So I was listening to CBC radio, and Tom Allen played a classical piano piece by Amy Beach, a musician from the late 1800s. Before he played the song however, he gave a little background on her.
Apparently, she was a glorious musician. She got married though when she was 18 (“that was the right thing to do” at the time) and her husband restricted her from playing music. While she was phenomenally talented and demanded, he only allowed her to play one concert per year. More than that would undermine her status as a “proper Boston spouse”. According to Wiki, her symphony, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was the first symphony composed and published by an American woman.
When he died, after years of marriage, she began to tour the world and realized her dream of playing music and performing.
I don’t know why this story struck a cord with me, but it did. I guess as I heard it, I noticed myself feeling genuine empathy for Amy. I could imagine how stifled and trapped she felt not being able to release her creative energies. If I were in her shoes, I would have felt so suffocated, and resentful of society for the oppressions and rules that have been put down.
When I heard the part that she finally felt free to go out and tour the world, all I could think was: “You go girl!”.