We don’t usually think of women as playing a very large role in music of the Medieval, Renaissance, or Baroque eras, except perhaps to play the virginals or strum a lute and sing a genteel song. But many women of earlier days wrote lyrics, set songs of their own, and composed major pieces.
Queen Blanche of Castile lived in the first half of the 13th century and governed France for much of her adult life. She also comosed hymns to the Virgin Mary, whereas Beatriz, the Countess of Die, who lived in the late 12th century wrote songs to another of the most popular themes of the day: unrequited love. From a female perspective, the unrequited love song did not glorify the act of loving something unattainable, it admitted the anger and frustration in loving something you cannot have, perhaps a bit more honest approach to the whole ordeal. Check out ensemble Sinfonye's recording of the Countess' kvetchings entitled Bella Domna.
Many texts for chansons, madrigals, and even cantatas are anonymous, making them equally attributable to women. Renaissance composer Robert Morton wrote songs to texts from a 16th century anthology of poetry by anonymous women. Gothic Voices performs his music on the Hyperion release, The Castle of Fair Welcome.
Those who did not compose could also patronize music in the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque eras. Wealthy bachelorette Marie de Lorraine maintained a musical staff worthy of the greatest courts of Europe, including composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Les Arts Florissants recorded some of Charpentier's music on the Erato release entitled Divertissements, airs et concerts.
Anne Boleyn, the seductress who dissolved the court of England's bond with the Holy Catholic church, was also known as an accomplished singer and instrumentalist. Soprano Andrea Folan, with Elizabethan Conversation, performs song with lyrics accredited to the late Lady Anne on a release from Leonarda records entitled The Medieval Lady.
While Louis the Sun King did not engage in an affair with composer Antonia Padoani Bembo, he admired and supported her music, allowing her to produce an impressive body of compositions while living out her life in France after a failed marriage in Venice. La Donna Musicale performs some of her chamber music of their self-released album, The Seven Psalms of David.
One of the earliest women whose voice we can hear "speaking" through music, abbess and mystic Hildegard of Bingen also set religious texts, but ones of her own composition. Norma Gentile performs on the CD release entitled Hildegard von Bingen: Meditation Chants.
Christine de Pisan was given all the advantages of a childhood at the court of Charles the Fifth of France, and when her husband died prematurely, she used her learned talents to support her family by becoming a prolific writer. Franco-Flemish composer Gilles Binchois composed music to her texts that express the deep and unrelenting grief she felt at the death of her husband.
We end our discussion today by mention of a centuries old tradition of gender-bending. Women's roles in the earliest operas were taken by men, sometimes castrati who developed voices of immense power and range. Today, some of these roles are sung by women such as in female composer Nicola Porpora's opera "Orfeo," recorded by mezzo soprano Vivica Genaux on the Harmonia Mundi release, Arias for Farinelli.
