03/21/2016 This absorbing sheaf of feminist biographical sketches chronicles four centuries of female composers struggling to write music against the headwinds of sexist mores, straitened employment opportunities, and child-rearing duties. Cultural historian Beer (Milton: Poet, Pamphleteer, and Patriot) profiles seven women, including Renaissance Medici court composer Francesca Caccini; Fanny Helsen, whose brother, composer Felix Mendelssohn, discouraged her from publishing her music; Clara Schumann, who sacrificed her music writing to support the composing career of her husband, Robert; and 20th-century avant-garde composer Elizabeth Maconchy. In her telling, these women led decidedly interesting lives, weathering murderous court intrigues, plague, war, and histrionic romances. From their diverse stories, she draws recurring themes: the importance of mentors; the desperate search for stable (if sometimes tyrannical) aristocratic patrons or the rare paying gig that accepted women; chauvinist assumptions, from the 17th-century suspicion that women musicians were essentially courtesans to the later conviction that they were shallow dilettantes; and pregnancies and family-care burdens that made writing difficult (Schumann raised eight children while supporting her family as a touring concert pianist). Beer’s thesis that her subjects were geniuses excluded from the canon only by patriarchal prejudice isn’t entirely convincing, but she writes with rich detail and sympathetic insight about their ambitious, adventurous battle to overcome barriers to creativity. Photos. (May 10)
'Never less than highly readable'.
‘Beer’s writing is lucid, engaging and exuberant, strongly evoking the cultures and atmospheres that surrounded her subjects...the book in general is terrifically enjoyable and accessible, and leaves one hankering for a second volume.’
'Beer's meticulously researched book is a vital step in the battle to overturn that ultimate injustice'.
'Offers vivid, colourful context on a situation that is echoed back through the centuries...Readable and wide-ranging, Beer's deft sketches are an elegant introduction to their subjects'.
‘A fascinating and refreshing rescue of a few well-chosen exemplars from the worthy but dull hands of musicologists... Thrilling.’
‘Both feminist analyst and fluent biographer, Beer makes engrossing and cogent cases for her subjects. She concludes that the proof of their art lies in the hearing and recommends recent recordings.’
‘This is a truly inspiring and fascinating book... Female composers today no longer need to feel there is anything to stop them creating music and forging a career as a composer – if there is still any doubt, then just read Sounds and Sweet Airs .’
Debbie Wiseman MBE – Classic FM’s Composer in Residence
''[A] stimulating and engaging book, written with passionate enthusiasm and a light touch'.
‘This book is a delight. Eight striking composers are reinstated in musical history, thanks to Anna Beer’s energetic research and lively writing.’
‘A meticulously researched, engrossing read, vividly bringing its eight subjects to life. It should appeal not only to music connoisseurs but to anyone interested in social and cultural history – and women’s place in it.’
‘Rewarding...insightful...Beer conveys the sexism and lifelong frustrations some immensely gifted creative artists encountered.’
‘Beer’s snapshot lives of women composers are savvy, sympathetic... [an] essential and insightful study of a woman’s unsung place in the closed world of classical music.’
'Beer has an eye for detail, and gives us a vivid sense of the stratagems these gifted, determined women had to employ'.
‘Books could be written about composers denied a place in the classical canon because of ethnicity or class or religion, but that doesn’t negate the truth and importance of Sounds and Sweet Airs ’.
‘An important book... groundbreaking and entertaining... This book should be required reading not just for those interested in cultural history, but for anyone wishing to understand the perception of women in the modern era.’
Professor Steven Parissien – Director
‘An engaging read and...contains a powerful and timely message’.
‘Elegantly written, Sounds and Sweet Airs offers compelling evidence of the prejudices against women composers’ aspirations across the centuries.’
‘A rich, revealing study of the lives of eight outstanding female composers...Long overdue, this book includes a list of recommended listening for each composer, a glossary of musical terms, and suggestions for further reading.This important work furthers cultural understanding of the history of female composers.’
‘Anna Beer’s eloquent and passionately argued narrative builds on the most up-to-date scholarship and makes an irresistible case for listening again to the work of women who were among the most admired musicians of their age. Much more than simply an attempt to balance the historical record, Sounds and Sweet Airs is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand music’s power and the politics of gender and sexuality that promoted, shaped and silenced women’s compositional careers from the Renaissance to the twentieth century.’
