Feminist Aesthetics in Music

Subjects:

• The Arts » Music (General)
• Sociology » Sex & Gender Studies

Reviews:

• Building on foundations of feminist musicologists such as Susan McClary and Marcia Citron along with other leading feminist and cultural theorists, Macarthur (Univ. of Western Sydney) argues that "women's music operates according to aesthetic criteria that suggest differences from men's music" and demonstrates that "the sex of a composer influences the production and reception of her work." Two chapters set the context for her study with specifics on the self-perpetuating canon drawn from Australian performance and education repertories. The remaining six chapters apply various theoretical models to create gendered musical analyses of compositions by Alma Mahler, Rebecca Clarke, Elisabeth Lutyens, and three Australian composers (Anne Boyd, Elena Kats-Chernin, and Moya Henderson). The book's strength emerges from the useful summaries of key theorists (e.g., Irigaray, Cixous, Kristeva, Butler, Barthes, and Elizabeth Grosz) in very readable language and their effective application in support of Macarthur's analyses. Addressing current issues for musicology (essentialism-social construction, modernism-postmodernism, identity formation, representation, and the body), Macarthur does not avoid controversial topics and recounts multiple points of view while making her own conclusions clear. A discography of works analyzed and short score examples are provided, adding to the usefulness for class assignment. All levels.
  —CHOICE September 2002

• Endorsement From Deborah Hayes
  Associate Professor of Musicology
  University of Colorado: In Feminist Aesthetics Sally Macarthur explores complex and controversial issues of gender and sexuality in music through examination of recent developments among European, American, and Australian writers on aesthetic issues and, most important, careful analysis of music by six leading composers--Alma Schindler-Mahler, Rebecca Clarke, Elizabeth Lutyens, Anne Boyde, Elna Kats-Chernin, and Moya Henderson. This book, a major work from one of our leading feminist musicologists, is destined to be the focus of future discussions of feminism and the feminine music.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction: For Women's Eyes Only?
• Feminist Aesthetics in Music
• Music in Context and Practice
• The Power of Sound, The Power of Sex: Alma Mahler-Werfel's Ansturm
• Sexing the Subject of Musical Analysis: Rebecca Clarke and Elisabeth Lutyens
• Meditations on Feminist Aesthetics: Anne Boyd's Cycle of Love
• Framing the Case for a Feminist Reading of Elena Kats-Chernin's Postmodern Tast-en
• Sexual Signatures: Feminist Aesthetics in the Music of Moya Henderson after the Death of the Author
• This Music which is between Two
• Bibliography
• Discography
• Index