Johanna Beyer
Tara Shanahan
Integrative Seminar 2
Ruth Eisenberg
May 2, 2016
There isn’t much known about Johanna Beyer’s life, which is a wonder since she had many significant contributions to modern music and colleagues. The most information that’s found about her is between the years of 1927 and her death in 1944. During this time, she went to the Mannes School and taught at the New School for Social Research. Yet, she’s not taught in music curriculums anywhere at the New School, her alma mater.[1] The gendering of art and technology is something that affects women to this day and it occurred around this time, which would explain why Johanna Beyer’s work isn’t studied in the same respect as some of her colleagues. In some ways, modernism reacted against feminism. Men were viewed as the only creative force, “men were defined as creators, while women were procreators, limited to imitating or inspiring.”[2] John Cage and Henry Cowell were two of her colleagues at The New School. Cage is considered a pioneer of avant-garde music and is very well known not only in music, but as a figure. He used instruments that weren’t normally used, and is most well known for his piece 4’33”, which is a piece that examines the sound in silence.[3] Cowell was also a pioneer of early avant-garde music. His contributions deal more with rhythms and the emerging technology at the time, the Theremin.[4] Despite composing the first piece of electronic music and that her colleagues were John Cage and Henry Cowell, Johanna Beyer’s life and the omission of her work in music history both literature and teaching is an example of the gender barriers including accessibility and visibility presented to women in electronic music.
Modernism was a movement after World War One that was a reaction to a combination of the atrocities experienced during the war and the rapid growth of industrialism. In Melissa de Graaf’s piece titled the Intersection of Gender and Modernism in the Music of Johanna Beyer, she suggests that modernism in music emerged “as a reaction against feminism”.[5] Women had started the suffrage movement right before World War I, which was definitely threating to men. In Modernism and Masculinity: Mann, Wedekind, Kandinsky Through World War I by Gerald Izenberg, he discusses the opposition men had to women’s emancipation, “the contemporary sense of masculinity depended so heavily on its opposition to femininity. Men could only be ‘men’ if women remained ‘women.’”[6] Essentially if women were educated and involved in economics or politics the sole difference between men and women would be reproductive obligations and this threatened men. This provided some reasoning behind defending “traditional masculinity roles by trying to reduce femininity to nothing.”[7] This anxiety and need for dominance was reinforced after World War I. Women had taken jobs during the war, which were previously only held by men and when the men came back they wanted it go to back to how it was and the women would go back home and fill their traditional role again, but that wasn’t what many women wanted to do.
Johanna Beyer came to New York right at the crux of this tension between men and women. Melissa Graaf writes, in Intersection of Gender and Modernism in the Music of Johanna Beyer, “Beyer struggled with two intersecting, often contradictory identities, negotiating a place for herself within her musical circle as a woman and a modernist.”[8] Beyer’s initial trip was from Leipzig, Germany to New York in 1911 for unknown reasons.[9] She was back and forth between Germany and New York, but Beyer is listed at a new address in New York around 1923 after she graduated from a German music conservatory. This was also the time when Hitler first tried to overthrow the German government, which could be a reason she moved. The most information that’s found about her is between the years of 1927 and her death in 1944. She obtained two degrees from Mannes by 1928 and is thought to have taught classes there with her colleague Henry Cowell during that time as well.
Beyer and Cowell had a complicated relationship. She would sit in on his classes and they became very close. In 1934, she was enrolled his percussion class.[10] He was in jail for 6 years, starting in 1936, and the 115 letters Beyer and Cowell wrote to each other is a main source for how we know anything about Beyer.[11] It’s clear from the letters that Beyer wrote that she was in love with him, but the feelings weren’t mutual for Cowell.[12] While Cowell was in jail, Beyer acted as a liaison for him. She worked to get him a plea to get out early, which he did, copied and published countless works, worked to get his book published, and scheduled performances for when he was out.[13] Once he was out he cut ties with her, so it could be argued that he was just exploiting her for work. However, he never said anything about her, but nice things about her and helped her when he could.
