Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Faculty of Music, 2001. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves [266]-285).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Florida, 2009. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 405 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1990. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-69).

No description available.

no abstract provided by author / Master of Science

Academisch proefschrift - Amsterdam. / Issued also without thesis statement.

M. S.

The turn from the nineteenth century into the twentieth saw an increase in the number of composing European women attaining prominence in the music world. This period of history is also now recognised as one of the key phases of the first wave of feminism. Feminists and musical women moved in a similar stratum of society. Although women of this era have increasingly been the subject of scholarly research, music historians have rarely investigated the links between the turn of the century??s wave of composing women and feminists. This dissertation uses the feminist and musical press as a means to investigate composing women??s engagement with feminism. I examine feminists?? regard for women musicians and conversely composing women??s views on feminism. The thesis also reframes the privatelives of composing women through an analysis of primary sources. The composers who form the focus of this biographical investigation include Lili Boulanger (1893-1918), Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), Luise Adolpha Le Beau (1850-1927), Louise H??ritte-Viardot (1841-1918) and Armande de Polignac (1876-1962). Using a large body of newly analysed, unpublished correspondence and private papers, this research offers fresh insights into the biographies of composing women as well as their own self-portrayal, revealing the complex nature of Ethel Smyth??s sexuality and reassessing the fatalistic portrait of Lili Boulanger which has been drawn in some previous studies. These biographical insights background the contentions of the thesis that composing women and feminists shared common ground. Through investigating the presence of musicians in the feminist press and of feminism in the musical press, the thesis reveals an ambivalent relationship between feminists and musicians. The disappointed expectations of feminists are contrasted with the reasons composing women had for retaining a distance from feminism. The exploration of composing women??s political and personal context enables an understanding not only of their contribution to music history, but also of their place within the greater history of women??s development.

The composer Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) claimed that sex discrimination had prevented her from succeeding as a composer, and she cast much of the blame on the press. This study examines the critical reception of Smyth’s Mass and first four operas in England and Germany, with a focus on their premieres. It evaluates Smyth’s claims, and places the works more broadly in context, tracing the processes by which they gained performance, and the circumstances of the productions. Rich and multiple interpretations are made possible by reading from different perspectives, allowing the complexity of critical commentary and the subtle intersection of concerns with gender, nationalism and style to be revealed. Despite the pervasiveness of gender bias in the reviews, there is much more to the critical reception of Smyth’s music than the way in which it represents her in relation to patriarchal stereotypes of femininity. / Performances researched include the Mass’s premiere in 1893 and its revival in 1924, and the early productions of Fantasio, Der Wald, The Wreckers and The Boatswain’s Mate. These operas were composed with hopes of performance both in England and Germany, and therefore provide the best case studies for an examination of press reception in these two countries, notwithstanding the fact that the first was performed only in Germany and the fourth only in England. The reviews are interpreted in light of the different contexts that affected critics’ perceptions: local circumstances, contemporary politics and knowledge about the composer. Chapter 1 explores the significance of Smyth’s biography and autobiography and Chapter 2 traces each work from composition to performance, examining the challenges Smyth faced and her responses to them. Smyth’s connections with royalty and aristocracy, both in England and Germany, were of great assistance to her, and this has hitherto been insufficiently acknowledged. Smyth’s music elicited a diverse range of praise and criticism from critics, and the last three chapters focus on issues of gender, discussion of the libretti and music of the operas, and national preoccupations. / The complex question of gender in the Smyth criticism includes the problem of the woman composer, definitions of femininity and masculinity and the effect of Smyth’s feminism and persona on reception of her music. Critical writings rarely included detailed technical discussion of the music, but libretto and comedy, text-setting and orchestration all received attention. The division of Smyth’s career between England and Germany led to her being seen as foreign in both countries, and the performance of her music contributed to nationalist debates about the selection of repertoire. The division between English and German critics is most marked in their attribution of influence on Smyth’s operas. German critics distinguished various styles and genres in Smyth’s music and were perceptive in recognising the underlying eclecticism of her mature voice. Smyth’s countrymen knew she had studied in Germany and persisted in hearing this influence in her scores, although some allowed that she was contributing to the formation of an English voice.

The turn from the nineteenth century into the twentieth saw an increase in the number of composing European women attaining prominence in the music world. This period of history is also now recognised as one of the key phases of the first wave of feminism. Feminists and musical women moved in a similar stratum of society. Although women of this era have increasingly been the subject of scholarly research, music historians have rarely investigated the links between the turn of the century??s wave of composing women and feminists. This dissertation uses the feminist and musical press as a means to investigate composing women??s engagement with feminism. I examine feminists?? regard for women musicians and conversely composing women??s views on feminism. The thesis also reframes the privatelives of composing women through an analysis of primary sources. The composers who form the focus of this biographical investigation include Lili Boulanger (1893-1918), Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), Luise Adolpha Le Beau (1850-1927), Louise H??ritte-Viardot (1841-1918) and Armande de Polignac (1876-1962). Using a large body of newly analysed, unpublished correspondence and private papers, this research offers fresh insights into the biographies of composing women as well as their own self-portrayal, revealing the complex nature of Ethel Smyth??s sexuality and reassessing the fatalistic portrait of Lili Boulanger which has been drawn in some previous studies. These biographical insights background the contentions of the thesis that composing women and feminists shared common ground. Through investigating the presence of musicians in the feminist press and of feminism in the musical press, the thesis reveals an ambivalent relationship between feminists and musicians. The disappointed expectations of feminists are contrasted with the reasons composing women had for retaining a distance from feminism. The exploration of composing women??s political and personal context enables an understanding not only of their contribution to music history, but also of their place within the greater history of women??s development.