Hey!

Can you remember that feeling as a child when you discovered something new? And you had that feeling like ten times a day. In hindsight, this makes the days feel endlessly long. Perhaps similar to a long journey in adulthood. A multitude of new impressions, things you do for the first time. Well, that's how we have felt, musically speaking, since we met Eva Beneke a few weeks ago. We have discovered and heard so many new things, and that alone would be a huge present that writing this newsletter has given us.

First of all, however, we have to admit it honestly and put it bluntly: We ourselves have probably been blind in one eye. Even though the topic has been very present in society as a whole for a while, and justifiably so, we have never asked ourselves why the classical guitar canon – and, of course, the concert programs – consists almost 100 percent of music by men. And we also asked ourselves: Are there any good female classical composers for guitar in a historical context? How embarrassing. Because yes, there are. Since then, we have been on a journey of discovery and we hope to take you along a little with our enthusiasm. This is not about opening up rifts, but about sensitizing ourselves, and all of us, and sparking some joy in the discovery of female composers in the history of guitar music. 

In this issue’s sheet music section, we have unearthed a true treasure. The name should be familiar. Giuliani. Ever heard of it? And with the first name Emilia, too? We think the piece is pretty cool. And therefore we’d like to suggest the following challenge: Check it out, post a reel of you playing the piece on Insta and tag us (@tmbm_guitar). And all your guitar friends who you'd like to hear a version from. Let's use the hashtag #femaleguitarcomposer. We hope to hear lots of versions of the prelude. 

And now let’s take a look together at the great female composers. Female composers only. And to put it in Eva Beneke's words: "Hopefully we won't need this discussion any more one day..." because: "Today is the future".

YOUTUBE FIND OF THE WEEK
Laura Snowden – The Strange World of Spiders

Ever watched spiders? Laura Snowden has written a piece about these strange creatures and you just can't stop watching her play. Why? Because she has stirred fantastic ingredients into her compositional test tube. A big dollop of craziness, a fine pinch of fragility and a very good dose of magic. Give it all a good shake and you'll hear a rather wondrous and beautiful piece of music. It steams and bubbles in every imaginable color.

What's more, Laura magically stages her own composition with her delicate technique and incredible feel for sound. A capo over four strings and played on both sides. Bottleneck, left hand hammerings. It's all there. But not out of a love of effects. Every tool has its purpose and supports the story of the piece.

We are thrilled from the first to the last note and are amazed at so much imagination. Be sure to listen to it or, if it doesn't fit here, where then: be sure to be enchanted!

PS: As the piece is a commissioned composition, you can even download the sheet music from Laura and enter the strange world of spiders yourself.

 We can only hope that Laura will contribute a miniature to this newsletter in the future and we hope that she will compose much, much more of her own music.

SHEET MUSIC
Emilia Giuliani-Guglielmi – “Präludium Nr. 3” aus Sei Preludi per Chitarra, Op. 46

There is one name in the title that catches the eye: Giuliani. A household name. His daughter? Frankly: We had never heard of her.

Mauro Giuliani is an integral part of the guitar world. And now, after doing our research for today’s issue, we feel the same way about Emilia Giuliani-Giuglielmi, who was a guitar virtuoso and composer in her own right. She even invented the "double flageolet", which we know today as the artificial flageolet. Exciting! 

If you’d like to find out more about Mauro’s and Emilia’s lives, here’s a good place to start: https://interlude.hk/mauro-and-emilia-giuliani-the-important-father-and-daughter-in-the-history-of-guitar-music/.

For a little peep into Emilia Giuliani's compositional style, we have given the third of the 6 Preludes for Guitar (Vienna, 1841) a new look for our sheet music section. It is a piece from the classical period, yes. It certainly bears a little of the father's handwriting – of course. But the prelude is enriched with a few nice twists and turns that you wouldn't necessarily expect. Refreshing! 

