ABSTRACT
During the nineteenth century, the violin was regarded as an ‘unladylike’ instrument in England, and an informal prohibition existed on women playing it. The few women who did perform in public on the violin were mostly foreign artists, trained abroad. The origins of the objections to female violinists were complex. However, existing literature on the subject, notably Gillett (2000), suggests that these were mainly rooted in aesthetic issues (such as the quick arm movement required for bowing and the unattractive manipulation of the chin while playing), the violin’s occult links, and the ascribed gender of the violin as female, which disrupted the heteronormative relationship between male player and female instrument.
I suggest that nineteenth-century notions of virtuosity and female accomplishment also impacted ideas about the suitability of the violin as an instrument for women. Female musical performance in the nineteenth century was governed by strict ideas about what was ‘correct’ and playing virtuosic repertoire or in a virtuosic style did not fit the expected ways in which women were expected to perform and behave. In particular, popular belief about female intellectual capacity meant that virtuosic repertoire and instruments were generally thought unsuitable for women to play. This is particularly significant considering the prevalence of the violin as the instrument of choice for many of the virtuoso-composer performers who toured Europe and visited Britain, including Tartini and Paganini, whose writing utilised new tricks and technical feats which pushed instrument and performer to their limits.
This chapter explores the conflict between nineteenth-century ideas on women’s intellectual capacity and virtuosity. Factors preventing women from fulfilling the virtuoso-composer model are examined alongside a discussion of music as ‘accomplishment’ and how this rendered the violin a socially unsuitable instrument for women.
