Music of the Day: 13–19 September 2026
This week on Music of the Day travels through almost nine centuries of music – with five remarkable women among our seven featured musicians.
From medieval chant and early opera to Romantic piano music, Celtic traditions and twentieth-century musical education, there is a huge range to explore.
This week’s musicians
13 September – Clara Schumann
Composer, teacher and one of the leading concert pianists of the nineteenth century.
14 September – William Jackson
Scottish harpist and composer whose music has been strongly influenced by Celtic traditions.
15 September – Louise Farrenc
French composer and pianist whose chamber and orchestral music has enjoyed a well-deserved revival.
16 September – Nadia Boulanger
Composer, conductor and hugely influential teacher whose pupils helped shape twentieth-century music.
17 September – Hildegard of Bingen
Twelfth-century abbess, writer and composer whose surviving music gives us a remarkable window into medieval musical life.
18 September – Francesca Caccini
Italian composer and performer associated with the Medici court and an important figure in the early history of opera.
19 September – Robert Casadesus
French pianist and composer whose international performing career made him one of the notable pianists of the twentieth century.
Women across music history
Five of this week’s seven musicians are women, but they come from very different eras and musical worlds.
Hildegard of Bingen and Francesca Caccini take us back to some of the earliest periods represented on Music of the Day. Louise Farrenc and Clara Schumann show us very different experiences of women working professionally in nineteenth-century Europe, while Nadia Boulanger’s influence stretched across generations of twentieth-century musicians.
Together, they provide a useful reminder that the history of music has always been broader than the handful of names that traditionally dominate the story.
September resources for teachers
All seven are included in the September Music Reading Comprehension – 30 Composer Activities collection.
The pack contains one musician for every day of September, with short biographies, five comprehension questions, suggested answers and QR-linked listening.
👉 https://musicoftheday.co.uk/product/september-music-reading-comprehension-30-composer-activities/
Use them individually, as regular music starters, for reading comprehension, cover work or as a simple way of broadening the range of music pupils encounter.
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