The vast majority of cellists throughout the world tend to play historical repertoire, written by men. The purpose of this site is to help change that, in immediate, tangible ways, by bringing focus and easier access to cello music written by historical women composers.
It is my contention that any cellist can now immediately pivot to playing at least 50% female composed historical repertoire (or even more, until some semblance of balance has been restored). The music is there; the quality is absolutely there. Many of these works should be at the very heart of the repertoire, and should always have been.
Humankind is out of balance with Nature. Musically, we're also sorely out of balance. It's time to change that.
From holograph copy of Fanny Hensel’s Cappricio in Ab Major for cello & piano (1829).
A database of cello pieces by 256 historical women composers, from antiquity to 1951. There are readily available scores for approximately 160 of them, with more on the way.
Playlists of recorded cello works by historical women composers: a Spotify playlist of about 17 hours, and a YouTube mix of about 4 hours. The works in the two playlists are completely different; both are arranged chronologically, by date of composition.
There is a lack of music for unaccompanied cello written by women prior to the 20th century; this collection of arrangements helps to address that. Unspeakable Beauty consists of approximately 30 minutes of music by female composers, from the 12th-19th centuries. There is an album of all of the pieces, as well as videos.