Ashley Lawrence

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How have Aspects of Gender been Represented Through Music? Throughout history, different ideas and images have gathered traditional symbolic ways of being represented through musical language, that have become a part of the musical discourse, supposedly recognisable to the trained listener. One such idea is the representation of gender through music. However, this is a controversial idea; the discourse of the new musicology embraces the progressive modern rejection of a polarity of gender, which casts doubt on the idea of music being able to embody finite aspects of masculinity or femininity. One way in which it would be obvious that aspects of gender would be manifest in music is through the gender of the composer. However, this is not necessarily true. It is difficult to distinguish between the works of a male and a female composer working in a similar era in a similar idiom. Indeed, a common contemporary criticism of music written by females is that it was too virile, or masculine, making it indistinct from that of her male peers. Conversely, the music of some male composers such as Felix Mendelssohn was criticised for being too effeminate in nature. Furthermore, in many cases it is also not possible to verify the gender of a composer of a piece of music. Because Franny & Felix Mendelssohn both worked on music in the domestic sphere, and were often known to work together on pieces of music, it is not truly known how much of music attributed to Felix Mendelssohn may actually have been written by his sister Franny. There are other such examples where a female composer may only be able to get her music performed or published by using a pseudonym, or by having it published on her behalf by a patron. This demonstrates that although aspects of gender may have traditional associations in music, the actual gender of the composer seems to be distinct from the recognisable gender characteristics of the music itself. Another way in which the genders have been differentiated between in music is through the genre or form. Small scale genres such as piano miniatures and songs are thought of as feminine, whilst larger scale genres such as the symphony and opera are thought of as masculine. This has in part to do with preconceived ideas about suitability of the genres to the genders. Small scale works such as songs and piano pieces were thought of as more delicate, light and insignificant, decorative rather than of any great meaning, befitting the female stereotype of sensitivity and aesthetic refinement, but lack of any real depth or intelligence. These genres were also thought of as domestic, rather than public. It was considered more appropriate for a woman to sit at home composing at a piano than it would have been for her to have to come into contact with a full orchestra for rehearsal. The place of a womans music was considered to be the home, as a hobby, an ornament, and a way to entertain her husband and his friends. However, in reality the gender division between the large and small scale forms actually stems from the lack of performance and publishing opportunities available for large scale works written by a woman. Female composers often focussed on the small scale forms because that was all they stood a chance of having performed, or could perform themselves. It is likely that the number of women writing in these genres lead them to be considered as female, which in turn lead to more women being confined to these genres in a cyclical way. Although there are preconceived notions of gender division within genre, this is more likely a product of historical circumstance and

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practicality leading women to write in this way, not some innate musical connection between the female and the small scale work. Certain aspects of melodic writing have garnered traditional symbolic associations to do with gender. For instance, chromatic writing has been thought of as feminine in character, because it seems somehow seductive and unpredictable rather than regular and reliable diatonic writing which is more associated with masculinity. Similarly, the motion of triple time signatures was thought of as feminine whilst more solid, regular duple time signatures were considered to be more masculine. Certain instruments also have also attained association with particular genders. Percussion and brass were thought of as very masculine orchestral voices, probably because of their military associations, whilst the woodwind, and in certain contexts the strings, were considered to be feminine, probably due to the relative softness of the voices, and connected to the other traditional symbolic association of the woodwind, which is with the pastoral. Particularly within opera, certain types of song were very much gendered, the lament, for instance, which focuses on an excess of emotion, and often uses musical imagery of weeping or sighing, often enforced a female role. Arias focusing on victory or intellectual or moral pain rather than plain despair were considered more suitable for male characters. Within certain contexts it can also be argued that certain intervals gain a gendered significance, 4th and 5th being masculine (the strongest, perfect intervals) and 3rd and 6th being feminine, however this is not true in all cases, usually only in the context of two parts being sung together in opera. These traditional symbolic associations of gender duality in music have been part of the musical discourse for a long time, but the extent to which they are still used, by modern composers, or still recognised, by modern audiences is likely to be in decline. Although there has been a longstanding historical prejudice against female composers, female performers have actually been quite widely accepted throughout history. For instance, Clara Wieck-Schumann was most famous during her own lifetime as a virtuoso concert pianist, and has only come to prominence more recently as a composer. She tirelessly used her popularity as a performer to promote the music of her husband Robert, despite his attempts to prevent her from composing, and in her own lifetime achieved far more fame and recognition than her husband did, it was only in the retrospective light of the writing of musical history that Robert Schumann was discovered and Clara WieckSchumanns own legacy was overlooked and dismissed due to her gender. There were however, certain notions of what musical instruments it was considered proper for a woman to play, woodwind and brass, for instance, were seen as inappropriate because playing them caused the face to distort, and this was seen as inelegant and unbecoming of a lady. Piano and harp however, were encouraged, as these were accompanying instruments, so the lady could sing as well, and entertain in the home, and were also domestic. The harp in particular has classical mythological associations with love and fertility, seen as appropriate for a woman. Female singing voices were also highly regarded and sought after in performances, singing overall had been thought of as a female art, another reason for the traditional association between women and the genre of song. However, the female singing voice also has classical mythological associations with seduction (the sirens of Greek mythology) so

