Musical Women in England, 1870-1914: "Encroaching on All Man's Privileges." & Women Performing Music: The Emergence of American Women as Instrumentalists and Conductors - Reviews

Journal of Social History, Fall, 2002 by Tamara L. Hunt

Macleod ends with a brief chapter on the state of women's position in music in the late twentieth century, showing that while women have made significant headway, gendered ideology is still inherent in the music profession. For example, JoAnn Falletta, conductor and music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic since 1998, still has to be concerned about the critical response to her clothing; in 1990 one San Francisco reporter speculated on the "psychosexual message" of Falletta's tuxedo. (147) As was the case with Bloomfield-Zeisler and Leginska nearly a century ago, Falletta and her peers continue to deal with the potential conflicts among marriage, family life and hectic far-flung touring schedules.

These two well-researched works are a welcome addition to the growing literature on late Victorian Britain and America, and more particularly on the overlooked relationship among gender ideology, music, culture and society. Scholars in these fields will find these works valuable for their arguments, analysis of primary sources, and extensive bibliographies.