Special Topics: Musical Women in Europe and America

The course explores women’s musical activities and issues related to them by focusing on composers, performers, and audiences in a wide range of contexts, from Europe in the Medieval Era through 21st-century America. Themes include women’s roles in social, cultural, political, and economic spheres, and links between their activities in these milieus and those related to music. We will explore how women crafted their identities through their career choices, their responses to ideologies that influenced their participation, and their roles in performance, education, patronage, composition, and a range of other musical activities. We will examine how modes of sociability, communication, and reception influenced and continue to shape women’s musical lives. Open to advanced undergraduate and graduate students.