Instructing Women’s Voices in Conduct Literature

2020 ◽  
pp. 29-52
Author(s):  
David Kennerley
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Female Voice ◽  
Conduct Literature ◽  
Women's Voices ◽  
Italian Opera ◽  
Professional Singers ◽  
Female Singers

This chapter explores the guidance regarding the use of the female voice that was a common feature of conduct literature in circulation in Britain between 1780 and 1850. Such works place a heavy emphasis on the restraint of the female voice, seeing it as an aural sign of a young woman’s modesty, diffidence, and chastity. Concomitantly, they characterised the technique, power, and skill displayed by many contemporary female singers’ voices (especially, but not exclusively, the professional singers of Italian opera) as signs of moral corruption and/or the neglect of feminine domestic and religious duties. However, this chapter stresses that this conduct literature was primarily written for a middle-class, evangelical readership. Consequently, it represents a particular perspective on the female voice, one that was certainly gathering steam in these years, but which was by no means universally dominant.

Dorothea Solly’s Musical World

2020 ◽  
pp. 120-155
Author(s):  
David Kennerley
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Social World ◽  
Conduct Literature ◽  
Vocal Technique ◽  
Social Milieu ◽  
Italian Opera ◽  
Class Background ◽  
Female Voices ◽  
Musical Creativity

This case study explores the musical and social world of Dorothea Solly, a keen amateur musician and singer. It builds on Chapter 2 by arguing that Solly’s middle-class background, combined with a Broad Church Anglican milieu and her marriage into a Unitarian family shaped her strongly affirmative approach to female voices, in ways that contrasted sharply with the attitudes on display in conduct literature. In particular, she exhibited great admiration for, and sought to acquire herself, the advanced vocal technique of leading stars of the Italian opera, such as her singing teacher, Cecilia Davies. In her advocacy of both female professional performers and composers, and in her own style of singing, Solly and her social milieu encapsulate an important, emerging section of the British musical public that was open both to the idea of female musical creativity and professionalism, and comfortable with an empowered, confident, assertive style of envoicing femininity.

Encountering Women’s Voices in Letters, Diaries, and Life-Writing

2020 ◽  
pp. 53-83
Author(s):  
David Kennerley
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Life Writing ◽  
Conduct Literature ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Women's Voices ◽  
Religious Influences ◽  
Female Voices ◽  
Roman Catholics ◽  
Insight Into

This chapter examines the extent to which the restrictive attitudes to women’s voices encountered in conduct literature are traceable in sources that give insight into the daily life of the British concert-going classes, such as letters, diaries, and life-writing. It confirms that similar attitudes to women’s voices can be found among those from evangelical, middle-class backgrounds. It also reveals, however, that a range of different, more affirmative attitudes to the use of women’s voices can be found both among members of the aristocracy, and among non-evangelical sections of the middle classes, whether Broad or High Church Anglicans, Roman Catholics, or rational dissenters and Unitarians. While some individuals were clear in their stance, this chapter also emphasises that ambiguous and conflicted attitudes were commonplace, particularly among those with mixed religious influences in their social milieu. Overall, this chapter highlights the profound divisions and diversity of attitudes towards female voices among contemporary audiences.

scholarly journals Heartfelt Love: Singing Maiden Characters in Romantic Vocal Music, 1800-1850

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Haiman Liu
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Vocal Music ◽  
First Century ◽  
Italian Opera ◽  
German Lieder ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Vocal Works ◽  
Female Singers ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Relationship

<p>The images of maidens in Italian opera and German lieder from the period 1800-1850 are vivid. In the plots of the operas and the scenes and stories of the lieder almost invariably these characters focus enthusiastically on heartfelt love. This exegesis explores the relationship between the expression of love by unmarried women in selected lieder and opera of the first half of the nineteenth century and performance of these works by the young soprano in the twenty-first century. In the period when these songs and operas were written, performers of lieder would often have been of a similar age to the maiden characters portrayed in the songs, and in the case of Italian opera at the time, the singers who created such roles were usually in their twenties or early thirties. As a young soprano myself, in my study I consider some questions which are relevant for twenty-first century female singers who choose to perform these nineteenth-century portrayals of virgin characters. The figures in the works I have selected to study display a wide variety of personalities, moods and emotions, from the tenacious wild rose in Schubert’s ‘Heidenröslein’, to his passionate Gretchen and the melancholic Amina in Bellini’s La Sonnambula. I consider how the soprano may express the different emotions involved and approach performing young maiden characters such as these, whose experiences of life and status in society may be substantially removed from twenty-first century experiences.   In order to address these questions, I examine the selected song and aria texts in terms of the relationship between the content of the stories and the characters, as well as analyzing the vocal skills that can be used and vocal effects that may be applied when shaping these roles according to the music as written. In addition, I combine the background to the story and the plot with the musical markings in selected phrases to explore the emotional variety of the characters so as to interpret the deeper significance in the compositions. Through learning and performing these particular pieces I have explored the vocal techniques which are required in singing them from a practical perspective and this enables me to contribute insights I have gained to the general understanding of the skills required for this particular area of the repertoire. Having chosen repertoire for this study which combines Italian opera arias and lieder, and I also consider how the differences I have found in the vocal works may reflect their respective genres and distinguish the skills required for each. Through writing about my own research into the performance of these works, I provide new insights and ideas about these maiden characters which may be applicable to any young sopranos who sing repertoire from this period, and useful for their own vocal perfo</p>

