very special selection on evening songs, night songs, dreams, longing and nocturnal moods, one can guess how much there is still to discover in songs by 19th century women composers outside of these themes.
Of the total of 15 songs by as many female composers, the through-composed songs by Maria Arndts, Anna Bochkoltz, Bertha von Brukenthal, Clara Faisst, Fanny Hensel, Marie von Kehler and Mary Norris stand out from the verse songs by Josephine Lang, Aline Sello or Helene Zitelmann due to their stronger individuality. The editor has contributed exemplary individual annotations to the new editions, which are largely based on first editions and provide precise information about the sources as well as dedications and music text revisions.
Abendklänge Nachtgesänge, selected songs by female composers of the 19th century for voice and piano, edited by Maria Behrendt, Urtext, EB 9477, € 25.90, Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden
