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Songs of Agency: Women’s Voicing of Identity in the Long Nineteenth Century
Session Topics: 1800–1900, Gender / Sexuality / LGBTQ Studies, Session Proposal
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Songs of Agency: Women’s Voicing of Identity in the Long Nineteenth Century During the long nineteenth century, European women expertly navigated the social expectations placed upon them by exploring their artistic, social, and political identities through music. The creation and performance of song was a vital tool for crafting and expressing these identities. This panel explores three case studies focused on song, critical biography, and issues of women’s agency in the construction and assertion of identity in the nineteenth century. The women of interest to this panel each demonstrated a remarkable ability to negotiate intricate pathways of engagement with established social systems, writing and singing songs that professed their agency on social, religious, and political matters of crucial interest to themselves and their communities. Presenter 1 works alongside scholars such as Brian E. Vick and Susan Youens to delve into the contributions of salonnière and writer Caroline Pichler (1769–1843) to Germanic national identity through text and song. Building upon the work of Mairi McFadyen and Raghnaid Sandiands, Presenter 2 explores songs crafted and sung in response to Scottish women’s physical involvement in the land reform movement known as the Crofters’ War (c. 1874–1886). Presenter 3 analyzes English composer Maude Valérie White’s (1855-1937) song settings on Tennyson’s “In Memoriam” (1850), a landmark work of Victorian poetry that has been almost exclusively set by female composers, demonstrating how White reinterprets Tennyson’s ambivalent lyrics about life after death through the lens of her own staunch Catholic faith. This panel offers new perspectives to ongoing discourses surrounding women’s musical practices, the social life of song, and the role of music as a tool for personal expression. Presentations of the Symposium Voicing Germanic Nationalism: Lieder in Caroline Pichler’s Biedermeier Music Salon On March 5, 1822, the Austrian military secretary Anton Prokesch briefly noted details about that day’s activities in his diary: “At the Pichlers’ for lunch. [Franz] Schubert played several songs set by him with a wealth of feeling and profundity.” Prokesch’s casual entry reveals important musical details about Caroline Pichler’s (1769–1843) music salon gatherings in early-nineteenth-century Vienna. Pichler, a respected Austrian writer and musician, hosted one of many musical salons regularly held between 1802 and 1830. During this time, political leaders of the multicultural, multiethnic Austrian Empire utilized censorship and a secret police force to suppress the spread of revolutionary ideas that had recently led to revolutions in America (1775–1783), France (1789–1799), and Haiti (1791–1804). Habsburg leaders also hoped to counter the rising popularity of nationalism endorsed by Johann Gottfried Herder and other historians by unifying the numerous national groups within their imperial borders. Inspired by Herder, Pichler contributed to these nationalist efforts by writing poetry celebrating Germanic history and culture, including her pastoral poem “Der Sommerabend.” In this paper, I explore how Pichler’s poem drew on the literary themes of the linden tree and the bumblebee. Often used to critique urban life, these themes symbolized the idealized, rural German culture and communities that Herder and other nationalists promoted. The songs that Schubert performed in Pichler’s salon in 1822 likely included his setting of Pichler’s “Der Sommerabend.” Using textual and musical analysis, I demonstrate how Schubert’s setting of Pichler’s poem infused an additional message of imperial patriotism towards the Habsburg monarchy. Finally, by contextualizing Schubert’s performance within Pichler’s Biedermeier salon, I consider how this song conflates the safety of the natural world with that of the home. As heavy censorship and policing of public life pervaded Biedermeier Vienna, salons offered shelter and refuge of the political realities of the outside world. This paper considers the afterlife of lieder, which not only offers new insights into the political nature of Schubert’s lieder, but also illuminates Pichler’s contributions to the early-nineteenth-century nationalist movement during a pivotal time in Austrian history. Women, Song, and the Battle for Land Reform in Nineteenth-century Scotland In April of 1882, a community of Gaelic-speaking tenant farmers living in the Isle of Skye, Scotland instigated a violent revolt against a contingent of police officers marching to apprehend five men who had resisted eviction from their tenancies. The ensuing conflict between community members and law enforcement became known as the Battle of the Braes. This event garnered national attention, with particular attention placed on the involvement of women in the violent clash. One journalist from the Dundee Evening Telegraph depicted the Braes women rushing from their homes, “hurling forth the most terrible vows of vengeance against all concerned” before joining the fray. In response to resistance by the Braes farmers, several Scots and Scottish Gaelic-language songs were published in newspapers, lauding the actions of the women involved.One song published in the Brechin’ Advertiser referenced the “womans roar, and hooch, and swore,” as well as the rocks hurled by women “doon on pleecemans’ croons.” This paper contends that song serves as a significant avenue through which we can gain insight into nineteenth-century Scottish women’s roles in land reform movements. Building upon McFadyen and Sandilands’ (2021) concept of “darning and mending” as a means of cultural reclamation, this paper will delve into the small corpus of song celebrating women’s contributions to the Scottish land reform cause. Presently, numerous Scottish activists and musicians draw inspiration from this musical heritage to advance the struggle for land reform throughout the United Kingdom. They channel their efforts through organizations like Community Land Scotland, Right to Roam, Peaks of Colour, and The Stars are Ours. For many, the songs composed by and about women supporting land reform continue to play a crucial role in reclaiming Scottish Gaelic cultural identity, while advocating for the restitution of historical common land holdings. As communities worldwide advocate for both land and cultural reclamation, this paper enriches the historical narrative by illuminating the story of Scottish women’s political resistance and social agency in the ongoing battle for land equity. Revoicing Tennyson: Maude Valérie White’s Asseveration of Faith in Four Songs from “In Memoriam” Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “In Memoriam, A. H. H.” (1850) presents a challenge to any composer hoping to set its poetry to music, and indeed few have tried. Tennyson wrote the book-length poem as an elegy to his close friend, but its impact grew far beyond this personal tribute as it became a touchstone for the Victorian understanding of death and grief. Queen Victoria herself, after the death of Prince Albert, said that “next to the Bible ‘In Memoriam’ is my comfort.” While the poem has many oft-quoted, aphoristic moments, the text, with 729 total stanzas, shows a winding, non-linear path through grief. It wrestles with existential questions, encompassing explorations of faith and doubt, attempts to understand the workings of the universe, and ultimately a path forward, if not a simple one. Few composers have engaged with this complex work, and the only composers to have set more than a single lyric are women: Liza Lehmann in 1899, and Maude Valérie White, with Four Songs from “In Memoriam” in 1885. Upon meeting the poet, White expressed her surprise at his claims to have not personally experienced the feelings of the text, saying that she “had personally felt every single word.”
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