ABSTRACT
The legacy of England's nineteenth-century female organ recitalists is more elusive. Some women were unwitting participants in a situation that undermined the professional status of England's organists and the improvement of church music. Elizabeth Stirling and her nineteenth-century colleagues secured the organ bench of England's churches and concert locations for a group of deserving musicians, ushering in a day when these talented individuals would be recognized not as 'lady organists', but as organists who happened to be women. Lacking sound recordings from the time, today's scholars and musicians have only the occasional critiques found in reviews of Stirling's early organ recitals, and fewer still of recitals by other female organists in nineteenth-century England, by which to evaluate their performances. Stirling was one of hundreds of female organists in nineteenth-century England who persevered in their chosen profession despite cultural, medical and musical arguments put forth by opponents of 'lady organists'.
