ABSTRACT

This project is a research based on the life and work of a Swedish woman composer, Amanda Maier-Röntgen, to whom we will always refer as Amanda Maier to shorten it. My research analyses her biographical aspects in order to find those details in her life that explain or give reasons or clues about her singularity as a woman composer in a time where the vast majority of the composers were men. Not only that, I also trace the many connections that she had with some of the most influential and important musicians of the second half of the 19th century, both composers and performers, and how these connections helped her to build her own character, personally and musically. Within that analysis I also talk about feminism during Maier’s lifetime, the world that was starting to open to women at the time she lived, and how growing up in Sweden might have helped her to make her own way into the music career more freely.

Finally, in the aesthetic chapter, I talk about the permanent balance between the Nordic music and the Classical forms in Maier’s compositions. She studied in some of the most prestigious institutions in Central Europe, such as Leipzig, with some of the best teachers. She learned the forms but she never forgot her roots and tried many times to incorporate her musical background from the Nordic Countries into the Romantic style resulting in her own unique style. Two of these examples are the Swedish Tunes and Dances and the Violin Concerto in D.