- Large-scale orchestral works unusual for women
- "La Montagne noire": Symphonic poem
- Wagnerism with French sensibility
Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944)
- Successful touring pianist-composer
- Over 400 works, mostly piano pieces and songs
- "Concertino for Flute": Competition piece still performed
Lili Boulanger (1893-1918)
- First woman to win Prix de Rome (1913)
- "Faust et Hélène": Prize cantata showing exceptional promise
- "Pie Jesu": Sublime simplicity before early death
Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979)
- Abandoned composition for teaching
- Influenced generations of composers worldwide
- Preserved and promoted French musical traditions