The Rare Voice of Women in Music History: Females Singing Tenor and Bass Lines

Any history is burdened by the politics of its transcriber, and music history is not exempt from this bias. A chronology of Western music history consists of European males influenced by other European males, starting from the Medieval Age and continuing through the beginning of the twentieth century. This homogenous history is largely due to the fact that other voices of the time, specifically women, were silenced by politics and religion. The notable absence of women within music history motivates scholars today to represent the feminine influence as best they can. Due to the modern more favorable political and religious climates, women in early music are now receiving their chance for owed representation. One area where women musicians left their mark was in the Baroque-era ospedale of Italy. There women were reversing the gender discriminatory practice of males playing female roles in operas and in religious music.

It was not until the nineteenth century before women were regularly found performing in opera houses or in church music. From the early monasteries and convents in the Middle Ages, women and men were separated in a religious context. Women possessed no role in the mass setting, and this naturally extended to an exclusion from all church music as well. Politically they were inferior to their male counterparts, generally translating to women not owning property, voting, or holding leadership positions of any consequence within society. Although musicologists today argue that there must have existed a number of women composers throughout music history, there is little documentation of their work with the exception of women such as Hildegard von Bingen in the eleventh century and Barbara Strozzi in the early seventeenth century.