Major Female Opera Composers
A number of reasons, including the high cost of production and high status of opera, have been suggested to explain the relatively few women who have been composers of opera, and no woman composer met the criteria for inclusion above. However, some experts in our sample disagreed, and named one or both of the women below as comparable to those already listed:
- Francesca Caccini (1587 – after 1641) was one of the best-known and most influential female European composers before the 19th century. Her stage work, La liberazione di Ruggiero, has been widely considered the first opera by a woman composer.
- Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944) is perhaps most famous for her work for the suffragettes; however, she also wrote several operas of note, including The Wreckers.
- Judith Weir (born 1954) began composing full-length operas in 1987 with A Night at the Chinese Opera.
Read more about this topic: List Of Major Opera Composers
Famous quotes containing the words major, female, opera and/or composers:
“Look, I’m not saying he didn’t make some major mistakes. When it comes to value judgments, Rob is right up there with Custer and Nixon.”
—Jonathan Reynolds, screenwriter. Leo (Richard Mulligan)
“Recently we’ve been hearing a lot about women “having it all.” Myself, I think that is not really an accurate description of female lives today. It seems to me that what we have been up to is DOING it all.”
—Sylvia Hewlett (20th century)
“The Opera is obviously the first draft of a fine spectacle; it suggests the idea of one.”
—Jean De La Bruyère (1645–1696)
“More significant than the fact that poets write abstrusely, painters paint abstractly, and composers compose unintelligible music is that people should admire what they cannot understand; indeed, admire that which has no meaning or principle.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)