Steven Schwartz writes:

>One major difference is that it requires a lot more technical knowledge
>to become a composer than it does a writer.

And women couldn't handle it?

>Another difference is that musical scores for study have usually been
>harder to come by than books.  Amy Beach, for example, a fine composer who
>taught herself how to write music in rural New Hampshire, had a devil of
>a time obtaining scores and textbooks, although she came from a well-off
>family and could afford them.

And John Doe, also living in rural New Hampshire, being a man was able to
obtain them, and that is why he is a world famous composer?

>Let's also ask ourselves how many women were admitted into composition
>classes in conservatories.

Here are a few men who were not admitted to composition classes in
conservatories: Bach, Beethoven and Brahms; Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven;
Schubert, Schumann and . . . well none of these folks applied to a
conservatory.  Did Amy Beach? And if so, why? Clearly, directed self-study
has worked remarkably well for some above-average male composers.

>Why was Amy Beach self-taught, when the far less talented MacDowell
>received German academic training?

I don't know.  Given what the training produced in MacDowell, we might
speculate that Beach was either to smart and talented to want to go through
the often stultifying process of German academic training, or, if she did
want to, lucky in that she couldn't.  Okay, I'm being pretty facetious.  I
do wonder, however, if such training would have made her a better composer.
There aren't a whole lot of first rank composers who went the academic
route, you know.

>I know that as late as the 1960s, misogyny was pretty rampant in the
>composition department I studied with.

And everywhere else, including the publishing industry.  This was
particularly so in the 19th century.

>Part of the reason this sounds so incredible might be that the stupidity
>of otherwise intelligent males cannot, from our current perspective, be
>readily believed.

Agreed 100%.  I might add that most of your points have merit, but there
is still something missing.  Excuse my sometimes flippant comments above.
I just can't help myself some times.

"Richard Todd" <[log in to unmask]>