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“Why Are Our Women-Composers So Little Known?”

Iwona Lindstedt
Iwona Lindstedt
   | Dec 31, 2019
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Published Online: Dec 31, 2019
Page range: 43 - 64
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/muso-2019-0004
Keywords
© 2019 Iwona Lindstedt, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Example 1

Portraits of Polish women-composers. Left to right, from the top row: Grażyna Bacewicz-Biernacka, Helena Dorabialska, Łucja Drège-Schielowa, Anna Maria Klechniowska, Janina Grzegorzewicz-Lachowska, Zofia Ossendowska, Lucyna Robowska, Ilza Sternicka-Niekrasz, Wanda Vorbond-Dąbrowska, Zofia Wróblewska, Leokadia Myszyńska-Wojciechowska, Zofia Zdziennicka-Berger. Sources: Bluszcz, vol. 71, no. 46, 1938, pp. 56–59; Antena, vol. 5, no. 28, 1938, p. 8; Tygodnik Ilustrowany, vol. 80, no. 27, 1939, p. 531; http://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/dmuseion/docmetadata?id=25477
Portraits of Polish women-composers. Left to right, from the top row: Grażyna Bacewicz-Biernacka, Helena Dorabialska, Łucja Drège-Schielowa, Anna Maria Klechniowska, Janina Grzegorzewicz-Lachowska, Zofia Ossendowska, Lucyna Robowska, Ilza Sternicka-Niekrasz, Wanda Vorbond-Dąbrowska, Zofia Wróblewska, Leokadia Myszyńska-Wojciechowska, Zofia Zdziennicka-Berger. Sources: Bluszcz, vol. 71, no. 46, 1938, pp. 56–59; Antena, vol. 5, no. 28, 1938, p. 8; Tygodnik Ilustrowany, vol. 80, no. 27, 1939, p. 531; http://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/dmuseion/docmetadata?id=25477

Example 2

The poster for a piano recital held by Lucyna Robowska on 7th March 1931, source: https://polona.pl/item/program-inc-sala-konserwatorjum-dnia-7-go-marca-1931-recital-fortepianowy-lucyna,NjY2NzU5MjQ/7/#info:metadata
The poster for a piano recital held by Lucyna Robowska on 7th March 1931, source: https://polona.pl/item/program-inc-sala-konserwatorjum-dnia-7-go-marca-1931-recital-fortepianowy-lucyna,NjY2NzU5MjQ/7/#info:metadata

Example 3

Ilza Sternicka-Niekraszowa, Our Father for voice and piano, Warsaw: Towarzystwo Wydawnicze Muzyki Polskiej 1935, page 1, source: https://polona.pl/item/ojcze-nasz-spiew-i-fort,NzE1MTg0MTg/1/#info:metadata
Ilza Sternicka-Niekraszowa, Our Father for voice and piano, Warsaw: Towarzystwo Wydawnicze Muzyki Polskiej 1935, page 1, source: https://polona.pl/item/ojcze-nasz-spiew-i-fort,NzE1MTg0MTg/1/#info:metadata

Example 4

Helena Dorabialska, Dialogue for piano, source: Bluszcz, vol. 68, no. 43, 1935, p. 19.
Helena Dorabialska, Dialogue for piano, source: Bluszcz, vol. 68, no. 43, 1935, p. 19.

Example 5

Zofia Ossendowska, Ouango. Taniec fetyszów [Dance of Fetishes] for violin and piano, Warsaw: Gebethner & Wolff, p. 1, source: https://polona.pl/item/ouango-taniec-fetyszow-danse-de-fetiches,MzkwNzcxOTY/7/#index
Zofia Ossendowska, Ouango. Taniec fetyszów [Dance of Fetishes] for violin and piano, Warsaw: Gebethner & Wolff, p. 1, source: https://polona.pl/item/ouango-taniec-fetyszow-danse-de-fetiches,MzkwNzcxOTY/7/#index

