Performing Arts Library
College of St. Catherine

Women Composers: Biographies and Autobiographies

Last updated: 16 October 1998

All of these titles are books unless otherwise indicated. They are alphabetized according to the subject of the biography.

Beach, Amy (composer, pianist; 1867-1944)

Block, Adrienne Fried. Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian: The Life and Work of an American Composer, 1867-1944. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Performing Arts Library ML410 .B36 B56 1998

 

Jenkins, Walter S. The Remarkable Mrs. Beach, American Composer: A Biographical Account Based on Her Diaries, Letters, Newspaper Clippings, and Personal Reminiscences. Michigan: Harmonie Park Press, 1994.
Performing Arts Library ML410 .B36 J46 1994

 

Boulanger, Lili (composer; 1893-1918)

Rosenstiel, Léonie. The Life and Works of Lili Boulanger. [London]: Associated University Presses, 1978.
Performing Arts Library ML410 .B7727 R7

 

Boulanger, Nadia (composer and teacher; 1887-1979)

Kendall, Alan. The Tender Tyrant, Nadia Boulanger: A Life Devoted to Music. Wilton, CT: Lyceum Books, 1976.
Performing Arts Library ML423 .B52 K4 1977

 

Mademoiselle: A Portrait of Nadia Boulanger. A Crocus Films production. Bloomington, IN: Audio-visual Center, Indiana University, 1987.
St. Paul Campus Library AV Center Video ML423 .B52 M7

Former students, such as Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, and others, reminisce about Mlle. Boulanger and how her teaching influenced them.

 

Rosenstiel, Léonie. Nadia Boulanger: A Life in Music. New York: W.W. Norton, 1982.
Performing Arts Library ML423 .B52 R7 1982

 

Spycket, Jérôme. Nadia Boulanger. Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon, 1992.
Performing Arts Library ML423 .B52 S713 1992

 

Hensel, Fanny Mendelssohn (composer & pianist; 1805-1847)

The Letters of Fanny Hensel to Felix Mendelssohn. Collected, edited, and translated with introductory essays and notes by Marcia J. Citron. n.p.: Pendragon Press, 1987.
Performing Arts Library ML410 .H482 A4 1987

 

Tillard, Françoise. Fanny Mendelssohn. Translated by Camille Naish. Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1996.
Performing Arts Library ML410 .H482 T513 1996

 

Hildegard of Bingen (composer; 1098-1179)

Vision: The Life and Music of Hildegard von Bingen. Compiled and edited by Jane Bobko. New York: Penguin Studio, 1995.
Performing Arts Library ML410 .H618 V57 1995

 

Mahler-Werfel, Alma Schindler (composer; 1879-1964)

Mahler-Werfel, Alma. Mein Leben. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 1960.
Performing Arts Library ML410.M23 W44 1960
In German.

 

Powell, Maud (violinist, composer; 1868-1920)

Shaffer, Karen A. and Neva Garner Greenwood. Maud Powell: Pioneer American Violinist. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press for the Maud Powell Foundation, 1988.
Performing Arts Library ML418 .P79 S5 1988

 

Schumann, Clara (pianist, composer; 1819-1896)

The Marriage Diaries of Robert & Clara Schumann: From Their Wedding Day through the Russia Trip. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1993.
Performing Arts Library ML390 .S39713 1993

 

Reich, Nancy B. Clara Schumann: The Artist and the Woman. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1985.
Performing Arts Library ML417 .S4 R4 1985

 

Reich, Nancy B. "Clara Schumann." In Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition, 1150-1950, pp. 249-281. Edited by Jane Bowers and Judith Tick. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986.
Performing Arts Library ML82 .W67 1986

 

Ruth Crawford Seeger (composer; 1901-1953)

Gaume, Matilda. "Ruth Crawford Seeger." In Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition, 1150-1950, pp. 370-388. Edited by Jane Bowers and Judith Tick. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986.
Performing Arts Library ML82 .W67 1986

 

Tick, Judith. Ruth Crawford Seeger: A Composer's Search for American Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Performing Arts Library ML410 .S4446 T5 1997

 

Smyth, Ethel (composer; 1858-1944)

Bernstein, Jane A. "'Shout, Shout, Up With Your Song!': Dame Ethel Smyth and the Changing Role of the British Woman Composer." In Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition, 1150-1950. pp. 304-324. Edited by Jane Bowers and Judith Tick. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986.
Performing Arts Library ML82 .W67 1986

 

Tailleferre, Germaine (composer; 1892-1983)

Shapiro, Robert. Germaine Tailleferre: A Bio-bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994.
Performing Arts Library ML134 .T18 S5 1994

 

Viardot-Garcia, Pauline (opera singer and composer; 1821-1910)

FitzLyon, April. The Price of Genius: A Life of Pauline Viardot. London: John Calder, 1964.
Performing Arts Library ML420 .V36 F68 1964