JAVS Fall 2006

learn thar Clarke was the only woman accepted by ir hades Stanford, her composition rcad1cr m the Royal allege of Music. Of rhi , she wrote in her self-deprecating sryle, " .. .that I was the only woman he had accepted was a source ofgreat pride to me, though I knewJi!LL well that I never really deserved it (italics mine)." 1c was also Sir Charles who urged her to switch from violin co viola, that play ing the viola would place her "right in the middle of rhc sound, and [she) can tell how it is all done." (11 ) Also docwnentcd arc accoun ts of Iarke's independence, that she sup ported herself for over rwo decades playing in orchestras and chamber groups; char she became of the first women to be employed by an major orchestra in London; that her Viola Sonara and Piano Trio each won sec ond place in the 1919 and 192 I Coolidge Competitions respectively and that she was the only woman composer represented in the Coolidge between 191 8

The EngLish EnsembLe (Piano Quartet), ca. 1928-1929. (L to R) May Mukfe, cel!o; Rebecca Clarke, viola; Marjorir Haywmd, violin; J&thLeen Long, piano. Used with permission.

Women Musicians. As fo r Clarke's role in the Bri tish Musical Renaissance, urris wri tes: Clarke. .. bot!J contributed to and bene fitedfrom n rejuvenation ofrtll English musicaL rradirio11and a sense ofBritish n11.tio11al idmrity. Consideration of C/11.rke's experiences rtt the RCM, and her fiiendships with Stanford's other col'npo sition students (Gustav Holst, Vaughan Wi!limns, Fmnk Bridge, George Butteri/Jorth, others), and emphnsizes the pam/leis andpossible influmres benvren Cfmke nnd her colfengues. (25)

the cello recital nextyem; you hadever thought ofthe possibility ofhavinga woman! 1can't help fteling, and I believe you do too, that agreat cause is srrved in putting the work ofwomen executants on rm equ11.Lfooting with that ofmen-that is, only when it re11./Jy is equal. . . (15) Editor Liane Curtis curs ro the chase early in her essay, "Rebecca Iarke and the British Musiec1.l Renaissance," on the issue of the "woman compos er." The term was considered pejora nve tn Iarke's time and he was ca reful ro di ranee herself fi·om it, possibly because Ethel Smyth, who was bod1 strident and eccentric and quire the opposite of Clarke in per sonali ry and manner, in Curtis' words "might be een as d1e negati ve icon of this 'woman composer."' Srill , she was pare of the group ofwomen who in 19 11 founded rhe Society of

Commenti ng on Clarke's style, urns connnues:

But it is i11 t!Je grnre ofsoug that the ji11L breadth ofher musical style and develop rne/11 is revealed; her output ofjifiy-jit;e songr spa11s herjit!Lcreative life. (25)

I have been wondering, if, whenyou said you wert' undecidedabout the cellistfor

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