Women's Music During the Classical Period

My goal in writing this paper is to ascertain the role women played in the musical life of the Classical Period. Women were deeply involved in music and music-making during the eighteenth century as both amateur and professional performers, composers and patrons; however the subordinate role they played in social structure often hindered their ability to fully express themselves musically. While women enjoyed a certain amount of freedom normally unavailable to them through public and private performance, they were still very much considered the weaker sex, as only certain types of musical expression were considered appropriate. The feminist movement was in its infancy during the eighteenth century, and this was reflected in the limits on female freedom of expression and the social consequences that women would suffer if they rejecting traditional gender roles.

With the rise of the middle class during the eighteenth century, there was suddenly a significant portion of society had a disposable income and an expectation that their wealth could pay their entrance into the upper echelons of society. As men started becoming wealthy through trade and industry, it was no longer a necessity for women to work outside the home in order to survive, and thus their role became purely domestic. It was considered the mark of poverty and destitution for women to work, and thus the upwardly-mobile family would have considered it a point of pride for female members to stay home. Philosophical thought of the time, such as the writings of Rousseau, held that a woman’s character was “governed more by sensibility and feeling than be reason…”[1], views that helped justify clearly defined and separate gender roles, where a man’s sphere of influence was public, while a woman’s was private. This position also helped reinforce the long-standing tradition of women’s subordination to their husbands, where the ideal balance of power between a married couple would be “patriarchal, but companionate”. [2] Domestic life for the newly-wealthy woman wasn’t what it once had been, as her traditional household tasks of cleaning, cooking, and even child-rearing were taken over by hired staff. Although she was no longer responsible for arduous, time-consuming tasks, a wife was still very much charged with running a respectable household, which would have taken up much of their time; however, young unmarried women would have had a few significant domestic responsibilities, and thus had the benefit of considerable leisure time.

It would have been considered indecent, even sinful, for young girls to be given a significant amount of leisure time with no preoccupation, and thus the fashionable education for young women was born. A young woman’s education would also have been a sign of gentility for middle-class families, a way to enhance their reputation in society. A boy’s education would have been taken for granted, as he was responsible for increasing the family’s wealth in the future, but a girl’s education would have still been considered a novelty and a luxury. While there were movements towards universal education in the eighteenth century, with both public and private educational institutions being established, most wealthy young women were educated privately, at home. Girls were “offered a typical curriculum which included various needlecraft skills, the art of polite conversation, dancing, music, drawing, painting, French, perhaps Italian, and subjects such as history, geography, and astronomy, with which to make polite conversation.”[3] Not only was it fashionable to educate young women, the education itself was a fashionable one, with a great emphasis put on skills that would help young women find a suitable husband, rather than useful skills that would help her run a household. While there was criticism of the typical fashionable education most girls received, many such as Adam Smith felt that this type of education was satisfactory and would render “them both likely to become the mistresses of a family and to behave properly when they have become such.”[4] The skills a young girl might have developed during this type of education would have been considered praise-worthy ‘accomplishments’, skills such as singing or embroidery that might differentiate her in a competitive marriage market. Jane Austen, an eighteenth-century novelist, reveals the importance of accomplishments were for young women in her novel “Pride and Prejudice”. This excerpt from begins with the very wealthy Miss Bingley exclaiming how much she misses Mr. Darcy’s sister, Georgiana Darcy and the conversation that follows revolves around the ideals of accomplishment:

``How I long to see her again! [, said Miss Bingley] I never met with anybody who delighted me so much. Such a countenance, such manners, and so extremely accomplished for her age! Her performance on the piano-forte is exquisite.''

``It is amazing to me,'' said Bingley, ``how young ladies can have patience to be so very accomplished as they all are.''

``All young ladies accomplished! My dear Charles, what do you mean?''

``Yes all of them, I think. They all paint tables, cover screens, and net purses. I scarcely know any one who cannot do all this, and I am sure I never heard a young lady spoken of for the first time, without being informed that she was very accomplished.''