We have based our articulation and dynamic indications on the freely available scan of the original print. We have adopted the fingerings, position markings, etc., too, but have also added quite a few of our own. As always, these are suggestions on our part and you are welcome to adapt them to your individual style and interpretive taste :)   

We'd love to see your interpretations of this "Presto" in the form of a reel on Insta. As mentioned at the beginning: tag us @tmbm_guitar. And all your guitar friends from whom you would like to hear a version.

Hashtag: #femaleguitarcomposer

We hope to see lots of versions of the prelude, for we believe that there is plenty of room for interpretation in this piece. And young Emilia would certainly be delighted to see not just her father represented in the current guitar world!

Now, get the sheet, grab your guitar and check it out!

ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Teresa de Rogatis / Mònika Minar - From Naples to Cairo

What a discovery. Again: thank you, Eva.

Our album of the week comes from Mònika Minar. The LP From Naples to Cairo is a wonderful excerpt from the music of Teresa de Rogatis. Teresa de Rogatis was born in Naples and later moved to Cairo, where she co-founded the Egyptian National Conservatory, among other things.

The album is a wonderfully impressionistic journey. Already now, Teresa de Rogatis’ music is one of the greatest gifts of the year for us. Sitting outside and hearing the sound of the wind in the branches, listening to this album just makes us happy and we wonder how on earth we could miss her in all the years of our life as guitarists?

Alongside "Fantasia araba" and "Bagdad", we like the piece "Balletto" best on this album because of its minimalist, repetitive and dissonant elements. But we also love the lyrical melodies and the mysterious use of flageolets. 

Listen in. A very exciting musical cosmos. By the way, thanks to the warm sound, Mìonika Minar!

https://lnkfi.re/Minar

KNOW-HOW 
with Eva Beneke

Today's interview is certainly the centerpiece of this issue. Not least because without the interview with Eva Beneke, this issue would probably not have come about with this focus. At this point, we would like to say no more than simply: Thank you!

Because: Eva says everything else herself in her answers. Enjoy reading! 

In the canon of the classical guitar repertoire, the term "underrepresented" is still a rather euphemistic way of talking about female composers! Why is that?

Well, we can thank the 19th century in particular, where the bourgeoisie with its patriarchal structures assigned women a very limited place in society: namely children, cooking, church. Many structures in the classical music business emerged during this period and continue to have an impact today. All areas of music theory and practice, from orchestral work and university teaching to musicology and music criticism, were male-dominated, and the canon of works, therefore, too. Much has changed, but if you look at a typical exam program today, you will only sporadically discover a work by a female composer.

Then, of course, there were always influential artists such as Andrés Segovia, who played a decisive role in shaping the canon for our instrument. It is no secret that Segovia rejected works that did not suit his taste – and these were by no means only works by women. One example that comes to mind is Teresa de Rogatis, whose pieces bridge the gap between impressionism and neoclassicism. Perhaps she would have composed much more if Segovia had noticed her?

(Link: Teresa de Rogatis: Sonatina, 1st Adagio, https://youtu.be/zr8sg0TZ0Eg?si=1f2j_nX06zufMgWS)

The topic has many dimensions – the guitar is certainly only one small area, but it is so important for us! If you want to find out more for yourself, I recommend Eva Rieger's book with the dauntingly glorious title Frau, Musik & Männerherrschaft (Woman, Music & Male Supremacy).

When did you take up this issue? Can you remember the starting point? And what has happened since then?

That was around 2020, during the pandemic. I was increasingly thinking about such topics – there were few distractions. I devoured a number of books that moved me, such as Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez – a recommendation from my Argentinian colleague Carolina Folmer. But I no longer enjoyed looking at the guitar scene and the programs at concerts, competitions and festivals. 

