Concert Programming Strategies: Clara Wieck-Schumann's Piano Sonata (Doctoral Research)
Clara Wieck-Schumann's Piano Sonata presents a confluence of conflicting trajectories. Published 150 years after its composition, it belongs to a large-scale genre regarded as ‘masculine’,[1] ‘intellectual’,[2] and ‘transcendental’.[3] A professional woman socialised into a male-dominated culture, Wieck-Schumann attracts studies reflecting two centuries of entangled gender, national and social class ideologies. Posthumous reception evolved from recognising her as a woman achiever, to re-assessing her self-ambivalence and focusing on her creative individuality. The few studies of her Sonata focus on evaluation, amidst broader discourse on the positioning of women composers in the musical canon. However, scholars have focused on philosophy (or musicological considerations) rather than action. As classical music institutions address issues of privilege and representation, a better understanding of the reasons and processes behind concert programming is necessary to achieve meaningful inclusivity.
My main study, an autoethnographic experiment, situates Wieck-Schumann’s Sonata within four concert programmes. Informed by my literature and methodological reviews, I vary the parameters of genre, style, gender, class and nationality these programmes may be seen to represent. My autoethnography examines how my attitudes towards the Sonata can influence my decisions in concert programming and repertoire selection, and the meaning-making that results from each programme design, audience engagement and the performer’s phenomenological experience.
In order to achieve wider applicability with my autoethnographic findings, I position my individual experience within my musical network. In Study 2, I conduct interviews with a small number of conservatoire-based piano professors and postgraduates experienced in performing non-canonical repertoire. This qualitative study examines the pianists’ motivations and processes towards their selection, interpretation and concert programming of non-canonical repertoire. The concurrence of my two studies allows me to test and validate the emergent themes from my autoethnography, thus deepening my analytical processes. I will integrate my findings from both studies to reflect the dynamism of real-world negotiations of musical value. Finally, I will draw links between our programming strategies and broader patterns of canon transformation, and address the performer’s role within these transformations.
[1] Newman, William S. ‘The Sonata in Romantic Society’. In The Sonata Since Beethoven, 63. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1969.
[2] Citron, Marcia J. ‘Chapter 4: Music as Gendered Discourse’. In Gender and the Musical Canon, 2nd ed., 120–64. University of Illinois Press, 2000.
[3] Citron, Marcia J. ‘Chapter 4: Music as Gendered Discourse’. In Gender and the Musical Canon, 2nd ed., 142. University of Illinois Press, 2000.
My main study, an autoethnographic experiment, situates Wieck-Schumann’s Sonata within four concert programmes. Informed by my literature and methodological reviews, I vary the parameters of genre, style, gender, class and nationality these programmes may be seen to represent. My autoethnography examines how my attitudes towards the Sonata can influence my decisions in concert programming and repertoire selection, and the meaning-making that results from each programme design, audience engagement and the performer’s phenomenological experience.
In order to achieve wider applicability with my autoethnographic findings, I position my individual experience within my musical network. In Study 2, I conduct interviews with a small number of conservatoire-based piano professors and postgraduates experienced in performing non-canonical repertoire. This qualitative study examines the pianists’ motivations and processes towards their selection, interpretation and concert programming of non-canonical repertoire. The concurrence of my two studies allows me to test and validate the emergent themes from my autoethnography, thus deepening my analytical processes. I will integrate my findings from both studies to reflect the dynamism of real-world negotiations of musical value. Finally, I will draw links between our programming strategies and broader patterns of canon transformation, and address the performer’s role within these transformations.
[1] Newman, William S. ‘The Sonata in Romantic Society’. In The Sonata Since Beethoven, 63. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1969.
[2] Citron, Marcia J. ‘Chapter 4: Music as Gendered Discourse’. In Gender and the Musical Canon, 2nd ed., 120–64. University of Illinois Press, 2000.
[3] Citron, Marcia J. ‘Chapter 4: Music as Gendered Discourse’. In Gender and the Musical Canon, 2nd ed., 142. University of Illinois Press, 2000.
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Conference Presentations:
Revisiting Austrian and German Music: from the ‘Spring of Nations’ to the Cold War Institute of Austrian and German Music Research [IAGMR] September 17–18, 2021 University of Surrey, UK RMA-BFE Research Students Conference 6-8 January, 2022 University of Plymouth, UK |
Music in the Third Reich - undergraduate research project
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This study looks into the complexities of music during the Third Reich, tracing the lives and works of Hartmann and Ullmann, two musicians who were active throughout the rise of the Nazis and the Second World War. The research draws upon existing literature on Nazi policies, anti-Semitism and wartime cultural life. Analysis of specific pieces of particular significance will help examine how both men were able to sustain their creative outputs despite their defiant political stance and identities. This project endeavours to highlight the complex interplay of culture, identity and circumstance, and how these relate to the role music plays in the fabric of history. Ultimately, this study attempts to illustrate a more complete picture of artistic lives during the war, and thus, fill in the gap that often exists in the discussion of 20th century music.
Programme notes
I accept commissions for programme notes of any instrumental music. Please contact me for more details.
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