FCUCC Forum Reminder

This Sunday, April 24 at 9: The Spiritual Voice of Women Composers  - PAMELA BLEVINS- Women have been composing music for centuries, some with great success.  But only in recent years have their voices begun to be heard again.  Women have composed in all forms from piano works and songs to symphonies, concertos, operas and large-scale sacred and secular choral works. From the 12^th century German abbess Hildegard de Bingen to the 20^th century American composer Elinor Remick Warren, women have created a body of music reflecting the spiritual nature of humanity.  This Forum  briefly explores the early history of women's contributions to sacred music and then focuses on three composers whose works have stood the test of time: Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, the elder sister of Felix Mendelssohn; Elfrida Andree, a Swedish organist and composer; and Elinor Remick Warren.  The talk is illustrated with photographs and recorded music. 

            Brevard resident Pamela Blevins is a music historian and former journalist.  In 1977 she developed a series of pioneering lectures on women composers titled "Silent Destiny" at a time when the voice of woman composers was indeed silent.  She is co-founder and editor of "Signature: Women in Music", an online magazine about women in classical music.  Blevins is the author of the critically acclaimed dual biography of English composer-poet Ivor Gurney and English musicologist, critic and writer Marion Scott, "Ivor Gurney and Marion Scott: Song of Pain and Beauty" (Boydell, 2008).