“Music is certainly a very great Accomplishment to the LADIES; it refines the Taste, polishes the Mind; and is an Entertainment, without other Views, that preserves them from the Rust of Idleness, that most pernicious Enemy to Virtue.” – John Essex, The Young Ladies Conduct: or, Rules for Education, Under Several Heads (1722)
- Music was an important component in both aristocratic and bourgeois living. Many women had at least some knowledge in either singing or instrumentation.
- Musical ability was seen as a sign of femininity.
- The most common instruments in general were violins, fifes, English Flutes (recorders), flagoletes, and German flutes (tranverse flutes). There is little evidence of organs, glass ‘armonicas, violas, hammered dulcimers, clarinets, oboes, and bassoons, but it is known that there were a few in the Americas.
- The most common musical instruments among women were the harpsichord, English guitar (a ten-string instrument), and flageolete. Women were careful to not choose instruments that would potentially hurt their reputation due to their phallic symbology (e.g. English horns, oboes, and cellos).
- The preliminary instrument of fashion for wealthy women was the harpsichord (later replaced by the piano-forte after the Revolution). The harpsichord began to fall out of fashion as Marie Antoinette began to learn the harp. In 1773, Marie Antoinette wrote a letter to Maria Theresa speaking of the lessons she would take daily.
- Eventually, the harp began to strike controversy as an autoerotic symbol due to the positioning between the females’ legs. This did not stop its popularity though.
- Many aristocratic women hired maitres de musique (music masters) for their daughters. Since many of these were men, parents often chaperoned these events. A depiciton of this can be seen in Choderlos de Laclos’ Les Liasons Dangereuses (1782) with the interaction between Chevalier Darceny and Cecile Volanges.
- Music around camp would have varied for women. Campfollowers most likely would not have carried large instruments (such as the violin or guitar with them). If anything, a smaller flageolete may have been taken along, but it is not sure how long something of that value may have lasted in camp.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask myself or any of the other musicans and ladies during the event!
Sources:
Koda, Harold and Andrew Bolton. Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Hildebrand David K. “About Early American Music”. The Colonial Music Institute. 18 September 2001. <http://www.colonialmusic.org/Resource/DHessay.htm> 20 September 2007.
Unknown Author. “Make Your Way as a Woman in the Eighteenth Century”. University of Michigan. 30 April 2002. <http://www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/make_your_way/index.html> 20 September 2007.
