Lifting the Veil on Music’s Classic Women : Talk: Conductor tells of unsung performers, composers in prelude to a special concert.

“Reproductive genius can be admitted to the fair sex, but productive genius unconditionally cannot. There will never be a woman composer. There is no feminine form of the word ‘creator.’ ”

--Hans von Bulow, 19th-Century German conductor and critic

In the world of classical music, women long have played second violin.

At a talk hosted Monday night by the Orange County Symphony, Long Beach Symphony music director JoAnn Falletta quoted Hans von Bulow to illustrate what she called a pervasive attitude, one that has haunted women who enter the “very tradition-bound, very conservative” classical circle.

What Von Bulow failed to note about the fair sex, and what many contemporary audiences still don’t realize, Falletta said, is that gifted women have been composing and playing music for centuries. But their contributions have been overshadowed by male counterparts, or simply lost forever.

Falletta, who also is music director and conductor of the Virginia Symphony and the Women’s Philharmonic in San Francisco, neatly laid out a Cliff’s Notes version of women’s roles through history as players, composers and conductors. A rapt crowd of 60 listened at the Garden Grove Hyatt Regency.

During the Renaissance, Falletta said, a woman’s skill on harp or lute was confined to the home, not meant for public display. Women who showed more talent than their contemporaries were discouraged from pursuing their muses. And throughout history, quality works by female composers were not considered important enough to preserve.

Nannerl Mozart, older sister of Wolfgang Amadeus, was considered his equal and toured with him, performing throughout Europe until she was 14. But then, it was decided more proper that she prepare for marriage, not concerts. None of her compositions has survived.

Fanny Mendelssohn, older sister to Felix, actually was considered the more talented of the two, but she dedicated herself to making her brother a success. Scholars have discovered that several works once credited to Felix were written by Fanny, Falletta said.

Clara Schumann, wife of composer Robert, was a prodigy, a gifted player and composer who, once married, played mostly her husband’s works. Falletta is certain there were many, many others.

“If those women would have been given the same training as their male counterparts, we would have had some wonderful wonderful composers, and we lose because of that,” Falletta said. “We might have had another Wolfgang Mozart or Felix Mendelssohn or Robert Schumann.”

Today, membership in U.S. symphonies is 30% to 40% female but, Falletta noted, that has only been the case for the last 25 years, since auditions began to be conducted with the players seated anonymously, behind screens. In Europe, she added, such major orchestras as the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic have yet to be sexually integrated.

Perhaps the “last stronghold” of conservatism, she said, is the conductor’s podium. In the United States there is still only a handful of female conductors, and none of the country’s 30 or so major orchestras is led by a woman.

Falletta believes that the old traditional image of a conductor as “someone who broke batons, threw temper tantrums and stormed off the stage” was not one that women effectively could maintain. But now that the role of conductor has become more collaborative and cooperative, Falletta says women may have a better chance.

“Women in our society are raised to be supportive and nurturing,” she said. “Fortunately, my teachers told me that I had not only the right to be demanding and insistent, it was my responsibility to be so.”

Falletta’s lecture was offered as a prelude to a concert April 25 when the Orange County Symphony will focus on women in classical music by featuring guest conductor Gisele Ben-Dor, soloist Magdalena Doikova and a composition by early 20th-Century composer Amy Beach. Information: (714) 534-1103.