At some point, the question arose: Why do I hardly ever play a piece written by a woman? And what does that mean for me as a female musician? I then did some research, exchanging ideas with other female guitarists such as Heike Matthiesen, who was a veritable encyclopedia for female composers, with Jiji Kim and colleagues from Netzwerk Gitarre Berlin (link: https://www.netzwerkgitarreberlin.de). This educational gap slowly began to close for me – and still does.

Arrangements, chamber music, solo pieces, concerts – there's a whole world to discover! At no point should it be about replacing our beloved "standard repertoire" – that is an often-heard prejudice. For me, it means moving away from the Eurocentric, male-dominated canon towards a broader idea of classical music that, to put it polemically, does not exclusively accept works by "white men" as the standard.

Which three female composers in music history do you find particularly exciting and which three contemporary female composers are currently inspiring you?

There are so many! Germaine Tailleferre (link: Guitare https://youtu.be/QUV_gmpO5f0?si=L7hVetjxjkHlDUxy), who decided to compose against the will of her father and two (!) husbands, partly supported by her teacher Maurice Ravel. Or Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre – born in Paris 20 years before J.S. Bach, she was a true baroque superstar and court composer for Louis XIV! I recently transcribed one of her harpsichord suites for the guitar.

Hildegard von Bingen, of course, the mystic of the late Middle Ages – generally known for her herbalism and recipes – but she was also a poet, composer and polymath. She wrote the only surviving medieval music drama (link: https://youtu.be/f1sJ91rS0o0?si=UM1pz-CsdcEnTMYO), both the text and the music.

Composers are still inspired by Hildegard today, such as Sofia Gubaidulina, who wrote a piece for solo alto called From the Visions of Hildegard von Bingen in 1994. Serenade & Toccata will certainly be familiar to some – two wonderful, richly pictorial and expressive solo pieces. Her chamber music with two or three guitars and strings is also very worthwhile – there's a whole evening's worth of repertoire for us guitarists to discover. 

I currently find the young Hungarian composer Petra Szászí remarkable. I have just recorded her solo piece Hommage à Charles Bukowski (link: http://www.evabeneke.com/new-album-page) for a new album – but there is also a very cool, rhythmic guitar quartet, Dyslexia, and a new piece for cello and guitar, which was premiered last year by Jesse Flowers and Ildikó Szabó.

Apart from that, of course, it's always worth doing some research outside the guitar world – the Korean composer Unsuk Chin (link: https://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/wunderlandmusik-unsuk-chin-erhaelt-ernst-von-siemens-musikpreis-ld.1830886), for example, has been living in Berlin for many years and writes incredibly great music, complex, highly virtuosic, for instance the cello concerto, or the piano etudes that were considered almost unplayable – now they are already part of the repertoire in piano competitions. I had the opportunity to meet her once as a student. I took part in an orchestral project and, unfortunately, Mirroirs des temps was the only piece written by a woman when I was a student – but at least with guitar in the orchestra!

How do you think (and hope) the issue will have developed in 10 years' time? What will it take to counteract the imbalance?

Hopefully we won't need this discussion any more one day and can concentrate on the essentials – namely good music. The fact is, however, that many factors contribute to whether and how often something is performed. It is, not least, up to the organizers and the taste of the audience. But also marketing, agencies, the wheels of the music industry and ultimately us performers. There are still some barriers to be broken down. As we all know, new things are always greeted with resistance.

I can imagine: a kind of "quota" for compulsory pieces in competitions, entrance exams, exam programs – that may sound a bit brute, but it is already partly the case in art and literature. Next semester, for example, I'll be working in a group that will compile a diverse catalog for the entrance exam repertoire of music universities in Norway. 

I can recommend a clever and important article by Jiji on this topic, which moved me a lot at the time: “How audition requirements exclude” (2020) (link: https://newmusicusa.org/nmbx/how-audition-requirements-exclude/).

Zu dem Thema kann ich einen klugen und wichtigen Artikel von Jiji empfehlen, der mich damals sehr bewegt hat: How audition requirements exclude (2020) (Link: https://newmusicusa.org/nmbx/how-audition-requirements-exclude/)

Can you tell us something about your research project?

