Poetry of Women Composers

One of the modules in the exhibition MusicaFemina – Women Made Music, presented in 2018 in Vienna, featured 100 female composers who have characterized female composition of music from the time of Sappho to the present day. When the exhibition was open for two months and viewed by 56,000 visitors, the poet, filmmaker and composer Sophie Reyer had the idea, inspired by her ancestresses, of composing 100 poetic texts to complement the series of 100 short biographies. She offered the 100 poetic passages as texts or audio portraits to contemporary composers for composition, with the poet eagerly creating postscripts for those particularly forgotten, those whom the female composers particularly wished to be remembered. The compositional work about the ancestresses was a voyage of discovery: into the history of the female composers; into one’s own history. This poetic-musicological project represents an impressive, profound snapshot of female composing, a poetic encyclopedia, a first-time and unparalleled bridging of the chasm between historic and contemporary composing. it is an opportunity to take a look at the history of music and clear the path for further opportunities.