A free recital is planned in conjunction with the Christopher A. Reynolds Collection of Women's Song, 1850-1950, now on display in the Special Collections exhibit cases on the first floor of the Shields Library.

The spring quarter exhibit comprises sheet music by female composers, along with scores, correspondence and biographical information -- an overview of a collection that Reynolds has been gathering for close to 20 years. Reynolds, a UC Davis music professor, is in the process of donating the collection to the Shields Library.

The Women's Song recital is scheduled for 6 p.m. May 18 in the library lobby, with piano playing by Reynolds and singing by soprano Sarah Eyerly, a graduate student in music history at UC Davis and a professional singer. Their program lists a performance of popular songs written by women from 1880 to 1930.

Reynolds' collection contains about 700 songs by women. He has done extensive research on female composers, both from a cultural and musical perspective.

The Shields Library exhibit highlights composers of classical music, 19th-century songs and songs about war, as well as female composers in California.

The library's Web site notes that exhibit topics "include those of interest to women" -- love, motherhood, patriotism and the beauty of nature.

"The importance of eye-catching graphics to encourage music sales is evident in the covers of the sheet music."

Reynolds' collection includes songs written by women living in the United States, England, Canada and Australia. One aspect that was virtually unique to the United States was the ability of American women to publish their own songs.

Related to this collection and exhibit is Reynolds' database of female song somposers, 1890-1930, listing more than 12,000 songs by more than 1,200 women. The database is available to the public via the Web: music.ucdavis.edu/people/reynolds/Women_Songs_Home.html.

The Shields Library Web site states: "The database documents the zenith of song writing by women in the early 20th century. "In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, compositions by women expanded, but the decade after World War I saw a steep decline in songs by women.

"This decline likely stemmed from the replacement of the piano by the phonograph and the radio as the source of family music making, and also to the advent of 'talkies.'"

SOME WOMEN OF NOTE

The Reynolds exhibit is one of two music displays this quarter at the Shields Library. The other is Some Women of Note -- Dorothy Fields and Betty Comden: Lyricists of American Popular Song.