PRODUCING THE OPERATIC CHORUS AT PARMA’S TEATRO DUCALE, 1759–1769

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARGARET R. BUTLER
Keyword(s):  
Italian Opera ◽  
Professional Singers ◽  
Financial Difficulties ◽  
Opera Seria ◽  
Skilled Personnel ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Christoph Gluck

Italian opera is increasingly receiving well deserved attention. Yet the process by which the chorus in opera seria was created remains largely unexplored. Between 1759 and 1769 Tommaso Traetta and Christoph Gluck composed path-breaking, reform-inspired opere serie for Parma’s Teatro Ducale which integrated chorus, dance and stage spectacle in the French manner. In an era when operatic choruses usually comprised amateurs and chapel singers, evidence from printed librettos and documents from Parma’s Archivio di Stato reveal that many of the Teatro Ducale’s choristers were professional singers hired from neighbouring Bologna. Perhaps in response to logistical and financial difficulties in engaging skilled personnel for Traetta’s choruses, Parma established a singing school to provide choristers for theatre. Gluck’s choruses employed a combination of students from this school and professionals. The evidence from Parma shows that the wide-ranging circuit within which Italy’s opera theatres functioned embraced not only leading soloists and other personnel, but choral singers as well. It demonstrates the impact of practical circumstances surrounding the production of Parma’s operatic choruses on the success of operatic reform in Parma.

scholarly journals Heartfelt Love: Singing Maiden Characters in Romantic Vocal Music, 1800-1850

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Haiman Liu
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Vocal Music ◽  
First Century ◽  
Italian Opera ◽  
German Lieder ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Vocal Works ◽  
Female Singers ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Relationship

<p>The images of maidens in Italian opera and German lieder from the period 1800-1850 are vivid. In the plots of the operas and the scenes and stories of the lieder almost invariably these characters focus enthusiastically on heartfelt love. This exegesis explores the relationship between the expression of love by unmarried women in selected lieder and opera of the first half of the nineteenth century and performance of these works by the young soprano in the twenty-first century. In the period when these songs and operas were written, performers of lieder would often have been of a similar age to the maiden characters portrayed in the songs, and in the case of Italian opera at the time, the singers who created such roles were usually in their twenties or early thirties. As a young soprano myself, in my study I consider some questions which are relevant for twenty-first century female singers who choose to perform these nineteenth-century portrayals of virgin characters. The figures in the works I have selected to study display a wide variety of personalities, moods and emotions, from the tenacious wild rose in Schubert’s ‘Heidenröslein’, to his passionate Gretchen and the melancholic Amina in Bellini’s La Sonnambula. I consider how the soprano may express the different emotions involved and approach performing young maiden characters such as these, whose experiences of life and status in society may be substantially removed from twenty-first century experiences.   In order to address these questions, I examine the selected song and aria texts in terms of the relationship between the content of the stories and the characters, as well as analyzing the vocal skills that can be used and vocal effects that may be applied when shaping these roles according to the music as written. In addition, I combine the background to the story and the plot with the musical markings in selected phrases to explore the emotional variety of the characters so as to interpret the deeper significance in the compositions. Through learning and performing these particular pieces I have explored the vocal techniques which are required in singing them from a practical perspective and this enables me to contribute insights I have gained to the general understanding of the skills required for this particular area of the repertoire. Having chosen repertoire for this study which combines Italian opera arias and lieder, and I also consider how the differences I have found in the vocal works may reflect their respective genres and distinguish the skills required for each. Through writing about my own research into the performance of these works, I provide new insights and ideas about these maiden characters which may be applicable to any young sopranos who sing repertoire from this period, and useful for their own vocal perfo</p>

Women's Voices, Men's Lives: Masculinity in a North Indian Urdu newspaper

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 1441-1473 ◽  
Author(s):  
MEGAN EATON ROBB
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Gender Roles ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
North India ◽  
Class Identity ◽  
Women Warriors ◽  
Women's Voices ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Literary Journals

