There was and there is hundreds female composers...  The problem is:
there isn't publicity, because the traditional search is centred in male
composers.  Examples:  Medieval Era:  Hildegard von Bingen.19th Century:
Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, Amy Beach, Alma Mahler, and others.
20th Century:  Lili Boulanger, Germaine Tailleferre, Thea Musgrave, Ruth
Crawford-Seeger, Esther Scliar, Dinorah de Carvalho, Jocy de Oliveira,
Maria Helena Rosas Fernandes, Sofia Gubaidulina, and others.  In the
University of Los Angeles the teacher and musicologist Susan MacClary has
books about this matter and the women characters in opera.  And I need to
confirm:  there is a book "Who is who female composers"...

Edson T. Ortolan
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