No, I am not sexist, nor is this article trying to advocate for feminism. My question above on one hand stems from last week’s blog on interpretation, and on the other from having explored this topic with one of my mentees recently. It is a huge topic, and the purpose of this blog is to kick off the discussion about the changing audience reception on musical tastes.

Critiquing a performance or interpretation as ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’ could result in a lot of frowns today, but ‘Feminine’ and ‘Masculine’ playing were indeed descriptors used by nineteenth-century critics on musical performances. Although these descriptions were not meant to prescribe a certain gender on the performer, they do reveal about the expectations on gender roles and qualities in musical interpretations. I wrote a little about this in my thesis:

According to Katharine Ellis, female pianists in the [early] nineteenth century rarely escape explicit gender criticism, as the disparity between a woman’s identity and her professionalism was in conflict throughout this period.[i] Ellis argued that such prejudice was further exacerbated by the fact that most nineteenth-century compositions performed were predominately gendered masculine: written by male composers to showcase masculinised virtuosity. Thus, female pianists whose playing styles were praised in coded-masculine terms (virtuosity, power, hardness) were generally regarded as better players. Likewise, male pianists who were criticised with coded-feminine terms (effeminate, caressing, exquisite delicacy) were generally disliked by the critics.[ii]

These disparaging expectations which continued throughout the nineteenth century have resulted in the great majority of female pianists retreating to play repertoire predating the nineteenth century: Rameau, Bach, Haydn, and Mozart. Could it be that these compositions, by male composers, were somehow displaying more femininity than compositions in the nineteenth century? Absolutely not. Yet, throughout the 19th and 20th century, many press reviews practiced a form of sexual aesthetics towards women composers: ‘Lyrical and sweet character pieces were regarded as feminine. Works that emphasized thematic development were considered masculine and inappropriate for female composers.’[iii] Why? How? composers themselves rarely prescribed gender in their compositions: Debussy’s La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin, and, nope, I cannot think of anymore. Why then did critics prescribe gender onto pianists’ performances? For example, in 1898, Alice Dessauer’s playing was described as ‘thoroughly womanly in its neatness and sympathy’.[iv] On that occasion, Dessauer played Chopin’s Nocturne in C sharp minor Op. 27 no. 1 and Chopin’s Scherzo in B minor Op. 20. ‘Neatness’ and ‘sympathy’ can be used to describe Evgeny Kissin’s performance of the Nocturne at the 1987 Chopin international competition and Yundi Li’s performance of the Scherzo at the 2000 Chopin international competition, but I would hardly think that anyone would ever consider describing their performances as being ‘thoroughly womanly’.[v]

Towards the middle of the twentieth century, female pianists were still being judged according to how they compare with their male colleagues, but there was a gradual easing off on the gender-specific criticism. In describing the English pianist Myra Hess in 1965, Peter Lewis remarked that Hess could ‘play Brahms and Beethoven as magisterially as any man – yet it was her delicacy and noble calm that made Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto almost her personal property.’[vi] Today, female pianists are still being compared to male pianists, lesser so because of gender disparities, but rather because there are more male musicians out there… or is that really the case? It’s worth mentioning that in recent statistics, as concluded in September 2022, ZIPPA revealed that of the 5,007+ pianists currently employed in the United States, 49.5% are women, and 50.5% are men.[vii] Trying to find more female presence in pianists and composers now and in the past centuries is a topic beyond the scope of this blogpost. Nevertheless, discovering about the neglected sides of female pianists and composers could voice a different opinion than those in concert reviews which show bias sexual aesthetics towards how compositions should be interpreted and heard.

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[i] Katharine Ellis, ‘Female pianists and their male critics in nineteenth-century Paris’, Journal of the American musicological society, 50: 2/3 (Summer-Autumn, 1997), 353–385.

[ii] Joyce Tang, Shifting ideals of tone in Grand Pianos (1880-1904) and their Implications for Performance Practice (University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis, 2021), 153.

[iii] Marcia J. Citron, “Chaminade, Cécile,” Grove Music Online (2001).

[iv] ‘Popular concerts’, Musical news, 14: 365 (February 26, 1898), 214.

[v] Both Kissin and Li were winners at the Chopin Piano Competitions, and recordings of their performances at the competition can be found at https://youtu.be/o4Wf3lIWiUE (Kissin), https://youtu.be/GQbbodJW4Uo (Li).

[vi] Peter Lewis, ‘Dame Myra brought Bach to the Blitz’, Daily Mail (November 27, 1965).

[vii] ‘Pianists demographics and statistics in the US’, https://www.zippia.com/pianist-jobs/demographics/, consulted on 23/10/2022.