Gender and the Musical Canon

Gender and the Musical Canon
ISBN-10
052144974X
ISBN-13
9780521449748
Category
Music
Pages
324
Language
English
Published
1993-07-30
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Author
Marcia J. Citron

Description

Why is music composed by women so marginal to the standard 'classical' repertoire? In attempting to answer this fundamental question, this book examines the practices and attitudes that have led to the exclusion of women composers from the received 'canon' of performed musical works. Focusing on the tradition since 1800, Marcia J. Citron makes substantial use of feminist and interdisciplinary theory. After introducing the notion of canon and its role in cultural discourse, she explores important elements of canon formation: creativity, professionalism, music as gendered discourse, and reception. A final chapter provides a critique of many of these ideas with respect to the canon of the university music history curriculum. Professor Citron shows how an understanding of canon formation illuminates some of the basic issues that affect the discipline as a whole.

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