Virtual Presentation by Jill Rogers

In this talk, I read Farrenc’s Nonet (1850) through the lens of her feminist praxis. After detailing French feminist thought in the mid-nineteenth century, I look to Conservatoire archival records and French periodicals to show that Farrenc enacted her feminism through supporting her female Conservatoire piano students in their careers, mainly through teaching them composition at a time when the Conservatoire didn’t allow female students to take composition courses and giving them opportunities to showcase their talents publicly. Then, I turn to the Nonet, which, through quoting Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony and presenting a Beethovenien style, not only puts forth a feminist statement regarding women’s musical abilities, but also provides a critique of her Conservatoire colleague Henri Herz. This talk sheds new light on a composer whose teaching practices and politics have largely been ignored in musicological scholarship.