Selection from Red Vespa's October 24, 2021 recital
The Dynamic Duo
Consisting of musicology professor Marian Wilson Kimber and pianist Natalie Landowski of Western Illinois, Red Vespa performs "musical readings." These are a form of spoken word performance that gained popularity with American women in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Most often, these musical recitations were written and performed by women, for women, as part of programs of pieces in groups by related topics--the way that composers Phyllis Fergus and Frieda Peycke used to do on their programs in the 1920s and 1930s. In the writing of these comical works, women were able to use humor as a kind of power. Performance allowed for pushing back against established social norms and constructions for women in a less threatening way.
The dynamic duo first got together when Wilson Kimber asked Landowski, a former student and dissertation advisee, to be a part of the project when she was working as a fellow at the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies. They started working together in 2017, staging their first performance as part of a University of Iowa Musicology Colloquium as an experiment. From there, Red Vespa went on to perform for the National League of American Pen Women at their meetings in Washington, DC and in Des Moines, for a Society of American Music meeting and an American Musicological Society meeting, and at Ohio State University.
As for the name, Vespas are little and sporty, and the pieces we perform are also short and sporty. Vespa also means wasp in Italian, and the pieces have some sting to them!
Wilson Kimber explored the brief, comic spoken-word pieces in her 2017 book, The Elocutionists: Women, Music, and the Spoken Word.
The influx of female performers into elocution during the Progressive era resulted in women’s dominance of spoken-word compositions, which were frequently performed for audiences in women’s clubs from the 1890s to the 1940s. The texts treat stereotypically feminine topics—fashion, courtship, or domestic life—often in satirical tones, supported by musical commentary in the piano.
Composers such as Phyllis Fergus and Frieda Peycke created works that specifically appealed to women while subtly resisting existing gender norms. Wilson Kimber and Landowski have been performing these works for several years to warm response in academic settings and for the music’s original audience, women’s groups; this recording will help further the rediscovery of this practice.
Performances
Museum Concert Series
April 10, 2022Utah State University, Utah
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art
Campus Visit
October 30, 2021Western Illinois University, Illinois
October 24, 2021
University of Iowa, Iowa
In this recital, Red Vespa performed works by Frieda Peycke (1884-1964), Phyllis Fergus (1887-1964), Lalla Ryckoff (b. 1891), Nettie Arthur Brown (1864-1914), and premiered a piece by Portland composer and University of Iowa alum, Lisa Neher. You can read more about Upon a Broken World in Wilson Kimber’s essay on the Women’s Song Forum: https://www.womensongforum.org/2021/10/19/musical-readings-on-a-broken-world/.
Campus Visit
February 13, 2020Western Illinois University, Illinois
Lecture Recital
Conference Presentation
November 1, 2019Boston, Massachusetts
American Musicological Society Meeting
Public Recital
October 21, 2019Chicago, Illinois
Musicians Club of Women
Public Recital
April 27, 2019Newton, Iowa
American Association of University Women State Meeting
Public Recital
March 6, 2019Hoyt Sherman Place-Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines Women’s Club
William A. Hammond Lecture on the American Tradition
February 11, 2019The Ohio State University
Public Recital
January 26, 2019Cedar Falls, Iowa
American Association of University Women
Public Recital
June 14, 2018Washington, Iowa
Public Library
Public Recital
May 3, 2018Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Beethoven Club
Black and Gold Dinner Performance
April 20, 2018Iowa City, Iowa
Friends of the University of Iowa Libraries
Public Recital
April 20, 2018Hoyt Sherman Place-Des Moines, Iowa
National League of American Pen Women Biennial meeting
In this recital, Red Vespa performed works by Phyllis Fergus (1887-1964).
Conference Presentation
March 1, 2018Kansas City, Missouri
Society of American Music Meeting
Public Recital
September 9, 2017Iowa City, Iowa
National League of American Pen Women Iowa City Chapter
-
Public Recital
June 24, 2017Washington, D.C.
National League of American Pen Women 120th Birthday Celebration
In this recital, Red Vespa performed works by Phyllis Fergus (1887-1964).
Colloquium Presentation
February 25, 2017University of Iowa, Iowa
In a Woman’s Voice: Musical Readings by American Women Composers
Recordings
For More...
Interview with Dr. Wilson Kimber
This Weekend: Red Vespa Performs Musical Readings by Women Composers