Brenda Ravenscroft Publishes New Volume on the Work of Women Composers
Professor of Music Theory and former Dean of the Schulich School of Music,聽Brenda Ravenscroft has recently published a new book entitled with editor Laurel Parsons. This is the third in a series of volumes about music by women composers that have garnered critical acclaim and multiple awards, including the Outstanding Multi-Author Publication Award from the (Volume 3 in 2017 and Volume 1 in 2021).
This collection of essays follows the editors' two other highly influential collections on the work of women composers, and , the latter having won the 聽for an outstanding book-length monograph about women in music in 2017. The award is granted for exceptional scholarship on women in music聽every two to three years by the .
This new book 鈥� as with the previous volumes聽鈥斅爄s designed to challenge and stimulate a wide range of readers, by exploring musical structures while integrating meaningful feminist theory.聽 聽
Through musical analysis of compositions written in the first half of the twentieth century,聽Analytic Essays on Music by Women Composers: Concert Music, 1900-1960聽celebrates the achievements of eight composers: Alma Mahler-Werfel (1879-1964), Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979), Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), Ruth Crawford (1901-53), Florence B. Price (1887-1953), Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006), J. M. Beyer (1888-1944), and Peggy Glanville-Hicks (1912-90). Written by distinguished musical theorists and musicologists, the essays provide thought-provoking in-depth explorations of representative compositions, often linking analytical observations with questions of meaning and sociohistorical context.聽
Each essay is introduced by a brief biographical sketch of the composer by editors Ravenscroft and Parsons. Using a聽variety of聽methodologies to understand the work of featured composers, these exciting volumes have immediate and relevant applications.聽聽
For academics, these thoughtful analytical essays can open new paths into unexplored research areas in the fields of music theory and musicology. Post-secondary instructors may be inspired by the insights offered in these essays to include new works in music theory and history courses at both graduate and upper-level undergraduate levels, or in courses on women and music. For soloists, ensembles, conductors, and music broadcasters, these detailed analyses can offer enriched understandings of this repertoire and suggest fresh, new programming possibilities to share with listeners. 聽
Congratulations, Prof. Ravenscroft, on this latest impressive accomplishment and the lasting impact of your scholarship. 聽
