The Romantic Imagination (2103 QCM) Semester 2, 2012 Convenor – Mr. Stephen Emmerson The role of women in the musical life of the 19th century. Due: 4 October 2012 The 19th century was an era of change. There were lots of progression in technology, science, and philosophy that gradually turned European society away from the past centuries. Women’s status in the 19th century Europe also changed.
Many of the 19th century women were able to have a profession as they received higher and wider education, and also allowed to have more participation in society. In the musical life of 19th century Europe, numbers of women were able to perform and compose as good and men. However, their opportunities were still limited by tradition. Therefore, the role of the 19th century women as performers and composers was not equal to men, as can be seen in the case of Fanny Hansel, a sibling of the well known composer Felix Mendelssohn.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the numbers of female amateur musicians rose due to the increasingly prosperity of the middle classes. According to Reich (1991), most women from well-to-do families had an opportunity to learn to play the piano or sing in order to improve their marriage opportunities as well as to provide entertainment. However, the influence of the Enlightenment philosophy from the past century indicated that women should only be educated to become a wife and a mother, preventing the early 19th century women from taking music as a profession (Halstead, 1997).
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In the same way, Fanny Mendelssohn, the eldest child of a wealthy converted Jewish family in 19th century Germany was given piano lessons from a young age by her mother, then continued to study with several famous pianists until she became an excellent pianist. At the age of thirteen she demonstrated her amazing musical memory by playing all preludes from the first book of Bach’s Well -Tempered Clavier by heart (Tillard, 1996).
Fanny was given musical composition lessons by Carl Friedrich Zelter in 1818 along with her brother, Felix. The two siblings learned to write songs with piano accompaniment, fugues, and chamber music.
Even though their parents were proud of their progress in musical composition, only Felix was encouraged to take music as a profession. Fanny’s father stated in a letter which he wrote in 1820 that she must perform and compose only for leisure. Therefore, Fanny and Felix started to concentrate on different forms of music. The table from The Mendelssohns (Cooper & Prandi, 2002, p. 242) shows that from 1820 Felix started to pay more attention to instrumental works, as he composed four piano sonatas, two piano quartets, and two violin sonatas during 1820 to 1823.
On the other hand, Fanny concentrated on Lied, a German art song which was popular in the 19th century (Orrey & Warrack).
From 1821 to 1823 she composed only two piano sonatas, one piano quartet and a movement of a violin sonata. During the 19th century, women were not allowed to compose some forms of music. Music form was divided into feminine genre and masculine genre. Sophisticated and large scale compositions such as sonatas and symphonies belong to the masculine genre and were not considered suitable for women.
The acceptable genres of music for women were music for domestic entertainment such as a short piano piece, a vocal pieces with piano accompaniment, and chamber music (Martin, 2004).
In addition, the music composed by women was considered a part of leisure activity. Therefore, they were rarely published and performed in the public. Like other women of her time, Fanny composed only feminine genre music. Among 500 of her compositions, around 300 of them are Lied, over 100 are piano pieces, 30 choral works, 6 chamber music, 4 cantatas, and 1 oratorio (Sirota, 1981).
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Her only instrumental work is the overture in C major which she composed in 1830. On the other hand, Felix’s compositions are in various forms, from a large scale work such as opera, symphony, concerto to Lied and keyboard solo pieces. The style of Felix and Fanny was very similar, mainly because they studied with the same teacher, and grew up in the same environment. Moreover, they often exchanged musical opinions, and critiqued each other’s music when they grew up. Many historians say that Fanny was inspired by Felix, but some of their works show that they were inspired by each others.
Between November 1839 to May 1840 Fanny was traveling in Italy. A year later she composed Il Saltarello romano, a piano piece which was inspired by her traveling experience. However, it contains a rhythmic pattern, and a motif which is reminiscent of the last movement of Felix’s Italian Symphony, composed in 1833. Therefore, it is possible that Fanny was also inspired by her brother’s symphony (Cooper & Prandi, 2002).
On the other hand, Felix’s Andante in G major Op. 62 No. 1 from Songs Without Words Book 5 composed in 1844 is very similar to Fanny’s Andante in G major Op. No. 1 composed in 1836. These two Andante have very similar openings which consisted of an anacrusis followed by a dominant seventh, then resolved down. Moreover, it is obvious that Felix’s Andante has a similar melodic structure to Fanny’s. Even through the Mendelssohn sibling’s composition style were very similar, there are some characteristic in Fanny’s composition which are different from her brother’s. Fanny’s style of composition is considered not as expressive as Felix’s, but it is much more sophisticated, and has a freer range and form (Cooper & Prandi, 2002).
All of Fanny’s compositions were performed only in her private concert that was held at her house every weekend, while Felix’s compositions were performed in many countries all over Europe. Felix started publishing his work in 1822 when he was a teenager, but Fanny was forbidden by her father to get her compositions published because of the social status problem. “For an upper-class 19th century woman, receiving money for musical activities meant compromising her social position, and Fanny’s social position was made more precarious by her status as a converted Jew” (Kimber, 2002, p. 18).
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However, Fanny published some of her works under her brother’s name. Later in 1846, she started published her compositions under her own name after she received approval from Felix, but most of her works were published by her family after her death. Women in the 19th century were allowed to play only some instruments such as piano and harp. They were not encouraged to play instruments such as the organ which was associate with religious practice, or percussion and some wind instruments which required movement to play them were considered unfeminine (Reich, 1991).
In the late 19th century, women violinists, cellists, and flutists became much more acceptable, but they were not allowed to join the orchestra. Some women pianists could perform in public, for example, Clara Schumann who was born into a musical family, and had been performing since she was a girl. On the other hand, in Fanny’s case, the social status of her family prevented her from doing all public activities (Glickman & Schleifer, 2003).
The only time that Fanny performed in public was at a charity concert held on 27 February 1838 when she played the piano concerto in G minor composed by her brother.
While Felix traveled, conducted and gave concerts all over Europe, Fanny could only perform in the Sunday music salon which her father formed in 1823. However, Fanny’s role in her house concert was not only as a pianist. Besides playing piano, she also arranged concert programs on her own. Various types of music were performed in her concerts. The list from her diary written on 28 October 1833 shows her plan for the next concerts which included the works of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, her brother Felix, and others contemporary composers (Tillard, 1996).
Fanny also worked as a conductor when choral works were included in the programs. Moreover, many large scale works such as opera, cantata, and oratorio were occasionally performed. In 1831 Fanny composed a cantata that contained a choral ensemble and a full orchestra with wind instruments which she rehearsed and conducted on her own. From the mid of the 19th century many conservatories in Europe expanded opportunities for women to take classes in musical performance and composition. For example, the Leipzig conservatory which had thirty three male and eleven female students in the first class opened in 1843.
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However, male and female students studied in different classes, and received different instruction. It was acceptable for women to become private music teachers. Women could be employed as a professor in some conservatories such as the Paris Conservatoire, but they were able to teach only female students, while male professors could teach both male and female students (Glickman & Schleifer, 2003).
To conclude, women in the 19th century had an opportunity to receive a musical education until many of them could perform and compose as well as men.
However, the tradition which strictly separated men and women’s roles, and excluded women from public activities prevented them from a full musical career. Fanny Mendelssohn is an obvious example of the life of most of 19th century women composers and performers whose opportunities were limited under the frame of male dominated tradition, and society’s rules. Nevertheless, their legacy which remains until the present day proved that 19th century women could have served an equal role in musical careers as men.
