1 online resource (xiii, 255 pages) : illustrations, music
Contents
Why did nineteenth-century southern women study music? -- Women's interaction with public music -- Music at home : entertainment and education -- Music education in schools -- The piano girl -- The singer -- Women's composition and publication in the antebellum period -- Becoming useful -- Confederate women composers
Summary
Candace Bailey's exploration of the intertwining worlds of music and gender shows how young southern women pushed the boundaries of respectability to leave their unique mark on a patriarchal society. Before 1861, a strictly defined code of behavior allowed a southern woman to identify herself as a "lady" through her accomplishments in music, drawing, and writing, among other factors. Music permeated the lives of southern women, and they learned appropriate participation through instruction at home and at female training institutions. A belle's primary venue was the parlor, whe