In honor of International Women’s Day, I thought I might point out a powerful symphony written by the Croatian composer, Dora Pejačević (1885-1923). The Symphony in F-sharp minor for large orchestra, Op. 41 (1916 – 1917, rev. 1920; dedicated to her mother baroness Lilla Vay de Vaya), is a sweeping composition and the culmination of her orchestral writing. Pejačević has a substantial body of work, including art songs, chamber pieces, solo piano compositions, and four orchestral works, written in a lush, late romantic style. She was quite a talent, and, because of her social standing, received proper training so that her inventiveness could shine. Sadly, due to complications from the birth of her first child, she passed in her late thirties, yet she left us a legacy of 58 opuses (106 compositions)!
While the symphony is close to 50 minutes in length, I suggest that you listen to the entire work, as it is intelligently and dramatically crafted to be a fulfilling experience as a whole, the finale being a culmination of thematic material from the earlier movements.
Let Pejačević’s music stand as an example of a creative individual whose work should be recognized for its mastery of the art, who also happens to be a woman. She had asked for her tombstone to simply note “Dora…Rest Now.” And today we can add a well-deserved “Hail Dora!”
—Magus Peter H. Gilmore