Women Composers

* 1744
✝ 1807

Details of the life of a virtually unknown composer Madame Ravissa de Turin, tresse de Clavecin et de Chant Italien is the inscription on the edition of Genovieffa Ravissa six harpsichord sonatas printed in Paris in 1778. It is only recently that details of her life have become known. Madame Ravissa was baptised Genovieffa Bernardina Maria Vignola between 1745 and 1750. Her parents, who were employed at the royal court in Turin, were Gioanni Vignola and Gionna Battista Colombatta. Genovieffa…

* 1957 in Stockholm

Karin Rehnqvist wurde am 21. August 1957 in Stockholm als zweite von drei Schwestern eines schwedisch-deutschen Ehepaares geboren. Ihr Vater war Geschäftsführer einer Industriefirma und ihre aus Deutschland stammende Mutter Physiotherapeutin. Karin Rehnqvist wuchs in Nybro in der Provinz Smäland auf. 1982 heiratete sie den Oberstudienrat Hans Persson, mit dem sie drei Kinder hat. Nachdem sie 1980 ihr Musiklehrerinnenexamen gemacht hatte, begannsie mit dem Kompositionsstudium am Royal College of Music in Stockholm bei Gunnar Bucht, Sven-David Sandström, Arne Mellnäs, Pär…

* 1778
✝ 1825

Louise Reichardt (1779–1826), the daughter of Johann Friedrich Reichardt and Juliana Reichardt, née Benda, both professional musicians, knew many of the leading poets and thinkers of her day. Goethe called the Reichardt family estate in Giebichenstein, near Halle, where he also visited, "die Herberge der Romantik" (the hostel of Romanticism). She composed songs in the folk-like style espoused by her father, choosing poems by poets she knew personally, including Achim von Arnim, Clemens Brentano, and the artist Philipp Otto Runge,…

* 1857
✝ 1939

The Dutch singer, music educator and composer Catharina van Rennes enjoyed a good deal of fame during her life time, both for her pedagogical activities and for her songs. After studying singing (with Johan Messchaert) and composition (with Richard Hol), she began her career as a soloist, appearing in operas and oratorios. In 1887 she founded her own school of music in Utrecht, teaching singing, music theory and Dalcroze rhythmical gymnastics. For more than 40 years she inspired a love…

* 1923

* 1946 in USA

Anna Rubin’s music is propelled by her love of the speak­ing and singing voice, the world of pollinators and black holes and by her commitment to social justice. She has composed for a variety of musical genres including chamber, choral, wind and orchestral ensembles as well as electronic music for concert stage, video and dance. Recent commissions include works for the Piano on the Rocks International ­Festival, Sedona and a 2023 commission for the German choral ensemble Kammerchor Westfalen. She…

Zoé de la Rüe is found in a small amount of sources also by the spelling “de Larue” or “Delarue”. On the editions of her music she is always spelled “Zoé de la Rüe”, though. It seems like she has been confused already during her lifetime with Eugénie de la Rüe (1777–1816) née Beaumarchais, who was also a musician in Paris at the same time. For sure Zoé de la Rüe was pupil of pianist and composer Daniel Steibelt (1765–1823).…