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Women and the Piano: A History in 50 Lives Hardcover – April 23, 2024

by Susan Tomes (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 29 ratings
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Women are an essential part of the history of the piano—but how many women pianists can you name?
 
Throughout most of the piano’s history, women pianists lacked access to formal training and were excluded from male-dominated performance spaces. Even the modern piano’s keys were designed without consideration of women’s typically smaller hands. Yet despite their music being largely confined to the domestic sphere, women continued to play, perform, and compose on their own terms.
 
Celebrated pianist and author Susan Tomes traces fifty such women across the piano’s history. Including now-famous names such as Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn, Tomes also highlights overlooked women: from Hélène de Montgeroult, whose playing saved her life during the French Revolution, to Leopoldine Wittgenstein, influential Viennese salonnière, and Hazel Scott, the first Black performer in the United States to have a nationally syndicated TV show.
 
From Maria Szymanowska to Nina Simone, and including interviews with women performing today, this is a much-needed corrective to our understanding of the piano—and a timely testament to women’s musical lives.
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  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Yale University Press
  4. Publication date
    April 23, 2024
  5. Dimensions
    5.98 x 1.42 x 9.29 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    030026657X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0300266573
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From the Publisher

"Destined to become a feminist classic"-Dame Judith Weir. The book is shown on a blue background.

WOmen are an essential part of the history of the piano...

"A real page-turner"-Dame Imogen Cooper

...but how many women pianists can you name?

Also by Susan Tomes: The Piano. A Financial Times Best Book of 2021: Classical Music

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Delightfully provocative and consistently informative.”—Diane Cole, Wall Street Journal

“In this engaging survey of fifty female pianists, from the eighteenth century to the present, Tomes aims to correct a male-centric understanding of piano history. . . . The resounding note is one of passion. As Marguerite Long told her students, ‘My joy in life is work, because it will never betray you.’”—New Yorker, “Best Books of 2024”

Featured in the Financial Times’ “Best summer books of 2024” classical music section

“Women were not able to pursue professional music careers for much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, no matter how musically gifted they were. . . . Anyone interested in learning about these hidden musical figures will find much to appreciate in this concise and carefully composed work.”—Carolyn Mulac, Booklist

“Its tone is one of joyful rediscovery and recognition, across 50 biographies of 50 colourful musicians. . . . While full of fascinating, often poignant detail, her succinct biographies also paint a rounded picture of a musical world.”—The Scotsman

Awarded Presto Music Book of the Year 2024

“A fascinating and stimulating history of the shamefully ignored field that is female pianism. Susan Tomes writes powerfully and with compelling perception, introducing us to one inspirational figure after another – a real page-turner.”—Dame Imogen Cooper, pianist

“A fascinating, informative, and necessary book which makes us realise how female concert pianists, past and present, classical and jazz, have overcome obstacles and prejudices with sheer determination, talent, and amazing stamina. Brava, Susan!”—Angela Hewitt, pianist

“An impassioned argument against the unjust bias of musical history’s received opinions; a sprightly collection of spellbinding life stories; a deft and immaculately researched explanation of the piano, and how it is played. Page-turningly readable, and surely destined to become a feminist classic.”—Dame Judith Weir, Master of the King’s Music

“Some of these women have been my beloved heroines since childhood; others I’d never even heard of; still others I was delighted to learn more about. This book is a thought-provoking collection of vignettes about women who played and loved the piano.”—Sir Stephen Hough, pianist

About the Author

Susan Tomes is a concert pianist and writer. Renowned both as a soloist and as the pianist of Domus and the Florestan Trio, she is the author of seven books, including Speaking the Piano, Beyond the Notes, and The Piano: A History in 100 Pieces.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press (April 23, 2024)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 030026657X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300266573
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.98 x 1.42 x 9.29 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 29 ratings

About the author

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Susan Tomes

Susan Tomes

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Susan Tomes is a Scottish pianist who has been writing about her experiences as a classical musician ever since she was a student. Over the years, she has found that her audiences always enjoy being offered a glimpse of what goes into the making of a performance, and her five previous books have aimed to open up the life and thoughts of a concert pianist to her music-loving readers. She has a particular love of chamber music, which has featured in all her books. Her sixth book, 'The Piano - a History in 100 Pieces' will be published by Yale University Press in July 2021.

