Nineteenth-Century Women's Roles

In the nineteenth-century, the roles of men and women were distinctively outlined and enforced, limiting the participation of women in the music industry. Women had to behave and act in a socially acceptable way; otherwise, they may be vulnerable to rejection by society. Unlike men, who were allowed to compose and perform freely, most women were constricted to only composing and performing music domestically, which stripped their opportunity of showcasing their talents to the public. They were encouraged to focus on the home and do home music-making during their leisure time. By caging women’s skills in the vicinity of their own home, societal norms and views of women and their capabilities constricts their roles in the music industry in both
The society’s perspective of the “accomplished” woman was to be educated in specific ways, specifically for “social usefulness within family and class”, “domesticity, moral self-discipline, and fortitude in marriage.”1 Women learned skills that would help them find a spouse, and showed the cultural distinction that “demonstrated social distinction and…upper-and middle-class family interests”.1 According to Jane Austen, a woman must have “thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern language… possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions…” 2 This quote demonstrates that not only does a woman need to learn many acceptable hobbies, but also needs to have proper etiquette and appropriate movements to present their feminine traits. Although women with more acceptable specialties were seem more “accomplished”, having too much was also looked down
Beach stopped performing after her marrying her husband, a physician. Because a physician is in a higher class, it was not appropriate to make the wife work as a professional pianist. As a result, Beach was restricted to one public performance per year, with the money donated to charity.5 This defies the cultural expectation at the time because she was allowed to perform publicly once a year, while other women at that time were discouraged from doing so. Also, Beach was not limited to only playing piano. She was also allowed to play in orchestral and chamber concerts.5 However, as an “accomplished” woman, she understood her position both in the family and in society, and does not want to ruin her husband’s reputation as an upper-class. She obeyed her husband, published her works under her married name, “Mrs. H.H.A Beach”. This depicts that women composers were still not fully accepted, since Beach had to use her married name in order to gain more respect and less shame. Women were considered incapable of composing long works, so Beach disproved the thought with Gaelic Symphony, a well-received long-scaled work. This piece, the first symphony written by a woman, is played with a variety of instruments with an ethnic flavor.5 This depicts that Beach is well-rounded, and is not just