Music: A Matter of Art, Not Sex

Nearly 50 years ago, Virginia Woolf compared the situation of a woman composer to that of an actress in Shakespeare's day — hopeless. Among the popular theories offered to explain the mysterious absence of eminent women composers was the biological: men compose symphonies, women compose babies. Sociologists point out that little girls are mostly encouraged to confine their talents to parlor piano playing. Though women have always been accepted as soloists, only in recent years have many conservatories trained women as composers. "Think of the thousands and thousands of men who have studied composing," says Pianist-Conductor Bo ris Goldovsky, "to produce only about three dozen masters. Statistically, wom en may simply have to catch up before they have their Beethoven." There are signs they soon may be getting their chance. In June Manhattan's Juilliard School for the first time awarded a doctorate in composition to a woman. Bi centennial money and International Women's Year have resulted in more commissions for female composers.

While still small in numbers, more women conductors are emerging. A few of to day's growing corps of women who have successful careers in music:

THEA MUSGRAVE, 47, has written chamber music, ballet and opera. "Music is a human art, not a sexual one," she says. "Sex is no more important than eye color." When Britain's Musgrave talks about "space music," she is not referring to synthetic sci-fi sounds but to compositions in which the players are directed to move about the concert hall.

Her Clarinet Concerto, in which the soloist threads a path through the orchestra, will be heard at Caldwell's Philharmonic program celebrating women composers.

Musgrave is now writing a music drama about Mary Queen of Scots.

SHALAMIT RAN, 27, grew up in Israel, began composing works in her head at seven. When she was nine, her teacher wrote down one of her songs, which was played on the ra dio. Delighted at hearing her own music, she started writing it out herself and at 14 produced her first symphonic work. The New York Philharmonic performed her Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic premiered her piano concerto. Although many women composers feel that developing their talent leaves no room for domesticity, Ran is married—to a jazz musician. It annoys Ran that on divulging her own profession, people sometimes say, "Oh really? How cute."

BARBARA KOLB, 36, composer in residence at the American Academy in Rome, will return to New York next month for the premiere of Soundings, a richly textured romantic piece that blends overlapping layers of sounds. That same evening the work will also be performed in Rome by the Rome Radio Orchestra. Kolb, who grew up in Connecticut, spent six years in the clarinet section of the Hartford Symphony. It has never occurred to her that composing might be considered an exclusively male occupation. If anything, says Kolb, "composing a piece of music is very feminine. It is sensitive, emotional, contemplative. By comparison, doing housework is positively masculine."