Gender and the musical canon cover

Gender and the musical canon

by Marcia J. Citron

"Why is music composed by women so marginal to the standard "classical" repertoire? In attempting to answer this fundamental question, this book examines the practices and attitudes that have led to the exclusion of women composers from the received "canon" of performed musical works." "Focusing on the tradition since 1800, Marcia J. Citron makes substantial use of feminist and interdisciplinary theory. After introducing the notion of canon and its role in cultural discourse, she explores important elements of canon formation: creativity, professionalism, music as gendered discourse, and reception. A final chapter provides a critique of many of these ideas with respect to the canon of the university music-history curriculum. Professor Citron shows how an understanding of canon formation illuminates some of the basic issues that affect the discipline of musicology as a whole."--Jacket.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?