Women Writing Music in Late Eighteenth-Century England

Leslie Ritchie is Associate Professor of English at Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.

• Contents: Introduction: composing themselves: musical and social harmony; Discipline, pleasure, and practice; Women's occasion for music: the performative continuum and lyrical categories; Caritas; or, women and musically enacted charity; Arcadia: or, women's strategic use of the pastoral; Britannia: or women and songs of nation and otherness; Conclusion; Bibliography. Index.

'Ritchie’s exploration of English women’s music making will interest not only musicologists, but also a broader range of readers interested in cultural studies, feminist criticism, and eighteenth-century studies. Disproving assumptions that women’s participation in music in this period was confined to the domestic sphere, Ritchie shows women musicians performing in venues ranging from the most obviously public, like the London opera and theater stages, to intimate domestic settings. Literary readers will appreciate discovering lyrics by important women poets, while musicians will like the generous provision of musical examples'. Susan Staves, Brandeis University, USA ’... ambitious, rewarding study ... Ritchie ... makes a major contribution to each of the disciplines that informs her study, chiefly musicology, literary studies, eighteenth-century studies, and gender studies ... Ritchie’s clear writing and her lucid explanations of the myths and assumptions that have long governed”and hampered”investigations of women’s participation in eighteenth-century musical worlds would make this book valuable for classroom use.’ NABMSA Newsletter ’By considering not only music but also contributors to musical life outside the bounds of traditional musicology, Ritchie’s book reveals much valuable material, establishing the extent to which the content, production and development of the vocal music of the period depended on women.’ Early Music ’... a valuable book...’ Studies in English Literature ’Ritchie performs that most difficult feat of writing clearly and concisely about complex cultural issues without over-simplication or reductive reading. ...the quality of analysis [...] of both literature and music, is illuminating, rich and vital. This book is much to be recommended to those interested in 18th century culture, particularly as it relates to women and music.’ The Consort ’... the book essentially covers not only women writing