A Matter of Art, Not Sex

Nearly 50 years ago, Virginia Woolf compared the situation of a woman composer to that of an actress in Shakespeare's day -- hopeless. Among the popular theories offered to explain the mysterious absence of eminent women composers was the biological: men compose symphonies, women compose babies. Sociologists point out that little girls are mostly encouraged to confine their talents to parlor piano playing. Though women have always been accepted as soloists, only in recent years have many conservatories trained women as composers. "Think of the thousands and thousands of men who have studied composing," says Pianist-Conductor Bo ris Goldovsky, "to produce only about three dozen masters. Statistically, wom en may simply have to catch up before they have their Beethoven." There are signs they soon may be getting their chance. In June Manhattan's Juilliard School for the first time awarded a doctorate in composition to a woman. Bi centennial money and International Women's Year have resulted in more commissions for female composers.

While still small in numbers, more women conductors are emerging. A few of to day's growing corps of women who have successful careers in music:

THEA MUSGRAVE, 47, has written chamber music, ballet and opera. "Music is a human art, not a sexual one," she says. "Sex is no more important than eye color." When Britain's Musgrave talks about "space music," she is not referring to synthetic sci-fi sounds but to compositions in which the players are directed to move about the concert hall.

Her Clarinet Concerto, in which the soloist threads a path through the orchestra, will be heard at Caldwell's Philharmonic program celebrating women composers.

Musgrave is now writing a music drama about Mary Queen of Scots.

SHALAMIT RAN, 27, grew up in Israel, began composing works in her head at seven. When she was nine, her teacher wrote down one of her songs, which was played on the ra dio. Delighted at hearing her own music, she started writing it out herself and at 14 produced her first symphonic work. The New York Philharmonic performed her Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic premiered her piano concerto. Although many women composers feel that developing their talent leaves no room for domesticity, Ran is married--to a jazz musician. It annoys Ran that on divulging her own profession, people sometimes say, "Oh really? How cute."

BARBARA KOLB, 36, composer in residence at the American Academy in Rome, will return to New York next month for the premiere of Soundings, a richly textured romantic piece that blends overlapping layers of sounds. That same evening the work will also be performed in Rome by the Rome Radio Orchestra. Kolb, who grew up in Connecticut, spent six years in the clarinet section of the Hartford Symphony. It has never occurred to her that composing might be considered an exclusively male occupation. If anything, says Kolb, "composing a piece of music is very feminine. It is sensitive, emotional, contemplative. By comparison, doing housework is positively masculine."

ANTONIA BRICO, 73, explains, "I felt I'd never forgive myself if I didn't try." Forty years ago, Brico seemed to be on the brink of a brilliant career. In 1930 she became the first woman to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic. Albert Schweitzer taught her

Bach; Otto Klemperer, Bruno Walter and Jean Sibelius gave her their blessings. Then it all unraveled. Metropolitan Opera Baritone John Charles Thomas balked at being led by a woman. Opportunities to play her instrument, the orchestra, were rare. Settling in Denver, she conducted a group of semi-professionals and gave piano lessons. Last year Antonia, a film about her made by a former piano pupil--Folk Singer Judy Collins--started Brico on a second career. At 72, she was suddenly in demand. Last summer she conducted at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, and is now booked through 1976. Her ambition: to conduct Wagner at the Met.

JUDITH SOMOGI, 34, conducted a performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado in March 1974 and became the first woman on the podium of the New York City Opera. Then she warmed up her baton on a dramatically authoritative La Traviata and a breezy production of Donizetti's The Daughter of the Regiment. Somogi joined City Opera as a coach and rehearsal pianist in 1966. Do orchestras react differently when the maestro is a woman? "When I wore my low-cut dress, there was some notice," admits Somogi. "Well, Zubin Mehta is a very good-looking man, and you can bet the women in his orchestra notice it."

POZZI ESCOT, 42, was born in Peru--at 23, she was named Laureate Composer of Peru--and studied at Juilliard. Sands, her exotic orchestral fantasy, which will be performed at next week's New York Philharmonic concert, was commissioned in 1966 by the Venezuelan government in honor of that country's 450th birthday.

"In our schools we teach Bach, Beethoven and Brahms but nothing that has been composed in the past 70 years,"complains Escot, an assistant professor of music at Wheaton College, Mass. She is appalled at the small number of great American composers of either sex. "Roger Sessions and Elliott Carter to me are gods," she says. "But who else is there in that generation?" Escot believes that in the generation reaching maturity now, there are as many good women composers as there are men.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.