Synopses & Reviews
Musical Women in England, 1870-1914 delineates the roles women played in the flourishing music world of late-Victorian and early twentieth-century England and shows how contemporary challenges to restrictive gender roles inspired them to move into new areas of musical expression, both in composition and performance. Their ambiguous social reception notwithstanding, the extraordinary ability and striking self-confidence of these women inspired fiction-writers to feature musician heroines and motivated unprecedented numbers of girls and women to pursue advanced musical study.
Synopsis
Delineates the roles women played in the flourishing music world of late-Victorian and early twentieth-century England and shows how contemporary challenges to restrictive gender roles inspired them to move into new areas of musical expression in composition and performance.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [287]-304) and index.
About the Author
Paula Gillett is Professor of Humanities at San Jose State University.
Table of Contents
"...thoroughly researched and thoughtful analysis of Victorian debates around women and music..."--Rebecca A. Pope, Victorian Studies
"This is a thoroughly researched account of the transformations in the role of women in English musical life."--James Ross, English Historical Review
“This study gives the subject of British "New Women"--those pioneering feminist figures from the turn of the last century--a fresh and important dimension, by examining the careers of women who overcame masculine resistance and entered the music world. Paula Gillett should be commended for the boldness of the links that she creates across disciplinary boundaries, as well as for the thoroughness of her research and documentation. The range of material is extraordinary. Perhaps the most valuable of this book's contributions to scholarship is its attention throughout to novels and short stories of the period. Paula Gillett has uncovered a fascinating set of literary representations that show women earning their livelihoods through music and has made these texts sound worth reviving. Audiences of diverse backgrounds not only will learn much from this plunge into the past, but will enjoy doing so, for Gillett's book is both excellent cultural history and a first-rate "read."” --Margaret D. Stetz Associate Professor of English & Women's Studies, Georgetown University
“...this is a very important book...unusually rich in it approach to sources, and it is refreshing to read...” --Notes