Introduction to Panel: Future of Women in Music, presented at musicALASKAwomen, 14 August 1993
by Tera de Marez Oyens (The Netherlands) as published in the ILWC Journal, October 1993, p. 21.
Last night I had a dream: I dreamt that the conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic was a woman. I dreamt that all composition students had to study the works of Ruth Crawford Seeger, and that Thea Musgrave was considered the most important composer of her time. I dreamt that Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre was more known than François Couperin, and that her books were obligatory for all cembalo-students. I dreamt that all music-history books had been rewritten, and that there was no difference in historical treatment between male-or female composers. I dreamt that the main Square in London was called: Fanny Hensel Square. I dreamt that at all Universities there were at least six woman-professors of Musicology and Composition. I dreamt that at the Place d'Etoile in Paris stood a sculpture of Grazyna Bacewicz.
Alas, this was only a dream. Yet we have come a long way, considering the number of women composers that are nowadays regularly being performed, the books that are being published about Women in Music, the growing number of female composition-and conducting students. All this is a sign of progress. But we cannot deny that most orchestras and music-institutes are being directed by men, the boards of International Music Festivals seldom have women as members, let alone as chairpersons. We cannot deny that the same old music-history books are still being used, with all the omissions. So a lot still has to be done, mainly in educating people.
I must admit that I was very naïve when I started as a composer. Beethoven was my role-model, and I did not see anything strange in my being a woman and not knowing of any other woman-composer, either in history or in present time. I just composed, and did not meet more problems than my male colleagues. I even became vice-president of the Dutch Composer's League. I became the first and, until now, the only woman-professor of Composition in Holland, and I did not even apply for the job, I was just asked. My children were conveniently born in the holidays, with one exception. I was teaching till the day she was born, and there seemed nothing wrong with the fact that after two weeks I started teaching again.
Then I met the people of Frau und Music, and later Jeannie Pool in New York, and at that first Congress on Women in Music my eyes were opened. I realized what it meant for many women to be composers and to have to fight constantly for recognition. I finally learned women's names that were omitted in all the music-history books and music-encyclopedias. As I said, a lot still has to be done, but I am sure there will be no future for Women in Music if we are not constantly staying alert, and willing to let our voices be heard.