The Women Composers Challenge Week One
Welcome to our latest community-driven challenge! In this challenge, you are invited to work on music by women composers. Whether it be a historical composer like Catharina Josepha Pratten, or a contemporary composer like our very own Ashley Lucero, let's take a dive into this music which certainly deserves more attention in the guitar community.
So, the goal is to choose a piece (or several pieces), and to work on it throughout the course of the challenge, posting videos or audio files of your progress along the way.
Or maybe you are a woman composer, and you would like to take this opportunity to share some of your work with the community.
We have never discussed how long these community-driven challenges should last, but it seems to me that our usual four weeks is fitting. That would mean the challenge will end on Saturday, May 3rd. I will post a new discussion for each week of the challenge.
If you are looking for a place to start your search and pique your interest, Candice Mowbray has an excellent website on the subject. Here is a link.
If any beginners would like some suggestions for your playing level, feel free to ask the community by posting a message here. If you prefer to ask me personally, just use the TB messaging system.
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We cannot have a challenge on this topic without Maria Linnemann.
so I will polish her beautiful song Souvenir from the Suite for Lovers. Here is an iPhone-shot version when I tried a guitar (No capo though):https://youtube.com/shorts/lBAXEDH19b8?si=28Vt7FJPDUj1jL9K
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Bart Versteeg Absolutely beautiful Bart. Great choice and performance.
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Bart Versteeg A beautiful piece, Bart! I do love her music, so I am glad you will be working on it. Thanks for joining in!
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Bart Versteeg Nice piece and very well-played, Bart. I've seen her name but didn't know any of her music. Very cool.
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Bart Versteeg That is a beautiful piece wonderfully played, Bart. Thanks for sharing this.
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Bart Versteeg really nice!
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Bart Versteeg Such a beautiful piece, and very expressively played. Thank you!
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Pratten - Elfins Revels
I found this piece on IMSLP and it intrigued me. The music seems to be telling a little story about gnomes and fairies. On the score, there are these short descriptions of what each section is meant to invoke. I am not certain what Pratten's intention was here, other than to give the performer some imagery. The only performance of it I could find (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45pcIjZ3BLw) actually has a narrator saying these descriptive phrases aloud while the guitarist performs.
I am still in the beginning stages with this one, especially in the C section (the form is ABCBA). It has a tremolo section (pmi only), which is a real weakness for me.
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Eric Phillips Frisky elves frolicking? Sounds rather risqué.
Actually the frolicking elves seem rather sombre. They remind me of the Oompa Loompas in the Willy Wonka movie (w/ Gene Wilder)
Great work on another long piece.
Correction: not sure why but I referred to elves rather than gnomes.
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Eric Phillips Beautiful as always Eric. I especially love the A section, it evokes this bittersweet longing and remembrance for someone or something.
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Eric Phillips I love how the story start off with frisky Gnomes just minding their business before being interrupted by the fairies. Looking forward to hearing the complete piece.
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Eric Phillips That's a very cool piece, Eric. And the score is interesting. I wonder if it's meant to be narrated like Peter and the Wolf or if it's like Borbala Seres's lesson where she says she makes up stories within a piece. Really an interesting find either way.
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Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary don Steve Price Thanks, guys. It is a very interesting concept. Like I said, I am not sure what Pratten's intention was in giving us this little storyline. It also reminded me of Borbala Seres' livestream on storytelling with our interpretation. If I had any skill in animation, it would be cool to make an animated video with a Disney-like wordless story and Pratten's music being played simultaneously.
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Eric Phillips Great start on this very interesting piece, Eric! About the text, my initial thought was that it is best left silent, but the performance (with narrator) you link is very effective. (And brings to mind a few prog-rock classics from my youth: Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells' and Rick Wakeman's 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth'.) One curious detail here is the dedication of the work: it is not from the composer (as would be normal) but from her sister, 'Madame' Giulia Pelzer, to a certain colonel Temple. Giulia, seventeen years younger than Catharina, was an accomplished guitarist in her own right. (I looked briefly to see if she had composed anything for guitar, but could find only two song arrangements.)
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David Krupka Thank you, David. I do not know those prog-rock references you made. I had noticed the dedication, but I did not know anything about Giulia being a guitarist. I wonder what exactly led to the dedication on behalf of Giulia to Colonel Temple. Giulia is called Madame Giulia Pelzer - would that indicate that she was Catharina's sister-in-law? Was the colonel just a friend, or was there more going on? Did he have some sort of fascination with elves, gnomes, and fairies? So many questions. Maybe I should start a podcast.
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Eric Phillips The use of the term 'Madame' did make me wonder whether there might be a second Giulia - a sister-in-law - but then the dedication to someone not her husband would seem odd. (I also wondered whether Giulia might be the mother, but her name turned out to be Marie.) So I think it must have been the sister, now an adult but unmarried. (The title 'Madame' also appears on the title page of the two song arrangements I mentioned. Moreover, she is identified here as 'Professor of guitar and mandoline at the Guildhall School of Music'.) And who was Colonel Temple? - The only J.A. Temple I find through google is an artist, apparently still active in 1921***, which seems a little late, but certainly possible if he was about the same age as Giulia and lived into his eighties. (Giulia herself lived into her one hundredth year, dying in 1937 - four years after the birth of Julian Bream!) Was the colonel a suitor? Or someone desired to become one? As you say, so many questions!
*** I do wonder about the accuracy of the date, because the style of the paintings attributed to him suggest a much earlier era.
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David Krupka I have no idea of your education level, David, but I am going to start calling you Dr. Krupka! Even if you do not have the degree, I will bestow an honorary doctorate upon you.
That and $1.50 might get you a cup of coffee (or maybe $20 if it's from Starbucks). -
Eric Phillips All I am is a proficient user of google! Btw, the two prog-rock albums I mentioned feature some narration. In 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth
' the narrator reads brief excerpts of Verne's novel, setting the musical scene - much like in 'Elfins revels'. In 'Tubular Bells
' the narrator simply recites (in dramatic fashion) the names of a long series of instruments (culminating in the bells of the title) as each takes up the main theme of the music in the finale of part I.
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David Krupka I only listened to a few bits, but that stuff is pretty out there. Like prog rock on steroids. Do you think either of them were inspired by Pratten?
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Eric Phillips Undoubtedly, I'm sure! You see, Wakeman's piano teacher had studied at Guildhall, and she had a friend who knew Mrs. Pratten. So it's a direct line of influence, I'm quite certain of it. (Yes, I did make all that up.)
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Eric Phillips Btw, I'm not sure I could tolerate listening to either of those two albums in their entirety myself these days ...
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Eric Phillips Maybe you could ask Chatgpt to attempt it!
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Song for Maria - take 2
I managed to work on it some more. More or less decided on the fingerings, (to be fair, there wasn't much to do as Laura Snowden indicated hers in the score and they are excellent already).
Need to work on tempo and tone of my a finger.
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don So beautiful! What a great discovery. Do you know the background of the song? Who is Maria?
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don Beautiful piece and performance, Don.
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Eric Phillips Maria is Laura's sister and she wrote this for her.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
