1st Edition
by Laura Hamer (Author)
Drawing upon extensive archival research, interview material, and musical analysis, Female Composers, Conductors, Performers: Musiciennes of Interwar France, 1919–1939 presents
an innovative study of women working as professional musicians in
France between the two World Wars. Hamer positions the activities,
achievements, and reception of women composers, conductors, and
performers against a contemporary socio-political climate that was
largely hostile to female professionalism. The musical styles and
techniques of Marguerite Canal, Jeanne Leleu, Germaine Tailleferre,
Yvonne Desportes, Elsa Barraine, and Claude Arrieu are discussed with
reference to significant works dating from the interwar period. Hamer
highlights the activities of Jane Evrard and her Orchestre féminin de
Paris as well as the reception of the Orchestra of the Union des Femmes
Professeurs et Compositeurs de Musique, a contemporary pro-suffrage
organisation that was dedicated to defending the collective interests of
musiciennes and campaigning for their employment rights. Beyond
women composers and conductors, Hamer also sheds light on female
performers and their contribution to the interwar early music revival.
