An unexpected consequence of this project has been a heightened awareness of the presentation of music throughout history. I am aware of music's place in society as I study the Renaissance in AP Art History, or read The Age of Innocence in English, or even as I peruse the BBC historical drama section on Netflix. I mark with interest the portraits of muses or women with instruments, and Ellen Olenska's accounts of her performances with professional quintets in Europe, and the fleeting but striking anachronism of a female violinist in the background of a Victorian party. That last detail sparked a particular curiosity in me, as I immediately felt the need to confirm the peculiarity of this brief sighting. What if, perhaps, Victorian London did have a ready supply of lady musicians for hire, outside the grand realm of solo performance?
......
It did not. But this vein of inquiry did lead me into the fascinating history of the female violinist. For centuries, violin was tacitly forbidden to the "gentle sex" because of its virtuosic brashness and conspicuous physicality, and it was only in the late nineteenth century that it became widely accepted for women to take up this particular instrument. Oh, how I wish I could spend the rest of the year engrossed in the study of lady violinists! But since I haven't the time, I will settle for incorporating this into my research on the Romantic era. I hope to write more on this topic soon, but for now, here are a couple of sources that I have so far found especially enlightening:
The first installment of a series on the history of female violinists:
http://www.violinist.com/blog/Mle/20106/11325/
An 1899 article from a ladies' magazine:
http://songofthelarkblog.com/2011/08/21/article-women-violinists-of-the-victorian-era/
......
It did not. But this vein of inquiry did lead me into the fascinating history of the female violinist. For centuries, violin was tacitly forbidden to the "gentle sex" because of its virtuosic brashness and conspicuous physicality, and it was only in the late nineteenth century that it became widely accepted for women to take up this particular instrument. Oh, how I wish I could spend the rest of the year engrossed in the study of lady violinists! But since I haven't the time, I will settle for incorporating this into my research on the Romantic era. I hope to write more on this topic soon, but for now, here are a couple of sources that I have so far found especially enlightening:
The first installment of a series on the history of female violinists:
http://www.violinist.com/blog/Mle/20106/11325/
An 1899 article from a ladies' magazine:
http://songofthelarkblog.com/2011/08/21/article-women-violinists-of-the-victorian-era/