Barbara Strozzi, Frederyk Chopin and the Gender Of Chamber Music (Essay)

Barbara Strozzi, Frederyk Chopin and the Gender Chamber Music

Gender has hindered progress for women in music in many different ways. The most deadly way is all of the norms we’ve internalized. Many female composers in their prime believed that they could not create big works such as symphonies and operas, and instead wrote lots of solo piano works, or chamber music or songs simply because of their internalized ideas. This is easily compared to the modern phenomenon of dissociation, which is something girls and women often experience where they question the validity of their own experience and knowledge, no matter how practiced they are. Often, girls and women believe that if they express their authentic and creative selves, they are at risk of losing relationships, and this discourages them from pursuing outwardly creative, large works. 

In the Baroque era, Barbara Strozzi was one of the most prominent vocal composers, but she never wrote an opera. Growing up in the academies arranged by her father, she would perform and bring topics to these meetings. Strozzi was also an amazing instrumental talent, and her performances were only meant for these small, intimate academies. This made her stand out amongst baroque composers for both being a woman and not performing in concert halls and other large venues. She also did not perform in public because of the social class of her family. Strozzi was very lucky, and when examining her prolific compositional record, we must also consider her status and wealth. Her father and his circle were all described as having feminist leanings, and were willing to accept Barbara into their academies at a young age as well as give her texts to compose to and a place to perform. It is amazing to me how Strozzi was held in such high regard at the “Academy of The Like Mind” created by her father, but never performed anywhere else, and was considered similar to an emcee at the gatherings held at their house.As well as being considered, by legal title in her father’s will, to be a servant. Barbara Strozzi was said to take lifeless literature and give it blood and breath. It is such a shame that she never wrote an opera, as it would have been amazing to hear her create an entire world and story. 

Frederyk Chopin played his original polish works in many salons in Warsaw, Poland. It is in these salons where he is said to have met tons of people who would later aid him in his move to Paris where he made more of a name for himself. Like the Academy of the Like Mind, the Warsaw salons where Chopin grew up were considered an upper class activity, and in post-war Poland, they were even considered an abuse of wealth. The difference between Chopin and Strozzi is important to note because both of these small musical and intellectual environments are important to the adolescence of two very important composers. Strozzi was placed in these academies from a young age, and the patrons heavily influenced her composing and style directly. She was very much a product of the intellectual community Chopin played in the salons from a young age as well, but he was free to make mistakes and only gained connections to better his music career. 

Gender will probably always speak before our art. However, I long for the days where we will be able to freely grow and make mistakes and still have our own identity, and be able to believe in ourselves.

Sources:

A History of Western Music, Tenth Edition pp. 321-325

Chopin in Warsaw’s Salons, Halina Goldberg, USC music journal

Dr. Kaley Eaton, “Women, Creativity, and the Classroom: Data” Oct. 19, 2016

Joseph Stevenson, AllMusic.com

Richard, Perry, “Heralding An Unsung Pioneer”, The Ottawa Citizen, May 1998 (ProQuest)