Feminism and Music

Feminine Endings. Susan McClary. 1991. University of Minnesota Press 2037 University Avenue Southeast, Minneapolis, MN 54414. 220pp., photographs, diagrams, afterword, glossary, credits, index. Paperback, $14.50.

Blending an age old issue such as gender into music is something that I never would have thought to see in a book. However, Susan McClary makes a masterpiece out of pointing out some of these ingenious aspects of music and sexuality that gets you thinking about music on a completely different level. She explains these gender issues throughout a variety of different musical forms, from classical and madrigals to opera and Madonna. In her compilations of essays describing music, gender, and the erotic, she continues on with a theme that defines how feminism is described in music over different eras and periods.

She starts the book of with an introduction that describes musical terms and how the presence of gender issues has always been a subconscious part of music and writing. She then pushes on to describe music through different eras, starting with the father of opera, Monteverdi. After explanations of the sexual politics in opera she talks about how they work in the Classical era. Then she discusses rage arias and how women are represented while in madness through musical devices in opera. She branches out further to describe the styles and prowess of female composers and performers who had every right to be as memorable as their male counterparts. Then she adds in memoir pieces both from Laurie Anderson, and Madonna describing their feminism and what they brought to the music industry with their gifts. Having the setup of the chapters being in a chronological order, it was easy to follow her theme of these gender issues in music throughout the centuries.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book as she provided a very interesting perspective on music. Most of the book was written with analytical criticism to the classical music in terms of describing the gender politics, with the exception of the more modern music as it branches away from that traditional musical theory analysis. What I found absolutely fascinating about the book is that she truly gave thorough analytical evidence to support her arguments in the musical examples she provided. She also gave examples of terms used in music that had gender roles tied in them. One example she uses is the description of the masculine cadence as opposed to the feminine cadence. The masculine is supposed to end on the strong beat in the measure giving a very affirmed ending to a cadence and considered a “normal” cadence, whereas the feminine cadence is said to land on the 'weak' beat of the measure and is normally not used unless it is in a romantic piece. As someone who enjoys theory, I found this bit of information highly interesting and appalling at the same time. Even music could not survive the placement of gender with women considered to be the weaker sex.

Another subject she brings to light in this book is the use of females as erotic symbols in music. The seduction aria revolves around feminizing the music in which the music become coy, gentle, and lilting. The key is generally written in F, which has become know as the pastural, or feminine key, and the time signature is usually in a triple. With this in mind, it links the society to the evolution of women from just being the soft spoken, child bearing sex to an object of desire and possession.

This book, being well written and beautifully organized, is wonderfully constructed. Not only does the author supply her own ideas and analysis on many o the pieces she uses as examples, but she also has a fantastic utilization of primary and secondary sources with essays and excerpts used from other masters on the subject. I think that this book is a wonderful blend of music history, music theory, and political science and gender studies. Instead of taking music on a completely theoretical stance, she takes it from an artistic point of view, which is excellent when dealing with cultural issues such as gender roles and sexuality. In fact, she goes as far to say that “Literature and visual art are almost always concerned with the organization of sexuality, the construction of gender, the arousal and channeling of desire” (McClary, 53). While reading the book, you see this theme repeated, and when you think about it culturally, music truly does emanate gender and sexuality through the ages. With something so culturally important such as music, and something so universally accessible to the public, it is almost impossible to express anything but sexual politics that composers see in their life.

Overall, this was a very well written book and an excellent read for both musicians and feminists alike. It was informative and extremely interesting, not to mention it was filled with music theory and an excellent historical and social study of the times that created the music. It was nice to see how gender roles still play out in modern society and how their roots were exemplified through music.