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4.5 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Ida of Austin
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, well written.
    Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I liked the author and the way she writes. I play the piano and it was fun to read about women, through the ages, that succeeded in making a living from playing the piano. A lot of them I had not heard of before.
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  • Dick Fleming
    5.0 out of 5 stars it was a gift and they loved it.
    Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    a great book for a person with the piano talent.
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  • Joe
    5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful book, well written, fascinating
    Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Loved the story of Nina Simone. A wonderfully and well written book. Buy one.
    One person found this helpful
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  • David Belkin
    3.0 out of 5 stars Missing legions
    Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2024
    No Maria Yudina. No Marcelle Mayer. No Ruth Slenczynska. No Ingrid Haebler. No Gillian Weir. No Ruth Laredo. No Angela Hewitt. No Martha Argerich. No Hélène Grimaud. No Khatia Buniatishvili. No Anna Vinnitskaya. No Irena Lankova. No Lera Auerbach. No Simone Dinnerstein. No Uchida. No Ursula Oppens. No Joanna MacGregor. No Lisa Moore. No Sarah Cahill. No Stephanie McCallum. No Camille Howard. No Virginia Eskin. No Cili Marsall. No Ladyva. No Lil Harden Armstrong. No Jutta Hipp. No Bertha Hope. No Jane Getz. No Alice Coltrane. No Connie Crothers. No Carla Bley. No Geri Allen. No Irène Schweizer. No Marilyn Crispell. No Sylvie Courvoisier. No Satoko Fujii. No Yuko Fujiyama. No Diana Krall. No Irene Aranda. No Eve Risser. No Kaja Draksler... and I could list dozens of others missing from this compendium.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Jehoshephat
    1.0 out of 5 stars HUGE omissions, and unavoidably superficial in its treatments
    Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Obviously, WOMEN AND THE PIANO implies a vast subject. But each of the "entries" here comes to only about 4 pages, so it's all quite superficial, apparently aimed at the most casual music lover or writer of program notes. Where I lost it, though, was a final section titled "Jazz and light-music pianists". The very few women mentioned there were often trained to be classical pianists and then for whatever reason(s), often because it was very difficult for Blacks (either men or women) to get a foothold in so-called "Classical" music, and thus moved away. But it's an extraordinary insult to women like Mary Lou Williams and Nina Simone to segregate them -- a verb I use quite pointedly -- into this category, as well as to associate "Jazz" with "Light music". If the author and Yale University Press really want to publish a study of "Women and the Piano," they really need to reexamine all their criteria, racial and otherwise, and perhaps skip the biographical roll call in favor of something more like Arthur Loesser's MEN, WOMEN & PIANOS, still a classic.
    11 people found this helpful
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  • Ellen Allan Lord
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great read!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 23, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    Such an inspiring book!
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  • "moma301175"
    5.0 out of 5 stars Tolles Buch, sehr informativ!
    Reviewed in Germany on December 26, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Mir hat das Buch sehr gut gefallen. Es sind kurze biografische Einführungen in die Arbeit und das Leben von tollen Pianistinnen, die meist auch für das Klavier komponiert haben! Viele von ihnen waren zu ihren Lebzeiten sehr bekannt oder sogar berühmt. Es ist unglaublich, dass und wie schnell sie vergessen wurden, und es ist höchste Zeit, sie wieder in Erinnerung zu rufen und ihre Werke wieder zu spielen. Spannende Lektüre! Sehr empfehlenswert!
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  • David
    5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 11, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    This is a most interesting book about female pianists, some known, others not as well known.
    It is an eye-opener in showing how the patriarchal culture limited the opportunities of extra-ordinary talented women and in a sense almost wiped from history. I thought that it was a wonderful book by a celebrated pianist.
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  • swissy1952
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting book
    Reviewed in Germany on June 9, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    It was a present and my husband loved it. Lots of interesting information. The delivery was very fast. Thank you
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  • Katie
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 17, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Lots of names I've never heard of before. Well, given that women in music have been ignored for so long, it's hardly surprising. This is a useful exploration of those involved with the piano.
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