Women’s History Music Moment: Louise Farrenc

By NWPB Music

Anonymous artist – Bibliothèque nationale de France, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Louise Farrenc inspired the world and demanded what she deserved – something we can all aspire to.

A musician, composer and teacher ahead of her time, she gained fame as an incredible performer, wrote award winning music and taught at the Paris conservatory for 30 years as the only woman on staff in the 19th century.

“A famous music critic noted that her music would influence the world, not only “to develop technique but also to mould taste. Not bad for a woman writing music and teaching in a world that was created with only men’s success in mind.”

To top off her contributions to technique and taste, she demanded equal pay and recognition for her contributions clear back in 1850.

You may have heard Farrenc’s music recently with the Auburn and Bainbridge Symphonies along with other Northwest ensembles keeping her legacy alive.

Louise Farrenc – trailblazing composer, inspiring teacher and renown musician whose music you hear year round on Northwest Public Broadcasting.

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Women’s History Music Moment: Bach’s Daughters

You’ve heard so much about the sons of Johann Sebastian Bach, but there were daughters, too.

Bach was 23, and his wife Maria Barbara was 24, when the first of their children was born. They named her Catherina Dorothea. CD grew into a singer, and helped out in her father’s music work. Fifteen years passed, her mother died, her father remarried, and finally, CD Bach acquired a sister: Cristina Sophia Henrietta, daughter of Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena Bach. CSH died at the age of three, just as another sister, Elizabeth Juliana Frederica, was born. EJF Bach would grow up to marry one of her father’s students. Continue Reading Women’s History Music Moment: Bach’s Daughters

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