The character pieces of Clara Wieck-Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel: A stylistic comparison of gender traits and idioms proper to the genre.

Abstract

This thesis is a product of my inquiries into the questions surrounding women and music. It discusses some interesting patterns about the lives of women composers, and reveals through a social-critical approach the factors that contributed to the isolation and marginalization of two women composers, Clara Wieck-Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel and their conformity toward the prevailing norms and values of the nineteenth century. Analysing their character pieces inform us about their lives, style and the era in which they lived and in turn gives us new insights into these women's incursion into male territory. I chose to study character pieces because the character piece as a genre was very common among female composers and in the parlour environment. Understanding that music as a signifier of cultural and socio-political issues supports the idea that genres composed most often by women, such as the character piece in the nineteenth century are a result of the social ramifications that were part of that era. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)