``Your list of the common extent of accomplishments,'' said Darcy, ``has too much truth. The word is applied to many a woman who deserves it no otherwise than by netting a purse, or covering a screen. But I am very far from agreeing with you in your estimation of ladies in general. I cannot boast of knowing more than half a dozen, in the whole range of my acquaintance, that are really accomplished.''

``Nor I, I am sure,'' said Miss Bingley.

``Then,'' observed Elizabeth, ``you must comprehend a great deal in your idea of an accomplished women.''

``Yes; I do comprehend a great deal in it.''

``Oh! Certainly,'' cried his faithful assistant, ``no one can be really esteemed accomplished, who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved.''

``All this she must possess,'' added Darcy, ``and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.''

``I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder now at your knowing any.''

``Are you so severe upon your own sex, as to doubt the possibility of all this?''

``I never saw such a woman, I never saw such capacity, and taste, and application, and elegance, as you describe, united.''

Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley both cried out against the injustice of her implied doubt, and were both protesting that they knew many women who answered this description, when Mr. Hurst called them to order, with bitter complaints of their inattention to what was going forward. As all conversation was thereby at an end, Elizabeth soon afterwards left the room.”[5]

The expansion of the middle-class not only affected women’s roles in society, but also that of music and music-making. Newly-wealthy families could afford to have a harpsichord or forte-piano in their homes, meaning that music was suddenly accessible to a larger portion of society than it ever had been before. This expanded interest in music, the fashion of educating young women, and the increase in women’s leisure time meant that “During the Classical period the number of women involved in domestic music making increased significantly... “ [6] Music, as shown in the excerpt above, was considered a skill that could contribute to a young woman’s accomplishment. As Carol Neuls-Bates outlines in “Women in Music” ”…music was considered a social accomplishment for women, which reflected on the gentility of one’s family, filled leisure time, and drove away ennui, and in the case of young women, ideally led to a good match”[7] Music was a favourite accomplishment because “it could be shown off best while actually being accomplished.”[8] While drawing or embroidery were admirable skills to possess they weren’t nearly as effective in drawing attention to oneself as music. A private social evening would be the ideal occasion for a young woman to sit down at the harpsichord or fortepiano and demonstrate her skills to everyone in the room. In another excerpt of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”, the author describes just such an occasion, where the protagonist, Elizabeth is asked to perform at a social gathering by her friend Miss Lucas:

``You are a very strange creature by way of a friend! - always wanting me to play and sing before anybody and everybody! - If my vanity had taken a musical turn, you would have been invaluable, but as it is, I would really rather not sit down before those who must be in the habit of hearing the very best performers.'' On Miss Lucas's persevering, however, she added, ``Very well; if it must be so, it must.'' And gravely glancing at Mr. Darcy, ``There is a fine old saying, which everybody here is of course familiar with - "Keep your breath to cool your porridge," - and I shall keep mine to swell my song.''

Her performance was pleasing, though by no means capital. After a song or two, and before she could reply to the entreaties of several that she would sing again, she was eagerly succeeded at the instrument by her sister Mary, who having, in consequence of being the only plain one in the family, worked hard for knowledge and accomplishments, was always impatient for display.

Mary had neither genius nor taste; and though vanity had given her application, it had given her likewise a pedantic air and conceited manner, which would have injured a higher degree of excellence than she had reached. Elizabeth, easy and unaffected, had been listened to with much more pleasure, though not playing half so well; and Mary, at the end of a long concerto, was glad to purchase praise and gratitude by Scotch and Irish airs, at the request of her younger sisters, who, with some of the Lucases and two or three officers, joined eagerly in dancing at one end of the room.[9]

While women of the middle and upper-classes were expected become ‘accomplished’ at a variety of skills, it’s not clear what level of execution they were expected to reach. John A. Rice asserts that women of the eighteenth century lived in “a culture that generally did not expect or reward virtuosity in female amateurs.”[10] Criticism of the fashionable female education purported that most lessons “were mere glosses of the subject, particularly as the majority of teachers were not particularly well educated themselves.”[11] Many women may have exceeded a level of skill in music that was expected in order to be considered accomplished, while others probably practiced just enough to be praised. In Jane Austen’s novel “Emma”, the eponymous character laments her idle childhood after being outshined on the pianoforte by Miss Fairfax, who clearly had surpassed any required skill in music:

The other circumstance of regret related also to Jane Fairfax; and there she had no doubt. She did unfeignedly and unequivocally regret the inferiority of her own playing and singing. She did most heartily grieve over the idleness of her childhood--and sat down and practiced vigorously an hour and a half.