Beyer was introduced to the New School via Charles and Ruth Seeger, who were “teachers of modern composition.” [14] Ruth Seeger Crawford and Johanna Beyer were friends for over a decade and played at same the New York Composers Forum. The Forum was created as a part of the Music Education Division under FDR’s New Deal, which was the first time the government played “an active and enthusiastic role in sponsoring and the arts.” [15] What was really interesting about the Forum was that it welcomed women, who otherwise would have been out of job – either because of men coming back from the war or the depression. For the third season, female student composers were actually encouraged to participate in the forum. It made a big difference in the visibility for female composers in the New York area and more women were involved. There were two parts to playing at the forum one was actually having someone play a piece for the artist or the artist themselves playing it and there was a question and answer part following the performance. Beyer was scrutinized when she played the forum and was asked personal or very pointed sexist questions. One question was, “Miss Beyer, you seem to have gone your male preceptors one better in search for strange and ineffective tonal combinations. Have you consciously adopted Rudyard Kipling’s statement, ‘The female species is deadlier than the male’ as a guiding principal in your composition.”[16] Beyer also played her own pieces, which most composers didn’t do. She had a unique way of playing, that her fellow ultra-modernists did as well[17], in that she used her elbows and fists to pound on the pianos keys. It wasn’t received well, “The arm and hand playing on piano is very unusual, but not appreciated here.”[18] In contrast, when Ruth Seeger Crawford played there was still some of that element, but it was nowhere near the same level as Beyer was criticized on. There wasn’t actually questions pointed at her gender just some general ignorance for the piece saying, “Did you try hard to be original? Did you succeed?.”[19] Melissa de Graaf provides three reasons why this happened, “Beyer’s German nationality”, “her status a single woman”, and “embodied ultramodernism.”[20] [21] Crawford was married, American, and although she was in the same circle of ultramodernists her style was a different, making her less of a threat to her male counterparts. The composers who were active pioneers in ultra-modernism in the 20s, Carl Ruggles and Dane Rudhyar, were “as concerned with being ultra-male as ultra-modern… could be synonymous with masculine power, and utopian visions, be they ever so noble, were articulated within language void of feminine pronouns.”[22] So just at the base of the ideologies concerning ultra-modernism there’s already a conflict of interest for women. The importance of ultra-modernism is that it promoted the use of new technologies and new rhythms, like dissonance.
Around the time of the industrial revolution, in the late 1800s, machinery and mass production were made available and created jobs for working men. According to Jody Wajcman’s book Technofeminism, which is discusses the gendering of technology, “schooling, youth cultures, the family and the mass media all transmit meanings and values that identify masculinity with machines and technological competence.”[23] Even today, women aren’t encouraged in the same way men are to become mechanical engineers or produce music. That idea is enforced everywhere around us. Technofeminism also details the exclusion of women in scientific as well as music history texts. In the 70s there was a movement for women to be documented into canons alongside men great female scientists and this trickled down into music as well, which is an ongoing process.
Johanna Beyer’s most significant work is probably the Music of the Spheres piece, which she composed in 1938, a year before John Cage’s Imaginary Landscapes #1 was composed. Cage’s piece is regarded as the first piece of electronic music. Music of the Spheres was an interlude for an opera she never finished called, Status Quo, which she submitted to the Guggenheim, for a grant and residency. It’s regarded as the first piece of composed electronic music. The composition states “for three electrical instruments or strings.”[24] However, in the only biography on Beyer, Amy Beale states that, “we do not know, in fact, what Beyer meant by ‘electrical instruments’” and that this is an “unconfirmed claim about historical firsts” [25] That indicates that these instruments are open to interpretation and the technology at the time might have been too primitive to be considered “electric”. According to a biography on Henry Cowell, the Theremin had been demonstrated twice by Clara Rockmore and Leon Theremin at the New School in 1932.[26] Beyer was still involved with The New School at that time so it would make sense that Beyer would be inspired to compose an electronic piece. A Theremin also fits her description on the manuscript. In a piece by Larry Polansky about Music of the Spheres he also reinforces that there isn’t hard evidence that this is the first piece of electronic music composed, but he does say that Cowell, “worked with Theremin on a number of electronic music projects.”[27] Knowing about the nature of their relationship it’s arguable that he would have influenced her. Music of the Spheres was eventually recorded in the late 70s by the Electric Weasel Ensemble on analog synthesizers.[28]
Johanna Beyer has been omitted from music histories and the research and documentation on her is scant. There are some reasons suggested like her nationality or her involvement in ultra-modernism. Most significantly would be her gender. Her piece, Music of the Spheres, is probably as the first piece electronic music ever written. John Cage, who was one of her contemporaries, composed a piece a year later. Along with John Cage, her colleagues included Charles and Ruth Seeger Crawford and Henry Cowell. No matter the reason why she’s omitted from music histories and research, it’s an injustice to female electronic artists and visibility for women throughout history.
Bibliography
Beal, Amy C. Johanna Beyer . Chicago, IL: University of Illinois , 2015.
Beyer, Johanna. M. Music of the Spheres. 1938.
—-. New Music For Electronic and Recorded Media. 1750 Arch Records. A1, 1977. Digital.
de Graaf, Melissa 2008. The records of the new york composers’ forum: The documentary motive and music in the 1930s. Notes – Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 64 (4) (Jun 2008): 688-701.
—-. “Intersection of Gender and Modernism in the Music of Johanna Beyer.” ISAM Newsletter Xxxiii , no. 2 (March 2004): 7-9.
—-. 2008. “Never call us lady composers”: Gendered receptions in the new york composers’ forum, 1935-1940. American Music 26 (3) (Fall 2008): 294.
Haskins, Rob. “Introduction.” In John Cage , 7-13. London : Reaktion Books.
Izenberg, Gerald. “Introduction.” In Moderism and Masculinity: Mann, Wedekind, Kandinsky Through World War I , 1-19. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
Lumsden, Rachel. 2012. Beyond modernism’s edge: Johanna beyer’s string quartet no. 2 (1936) and vivian fine’s “The race of life” (1937). Ph.D., City University of New York.*
Marchant, Jeremy. 2011. Collections: “restless, endless, tactless: Johanna beyer and the birth of american percussion music”. Fanfare – the Magazine for Serious Record Collectors. Jul 2011.*
Oja, Carol J.. 2000. Making Music Modern : New York in the 1920s. Cary, US: Oxford University Press (US). Accessed April 22, 2017. ProQuest ebrary.
