Ellen Rissinger
So Lit Song Lit Creator & Co-Host
Appears in 81 Episodes
Jane Vieu & Mel Bonis
For your "Twix-bar of an episode", today we are talking about Jane Vieu (1871-1955) and Mel Bonis (1858-1937). Jane Vieu started composing at age 11 and studied compos...
Carrie Jacobs-Bond
Carrie Jacobs-Bond (1862-1946) was the most successful song composer of the late 19th-early 20th centuries, combing Parlor Songs with traditional art song and creating...
Cécile Chaminade
Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944) studied music privately with teachers from the Paris Conservatory and began her professional career as a chamber music pianist. Her compos...
Agathe Backer-Gröndahl
Norwegian composer Agathe Backer-Gröndahl (1847-1907) studied piano with Franz Liszt and became a concert pianist well-known for performing Chopin and Beethoven. She t...
Clara Kathleen Rogers
Clara Kathleen Rogers (1844-1931) was the youngest child of a British opera composer (John Barnett), who studied music at the conservatory in Leipzig, Germany. She bec...
Elfrida Andrée
Elfrida Andrée (1841-1929) was a leader in the equal rights movement in Sweden--she fought to change the law that kept women from church jobs, and was one of the first...
Bonus: Song Cycle Holiday Party!
We're wrapping up 2025 by bringing Cincinnati Song Initiative's podcast hosts together for our annual Holiday Party! Join us in looking back on a wonderful year with p...
Ingeborg Bronsart
Ingeborg Bronsart (1840-1913) was a concert pianist who continued her musical career even after her marriage. She was close with many of the important composers of the...
Pauline Viardot (ft. Dr. Melanie Taylor)
Pauline Viardot (1821-1910) was one of the most important musicians of her time. An opera singer and concert pianist as well as a composer, she spoke at least 5 langua...
Augusta Browne, Jane Sloman, Faustina Hasse Hodges
In the 1800s, women in America were mostly only allowed to compose "Parlor Songs", sentimental pieces that were intended to be sung at home by amateurs rather than on ...
Josephine Lang
Josephine Lang (1815-1880) came from a musical family in Munich and her musical talent developed very early. She composed her first songs at age 13 and has about 150 L...
Emilie Zumsteeg
Emilie Zumsteeg's (1796-1857) father was a composer and her mother owned a music store, so her natural abilities were encouraged early. She made a living teaching voic...
Louise Reichardt
Louise Reichardt (1779-1826) came from a musical family in Berlin, and grew up to be a composer and choral conductor, establishing a choral society in Hamburg, Germany...
Anna Amalia and Corona Schröter
Anna Amalia (1739-1807) was a German princess who became Duchess of Saxe-Weimar upon her marriage. Also a composer, her love of the arts made her court a cultural cen...
Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre
Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729) was a child prodigy from a huge family of musicians and instrument makers on both sides of her family tree. She composed thr...
Barbara Strozzi
Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677) was a prolific composer of secular chamber music, publishing eight volumes of her works, more than most men of her time period. She compose...
Francesca Caccini
Francesca Caccini (1587-1640) came from a very important musical family, studying music with her father alongside her brother and sister. A noted singer and voice teac...
Season 4 Trailer
The So Lit Song Lit academy is back in session - Season 4 drops starting August 19th! This season, Toni Marie and Ellen focus on women composers from the 16th century ...
Afro-Latin Songs (ft. Zuly Inirio)
In the final episode of Season 3, our guest Dr. Zuly Inirio of the Afro-Latinx Song & Opera Project shows us some fabulous songs by Afro-Latin composers that she uses ...
B. E. Boykin and M. Roger Holland II
B.E. Boykin is a graduate of Spelman college, Westminster College, and holds a doctorate from Georgia State University. In addition to Moments in Sonder, she has an ex...