She was then interrupted by Harriet's coming in; and if Harriet's praise could have satisfied her, she might soon have been comforted.

"Oh! if I could but play as well as you and Miss Fairfax!"

"Don't class us together, Harriet. My playing is no more like hers, than a lamp is like sunshine."

"Oh! Dear - I think you play the best of the two. I think you play quite as well as she does. I am sure I had much rather hear you. Everybody last night said how well you played."

"Those who knew anything about it, must have felt the difference. The truth is, Harriet, that my playing is just good enough to be praised, but Jane Fairfax's is much beyond it."

"Well, I always shall think that you play quite as well as she does, or that if there is any difference nobody would ever find it out. Mr. Cole said how much taste you had; and Mr. Frank Churchill talked a great deal about your taste, and that he valued taste much more than execution."

"Ah! But Jane Fairfax has them both, Harriet." [12]

While accomplishments were pursued with the desire of attracting a suitable husband, one has to wonder what happened to these skills once a young woman married. In another Jane Austin excerpt, this one from her novel “Emma”, the author addresses just such a question. Mrs. Elton, who is recently married, worries that she will now give up music:

“I think, Miss Woodhouse, you and I should establish a musical club and have regular weekly meetings at your house or ours. Will not it be a good plan? If we exert ourselves, I think we shall not be long in want of allies. Something of that nature would be particularly desirable for me as an inducement to keep me in practice; for married women, you know – there is a sad story against them, in general. They are but too apt to give up music.” [13]

While one could conclude from this quote that women in the eighteenth century pursued music for purely trivial and self-interested reasons, this was probably not the case. As we saw in the case of Mary from “Pride and Prejudice”, a woman might choose to play for vanity’s sake, but a great many must have truly enjoyed playing and singing. Long, solitary hours spent at an instrument in order to achieve a certain level of accomplishment, with no pleasure involved seems unlikely; it seems more sensible that a woman would pursue skills that she truly enjoyed. One must also take in to account the social factors that might tempt a young, newly-married woman to give up music. While she was unmarried, she might have many hours in the day to spend practicing, indeed it would be a way to alleviate boredom in the face of limited freedom. But once married, she was faced with the daunting task of running a sophisticated household by herself, directing servants, planning proper meals, balancing household accounts, and generally maintaining good-standing in society. A young woman might also have to contend with near-constant pregnancies and life-threatening child-birth. It’s hardly surprising that musical studies often fell by the wayside.

During the eighteenth century women did not just perform within private settings, as the female performer reached the height of popularity. In Sophie Drinker’s “Music and Women, the author explains that women began to take to the public stage during the sixteenth century, and despite opposition from the Catholic Church against such practices, the rise of the opera and its immense popularity brought with it the demand for highly-skilled female singers. While the upper-classes and aristocracy adored castrati in female roles, they were much less popular with the middle-class, who preferred their woman characters to be played by real women. By the eighteenth century women could perform in public with no fear of social consequence. One such female performer was Maria Von Paradis, a pianist who was blinded in an accident at the age of two. Patronized by the Empress Marie Therese, Paradis toured all the major cities of Europe, and gave fourteen concerts in Paris. The following is an excerpt of a review of one such performance:

“…the lack of one faculty [surely] affects the sensitivity of the others. When one thinks of the necessity she has, to commit to memory an infinite number of small details that a single glance makes plain, one does not know whether to admire more the perfection of her playing, or the patient efforts that were necessary for her to achieve it. More faultless, more precise, more polished playing is not known.”[14]

We might expect that women performers would be stigmatized for contravening their societal role by not staying within their prescribed private domain. However, it seemed that it was not only was it socially acceptable for women to perform in public, but there doesn’t seem to be any societal perception that a woman might have less musical faculty than a man. It seems highly-skilled female performance were just as venerated and respected as their male counterparts.

