Ravinia 2022, Issue 6

Lawn Clippings By John Schauer From the Ridiculous to the Sublime THROUGHOUT THE CURRENT SEASON, Ravinia Chief Conductor Marin Al- sop programmed a generous sampling of works by women, who hold a far more prominent place in the ranks of composers today than was the case in previous centuries. Many years ago, while in graduate school, I was taken aback by an article in which two writers, male and female, debated why there has historically been such a dearth of women composers. Incongruously, the man argued that it was be- cause of social and educational constraints women have historically faced, while the woman claimed it was because those of her gender simply lack the necessary “creative spark.” The woman in question? Camille Paglia, the social and arts commentator known for wildly controversial statements that have earned her the dubious sobriquet of “equal-opportunity offender.” So far as I can see, many of her pro- nouncements have been motivated by the same impetus that prompts a 5-year- old to shout a naughty word in church: to shock and attract attention. And her efforts have succeeded handsomely. Another insight from her: “There is no female Mozart because there is no female Jack the Ripper.” She elaborates, “Women are hypersensitive to the envi- ronment, but they’re also less inclined to be obsessive. To be an artist, you have to be an egomaniac, you have to give up on the traditional social niceties. You have to be vicious.” Ah yes, vicious—like Mozart and Bach and Tchaikovsky, monsters all. Other of her statements and stances, best not gone into here, are sufficiently outrageous for me to take anything she writes with a five-pound bag of Morton’s. I recalled that long-ago article recently when I first listened to Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto and was struck by the fact that I found it a more enjoyable listening experience than her husband’s sole work in that form. Ad- mittedly, it may be my own shortcomings as a listener that have always made me unreceptive to Robert’s concerto, but for whatever reasons, I found Clara’s to be a pleasant discovery, as were her Piano Trio and Romances for Violin and Piano on the same disc. And it forced me to wonder how far she would have gone if she hadn’t had to maintain a grueling performance schedule as concert pianist so she could support and care for her large family—eight children!—while pampering a husband whose mental stability was always fragile at best and ultimately disinte- grated completely. At least she did have some opportunities to display her compositional gifts before the public. The same cannot be said for Alma Schindler, who is largely remembered for her associations with men, having married composer Gustav Mahler, architect and Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, and novelist and play- wright Franz Werfel, in addition to engaging in extended affairs with artists Gus- tav Klimt and Oskar Kokoshka—among others. Those others included composer Alexander Zemlinsky, who was her first lover and composition teacher. But Alma never had much opportunity to exercise her compositional skills after marrying her first husband, Mahler, who would tolerate no competition from within his own home. Before their marriage, he wrote to her, “The role of composer, the worker’s role, falls to me; yours is that of a loving companion and understanding partner.” Always excessively dazzled by men of artistic accom- plishment, Alma acquiesced, but later expressed regret, writing dolefully, “I have been firmly taken by the arm and led away from myself.” Whether she would have been able to rise to the occasion musically speaking, we will never know, for in the annals of history, her name will always be followed by the words “compan- ion to” rather than “composer of.” Then it dawned on me: these two women—and undoubtedly countless others—weren’t incapable of becoming famous composers because they were women, but more specifically because they were wives , who never had the luxury of devoting all of their waking hours to composition. My theory gained credence when I reflected on the remarkable fact that the very first composer in the history of Western music to whom we can assign a name was a woman: Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179), whose remarkable cor- pus of ethereal music has been recorded and is worth seeking out. An amazingly versatile figure, she was also an accomplished artist, philosopher, historian, mys- tic, medical practitioner, linguist, dramatist, and theologian. More to the point of my theory: she was a nun. In 2012 she was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI. Literally a saint. Memo to Ms. Paglia: I doubt that she was all that vicious. John Schauer is a freelance writer and confirmed, but not yet canonized, bachelor. Hildegard of Bingen and Camille Paglia had slightly different approaches to creative culture. RAVINIA MAGAZINE • AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 18, 2022 20