ABSTRACT
Bach, Mozart, Gabrieli, Strauss: the pages of Western music history are liberally sprinkled with the names of musicians from extended musical families. Although this phenomenon once sparked debate about whether prolific musical activity within families was due to heredity or proximity, it rarely led to speculation about what had happened to the women in the family! Of course, the gender-limited view is no longer prevalent, and the either/or approach to nature versus nurture is also long past the debate stage. Most people now believe that a combination of biological and contextual factors contributed to musical achievement within families, and that women were withheld from public view due to cultural restraints.
