Music & Dance
"Don't You Think the Violin is Better than the Typewriter?": How Women Orchestras Challenged Gender Inequality and the Indoctrinated Hierarchy in Instrumental Art Music
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Location
Indianapolis, IN
Subject Area
Music & Dance
Start Date
11-4-2014 9:00 AM
End Date
11-4-2014 10:30 AM
Sponsor
James Briscoe (Butler University)
Description
Conductor, Gustave Kerker famously said in the Musical Standard, "It would be like oil and water to put men and women in the same organization. Women Musicians alone may be alright, but they don't belong with men." There was little space for women to work as professional instrumentalists at the dawn of the 20th century. Not only were most instruments taboo for women, but symphonic music itself was also something considered innately masculine. However, by the early 1910s, the Boston conservatory had opened its doors to women, as well as the American Conservatory in Paris and a new generation of women orchestral musicians engaging in with challenging the established standards of instrumental music's perceived masculinity.
I argue that women's orchestras used a combination of grassroots activism and virtuosic performance to challenge the indoctrinated male hierarchy of the American symphony, as well as the perceived abilities of women instrumentalists in the early 20th century. My paper draws from interviews with the pioneers, leaders, and conductors of these orchestras, the Chicago history museum's archive, and the Women in Music Newsletter in order to illustrate their agency, goals, and ambitions of gender equality in American art music. I illustrate the growth and increased relevance of women orchestras by examining the early vaudeville lady orchestras, and finally focusing on the Woman's Symphony of Chicago and the Orchestrette of New York. These two symphonies were leaders that exemplified the growth, vitality and power of this musical movement.
"Don't You Think the Violin is Better than the Typewriter?": How Women Orchestras Challenged Gender Inequality and the Indoctrinated Hierarchy in Instrumental Art Music
Indianapolis, IN
Conductor, Gustave Kerker famously said in the Musical Standard, "It would be like oil and water to put men and women in the same organization. Women Musicians alone may be alright, but they don't belong with men." There was little space for women to work as professional instrumentalists at the dawn of the 20th century. Not only were most instruments taboo for women, but symphonic music itself was also something considered innately masculine. However, by the early 1910s, the Boston conservatory had opened its doors to women, as well as the American Conservatory in Paris and a new generation of women orchestral musicians engaging in with challenging the established standards of instrumental music's perceived masculinity.
I argue that women's orchestras used a combination of grassroots activism and virtuosic performance to challenge the indoctrinated male hierarchy of the American symphony, as well as the perceived abilities of women instrumentalists in the early 20th century. My paper draws from interviews with the pioneers, leaders, and conductors of these orchestras, the Chicago history museum's archive, and the Women in Music Newsletter in order to illustrate their agency, goals, and ambitions of gender equality in American art music. I illustrate the growth and increased relevance of women orchestras by examining the early vaudeville lady orchestras, and finally focusing on the Woman's Symphony of Chicago and the Orchestrette of New York. These two symphonies were leaders that exemplified the growth, vitality and power of this musical movement.