AbstractLiterary journals and newspapers aiming to reform the religious beliefs and domestic habits of women were common in early twentieth-century North India. Although most readings have focused on how these texts reflected male legislation of women's behaviour, we should look at Muslim reformist literature to understand male experiences; this investigation offers new insights into an emergent middle-class identity defined more by manners than birth. Readings of a previously little-researched Urdu newspaper, Madinah, and its women's section offer new insights on male experiences of reformism, characterized by profound ambivalence. Playfulness emerged in some reformist descriptions of women's voices, channelling the influence of rekhti. Ultimately Madinah cultivated pride in Islam's strict division of gender roles and conversely threatened men with shame for failing to regulate uneducated women. Descriptions of powerful, Ottoman women warriors were framed to incite men to acts of bravery, using reports from Europe as cautionary examples of the over-indulgence of women. While the newspaper offered outlets for men to express curiosity about women's experiences, ultimately reformist literature limited expressions of pleasure. Male ambivalence regarding the implications of the reformist project remained embedded in writing about women.

scholarly journals The Ethics and Economics of Middle Class Romance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roos Slegers
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Mary Wollstonecraft ◽  
Conduct Literature ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Commercial Society ◽  
New Middle Class ◽  
Ethics And Economics ◽  
The Subject

AbstractThis article shows the philosophical kinship between Adam Smith and Mary Wollstonecraft on the subject of love. Though the two major 18th century thinkers are not traditionally brought into conversation with each other, Wollstonecraft and Smith share deep moral concerns about the emerging commercial society. As the new middle class continues to grow along with commerce, vanity becomes an ever more common vice among its members. But a vain person is preoccupied with appearance, status, and flattery—things that get in the way of what Smith and Wollstonecraft regard as the deep human connection they variously describe as love, sympathy, and esteem. Commercial society encourages inequality, Smith argues, and Wollstonecraft points out that this inequality is particularly obvious in the relationships between men and women. Men are vain about their wealth, power and status; women about their appearance. Added to this is the fact that most middle class women are both uneducated and encouraged by the conduct literature of their day to be sentimental and irrational. The combined economic and moral considerations of Wollstonecraft and Smith show that there is very little room for love in commercial society as they conceived it.

scholarly journals Women’s Voices in Middle East Museums: Case Studies in Jordan / Dreaming of Change: Young Middle-Class Women and Social Transformation in Jordan

1970 ◽  
pp. 115-121
Author(s):  
Shelagh Weir ◽  
Lucine Taminian ◽  
Feisal Yunis
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Inner Core ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Single Women ◽  
Women's Voices ◽  
Anthropological Literature

Women’s Voices in Middle East Museums: Case Studies in JordanDuring the past few decades museums have proliferated in the Middle East, not only in the wealthy oil states, but also in poorer countries and even (notably) within the dreadful constraints of occupied Palestine. Rulers and their officials want them for international prestige, to promote dynastic or nationalistic narratives, to attract tourists, and to provide educational facilities for their publics. Dreaming of Change: Young Middle-Class Women and Social Transformation inJordanIn her book Dreaming of Change, Droeber studies young single women of middle class background and higher education as a social group that has great influence on the direction that social and political changes are taking in Jordan. Youth, male and female, are under-represented in the anthropological literature on the Middle East, despite the fact that they constitute almost one third of the population of any Middle Eastern country. Al-Rujula wa Taghayyur Ahwal al-Nisa’ (Manhood and Women Changing Conditions of WomenAzza Baydoun is not the kind of social psychologist you often encounter in our world of academia. She is a woman with a specific mission: to delve deeply into the inner core of society, so as to uncover intensely held perceptions, beliefs, and behavioral orientations that affect the most important and the most troubled relationship: that between man and woman.

The Lives and Voices of Professional Female Singers

2020 ◽  
pp. 156-180
Author(s):  
David Kennerley
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Female Voice ◽  
Musical Life ◽  
The Public ◽  
Feminine Norms ◽  
Female Singers ◽  
Professional Singer

This chapter explores the meaning of the professional female voice through the experiences of three singers from the 1830s and ’40s: Adelaide Kemble, Clara Novello, and Marianne Lincoln. It continues the argument of Chapters 2 and 3 by exploring how contemporary divisions over the sound of femininity affected the ways singers chose to use their voices. Their letters and diaries show how they were caught between a desire to develop their professional technique and artistry, and an equally strong anxiety that, in doing so, they might contravene feminine norms expected by important sections of the public and even by family and friends. These case studies thus expose the ongoing tensions between the ideals of the professional singer and of femininity in British musical life, but they also indicate that, through complex, sometimes agonising negotiation, it was increasingly possible for these women to develop successful careers as professional female musical artists.

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