“… to expose to the world, insofar as it is given me to do so in the profession of music, the vain error of men who esteem themselves such masters of high intellectual gifts that they think women cannot share them too.” –Maddalena Casulana, 1568

I found the above quote, a portion of the dedication in Casulana’s First Book of Madrigals, in J. Peter Burkholder’s A History of Western Music. Sometimes I’m not sure if I should be thrilled that there have always been women willing and able to prove that they’re equal to men or if I should be sad that they’ve felt the need to prove this again and again for hundreds of years. Hell, in the 12th century, Hildegard von Bingen invented a language while also finding time to make breakthroughs in science and music and yet over 300 years later Casulana was still like, “Ok, this will be the one that finally convinces y’all not to denigrate women!”