ABSTRACT
To understand more fully fictional representations of female musicians, it is necessary first to examine how music was situated in late nineteenth-century England in terms of gender, class and national identity. Music occupied a contradictory position at this time. It was considered an emasculating or debasing activity for men of the aspiring middle classes and nobility to practice, yet an acceptable means for the working classes to alleviate the stresses and strains of their lives in a rapidly developing industrial state. 1 An article entitled "Music in England" in Macmillan's Magazine (1872) by choral conductor Henry Leslie articulately addresses these issues. Leslie wrote, "If there exists any rational mental employment that can be given to the masses after their hours of daily work, no one will deny that a humanizing, elevating, and refining influence will be obtained, that must be productive of increased strength to the ties of social and family life, and consequently of powerful good to the national life." 2 The "mental employment" that Leslie proposes is "the study and cultivation of music" (245). An important point in his statement, which is echoed in Victorian fiction, is the belief that music made by the people in their homes and communities would influence family, social and national life. In this case, Leslie argues for music's civilizing effects, although others suggested its dangers.
