Canadian Women Composers in Modernist Terrain: Violet Archer, Jean Coulthard and Barbara Pentland Des compositrices canadiennes sur le terrain moderne: Violet Archer, Jean Coulthard and Barbara Pentland

Abstract

The successful compositional careers of Jean Coulthard, Barbara Pentland, and Violet Archer spanned all but the first three decades of the twentieth century. Entering a compositional career at this time had many challenges: as Western Canadians, these composers had to establish their credibility with a public that could not be counted on to recognize the worth of their work due to sexist bias and a prevailing critical stance: public approval was evidence of a lack of true creativity. This was especially problematic for women, who had to keep to the center of progressive composition, away from the experimental and conservative margins, in order to gain recognition. Following World War II, the pressure of modernism increased, due at least in part to initiatives by the U. S. Government in occupied Germany, countering the stereotype of the unsophisticated American with a new narrative of American experimental tradition.

Résumé

Les carrières couronnées de succès des compositrices Jean Coulthard, Barbara Pentland et Violet Archer couvrent une grande partie du xx^e siècle, à partir des années 1930. Embrasser une carrière en composition à cette époque-là comportait de nombreux défis : en tant que Canadiennes de l’Ouest, ces compositrices ont dû établir leur crédibilité with a public who could not be counted upon to recognize the worth of their work due to sexist bias tout en combattant le préjugé selon lequel être compris d’un vaste public démontre automatiquement un déficit de créativité. C’était particulièrement problématique pour des femmes, car elles devaient se maintenir au centre de l’avant-garde, plutôt que dans les franges expérimentales ou conservatrices, afin d’obtenir une certaine reconnaissance. À la suite de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, la pression du modernisme s’est accrue, en partie à cause de l’élaboration, par le gouvernement américain occupant l’Allemagne, d’un nouveau scénario visant à établir une tradition expérimentale américaine afin de contrer le stéréotype de l’Américain mal dégrossi.

Notes

• [1] J. J. Gibson has developed the idea of “affordances” in his studies of animal behavior. Affordances are the characteristics of an environment that make possible the performance of actions or behaviours.
• [2] A state of affairs discussed, with respect to French-language CBC, in Jean Boivin, “Les musiques classique, moderne et contemporaine larguées par la radio publique. Le cas d’Espace musique”, Circuit, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 95-105; <http://www.revuecircuit.ca/articles/16_3/10-les-musiques-classique-moderne-et/>
• [3] “The higher education of women may connote a general intellectual progress for the community, or, on the other hand, a physical degradation of the race, owing to prolonged study having ill effects on woman’s child-bearing efficiency […] those who are the most earnest supporters of woman’s independence ought to be the first to recognise that her duty to society is paramount.” (Pearson, 1901, p. 355.)
• [4] Comments like this must have sustained her through the onslaught of derision that she faced for much of her career. Donald Mitchell’s review of her 1955 concert in London is a choice example of damning by faint praise : “If she could match her welcome crispness of utterance to compelling musical ideas we might find in Miss Pentland a miniaturist of quality.” (Mitchell, 1955, p. 485.)