C.P.E. carefully showing his effeminate side? (Mike)

Head begins the this article by pointing out that the mantle of ornament was being passed on from the men to become the domain of women in the later half of the 18th century. According to Head, this transition did not just affect the realm of fashion, but also extended its influence into the musical styles and criticisms of the time. Head focuses on two rifts created by this crossover. The first rift is the difference in opinion between the northern-Germans and the French with regard to the second rift that formed. The second rift is that of masculine vs. effeminate, (though not feminine), musics. This second division saw marches become a staple of the masculine school of music while minuets and rondos were accused of being more effeminate styles of composition. According to some theorists in the later half of the century, minuets were seen to be “foppish” and did not belong in places such as the symphony where they disrupted the very manly fast-slow-fast movement structure with something not at all serious and effeminate. However, there are exceptions, as Head points out when looking at C.P.E.’s Concerto in c H474. Not only does Bach “beef up” the minuet through the use of strong low voices which he saw to be masculine, but he contains the minuet within the confines of the first movement and thus surrounds and controls the minuet. As head says, the minuet is prevented from having the last word. It seems very much like the minuet is there to answer politely when asked a question, but not to drive its own point to conclusion. Thus, according to head, Bach saves the minuet from making the work as a whole overly effeminate. This seems like a lot of extra justification in order to point out that a compositional method or genre of music is displeasing. So my first question is, if this set of arguments is in fact about removing styles and genres that interfere with the writing of good music, why does the discussion need to be couched in a gendered frame of reference?

What do you think about how subjective many of the arguments are from the critics with regard to what is feminine and what is not (eg. Cramer’s argument that the theme of C.P.E.’s rondo is representing an enchanting maiden etc.) when Head clearly states that arguments like this are contingent on decisions made with regard to the performance of the theme?

What do you think of the sublime vs. beautiful argument made by Head on pg. 151?