Musical Pioneers: The Women That Time Forgot
- Jessica Jayne
- May 30
- 5 min read
For many, music plays a huge role in our everyday lives. Whether that’s
because you are a musician, or someone that loves listening to the radio or going to see your favourite bands and artists live. If I were to ask you who the biggest artists of the 21st century were, you might think of artists such as Queen, Amy Winehouse, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Nina Simone, ABBA, Elvis, Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Adele, Cher, Britney Spears, Ed Sheeran, Sabrina
Carpenter, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Bob Marley, Van Morrison, AC/DC - the possibilities are endless, and includes people from all walks of life. However it wasn’t always this way.
It has only been in the last century that society has recognised the musical accomplishments of women, despite the fact they have been there all along. For example, if you think back to the classical era (approx 1730-1820), most famously you have what we now call ‘The Viennese School Trio’ - Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. If you then think of Baroque era composers (approx 1600-1750), there is Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel; and again with the Romantic era (approx 1800-1910) the key composers are Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and Brahms. These are just a few examples, of course there are many more- but the one thing they all have in common is that on the surface, it is seemingly a male dominated art- despite the fact it was the societal expectation at the time for women to play the pianoforte.
In the 18th and 19th century, in order to be seen as a ‘proper’ lady, musical ability was not just encouraged, but expected. Playing the pianoforte became a symbol of marriageability and discipline, and was usually played in social situations to entertain guests- displaying a high level of technical ability, but not ambition. There were very strict boundaries where the ladies of the household were encourage to play and interpret music, but never compose or create - this would have been seen as inappropriate, despite having a standard of playing which today would easily have been considered professional.
Not everyone agreed with this expectation however, and one of the forgotten musical pioneers which challenged this expectation was Fanny Mendelssohn.
Now you may recognise the name Mendelssohn, but not because of her. Fanny’s brother, Felix, is the famed Mendelssohn accredited with writing one of the most well-known Romantic era pieces, the Wedding March (1842) which is still used in many celebrations today.
Growing up, the Mendelssohn siblings studied music together, but when Fanny reached 14 years old her father told her she could not pursue music as a career and she needed to fulfil her role of becoming a wife and mother. Felix however did continue on to become a very successful composer. In 1842, he arrived at Buckingham Palace to play for Queen Victoria, and as she flipped through his works, she asked him to play a piece called ‘Italien’. Sheepishly, Felix then had to admit that this piece was not his own- it was actually his sister, Fanny’s composition.
What the world didn’t know, was that although Felix agreed with his father and refused to help Fanny publish her own works, he did allow her to publish secretly under his name - a pseudonym. They also often composed together, but at recitals Felix would often take the credit, overshadowing his sister and pushing her into the background.
Over time, Fanny did get married and have a child, but later in life she pushed back against societal norms and began publishing her own works under her new married name, Fanny Hansel. Despite her publishing over 450 pieces, it has only been in the last 100 years that Fanny has begun to get the recognition she truly deserves as a composer and pioneer of the classical romantic period in her own right.
Moving on from the Early 1800’s into a slightly more modern era, another example of women being overshadowed in the music scene is evident in the mid-victorian era, when the sight of a woman playing the violin was deemed ‘disgusting’ [Anna Beer, cultural historian]. This eventually progressed to violin playing being seen as ladylike, although still not suitable for a career. This all began to change however when in 1913, Henry Wood, the visionary director of the Queen’s Hall Orchestra and the man behind the Proms, hired six female string players- the first women in the world to join a professional orchestra alongside men.
Arguably, the main shift in women taking centre stage and publicly being welcomed for their musical ability happened during WW1 and WW2. Morale was low, and suddenly the men were away fighting for their countries, leaving their wives and families behind to do the everyday, mundane tasks. However this left a hole which needed to be filled, and thus artists such as The Andrews
Sisters, Vera Lynn and Ella Fitzgerald all came into the spotlight. Women joined military bands, jazz bands, and orchestras which were previously male only spaces, and they helped the war effort by boosting morale. They also found other ways to help what they believed in- a notable example of this being Josephine Baker. Josephine Baker was one of the first ‘superstar’ women of colour, she was what we would today call a triple threat- a singer, dancer, and actor in her own right. Once World War II began she found ways of hiding secret messages in her sheet music in order to pass information on to the resistance fighting against Nazi Germany.
Once we get post World War II, it was not an uncommon sight for a woman to be seen as singers and musicians, although there were still boundaries and limitations. In the 1950’s one of the most influential singers of our time
emerged, and we know him as the King of Rock and Roll- Elvis Presley. With the release of ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ in ‘56, he skyrocketed into stardom, and solidified his status within the same year with ‘Hound Dog’, but what you may not have known is that Hound Dog is actually a cover! Originally, Hound Dog was released by Big Mama Thornton - a blues and R&B singer from Alabama. It is reported that she was paid a flat fee of roughly $500, in comparison to Elvis’ millions. As segregation still shaped the music industry at the time, Big Mama Thornton was affected by what is often described as ‘whitewashing,’ where white artists covered songs originally performed by Black musicians, achieving far greater commercial success. Big Mama Thornton passed away in 1984, although in recent years she has finally gained recognition, earning her place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024.
The inclusivity of music has come a really long way over the years, and we are now living in an era where anyone no matter your gender, skin colour, or social standing, can create and be recognised and celebrated for their art. However, it
was never that women weren’t creating, they have always been there- it has just been less documented and less credited. Female musical pioneers such as Fanny Hansel and Big Mama Thornton are huge part of a parallel history which time has forgotten or erased, and there are many more hidden just beneath the surface.
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/08/why-do-orchestras-have so-few-women-percussionists
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