NameDatesMusic education
Allinówna Stefania19.11.1895 Łódź – 20.04.1988 WarsawStudied composition with Felicjan Szopski and Kazimierz Sikorski (Warsaw) as well as Hugo Leichtentritt (Berlin).
Bacewicz-Biernacka Grażyna5.02.1909 Łódź – 17.01.1969 WarsawStudied composition with Kazimierz Sikorski (Warsaw) and Nadia Boulanger (Paris)
Baum-Czajkowska JadwigaStudied in Warsaw.
Białkiewiczówna Irena [Andrault de Langeron]6.02.1891 Nieżyn (now Nizhyn in Ukraine) – 14.04.1957 WarsawStudied composition with Piotr Rytel, Zygmunt Noskowski and Roman Statkowski (Warsaw) as well as Ottorino Respighi (Rome).
Cieślakówna Maria1915 Warsaw – c. 1985 Los AngelesStudied piano with Zbigniew Drzewiecki (Warsaw).
Dorabialska Helena [Julia]22.05.1895 Sosnowiec – 20.07.1944 WołominStudied composition with Roman Statkowski (Warsaw), obtained a PhD in musicology (Cracow).
Drège-Schielowa Łucja13.02.1893 Warsaw – 26.01.1962 ŁódźStudied theory and composition with Felicjan Szopski (Warsaw).
Erwest Idac. 1905–1942 Warsaw
Gnus Ryta1881 Warsaw – 5.02.1978 WarsawStudied piano and composition (Kiev).
Gordonówna Fanny [Fajga Jofe Gordon]23.12.1914 Yalta – 9.07.1991 PetersburgStudied voice (Chicago).
Górska Stefania6.01.1907 Warsaw – 3.08.1986 WarsawLearnt at Stefan and Tacjanna Wysocki’s School of Music (Warsaw).
Grzegorzewicz-Lachowska Janina [Lachowska Stefania]20.08.1898 Lwów (now Lviv in Ukraine) – 24.05.1966 CracowStudied composition in Lwów and with Kazimierz Sikorski (Warsaw)
Janiszewska-Nebelska Alicja1874–22.10.1966 WarsawStudied violin (Petersburg).
Karasińska Helenac. 1897 Warsaw – 25.01.1987Learnt at Ludwik Urstein’s secondary music school (Warsaw) and at Professor Kossovsky’s music courses (Moscow).
Kitschmann Anda [Anne Weiner Kitschmann]9.12.1895 Vienna – 10.10.1967 CracowStudied conducting (Vienna).
Klechniowska-[Sas] Anna Maria15.04.1888 Borówka (now Koloniya Boruvka in Ukraine) – 26.08.1973 WarsawStudied music theory and composition with Gustaw Roguski (Warsaw), Mieczysław Sołtys and Stanisław Niewiadomski (Lwów), Stephan Krehl (Leipzig) as well as Richard Heuberger and Franz Schmidt (Vienna).
Markiewiczówna Władysława5.02.1900 Bochnia – 17.05.1982 KatowiceStudied music theory and composition with Zdzisław Jachimecki (Cracow) and Hugo Leichtentritt (Berlin).
Myszyńska-Wojciechowska Leokadia9.05.1858 Łowicz – 12.11.1930 WarsawStudied harmony with Gustaw Roguski, composition with Władysław Żeleński and Zygmunt Noskowski (Warsaw).
Obtułowicz-Wróblewska Zofia

Her name is frequently misquoted in publications as Wróblewska-Obłutowiczowa (cf. e.g. ‘Biogramy’, in M. Dziadek, and L. Moll, Oto artyści pełnowartościowi, którzy są kobietami…, p. 79), or sometimes she is split into two different persons, Zofia Obtułowicz and Zofia Wróblewską (Trochimczyk, p. 16, 18). Obtułowicz was the composer’s maiden name; in 1911 she married Władysław Wróblewski.

19.07.1889 Buczacz (now Buchach in Ukraine) – after 1935siStudied composition in Lwów and with Max Reger (Leipzig).
Orion-Bąkowska MariaStudied with Henryk Melcer and Władysław Żeleński.
Ossendowska [Iwanowska-Płoszko] Zofia18.02.1887 Sieradz –1943 WarsawStudied violin with Stanisław Barcewicz (Warsaw) and César Thomson(Brussels).
Poznańska Maria
Robowska Lucyna11.02.1876 Łódź – 21.11.1957 WarsawStudied piano with Adolf Gużewski and Aleksander Michałowski (Warsaw) as well as in Berlin.
Rupniewska-Freyerowa Janina25.04.1897 – after 1954Studied piano teaching (Warsaw).
Sternicka-Niekraszowa Ilza Adelajda20.09.1898 Petersburg – 27.06.1932 WarsawStudied composition with Alexander Glazunov (Petersburg) as well as Roman Statkowski and Karol Szymanowski (Warsaw).
Szubertowa M[aria?]
Trębicka Maria26.10.1893 Linowa (now Linova in Belarus) – 26.09.1985 Warsaw
Vorbond-Dąbrowska Wanda?–26.09.1939 Warsaw
Wereszczyńska Mira [Maria]16.06.1896 Kaunas – 27.11.1955 WarsawStudied at Warsaw Conservatory.
Zdziennicka-Bergerowa Zofia?–1950Studied performance on plucked string instruments (Warsaw).
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