Sigma Alpha Iota

sai-national.org • Summer 2022 25 Reviews WEAVE US TOGETHER: MY MUSICAL JOURNEY By Rosemary Crow Old Crow Press, 2021 I ntroduced to Sigma Alpha Iota in 2005 as the theme of our first leadership conference, Rosemary Crow's song "Weave us Together" has become an important touchstone for our Fraternity. Now, Crow gives us a look into what led to its creation, as well as insight into the development of her musical life, in her new memoir, Weave Us Together: My Musical Journey. Crow begins her book by providing background on her musical training, as well as describing the early years of her career as a public school music teacher through the many moves required by her husband Jerry's military career. When he retired and they settled in Asheville, NC, she obtained a position as music director of an Episcopal church, but it wasn't until her 38 th birthday that she first felt the impulse to compose. She began by writing songs that reflected her maturing religious faith, receiving inspiration and support from prayer groups to which she belonged. Throughout the remainder of the book, Crow takes the reader through the different stages of her career, in which she made and sold recordings, composed new music in response to various sources of inspiration, and moved on from being a church music director to someone who designed and presented religious retreats featuring her own music. She covers many useful topics related to the practical and logistical aspects of recording albums, including hiring musicians, making arrangements of her music for different instrumental combinations, and renting recording studios. In addition, she discusses how she planned and organized her retreat presentations. She is candid about the obstacles she faced along the way, from negative attitudes about the theological content of her songs, to more personal challenges, including her son's scoliosis diagnosis and surgery. Furthermore, she is honest about setbacks she experienced, such as religious doubts and insecurities about her music. However, Crow clearly and simply describes her evolution into someone whose religious ideas become more expansive and who develops more inclusive approaches to music composition. Rosemary Crow's musical life is closely intertwined with her religious life, but the religious content of her memoir is never obtrusive or preachy, and serves to further clarify her musical ideas and approaches. Even readers who don't share Crow's theological leanings will come away inspired and encouraged by this honest account of a woman musician's life. Kathi Bower Peterson is a graduate of Indiana University, where she majored in music history and oboe, and was a member of Iota Epsilon chapter. She also has an MM (in musicology) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MLIS from San Jose State University. She has been the librarian at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla, California since 1997 and currently serves as the treasurer of the San Diego County Alumnae Chapter, as well as the Coordinator of Scholarships for SAI Philanthropies, Inc. UNCOVERING MUSIC OF EARLY EUROPEAN WOMEN (1250-1750) Edited by Claire Fontijn Routledge, 2020 U ncovering Music of Early European Women is a collection of essays that cover various aspects of women's musical experiences in the Medieval and early Modern eras. Academic in tone, it features research done by both musicologists and performers working in the United States, Europe, and Australia. As is to be expected when exploring the subject of medieval music, many chapters deal with musicians in religious communities such as convents, the center of female literacy. These include essays on the musical visions of Hadewijch of Antwerp (died 1248), marginal notes and marks in medieval nuns' liturgical books, and sixteenth-century musical life in the monastery of San Donato in Polverosa as revealed by a manuscript owned by Sister Maria Diacinta Paulsanti. Other subjects covered include seventeenth-century French sacred songs and female identity, and performance aesthetics in the Renaissance. Two chapters consider the role of music in the lives of two sixteenth-century Italian noblewomen, Isabella d'Este and her sister-in-law Lucrezia Borgia, as performers and supporters of musical culture. Representations of weeping in the vocal music of composer Barbara Strozzi (1619-77), and the life of the musician and nun Andriana della Tiorba (1663 or 1664-1734) are topics that conclude the book. The concluding essay, "A Delicate Cage: the Life and Times of Andriana della Tiorba," ended up being one of my favorites for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is a good example of how the story of one ordinary woman can have universal, timeless resonance. In addition, I have always felt that the history of female instrumentalists (this nun's surname "della Tiorba" literally describes her as a performer on the theorbo, a type of lute) from this era is not well fleshed-out, and the author, Eva Kuhn, has done some marvelous detective work, combing through historical documents to piece together the story of what the life of a musical nun such as Andriana might have been like, as a performer and teacher who was not confined to her cloister. Although the essays are of varying quality and readability, they document the results of rigorous scholarship and are good examples of the kind of deep historical research and effective use of primary sources required to discover the musical lives of women during this time period. Accordingly, I would recommend this collection of essays to anyone who has a scholarly interest in expanding their knowledge of musical women of this era.

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