-Clara was born on September 13, 1819 in Leipzig, Germany, to Marianne and Friedrich Wieck.

-Her father, Friedrich, repaired and sold pianos and also taught her lessons. During this time she also traveled through Germany to learn counterpoint, harmony and orchestration from some of the masters. Her piano expertise eventually earned her the title "The Queen of Piano" throughout Europe.

-At age 21 she married Robert. Together, they had 8 children. So, while she still composed a little bit, she ultimately put her music career on pause to tend to her family. Robert did support and champion her work but his career took presedence.

-When Robert passed away in 1856 (he was only 46), Clara stopped composing as much but took up performing live again and eventually became the principal piano instructor at Hoch University in Frankfurt, Germany. Many of her compositions were virtuosic pieces for solo piano though she eventually embraced larger classical forms. She also made piano arrangements for the works of the late Robert as well as those of William Bennett and Johannes Brahms.

-In March of 1896, she suffered a stroke and then passed away the following May at age 76.

-Fanny was born in Hamburg, Germany on November 14, 1805, to Lea Solomon and Abraham Mendelssohn.

-She was the oldest child in an influential Jewish family. Her younger brother, Felix, would become a composer of well known fame. Though she was baptized Christian, she maintained a connection to Judaism. Her mother, Lea Solomon learned the Berlin Bach tradition from the writings of a student of Bach and passed it on the Fanny.

-At age 14, she knew all 24 preludes from The Well Tempered Clavier by memory and played them for her dad on his birthday. Fanny and Felix both received piano lessons from Ludwig Berger and composition from Carl Friedrich Zelter. Her father, Abraham, told her that while Felix might have a career in music, for her it can only be an ornament. However, Felix and Fanny were a close pair of siblings and her musical advice was revered by him to the point that he would rarely release anything without submitting it to her judgement.

-Despite her gender based set backs of that time, she nevertheless composed over 450 pieces including trios and quartets for strings and piano, and lieder (art songs). She felt that smaller forms with smaller textures suited her better and that her limited experience with stringed instruments encumbered her writing chamber or orchestral works. Both her and Felix’s writing styles were heavily influenced by Bach. But it was noted by musicologist, Angela Mace, that her works were a bit more experimental then those of Felix and offered a “harmonic density” that lent it’s self to emotional expression.

-Fanny died of a stroke in mid rehearsal for one of Felix’s cantatas in May of 1847 at 41 years old. Six months prior to her death, Felix ensured that all her works would be published under her name and that she got the credit she deserved. Six months after her death, Felix died from a stroke as well, just after completing his String Quartet No.6 in F minor, a piece he wrote to her memory.

-Pauline was born on July 18 of 1821 (Michelle Ferdinande Pauline Garcia Sitchez) to Manuel Gracia and Joaquina Sitches.

-Pauline studied with Franz Liszt and studied composition with Anton Reicha at an early age. She also would travel with her family to London, New York and Mexico while they performed Don Giovanni. By age 6, she was fluent in Spanish, French, English and Italian. Her father, Manuel, was a tenor, composer and vocal teacher. He trained her on piano and vocal lessons until his death in 1832. Her mother, Joaquina Sitchez, then continued to teach her.

-Pauline’s performance debut was in Brussels (age 15). She had a wide range, singing from soprano to contralto. At the top of her career, she performed the title role in Berlioz’s re-creation of “Orfeo ed Eurydice” in Paris. She sang in the St. Petersburg opera for a few seasons and was one of the earlier artists to bring Russian music to Western Europe. All the big composers of that time wrote pieces for her voice (Brahms, Saint-Saens, Schumann, and Faure to name a few).

-She continued to teach vocal lessons and composing music until her death in 1910 at age 89. Her compositions included, but weren’t limited to, 5 operas, 4 chorals and well over 100 songs and instrumental pieces. Her music was often advanced and challenged most vocalist and instrumentalist.

-Elfrida was born on February 19, 1841 in Visby, Sweden, to Andreas Andrée and Lovisa Lyth.

-Both her parents were active in the music community and believed their daughters should be as educated as their sons. At age 14, she enrolled into Conservatory in Stockholm to study organ and composition. In 1867 (age 26) she became the organist of the Gothenburg Cathedral and was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of music. Elfrida was one of the first female organists to be officially appointed in all of Scandinavia. At that time, in Sweden, unmarried women over the age of 25 were not allowed to take on permanent positions as organists. But Elfrida and her father Andreas lobbied relentlessly to change that law. And in 1861 (when she was 20), the Swedish parliament did change that law, breaking the ground for her to take that position in Gothenburg when she was 26.

-Elfrida composed 2 organ symphonies, an andante in G and a Larghetto in C minor as well as many orchestral works and piano pieces (quartet and quintet) 2 Swedish masses and the opera Fritiofs Saga. She passed away in January of 1929, at age 88 after a long life of conducting, composing and organ expertise.

-Florence Beatrice Smith was born on April 9, 1887 to Florence Gulliver and James H. Smith.

-Prior to her birth, her father was a dentist in Chicago but his office burned down in the Great Chicago fire of 1871. So they relocated to Little Rock, Arkansas. Her mother was a school teacher who also taught piano, which she taught to Florence. She was composing and publishing music by the time she was in high school, where she graduated the valedictorian in 1902.

-By 1906, she got her degrees as an organist and for piano instruction. From there she went on to teach and head a few music departments in several universities across the southeast. Despite all of these accomplishments, her race forbade her membership into the Arkansas State Music Teachers Association. This prompted a move to Chicago where she was met with greater career opportunities.

-She won several awards for her piano sonata in Em and then for her symphony in Em which would premiere with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933. And that was the first time an African American woman had her work performed by a major American symphony. She wrote many spirituals and art songs that were performed by big name artists of the time. Throughout her life, she composed over 300 compositions. Her style was a blend of European classical with the rhythms of Africa and the spirituals of her forefathers.

-Florence died in Chicago in 1953 at age 66. In 2018 she was inducted into the Arkansas Women’s Hall Of Fame and Arkansas Black Hall Of Fame.

-Alma Margaretha Maria Schindler was born on August 31, 1879 in Vienna, Austria to Emil Schindler and Anna Sofie.

-She began her music studies at an early age and composed her first piece at age 9.

-At age 23, she married Gustav Mahler, who would have her abandon her music to be a supportive and dutiful wife. Only 17 of her compositions are known today. This was, in part, due to Gustav eventually taking interest in her music and sought to publish it.

-After Gustav passed away, she eventually married Franz Werfel (Jewish). Together they fled to Los Angeles. She became a US citizen in an important member of the arts communities there and in New York, where she passed away at 85 in 1964.

-Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Kamakaʻeha was born on September 2, 1838 in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Analea Keohokālole and Caesar Kapaʻakea.

-Musically she was well versed. She sang and played piano, organ, guitar, ukulele and zither.

-In 1867, at age 29, she published He Mele Lahui Hawai’i. For almost a decade, this was Hawaii’s national anthem. She was the only queen regent of Hawaii and the last sovereign monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom until the overthrow lead by a coup in Jan of 1881, which landed her in prison.

-While in prison, she wrote many compositions and 3 of them made there way to Chicago for publication. Among these was the well known, “Aloha Oe”(Farewell to thee).

-In 1896, the Republic of Hawaii gave her a full pardon and restored her civil rights.

-She passed away in Honolulu in 1917 at age 79.