Absolutely! Together with two fantastic colleagues, we have a research team at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo on the topic of Challenging Musical Canons (link: https://nmh.no/en/research/projects/challenging-musical-canons). 

The two of them come from music education and musicology, respectively, while I represent musical practice and teaching as well as artistic research. The aim is to scientifically question common standards and conventions – e.g. the assertion that "women have not contributed any relevant works to music history" or "there simply weren’t that many good female composers in the past". 

But also questions such as: how does a work get into the canon? Who decides that? What prevails and why? We also need to consider that for the longest time music reviews and music criticism were almost exclusively carried out by men, as were the publishing houses. It's all really incredibly exciting. There will be articles, presentations, discussion concerts and much more.

How do you make young guitarists (your students) aware of and enthusiastic for the topic?

My own musical search automatically led to a number of projects with the students – in 2021 we had a project week on the topic of "women composers". And in the fall of 2023 – and I'm a bit proud of this – the entire Oslo School of Music organized a week of chamber music by women. It covered all instruments and departments: jazz, classical and Norwegian folk music. I got to know so much new repertoire! 

There were several concerts a day, world premieres, a student orchestra project: they worked completely without a conductor (yet another of those traditional male positions!) and performed a work by a 19-year-old female student. Plus discussions and talks – the time is simply ripe, students want to actively work on these issues, and they want to do it now!

In one-on-one lessons, I definitely encourage playing or arranging pieces by women. Next fall there will be a "Voice & Guitar" project week where we will write out the basso continuo to arias by Barbara Strozzi (link: https://youtu.be/XWXAUnXQlhY?si=YEPl5iEsPnHr2e2K) or Claudia Sessa. 

In general, I pay much more attention to also suggesting etudes by female composers, or looking for audio examples or YouTube videos by female and male performers in equal measure.

Imagine you could print one sentence on a poster to be hung up at every (classical) music festival in the world. What would it be? 

"Today is the future!"

GUITAR AND…
DUO FANTASQUE plays Etude Fantasque by Ida Presti

Frenchwoman Ida Presti was the most popular classical guitarist of the 20th century. Due to her great virtuosity at a young age, she was even dubbed the "female Mozart". Together with her husband, she formed the Presti-Lagoya duo, which is one of the most successful guitar duos of all time. Great name, great performer – and a fabulous composer at that.

The Duo Fantasque proves that with their interpretation of the Etude Fantasque. A small firework display of unexpected changes between lyrical, explosive, playful and profound parts. It's great fun to listen to this piece and watch Alessandra Luisi and Giusi Marangi intertwine in perfect harmony, both technically and musically. The two of them always find the right colors to make the big picture comprehensible. We, for our part, were immediately taken by Duo Fantasque!

We hope you feel the same!

For those who would like to read more about the life of admirable artist Ida Presti:

https://www.blog.der-leiermann.com/die-grosse-ida-presti/

https://genderforschung.kug.ac.at/studieren/kuenstlerinnen-des-monats/kuenstlerinnen-des-monats/archiv-kuenstlerinnen/juli-2021-ida-presti

OUTRO

Thanks for reading this issue. We hope you enjoyed it and can take a little something with you into the next few days. We would also like to take this opportunity to finally thank the team. Thank you Fab from Golden Ticket Leipzig for the support, the creative input and the layout. Thanks to Christian for the revision and translation.

See you in 2 weeks.

All the best,
Stefan and Willi

New Classical Guitar is a newsletter by Willi Leinen and Stefan Degel from TMBM. You can find our music and more information about our journey at http://t-m-b-m.com/.

On Spotify, we curate a playlist with our favorite pieces. Feel free to follow our New Classical Guitar Playlist at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ZwxJRAsW9Zs2JiS2eLy6a?si=9b2a737f01c043a4 and recommend new additions.