The First Female Composer

Written by Robert Bruce

Music history and Women’s History Month together bear an astonishing array of talent, particularly when one thinks of the 20th century: composers like Amy Beach, Florence Price, Jennifer Higdon, Germaine Tailleferre, Joan Tower, Kaija Saariaho, Thea Musgrave, Sofia Gubaidulina and Libby Larsen to name just a few; performers Wanda Landowska, Martha Argerich, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Alicia de Larrocha, Lara Downes, Hilary Hahn, Hélène Grimaud, and many others; conductors Marin Alsop, Alondra de la Parra, JoAnn Falletta, Jane Glover, and Angèle Dubeau.

But what is not commonly known is that the earliest composer we know by name is also a woman, Hildegard of Bingen, who lived during the High Middle Ages, from 1098 to 1179. A German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, mystic and polymath, Hildegard is today one of the best-known and most often recorded composers of sacred monophony.

KCME listeners can often hear music by Hildegard of Bingen, particularly as part of Quinn Riley’s Musica Femina program on Tuesday evenings at 6:00.