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Lenore Alford has explained that the Church’s historical adherence to classical Greek ideals, in which males were associated with spirit, reason, and heaven, while women were associated with the body, fleshly passion, and earth, would seal the fate of nuns and other female clerics who sought spiritual and musical participation in the practice of Catholicism. By virtue of their feminine corporality, women in the Church were deemed to be unable to attain the Greek ideals of “spirit, reason, and heaven.” This led to severe restrictions on women's musical activities and participation in the liturgy of the Church. Women resorted to embracing mysticism, inventing ways to participate in musical activities, often through the device of a mystical experience, in which they sought what mystics seek - a divine union with God and the

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Church. Through mysticism, women were able to penetrate the gender barrier that separated them from participation in their religion.151

Among the most successful of female Catholic mystics was Hildegard von Bingen (1098- 1179), a twelfth century German nun, mystic, writer, and composer. Although forbidden by the Church hierarchy to compose for the Mass itself, in such musical religious offerings such as Ordo Virtutum and Symphonia armoniae caelestium revelationum, for example, she engaged the oppressive male-dominated culture of Catholicism by embracing spirituality, a domain officially reserved for men only, through the domain of femininity within her works. Alford writes about the feminist theology of von Bingen, noting that her sacred art, whether musical or literary, was deeply centered in notions of femininity that were artfully camouflaged as a response to the regressive gender norms of the Church:

Another important aspect of Hildegard’s legacy is the deliberate way in which she cultivated a distinctly feminine aesthetic in her art: this is evidenced by her emphasis on female protagonists in her work, as well as her creation of a kind of feminine theology in the texts of her music. This female spirituality that poured out in her poetic writings helped to create something new in her age, that is, an answer or alternative to the male- dominated theology that was often extremely misogynistic in nature.152

It is not clear how Alford’s claim of Von Bingen’s “feminine spirituality” in her poetry advances the reality von Bingen seems to have been engaged with in her writings and music, i.e. that there was nothing particularly male about spirituality – it might just as well be female. It seems like an inconsistency in Alford’s argument to assert a gendered spirituality, either

“female” or “male.” Besides the realm of spirituality, I would argue that Williams, for example,

151 _Ibid.. 152 _Ibid.

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put her gender front-and-center in sensual, physical ways, crafting, like von Bingen, her own “alternative” to male-dominated Catholic theology.

Unlike von Bingen and the string of other women who worked under the “heard but not seen” policy practiced in the early Church, Williams’ excursion into feminist interpretations of theology and practice saw her promoting gender as well as racial equality by putting herself, a black woman, for example, at the front of church altars during performances of her Masses. Thus, she would break down long-standing traditions in the Church which supported the racist antagonisms and suppression of women.

Women had been historically marginalized within the musical life of the Church. As described by Alford: “By definition they [women] were touted as not capable of transcending their flesh in a way fitting to service in the liturgy.”153 _{Thus, women were excluded from writing} the ultimate religious musical expression – the Mass. Despite these obstacles, women composers and musicians participated in high levels of musical activity. Women produced hymns, psalms and other liturgical music for their convents from the early Medieval period on. It is interesting to wonder, for example, beginning with Von Bingen, who was an accomplished composer and writer, if she or any other women were compelled by faith to disobey the dictate of the Church, and compose a Mass in secret. After all, any devout composer of religious music would desire to create the setting for the expression of the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, that lies at the core of the Mass.

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If any such Masses exist, we may someday discover them, but until then, we do have the Masses of Williams, as well as a small number of Masses written by other female composers. Like Williams, these exceptions to a male-dominated sphere of Catholicism have appeared beginning with the late nineteenth century and extending into the present. As far as we know, these few works were composed by women who were not associated with the Church via a professional relationship, such as nuns or other religious female clerics. It is there that we find the Grand Mass in Eb major, Opus 5 (1889), a Latin Mass by renowned pianist and American composer Amy Beach. In 1892, the work premiered in Boston as a concert work. It was the first large-scale choral and orchestral major work to be premiered by an American woman composer in the United States.154 _{More than a century later, there are two Masses written by American jazz} pianist and composer Deanna Witkowski. Evening Mass (2009), scored for SATB and jazz piano trio, appears on her CD From this Place.155 _{Her Morning Mass (1998) is scored for vocalist and} piano.156 _{An English contemporary composer, Roxanna Panufnik, has written a concert Catholic} Mass, Westminster Mass (1997), which is scored for mixed choirs with three possible

accompaniments: (1) organ, (2) small orchestra, and (3) organ, harp and tubular bells.

154 _{Amy Beach, Grand Mass in Eb major, Opus 5, scored for chorus and orchestra, , (Middletown, WI: A-R}

Editions, 2018), accessed May 31, 2019,

https://www.areditions.com/beach-grand-mass-in-e-flat-major-opus-5-a084.html

155 _{Deanna Witkowski, Evening Mass, (Tilapia Records, 2009), CD.} 156 _{Witkowski, Morning Mass, (Tilapia Tunes, 1998), sheet music.}

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