Note from the composer about Daunting is the Woman

Greetings to my fellow friends and colleagues. During this tumultuous time in our history, I am pleased to premiere through Gateway Classical Music Society, Daunting is the Woman , a song, which is a marching hymn, I composed and dedicated to monuments to real women and the unveiling of the first monument to three real women by sculptor Meredith Bergmann, which took place on August 26, 2020 in Central Park, New York City commemorating the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution – women’s right to vote.

As I thought about the symbolism of having no monuments of real women in Central Park, I began to feel inspired to write a poem reflecting the feelings perpetrated by this reality and to realize how important monuments are, especially underscored by the fact that the only female statues that currently stand in Central Park are of nymphs, witches and Mother Goose. I then composed a song from the poem’s words and chose a marching hymn, because I preferred to have a marshal feeling throughout, but still make it accessible to anyone wishing to sing it, which a marching hymn does well. I chose a minor mode for the hymn’s first three stanzas, which I wanted to reflect the sadness and seriousness of how women’s accomplishments are often dismissed and forgotten. As the words change in the poem to express that a change is approaching, I chose the parallel major key to reflect the hope inherent in change for the better. The reason for writing two versions of the song was to make it accessible to more people who may wish to sing it, by writing a lower key refrain in the second version. 

I composed Daunting is the Woman just prior to the pandemic taking hold when I was invited to perform it in Central Park and envisioned it with brass choir, solo trumpet and singers. Now, however, due to the pandemic, Gateway Classical Music Society will virtually premiere both versions of the song with piano, to honor this exceedingly important event in American history and unveiling of Central Park’s first monument to real women. 

As you listen to Daunting is the Woman performed by several singers of Gateway Classical Music Society, perhaps you will like to follow the words and sing along. The voices of several soloists all singing together sound so prideful, and more than one reminds us of how many voices it took to pass the nineteenth amendment in the first place. 

We are thrilled to share this experience with you, contribute to the monumental movement and rev up collective enthusiasm to embrace the accomplishments of women everywhere!

The  Poem

Daunting is the Woman by Ida Angland

A poem of oppression, perseverance and conquest

Dedicated to Monumental Women in celebration of monuments to real women

Central Park, New York City, August 2020

Daunting is the woman

Whose statue stands divine

A monument to eternity

Her bearing proud sublime

Standing tall and beautiful

Belies her suff’ring and tears

For living seen tho invisible

In time to marching years

Truth revealed her compromised

Dismissed, forgotten and small

But now the trends are turning

As gallant she stands tall

A change is now approaching

Remembered times unfold

In monuments to woman

Preserve her story told

Rising far revealing

So high above the stone

Her light forever glist’ning

Immortal strides are sewn

Daunting is the woman

Her worth at last be known

Her light forever glist’ning

So high above the stone

Copyright December 2019

~ Ida Angland