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even this sought after female talent was viewed in a suspicious, patronising light, it would have been seen as very much for the benefit of the men. The reason that women were accepted as musical performers long before they were as composers is that they were considered the vessel for an artistic truth, serving the work rather than interpreting it, as a priestess would to the divine truth of religion. This metaphor allowed the mainstream to continue to view even the most talented woman performers in a belittling way. Paradoxically music itself is personified as female, in classical mythology the muses, source of the word music, were female beings, and in many European languages the word for music is gendered as female. Although women gained acceptance as musical performers long before they did as composers, there were still various ways that their talents were belittled and ignored by the mainstream and by the discourse of musical history. Music was by no means alone in the arts in its flawed and patriarchal portrayal of gender in the 18th and 19th centuries. Opera is particularly useful for demonstrating this portrayal as it combines music and drama, and often has strong female characters that conform to gender stereotypes. An ideal woman was one who was subservient and obedient to male relations, focused on insignificant and ladylike pursuits, allowed herself to be dominated by patriarchy in society and didnt try to reach above her station, and was sexually chaste. This was an image perpetuated and ingrained upon young women through culture, such as the opera. 19th century art posits the only alternative to the stereotype of an ideal woman to be that of a femme fatale, or fallen woman. These were presented as women who were weak and in some way had given into temptation, and therefore no longer complied with the values of 19th century society. Culture, such as the opera, presented these women as a threat to society, its virtues and its values. These women were then punished, usually by death, as a demonstration of the dangers of straying from the values of an ideal woman. The femme fatale is a stock character is many operas, plays and works of the 19th century, and it was in this way that young women were socialised into accepting the societal expectations of a 19th century woman. This aspect of gender representation in music has little to do with traditional symbolic associations of femininity, and can be viewed more cynically as a method employed by mainstream culture for patriarchy to reproduce itself in society and keep women as subservient. Moving into the 20th and 21st centuries, womens rights and gender equality has experienced a march of progress, women are now able to participate in musical life in all the ways that men are, and in the discourse of new musicology many traditional associations with gender duality and music have been disregarded as both women have gained status and gender has been reinterpreted and better understood as a spectrum rather than a polarity, something socially constructed rather than biologically defined. These factors have eroded gendered ideas in music, both in its conception from a composer, and its reception from the audience to the point where in years to come aspects of gender in music may no longer be evident at all. In conclusion, there are various ways in which aspects of gender have been historically represented in music, some of them down to factors of antiquity and classical mythology, some of them down to patriarchy in society and the dominance of women

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through culture, and some of them down to the practical ways in which a woman has historically been able to participate in musical life. However, these conventions no longer necessarily hold true in the modern era and its musical discourse. Although it may be true that gendered aspects of music are recognisable in the historical musical canon, and the western classical music tradition tends to be one based on retrospective and history, I believe these will become less and less relevant as time progresses.