Composer Demographics in Generalized Art Song Anthologies and Reference Materials

This study examines the demographic makeup of composers in Western classical art song anthologies and reference materials.

Generalized (noncomposer or demographic-specific) musical anthologies (n = 379) and reference books (n = 29) were collected through commercial search engines, publisher websites, academic libraries, and private collections. Each composer's gender, race, sexuality, birth nationality, approximate musical period, and number of compositions were collated and categorized from each resource.

Definitions for demographic information were adapted from the United States Census Bureau and Human Rights Campaign to center the lens of a contemporary user's experience engaging with these texts. Basic statistics calculated using the composer's demographic information were multiplied by their total number of compositions to capture an aggregate understanding of what identities are likely to be encountered in such a resource.

Data collection yielded 12,321 composers (unique n = 3971) and 56,847 songs with repetition. Generalized resources tend to contain the music of specific composer demographics. Included works were composed by primarily straight (n = 43,795, 77.0%), White (n = 55,661, 97.9%), or male (n = 53,864, 94.8%) composers. Z-test results showed significance when comparing musical resources with population estimates in all categories. Man, White, and Queer are significantly higher, while Woman, Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), and Straight are lower in the aggregate data than in general population estimates. Man/White/Straight and Man/White/Queer are higher in the data, and all other groups are lower in the aggregate data than general population estimates.

The widespread use of art song resources representing a select portion of the available repertoire with unknown editorial impartiality could reinforce canonic ideology by limiting exposure to diverse repertoires. A "French Song" anthology is unlikely to have any women, BIPOC, or queer representation unless designed as a "Women in French Song," "BIPOC French Composers," or "Art Song by Queer French Composers" resource instead.