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RE: "The absoluteness of the barriers to a gifted woman seeking a musical career in Beethoven's Vienna." Hmm...

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DWPC

In Reply to: RE: "The absoluteness of the barriers to a gifted woman seeking a musical career in Beethoven's Vienna." Hmm... posted by clarkjohnsen on May 22, 2007 at 10:13:34

%22Wonder who sang all those soprano roles... not to mention mezzo, contralto... guys from the Vienna Boys Choir?%22
Actually, castratos were still pretty common.
And how did Clara Schumann ever get to be so famous there?
1. Her father was well known musician 2. Her Husband was buds with the greatest of the time.
%22Surprisingly, Beethoven's music seemed secondary in the film.%22 %22Surprisingly%22? You gotta be kidding.%22
I'm not kidding. %22Immortal Beloved%22 told a story but also had much more focus on LVB's musical.
Clara Schumann was a child when Beethoven was near the end of his life. Much changed in the following 30 years. Just look at the changes in favor of women in our lifetimes. And she was, as they say, the exception that proves the rule. Care to name a few other successful 19th Century female musicians. How about painters? There was no shortage of female virtuosos since musical training was an almost universal subject for the educated in 19th Century Austria. But for a woman to pursue a creative career was almost impossible.
You're splitting hairs, Clark. Slow day?

Edits: 05/22/07

Follow Ups:

"Splitting hairs"? No. There were real women singing in those days... - clarkjohnsen 08:08:34 05/23/07 (3)
...not castratos (which were pretty well out of favor by Beethoven's time, and Mozart's) or hapless boys forced to dress up as girls. Additionally, women widely played the piano and participated in chamber music.

Just to set the record straight, OK?

clark
- RE: "Splitting hairs"? No. There were real women singing in those days... - DWPC 10:37:57 05/23/07 (2)
  The movie character was a budding female composer. You injected performers into the mix. I still hold that a 20-something woman would have zero chance of an orchestral composing career in Beethoven's day. Of course there were female performers. Not to be overly harsh, but performers were (and are) a dime a dozen and generally on the social strata of domestic staff.
  
  The last castrato died in the 20th Century and was even recorded. No, not Tiny Tim!
  - "You injected performers into the mix." Well EXCUSE ME! You said, "musical careers". - clarkjohnsen 11:04:49 05/24/07 (1)
    How was one to know, you excluded performers?
    
    clark
    - Implied...the character was a would-be composer nt - DWPC 13:41:07 05/24/07 (0)
      .

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