HerStory: The Piano Collection

Finalist in the Outstanding Music Education Resource Category for the 2023 Music & Drama Education Awards HerStory: The Piano Collection presents invaluable repertoire by remarkable female composers across the ages. This important collection is progressively graded, suitable for intermediate to advanced level players (approximately Grade 4 to Grade 8) and also features a piano duet and an ensemble piece for piano, clarinet, viola and cello. Written and compiled by award-winning author and piano pedagogue Karen Marshall, each piece is accompanied by a fascinating ‘snapshot’ of the 29 composers, providing invaluable insights into how they lived and composed, alongside quotes from them or about them. In addition, there are suggestions of other pieces to try, personal observations from Karen Marshall and pedagogical activities and ideas. “This vibrant collection of wonderful music from literally every musical period promises to enrich the musical lives of everyone. Female composers have suffered shocking neglect over the centuries, but society is now beginning to make amends. Karen Marshall’s extraordinary anthology brings neglected jewels out of obscurity and into the limelight, where they will be loved and cherished. ” Kathryn Page, pianist, adjudicator, teacher and co-founder of Chetham’s International Piano Summer School Contents Villanelle (Marguerite Balutet) Grazioso from Sonata No. 2 (Elisabetta de Gambarini) Étude in C, Op. 50, No. 1 (Louise Farrenc) The Banjo Op. 74 No. 4 (Nannie Louise Wright) Berceuse Op. 2 (Dora Pejačević) Menuet from Suite in G minor (Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre) Étude in D minor, Op. 50, No. 11 (Louise Farrenc) Invention (Ethel Smyth) Surgite, Surgite (Barbara Strozzi) The Wood Nymph’s Harp (Florence P Rea) Levee Dance (Florence Price) Columbine (Amy Beach) The Spinning Top (Elena Gnesina) O Virtuo Sapientiae (Margarida Gonçalves/ Hildegard von Bingen) Now Think. (Emily Pedersen/Hildegard von Bingen) Aubade (Cécile Chaminade) Waltz Caprice Op. 2 No. 2 (Clara Schumann) Valse (Maria Szymanowska) Juninat (June Night) (Inga Lærum Liebich) Andante cantabile from Sonata No. 2 (Maria Hester Park) Mélodie Op. 4 No. 2 (Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel) Tempo di Minuetto from Sonata in A major (Marianna Martines) Heloisa (Valsa de salão) (Francisca Gonzaga) Lied Op. 35 [37], No. 1 (Josephine Lang) Intermezzo (Op. 3 No. 3) (Paula Szalit) Sospiro (Tango) (Francisca Gonzaga) Prélude (Ce que l’on entendit dans la nuit de Noël) (Augusta Holmès) Pastorale (Germaine Tailleferre) Waltz No. 9 (Marie Jaëll) Divertimento (Anna Amalia von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel)