Welcome – as you prepare for class today

Pick up name tag and tape

to desk front
Consider any questions you
have about the syllabus or
Blackboard site content

You are listening to Clara Schumann’s

Piano Concerto
https://towson-naxosmusiclibrary-com.proxy-tu.researchport.umd.edu/stream.as
p?s=75504%2Ftowsonnml13%2Fep7015%5F001
 Women & the Musical
Canon

Class #2
January 30, 2020

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Schumann
Today’s topics
Listening List
Textbook e-book access
The musical “canon” and
women’s place in it
Five factors for musical
success

http://www.vintag.es/2016/01/music-in-victorian-era-vintage-pictures.html
Listening List
Contains all musical examples for the semester
Listening examples are considered homework
Listen before the lectures and after
Located in Blackboard
Content
Listening List and Textbook Access
Listening List with Links
Quiz / Exam examples
__C__1. A. Schumann: “Ihr
Bildnis”
__A__2.
B. Hensel: “September: At
the River”
__D__3.

C. Hensel: “Nottorno”
__B__4.
D. Schumann: Piano
Concerto
Electronic textbook access
In Blackboard:
 Content
 Listening List and Textbook Access

• Off campus requires TU Net ID log

in
• Download PDF copies of chapters
Our relationship with music
Music is an important means of conveying messages
about our culture and beliefs
Music is a window on our society reflecting
society’s norms and conventions
mores of specific cultures
These reflections are shaped by:
historical periods
geographic locations
viewpoint of composer/performer

Source: www.art.com
For this course …
Music = music from the Western Hemisphere
(Americas & Europe)
Art music = music composed for concert performance
AKA “classical” music (“trained” listeners)
Popular music = music that can be enjoyed by the
general population (“untrained” listeners)

Source: www.sciencenordic.com
 The Western Canon
In art music, that body of music literature that is
deemed “good” and worthy of study and performance
Germanic in nature (Bach, Beethoven)
Predominantly composed by males
Usually reflects music composed earlier than 1950s
Emphasis on certain musical forms (symphony versus
solo instrumental)

***This is usually what is reflected in music education

materials, concert programs, radio/television
programming.
Why is this important?
Inclusion of a work in the “canon” is the difference
between a work being performed and known to
audiences or left in oblivion
Works in the canon are deemed to be “of value”
Works outside the canon are seen as not worthy of
study – not as high quality
What does this say about the work of women
composers if their works are not part of the canon?
Consider this …
Raise your hand if you had some type of general music
class that studied music history.
Keep your hand raised if you remember a women
composer on a poster in your music room.
Raise your hand if you remember a woman composer
profiled within your book.
Consider this …
Women composers are not predominantly featured in many texts
and teaching materials at college level

Pool - American music history textbooks women

performers, but only two women composers described (1979)

LangZaimont – only 25% of 47 music textbooks mentioned

women composers at all (2003)

Peeples & Holz – numbers are slowly increasing, but so is

size of textbooks (2018)
Omission from reference texts
Music publishers also play a role in the treatment of women
composers in reference books such as encyclopedias and
dictionaries

 In more recent publications, still only a handful of

women composers highlighted
 Tend to publish titles in which entire volume is
devoted to women composers

Presents a problem of perspective – women composers are

studied in isolation
Omission from musical anthologies of
compositions
Standard repertoire books for voice and
instrumental works = predominantly works by
male composers
If women are included, noted as ‘exceptions’
Special publishing houses devoted to works by
women composers created:
Hildegard Press
Leonarda Press
Again, women’s compositions studied in isolation
Women composers omitted from
performance canon
Work of women composers absent from concert
stages:
 BSO Report “By the Numbers” for 2016-2017
performances:
4,042 works performed

3,974 by male composers

68 by women composers

https://www.bsomusic.org/stories/the-data-behind-the-2016-2017-orchestra-season/
 BSO Study: 2016-2017 Season

http://www.bsomusic.org/stories/the-data-behind-the-2016-2017-orchestra-season/
Western
musical “canon”

https://www.bsomusic.org/stories/what-data-tells-us-about-the-2015-16-orchestra-
season.aspx
 Performance canon
 Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy conducted a survey
of 21 ensembles for the 2019-2020 season
 277 composers, 53 identify as women – a total of 19%
 927 individual works being performed, 79 by women
 Effects of omission of women from texts,
anthologies, and stage
Omission allows people to draw these incorrect
conclusions:
There are no (or few) women composers/conductors
In history, women had little involvement in the
development of musical ideas and compositions
Those who do receive attention are “rare” exceptions
The work of these women is not as “worthy as” or is “of
lesser value” than that of their male counterparts
Feminist Music Theory
Started in 1970s with
musicologist Marcia Citron
“Box ladies”
Mention of specific
composers and works were
at a minimum
Result is exclusion of
women from these texts

Source: www.amazon.com
 Feminist Music Theory
Women’s place in music history (their involvement,
achievements, accomplishments) has been overlooked
Music history/Western musical is canon male
dominated – women were excluded
Reasons for exclusion = barriers:
Gender prejudice
Place/roles within society
Opportunities: education, exposure, access to
publication & performance venues
 Gender prejudice
Psychosocial issues: accepted
patterns of behavior and ways of
thinking which reflect the
expectations and constraints of the
society and culture of the specific
time period and location of a
particular composer’s life

https://www.akg-images.com/archive/Il-canto-dello-
Stornello-2UMDHUKC8OEN.html
 Psychosocial Issues - #1 & #2
1. Place in society
Due to socio/economic status, what
opportunities did a woman have to hear, perform,
compose music (exposure & experience)

2. Amateur versus professional status

Amateur status = not influential, more of a
hobby/amusement (not paid)
Professional status = respect and prestige, movers
and shakers (paid)
Psychosocial Issue #3
3. Anxiety of authorship
The female composer suffers from lack of self-
confidence immobilizes
If successful, she minimizes the importance of
her work as compared to that by males
Creates a state of uncertainty about talent and
the merit of works
Result = woman may not persevere at composing
Educational Opportunities
Describes access and availability
of professional musical training
and music study for women
within a particular society and
culture in history

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/261842165811584605
Educational opportunities - #1
Access to training
Training access is tied to
societal norms
Opportunities are
examined for appropriate
interactions
Formal education limited =
female composer is isolated
from male counterparts

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GG_Kilbur
ne_-_The_New_Spinet.JPG
Educational Opportunities - #2
Instrument choice
Preferred: modest, seated positions
 Singing, flute, harp, guitar
Inappropriate: wild gyrations or contortions
 Bassoon, cello
Best choices: instruments which allowed
women to accompany themselves while singing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYe-BI66l1w
Educational Opportunities - #3
Expected Genres
Feminine genres Masculine genres

Art song Symphonic works

Solo instrumental works Operas
Chamber music Oratorios
Choral works Concertos
 Five Factors for Musical Success
Family’s musical involvement
Access to education and training
Social/financial means for musical
opportunities
Personal/domestic challenges
Socio-cultural conditions of time
 BSO – tomorrow & Saturday night

Florence B. Price’s orchestral

tone poem performed by BSO

Details at www.bsomusic.org

http://www.aetn.org/__data/assets/image/0010/119917/Florence_P
rice_The_Caged_Bird_Dress_And_Muff.jpg
For next time
Complete Homework
Assignment #1
Read the selections from
SSA
Listening List: #1-#3
Look in Song Texts
folder for text translation

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woman_Playing_the_Portuguese_Guitar,
_Taken_in_Madeira,_by_Sarah_Angelina_Acland,_c.1910.jpg