The Score Magazine - Archive November 2016 issue! | Page 39

Francesca Caccini Amy Beach Ruth Crawford Seeger
Francesca Caccini, another
forgotten female composer of (16th
century), who’s composition was
sadly often misplaced with that of
her father Giulio, who was also a
renowned figure of that time. Her
compositions were so enriched
with the emotions and feelings of
the Italian mass that it flourished
throughout and could be even found
in Italian Baroque. She was called
by a different name ‘La Cecchina’.
Her musical creations captivated
many with her magic. She was also
a teacher, a poet, a Latinist, and
a singer. Her ‘comedy-ballet’ had
elevated her femdom to the level of
the first Italian woman who has an
opera successfully staged in her own
might. She received her training in
music from the Medici Court where
she was born. Her father used to
work there too and the duo soon
turned out to be popular neighbors,
considering the fact that they had
been dedicatedly following the path
to better music with every passing
day. Her sweet voice, flattered the
Henry IV of France when she sang
in his wedding to Maria de’ Medici,
and King Henry requested her to
stay there.But she retraced her
way back to Florence where she
got the first position at the court
for her carnival entertainment La
Stiava. She contributed to the court
with sweetest tunes ever and to
liturgical settings. Almost 32 songs
were composed by La Cecchina but
that is not all, in stage works alone
she completed almost 16 works of
dramas by Michelangelo Buonarroti.
She reached the pinnacle of success,
within a very short span of her
beginning days. A genius piano player of the
17th century, Amy Beach, was
invited by the Boston Symphony
to perform when she was only
18 years old. In spite of being an
outrageous performer, she had to
step aside from her stage career
on the request of her husband,
who was also a high-flying Boston
doctor. But passion always makes
its way through to reach where
it is supposed to. And hence
Amy also found out a better
solution to maintain the golden
equilibrium between her dream
and her family. She embraced her
composing convention to a high
level and created in 1896, the Gaelic
Symphony, which is actually
becomes today known as the very
first performance of a symphonic
bit by an American female
composer/pianist. Among all the mentioned names
of the female composers, this
lady occupies the most esteemed
position as a musician. Ruth
Crawford Seeger, composer
of 20th century, had a very
modern style of weaving the
pieces of music like no other,
she produced outrageous scores
which were impeccably unique
and unorthodox which were stand
alone success altogether. She was a
queen of originality and had been
always revered so by her fans,
when it comes to the composition of
music. She became the first women
to win the Guggenheim Fellowship,
which she used to travel Europe.
Her most well known and notable
work ‘String Quartet’ was hatched
in Germany along with the Three
Chants’. Both the works were
equally original and strong in their
respective stints. Her better half
was also a figure of high esteem,
Charles Seeger. She after her
marriage she thought of diverting
her musical journey to that of
meticulous work of gathering
Folksongs of America for the
purpose of Library of Congress.
This was a project which s