"Transcending narratives of female suppression, this Companion traces women's innovative and critical contributions to musical culture in diverse times, places, and contexts from medieval to modern times. A thematically organised exploration of a rich, re-emerging repertoire, it will be essential reading for students of music history"--

List of figures; List of music examples; Notes on contributors; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Prologue: studies in women composers - the first fifty years Matthew Head and Susan Wollenberg; Part I. Themes in Studying Women Composers: 1. Historical women composers and the transience of female musical fame Paula Higgins; 2. In search of a feminist analysis Susan Wollenberg; 3. Composing women's history: beyond suppression and separate spheres Matthew Head; 4. Progress and professionalism Sophie Fuller; 5. Women composers and feminism Leah Broad; Part II. Highlighting Women Composers Before 1750: 6. Medieval women in composition and musical production Margot Fassler; 7. Sixteenth-century women composers, beyond borders Laurie Stras; 8. Women and composition, c. 1600-1750 Rebecca Cypess; Part III. Women Composers c. 1750-1880: Forms of Musical Culture: 9. Did women have a classical style? Matthew Head and Susan Wollenberg; 10. Women, song, and subjectivity in the nineteenth century Anja Bunzel and Stephen Rodgers; 11. Women, pianos, and virtuosity in the nineteenth century Joe Davies and Alexander Stefaniak; Part IV. Women Composers c. 1880-2000: New Waves: 12. First-wave feminism and professional status Sophie Fuller; 13. Women composers, experimentalism and technology, 1945-1980 Louise Gray; 14. Vibrations: women in sound art, 1980-2000 Gascia Ouzounian; Epilogue: composers' voices Nicola Lefanu, Roxanna Panufnik and Shirley Thompson; Bibliography; Index.