Head reading

Mr. Head brings up an interesting discussion point when talking about gender and music of the 18th century. The gender boundaries/stereotypes are consistent with what we would assume: men are powerful, reasoned, authoritative, and objective; whereas women are pleasant, charming, soft and gentle. Head makes a reasonable connection between music and this gender binary (interesting bit about constructionist thought that wasn’t expanded upon), saying that the symphony is inherently masculine and the minuet and rondo are intrinsically feminine. Circular form, simple ideas, and light-hearted markings all led to the feminine labeling of the dance forms. There was more than one instance where I wasn’t sure if Head was talking about music or women, because he refers to the rondo as “the object of a critical male gaze” as if the rondo were physically a woman. There were even anatomical inferences that I made (maybe I read too far into the text: circularity and women? Not going there…). The issue of performance practice compared to the music was a good point too, so it would be difficult to analyze only the music, as is current practice. In this way, the primary source documents come in handy.

My discussion question veers slightly off topic from the feminine aspects of the reading into the masculine realm: if the feminine music, rondos and minuets, had functions like French courtly dances, what was the function of the “masculine” symphonic music? Sure the march is described as useful for parades and military events, but what of the rest? Why is it that the feminine music has apparent function whereas the masculine has none?

Cameron