‘Such traits, as Beer laments, are still with us...All the more important, then, for excellent books like this one to remind us of what we are all missing’.
‘A fascinating glimpse into the world of the women whose music we should know and be hearing in the canon.’
'In this riveting book Anna Beer wades through centuries of prejudice from the fear of women composing at all...to the persistent unwillingness to perform, discuss or distribute their music'.
‘I am constantly in search of books that explore the lives of women who have been dismissed or overlooked by history, and this is what makes Anna Beer's latest book a total godsend. Sounds and Sweet Airs is an intoxicating historical examination of the way gender has shaped what we consider to be canonical... Beer’s impassioned overview delves into the hopes, motivations, and struggles each woman faced as she attempted to pursue her vocation while coping with the “boys club” mentality of their respective music communities.’ Lenny Letter’s Lit Thursday
Lenny Letter’s Lit Thursday
‘I am constantly in search of books that explore the lives of women who have been dismissed or overlooked by history, and this is what makes Anna Beer's latest book a total godsend. Sounds and Sweet Airs is an intoxicating historical examination of the way gender has shaped what we consider to be canonical... Beer’s impassioned overview delves into the hopes, motivations, and struggles each woman faced as she attempted to pursue her vocation while coping with the “boys club” mentality of their respective music communities.’ Lenny Letter’s Lit Thursday
Lenny Letters Lit Thursday
‘I am constantly in search of books that explore the lives of women who have been dismissed or overlooked by history, and this is what makes Anna Beer's latest book a total godsend. Sounds and Sweet Airs is an intoxicating historical examination of the way gender has shaped what we consider to be canonical... Beer’s impassioned overview delves into the hopes, motivations, and struggles each woman faced as she attempted to pursue her vocation while coping with the “boys club” mentality of their respective music communities.’ Lenny Letter’s Lit Thursday
Lenny Letter’s Lit Thursday
‘This is a truly inspiring and fascinating book... Female composers today no longer need to feel there is anything to stop them creating music and forging a career as a composer – if there is still any doubt, then just read Sounds and Sweet Airs .’
Debbie Wiseman MBE – Classic FM’s Composer in Residence
‘Both feminist analyst and fluent biographer, Beer makes engrossing and cogent cases for her subjects. She concludes that the proof of their art lies in the hearing and recommends recent recordings.’
‘Beer’s snapshot lives of women composers are savvy, sympathetic... [an] essential and insightful study of a woman’s unsung place in the closed world of classical music.’
'Beer has an eye for detail, and gives us a vivid sense of the stratagems these gifted, determined women had to employ'.
‘A meticulously researched, engrossing read, vividly bringing its eight subjects to life. It should appeal not only to music connoisseurs but to anyone interested in social and cultural history – and women’s place in it.’
"I am constantly in search of books that explore the lives of women who have been dismissed or overlooked by history, and this is what makes Anna Beer's latest book a total godsend. SOUNDS AND SWEET AIRS: The Forgotten Women of Classical Music is an intoxicating historical examination of the way gender has shaped what we consider to be canonical. While reading, it became alarmingly clear to me that we're missing out as a culture because prolific female virtuosos like Francesca Caccini, Clara Schumann, and Marianna Martines remain unknown to the masses. Beer's impassioned overview delves into the hopes, motivations, and struggles each woman faced as she attempted to pursue her vocation while coping with the "boys club" mentality of their respective music communities. SOUNDS AND SWEET AIRS reminded me what a radical act it is to be a woman with an appetite to create. "Lenny Letter "Savvy, sympathetic ... essential and insightful study of a woman’s unsung place in the closed world of classical music." The Wall Street Journal “Absorbing ... [Beer] writes with rich detail and sympathetic insight about [these women's] ambitious, adventurous battles to overcome barriers to creativity." Publishers Weekly "One of the greatest wrongs done to these exceptionally talented women, who in many cases achieved international renown in their own openly sexist time, is that they have one after another been forgotten. Beer’s meticulously researched book is a vital step in the battle to overturn that ultimate injustice." The Observer "A meticulously researched, engrossing read, vividly bringing its eight subjects to life. It should appeal not only to music connoisseurs but to anyone interested in social and cultural history - and women's place in it." Financial Times "Both feminist analyst and fluent biographer, Beer