Polansky, Larry. ““…sticky melodies…” The Choral and Chamber Music of Johanna Magdalena Beyer .” New World Records. http://www.newworldrecords.org/uploads/filesFX3P.pdf.
Rodgers, Tara. (2010). Pink noises: Women on electronic music and sound. Durham [NC: Duke University Press.
Sachs, Joel, and Henry Cowell. Henry Cowell: a man made of music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Wajcman, Judy. TechnoFeminism. Oxford, GBR: Wiley, 2013. ProQuest ebrary.
- 13.
[1] I went to The New School and was in the Contemporary Music program for two years and we never discussed Beyer and was never included in a syllabus.
[2] De Graaf, Melissa J. “Intersection of Gender and Modernism in the Music of Johanna Beyer.” ISAM Newsletter Xxxiii , no. 2 (March 2004): 7-9.
[3] Haskins, Rob. “Introduction.” In John Cage , 7-13. London : Reaktion Books. https://books.google.com/books?id=id7zFYTtEfQC&dq=john cage biography&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
[4] Sachs, Joel, and Henry Cowell. Henry Cowell: a man made of music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
[5] De Graaf, Melissa J. “Intersection of Gender and Modernism in the Music of Johanna Beyer.” ISAM Newsletter Xxxiii , no. 2 (March 2004): 7-9.
[6] Izenberg, Gerald. “Introduction.” In Moderism and Masculinity: Mann, Wedekind, Kandinsky Through World War I , 1-19. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
[7] Ibid.
[8] De Graaf, Melissa J. “Intersection of Gender and Modernism in the Music of Johanna Beyer.” ISAM Newsletter Xxxiii , no. 2 (March 2004): 7-9.
[9] Beal, Amy C. Johanna Beyer . Chicago, IL: University of Illinois , 2015. p. 2.
[10] Ibid. p. 8.
[11] Ibid. p. 8.
[12] Cowell was arrested in 1936 for having sexual relations with an underage boy. It’s suspected that he was actually a closeted gay man, but that’s arguable. I only bring this up because the omission of people who identify as anything other than straight is something that also happens. John Cage is also a gay man, but it isn’t talked about as much as his work or in any relation to his work.
Sachs, Joel, and Henry Cowell. Henry Cowell: a man made of music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
[13] Polansky, Larry. ““…sticky melodies…” The Choral and Chamber Music of Johanna Magdalena Beyer .” New World Records. http://www.newworldrecords.org/uploads/filesFX3P.pdf.
[14] According to a diary her friend kept they gave her composing lessons in exchange for German lessons.
Beal, Amy C. Johanna Beyer . Chicago, IL: University of Illinois , 2015. p. 12.
[15] de Graaf, Melissa 2008. The records of the new york composers’ forum: The documentary motive and music in the 1930s. Notes – Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 64 (4) (Jun 2008): 688-701.
[16] de Graaf, Melissa J. 2008. “Never call us lady composers”: Gendered receptions in the new york composers’ forum, 1935-1940. American Music 26 (3) (Fall 2008): 294.
[17] John Cage was also known to play with his elbows and fists.
Haskins, Rob. “Introduction.” In John Cage , 7-13. London : Reaktion Books.
[18] de Graaf, Melissa J. 2008. “Never call us lady composers”: Gendered receptions in the new york composers’ forum, 1935-1940. American Music 26 (3) (Fall 2008): 295.
[19] Ibid. 296.
[20] Ibid. 298.
[21] Ultra-modernism more than anything else was geographically focused. It was a group of performers, who performed in an avant-garde style, which was mostly regional to New York. The movement strived to promote and distinguish American composers. “ultra-modernist composters embraced their difference from those in New York, (and simultaneously wanted) to gain the recognition that performances in the city could bring.” Cowell was a big part of this movement.
Oja, Carol J.. 2000. Making Music Modern : New York in the 1920s. Cary, US: Oxford University Press (US). Accessed April 22, 2017. ProQuest ebrary.
[22] Oja, Carol J.. 2000. Making Music Modern : New York in the 1920s. Cary, US: Oxford University Press (US). Accessed April 22, 2017. ProQuest ebrary.
[23] Wajcman, Judy. TechnoFeminism. Oxford, GBR: Wiley, 2013. ProQuest ebrary.
- 13.
[24] Beyer, Johanna. M. Music of the Spheres. 1938.
[25] Beal, Amy C. Johanna Beyer . Chicago, IL: University of Illinois , 2015. p. 5.
[26] Sachs, Joel, and Henry Cowell. Henry Cowell: a man made of music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
[27] Polansky, Larry. ““…sticky melodies…” The Choral and Chamber Music of Johanna Magdalena Beyer .” New World Records. http://www.newworldrecords.org/uploads/filesFX3P.pdf.
[28] Beyer, Johanna. New Music For Electronic and Recorded Media. 1750 Arch Records. A1, 1977. Digital.
