So much of the music we love today would not exist without the very real generosity of women through the ages. Can you imagine a musical world without the presence of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky? There would be no "1812 Overture" or "Sleeping Beauty" or "Nutcracker Suite," much less six stirring symphonies, concertos, several operas, and assorted chamber works. Of course, some of this music might have evolved without the assistance of his patroness, Madame Nadezhda von Meck, but there is no doubt that she made his life much easier. For 14 years, he did not have to worry about such mundane considerations as money, as long as the wealthy widow remained his "silent" - and distant -- partner. Although they wrote letters to each other, faithfully and prodigiously for many years, they never met face to face. On the two occasions when they were in the same place at the same time, they passed each other in embarrassed silence.
His death is still clouded in mystery - did he really commit suicide? Was he ordered to do so? Or was it, plain and simple, entirely due to typhoid? One possibly mitigating factor in the suicide theory might have been the withdrawal of his annuity from Madame, which she blamed on financial reverses.
A few years later, at her villa in Italy, she provided another young composer with short-term financial stability. Claude Debussy was employed by her as a pianist, and accompanied Madame on her travels to Florence, Venice, Vienna and Moscow, where he first became well acquainted with the Russian masters.
From 1880 to 1940, the Princesse Edmond de Polignac actively supported music - and musicians - of various kinds from her salon in Paris. This international who's who included, among others, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Manuel de Falla, Jean Cocteau, Serge Diaghilev, Darius Milhaud, Igor Stravinsky, Erik Satie, Germaine Tailleferre, Karol Szymanowski, Nadia Boulanger, Paul Hindemith, Francis Poulenc, and Kurt Weill .
In the United States, two extraordinary women - Elizabeth Penn Sprague Coolidge (1864-1953) and Gertrude Clarke Whittall (1867-1965), may well have changed the face of music presentation by their individual gifts, primarily to the Library of Congress. Mrs. Coolidge encouraged new music, while Mrs. Whittall doted on the classical tradition, especially string quartets. Their tastes are well represented by their legacies.
