Until recently it was widely accepted that female composers avoided the symphonic form \u2013 but this assumption could not be further from the truth. Here are some of the greatest symphonies ever written by female composers <\/p>
Back in 2013, The Guardian<\/em> ran a series of the \u201850 greatest symphonies\u2019. Forty-nine of them were composed by men. Just one was by a woman. <\/strong><\/p>\n None of that music should be diminished, but nor is it the whole story. Because over the centuries, women have written symphonies. A good number, in fact. Just as the novel is a building block of western literature, so is the symphony a fundamental part of Western orchestral music \u2013\u00a0and women have always been part of its history.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s rewind to the 18th century, when the very idea of a symphony was coalescing, drawing on the Italian opera overture<\/a><\/strong>, Baroque<\/a> <\/strong>church and chamber sonata, and ripieno<\/em> concerto.<\/p>\n Amid this picture of orchestral innovation emerged Marianna Martines<\/strong> (1744-1812), a Viennese composer, harpsichordist, and singer who studied with Haydn<\/a><\/strong> and played piano duets with Mozart<\/a><\/strong>. Her great successes lie in the realm of vocal music but in 1770 she also planted the flag for women symphonists.<\/p>\n Marianna Martines\u2019s<\/strong> lively Sinfonie in C, also described synonymously as an Ouverture, is, most likely, the first symphony by a woman.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> But it wasn\u2019t until the 1840s that women really got going with symphonic writing. Louise Farrenc<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s three symphonies lead the way. \u2018Her exceptional talent \u2026\u00a0unites a feeling for melody<\/a><\/strong> with the science of sound,\u2019 wrote the critic Henri Blanchard, after hearing the premiere of the First Symphony in 1841, while her Third Symphony of 1847 was programmed alongside Beethoven\u2019s Fifth Symphony<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n As well as being one of the greatest female composers ever<\/a> we named<\/strong> Louise Farrenc one of the best French composers of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nWho was the first woman to write a symphony?<\/h2>\n
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Best symphonies by female composers<\/h2>\n