‘Women and the Piano: A History in 50 Lives’ by Susan Tomes (Yale, 2024)

Photo of Cliburn medalist Anna Geniushene, 2022

—Cathy Ritchie

Women and the Piano: A History in 50 Lives
by Susan Tomes (Yale University Press, 2024)

Wait—isn’t the phrase “women and the piano” something of a contradiction in terms? Apparently, some still think so. But author and piano performance expert Susan Tomes goes a long way toward providing an answer to this fraught question in her book Women and the Piano: A History in 50 Lives.

We may be more familiar with the names Horowitz, Rubenstein, Ashkenazy, Lang Lang, Perahia, Hough and Watts. But there have always been women concert pianists among us, though they have been less likely to become household names.

One of the major reasons Tomes puts forth for their comparative absence in the spotlight sounds sadly familiar: sexism times 10. But she also brings to light other societal and musical factors the average concert-goer or piano student would probably never consider. And her discussion of these factors, coupled with 50 profiles of performers she deems historically noteworthy, combine to produce an enlightening text, well worth a look.

In her Introduction, Tomes confesses that her research turned up “lady pianists” totally unfamiliar even to her. She asks rhetorically: “Why had they slipped through the net? I could only conclude that there had been some sort of deeply ingrained, tacit collective agreement that we could safely forget about them simply because they were women (author’s emphasis)….The few women pianists we read about were really just imitating men—weren’t they?”

Au contraire. She goes on to declare her subjects “pioneers,” as they not only traveled far and wide to concertize, but also gave lecture-recitals, commissioned music, raised money, premiered new works, revived historical pieces, and much more. (Many also managed to raise families in their spare time.) Trailblazers indeed, both on behalf of their sex and often their entire profession. Tomes finally selected 50 women “whose stories illustrate a range of issues that female pianists had to confront.” As I will discuss later, readers may perceive some gaps in her list, but Tomes manages to introduce an array of pianists who embody a wide variety of backgrounds and nationalities.

Before introducing her “top 50,” Tomes provides a bonus: two excellent analyses of the history of the piano as an instrument, and how its development would affect the future of women performers.

To simplify greatly: in the early days of harpsichord and piano (often called the pianoforte), these instruments were seen as de rigueur furniture pieces for a prosperous 17th-century home. The women of the household would learn to play the instrument(s) within the walls of their parlors or living rooms as part of their rather constricted education. Evidence of their musical abilities was kept private, limited to relatives and close friends only. The 18th and 19th centuries would see the physical development of the piano into the more public, Steinway-esque grand pianos we find on today’s concert hall stages.

The larger and flashier the piano became, the more male performers gravitated towards its keyboard and potential for showy octaves, and concertizing for the public also became more commonplace. Women performers slowly began to recede into the ether, taking their inherently smaller hands with them. That’s right: it was a truism for far too long that women could not be effective pianists because of their lesser hand size—though Tomes reminds readers several times that petite hands can be found on piano men as well, e.g., Daniel Barenboim.

These sections offering historical context are fascinating, and provide a fine segue into the meat of Tomes’ narrative. Her 50 profiles are divided into three sections: “dawn of the piano era,” “the age of the concert pianist” (by far the largest portion), and “jazz and light-music pianists” (including Hazel Scott and Nina Simone). The entries are in basic chronological order within each category.

Tomes devotes approximately two pages to each woman, and there are times when narrative sameness threatens. However, she is a skillful enough writer to prevent her pieces from fitting into a too-rigid factual mold. I myself read the book straight through and managed to stay intrigued throughout, especially when introduced to ladies such as one Olga Samaroff (1882-1948), the first female pianist to perform in Carnegie Hall--and who was born Lucy Hickenlooper in San Antonio, Texas! Tomes keeps readers intrigued and entertained with these personal nuggets about her subjects’ lives—not to be missed.

However….By restricting her spotlight to 50 pianists, it was inevitable that Tomes would bypass many names. That’s understandable to a point, but I fear she has overlooked more than a handful of outstanding and reasonably well-known 20th/21st-century performers.

Ironically, Tomes herself comments at one point: “Many music lovers would say that the leading pianist of any gender in recent decades has been Martha Argerich.” But this great artist and Kennedy Center honoree is nowhere among the chosen 50. Neither are Mitsuko Uchida, Bella Davidovich, Yuja Wang, Helene Grimaud, the LaBecque Sisters, Angela Hewitt, Simone Dinnerstein, Imogen Cooper, Maria Joao Pires, or Cliburn medalists Cristina Ortiz, Olga Kern, Anna Geniushene, Joyce Yang and Beatrice Rana. Tomes might well consider compiling a second edition at some point.

But questionable omissions aside, Tomes has written a wake-up call for musicians and general readers alike. Thanks to her, music lovers (and perhaps some male musicians and conductors) may acquire a wider perspective on the contributions of women pianists—then and now. And no eyebrows need be raised at the juxtaposition of “women” and “piano” in the same sentence.