The Marchesi Legacy: Selma Riemenschneider and Vocal Pedagogy

Abstract

C yrilla Barr and Ralph P. Locke emphasize in their Cultivating Music in America: Women Patrons and Activists Since 1860 that throughout music history women have diligently served artistic communities as performers, pedagogues, and patrons. However, many stories of these women remain unnoticed and underexplored due to a phenomenon Barr and Locke describe as the “distortion of omission,” in which women’s voices are silenced and erased from history by the men who write it, as well as the “distortion of substitution,” which credits men for the work of women, “thereby polluting the historical record.” Selma Riemenschneider is no exception. As a voice pedagogue, Selma belongs to this underrepresented portion of Baldwin Wallace University (BW) history, since she is memorialized primarily in the shadow of her husband, Albert. Yet Selma studied music at a high level at BW, as well as in Europe, cultivating her own set of pedagogical and performance philosophies that distinguished her as an expert in her field. While Selma did not employ her experiences predominantly in performance, she at many points employed her experiences as both student and teacher at BW to create a lasting impact on BW students and Conservatory culture. There are limited sources with which to understand the gravity of Selma’s impact, which obscures her place in BW history and her effect on modern BW Conservatory culture. For example, we know little of Selma’s students, excluding her niece, Mary Marting Pendell. We also know little of Selma’s own experience as a performer besides