While women were clearly accepted as public performers, the same cannot be said for women who chose to publish their compositions. Female public performers held atypical roles in society, but it was long-standing tradition going back at least two-hundred years. However, music publication itself was a fairly new phenomenon, and there existed a public attitude that disapproved of female composers. While Maria Von Paradis, like every other piano virtuoso of the time, may have performed her own works during performances, publishing them would have been quite a different matter. Corona Schroter, chamber musician at the court of Empress Marie-Therese, conveyed this public attitude and her fear of publishing her own works, writing:

“I have had to overcome much hesitation before I seriously made the decision to publish a collection of short poems that I have provided with melodies. A certain feeling towards propriety and morality is stamped upon our sex, which does not allow us to appear alone in public, and without an escort; Thus, how can I otherwise present this, my musical work to the public, then with timidity? For the complimentary opinions and the encouragement of a few persons…can easily be biased out of pity. The work of any lady, moreover, will indeed arouse similar pity to some extent in the eyes of other experts…”[15]

Another female composer, Julie Candeille felt similar negative reaction from the public after her opera “La Bayadere” was performed. Candeille had already had success with previous operas but some accused her of plagiarism, charging that her father, who was also a composer, must have helped her write them. So while women were considered to be equal to men as performers, there was clearly some doubt as to the quality, even the authenticity, of their compositions. Woman composers intruded too much into the public sphere, a space reserved specifically for men, and public reaction to their work reflected this perceived impropriety.

Women held another important role in the musical life of the Classical period: that of patroness. A well-known example is Empress Marie Therese of the Austrio-Hungarian Empire, who commissioned Beethoven and Haydn, as well as numerous others. As biographer John A. Rice explains, the Empress was involved in every level of the creation of music that she commissioned besides the actual composition of the music and libretto, including rehearsals, and even taking roles in certain operas. While Marie Therese was actively involved in musical life, she still had to contend with “the constraints that limited the actions of any woman of her time and place, even one at the pinnacle power and wealth.”[16] Her relations with male composers and performers were often construed as amorous and she was dogged by defamatory rumors of sexual impropriety with them. Rice argues that such rumors “probably helped inspire Marie Therese’s interest in musical dramas, including rescue operas that celebrate conjugal devotion.”[17] While Marie-Therese had significant influence over musical creation, her case is exceptional, as she was the rare woman who held great authority and wealth. It seems, from the examples above that her gender may have hindered her role as musical patron rather than helped it, and her influence over music occurred in spite of her gender, rather than because of it. Marie-Therese was an exceptional case in a society where women generally played a subordinate role to men, even in musical life, and her influence should not be confused with a general trend towards female emancipation. Marie-Therese, despite her affluent position, would still have been expected to play a subordinate role to her husband, Emperor Franz II, as was expected of all women.

What becomes very clear after researching the role of females in the eighteenth century is just how deeply involved women were in the musical life of the time, as both amateur and professional performers, patrons, and composers. What also becomes clear is that women, despite their talent and skill, were still expected to subscribe to traditional gender roles and ideas of female decency. Middle and upper-class women pursued music as a social accomplishment used to attract a suitable husband. Public attitude towards female professional performers was surprisingly forward thinking, as any woman with the desire and talent could take the public stage without public disapproval. Unfortunately social attitudes toward women who chose to publish their compositions were not as liberal and those women composers brave enough to publish their work felt the sting of negative social judgment. Upper-class and aristocratic women could greatly influence the creation of music through their patronage, but despite their wealth and power, still felt the limitations society placed on their gender. Only certain forms of musical expression were considered appropriate for women, and Corona Schroter perfectly encapsulated the social expectations women were subject to in the eighteenth century when she wrote “…a certain feeling of propriety and morality is stamped upon our sex…” which applied to all aspects of their lives, including music.