German pianist Kyra Steckeweh, also co-director of this film with Tim van Bevern, becomes curious about the lack of female classical music composers and sets out to research and learn more about nineteenth-century European composers Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Mel Bonis, and Lili Boulanger.
Born in 1805 into a wealthy German banking family, Mendelssohn-Hensel lived in Berlin where she received an elitist private education. Family expectations did not envision a music career but revolved around marriage and motherhood.
Mel Bonis was born in Paris in 1858 and began taking piano lessons at age 12 because her family thought it would “increase her chances in the marriage market.”
Sixteen years after her birth in 1893, Lili Boulanger knew she wanted to become a composer, and despite health issues that would end her life prematurely, she studied music at the Conservatoire in Paris.
Throughout the program, Steckweh travels to European cities where the women lived and studied, visiting former homes, landmarks, libraries, and other significant locales. And in aurally pleasing snippets, Steckweh adroitly performs pieces of the featured composers’ works. Subtitled interviews with German musicologist Beatrix Borchard and others add important background information to accompany vintage and modern footage, photographs, paintings, diary entries, maps, and sheet music.
An interview with a contemporary music conductor reveals that today’s audiences clamor for familiar works by Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven rather than pieces by relative unknowns. Steckweh promises to rectify this by instilling works by women in upcoming concerts.
The beautifully shot program, though a bit formal in tone and presentation, is a valuable learning tool for college students and classical music fans, deserving a place in larger collections. An interview with the filmmakers and Kyra Steckeweh’s piano recital of Mel Bonis’ Ophélie are bonus features. Recommended.