Composer, pianist, feminist

From Hildegard in the 12th century through to the present day, women have made a significant contribution to classical music which has often been overlooked Not only a composer of some 70 works, Hildegard was a writer, mystic and visionary. As a Benedictine Abbess, she founded two monasteries. One of her compositions, the Ordo Virtutum, is the oldest surviving morality play.

It features melodies for the human soul and 16 virtues, but the Devil for once doesn't get any of the best tunes — he has a speaking role. Singer, lutenist, poet and teacher, Caccini was the daughter of the great Renaissance composer, Giulio Caccini. She became one of the most influential female European composers but very little of her music survives.

Her stage work, 'La liberazione di Ruggiero', is considered to be the first opera by a woman. Barbara Strozzi was said to be 'the most prolific composer — man or woman — of printed secular vocal music in Venice' in the middle of the 17th century. Her unique output only contains secular vocal music, with the exception of just one volume of sacred songs.

The large majority of her works were written for soprano. At 16, Leonarda entered a convent where she stayed for the rest of her life.

Famous female pianists 21st century

She was one of the most productive woman composers of her time, as well as a teacher for the other nuns. Her 'Sonate da chiesa' was historic in that it was an instrumental composition rather than vocal. She is one of only two Italian women known to have written instrumental music. Following her marriage, she interrupted her studies to play concerts with her husband, the flautist Aristide Farrenc.

Despite her brilliance as a performer and composer, she was paid less than her male counterparts for nearly a decade.