A Survey of Female Composers in the Bassoon Repertoire

• Julia McDonnell, Music, University of Delaware

• Zachary Feingold, MUSC, University of Delaware

Historically, the classical music world has prioritized the music of white, European men for performance and study. Advancements have been made on this front in recent years to perform and engage with the music of other identity groups, and though there is still work to be done, music from composers of all identities is welcomed much more in today’s society. Music written for the bassoon follows this pattern, with very few historical female composers for the bassoon compared to living female composers. An analysis of the biographies and music of seventy female-identifying composers who have written music for solo bassoon, bassoon and piano, or bassoon ensemble reveals a few notable trends. The majority of these composers are still living, and of the few that are not, all lived in the twentieth century, making bassoon music by female composers written before 1900 exceedingly rare. Furthermore, about half of the surveyed composers are from the United States. Their music is highly individualized based on each composer’s personal style, taking inspiration from a plethora of musical and extra-musical sources. Additionally, music for bassoon and piano seems significantly more common than music for unaccompanied bassoon or bassoon ensemble, though the repertoire for unaccompanied bassoon is by no means small. These trends demonstrate how far the classical music world has come in accepting a wide variety of repertoire by diverse composers, but point out that there is always farther to go in making sure every composer’s musical voice is heard.