makes engrossing and cogent cases for her subjects. She concludes that the proof of their art lies in the hearing and recommends recent recordings.” Booklist "SOUNDS AND SWEET AIRS, by cultural historian Anna Beer, is a timely bulwark against forgetting, and proffers a number of reasons for the fading of female artists’ reputations.... This book helps show why a narrative that insists that the good stuff will naturally and always rise to the surface is simplistic. It is important for us all, composers, musicians, audiences, men, women, society at large, that we seek out the best and most exciting creative voices, from wherever they may come." The Guardian "This is a truly inspiring and fascinating book... Female composers today no longer need to feel there is anything to stop them creating music and forging a career as a composer if there is still any doubt, then just read SOUNDS AND SWEET AIRS ."Debbie Wiseman MBE, Classic FM’s Composer in Residence "A fascinating glimpse into the world of the women whose music we should know and be hearing in the canon."Charlotte Bray, winner of the Lili Boulanger Memorial Prize 2014 and composer of At the Speed of Stillness "An important book... groundbreaking and entertaining... This book should be required reading not just for those interested in cultural history, but for anyone wishing to understand the perception of women in the modern era." Professor Steven Parissien, Director, Compton Verney "A fascinating and refreshing rescue of a few well-chosen exemplars from the worthy but dull hands of musicologists. Anna Beer brings her telling selection of creative women to vivid life as she explores how they and their music fared in their social, political and sexual contexts: not least in how they cleverly manipulated their contemporary worlds to their best advantage. And when we get to the Mendelssohns, brother and sister, and the Schumanns, Clara and Robert, Beer takes a long overdue and welcome scalpel to the sentimental and foetid veil obscuring the realities of their famous relationships. Thrilling." Natalie Wheen, former presenter on BBC Radio and Classic FM "This book is a delight. Eight striking composers are reinstated in musical history, thanks to Anna Beer’s energetic research and lively writing." Professor Nicola LeFanu, Department of Music, University of York "Elegantly written, SOUNDS AND SWEET AIRS offers compelling evidence of the prejudices against women composers’ aspirations across the centuries."Rhian Samuel, Composer and Professor Emeritus, City University London "Anna Beer’s eloquent and passionately argued narrative builds on the most up-to-date scholarship and makes an irresistible case for listening again to the work of women who were among the most admired musicians of their age. Much more than simply an attempt to balance the historical record, SOUNDS AND SWEET AIRS is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand music’s power and the politics of gender and sexuality that promoted, shaped and silenced women’s compositional careers from the Renaissance to the twentieth century."Professor Daniel Grimley, Merton College, Oxford "A rich, revealing study of the lives of eight outstanding female composers.... . In unveiling their lives and works within the cultural context of their times, Beer asks difficult questions about the gender-based prohibitions that faced these women and interfered with their ability to express themselves. She demonstrates how they eluded, defied, or overlooked the philosophies, traditions, and gender biases that sought to silence their musical voices. Long overdue, this book includes a list of recommended listening for each composer, a glossary of musical terms, and suggestions for further reading. This important work furthers cultural understanding of the history of female composers. Highly recommended."CHOICE Magazine
03/15/2016 Enthusiasts of classical music may have heard of Fanny (Mendelssohn) Hensel, Clara (Wieck) Schumann, and Lili Boulanger, but even the most ardent among them may not be aware of Francesca Caccini, Barbara Strozzi, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerrre, Marianna Martines, and Elizabeth Maconchy. All eight are profiled in this book, described by Beer (Milton: Poet, Pamphleteer and Patriot; My Just Desire: The Life of Bess Raleigh, Wife to Sir Walter) as "a celebration of the achievements of a handful of women over four centuries of Western European history." Starting in 17th-century Florence (Caccini) and moving through the years to 20th-century London (Maconchy), the author recounts the lives and careers of composers who just happened to be female, setting each individual's story in the social context of her times and providing a detailed portrait of the artist and her music. Suggestions for further reading and listening complete this carefully compiled collective biography. VERDICT Serious students of music and women's history will want to add this title to their required reading lists.—Carolyn M. Mulac, Chicago