Video: Why women, even in the 20th century, were not allowed to play in symphony orchestras
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Militant feminism today finds less and less opportunities for high-profile scandals, because there are almost no professions in the world that could be called purely male: the “weaker sex” is already fighting in the rings and flies into space. However, until recently, there was an area not associated with rough physical work, which resisted the female onslaught longer than others. The last stronghold here for many years was the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, which defended its male tradition in the late 1990s.
In the 19th century, ladies playing musical instruments could only demonstrate their talents with their families, if they did not want to shock the audience too much. There were some examples of concert persons, but they were rather an exception to the rule. However, by the end of the "enlightened age" women had already won the right to study in conservatories, and quite reasonably began to demand for themselves a place in symphony orchestras.
However, in this matter, the ladies are faced with a real wall of misunderstanding. Mixed teams, according to men, would cause many disasters and cause confusion and vacillation, discipline, flirting at work and wind in the head. Interestingly, no one doubted the potential talent and professionalism of women performers, it was only about the need to observe the "male brotherhood".
The opposition was so strong that in the 1870s Austrian musicians were forced to create their own group, thus the First Women's Vienna Orchestra appeared. Madame Josephine Amann-Wenlich, a talented violinist and pianist, brought together the graduates of the Vienna Conservatory under her wing. True, the repertoire of this group was still different from the “male” one. It was dominated by light pieces: dance melodies, waltzes, marches and popular arias. Later, having gained experience, the ladies tried to switch to more serious composers, but their performances by Mozart and Haydn were met with hostility by critics - according to the public, serious music remained the lot of men.
Only at the beginning of the 20th century there was some breakthrough: the English conductor and public figure Henry Wood accepted six violins into his orchestra. This case is considered almost the first in world history when women began to play in a serious musical group on a par with men. Further, the process of feminization of symphony orchestras went a little more actively, in the 30s, for example, the Philadelphia Orchestra recruited the first woman harpist.
However, in the world for almost a hundred years, the bastions of male fortitude have survived, and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra turned out to be the strongest of them. Closed from casual influences, this collective remains a real club of elite musicians today. From generation to generation, its laws were passed on in it, and written: there were indeed lines in the charter that only white men can be members of this community. This "male tradition" was preserved until 1996!
The harsh Viennese professionals tolerated the presence of two harpists on the same stage with them, but this was caused by a harsh necessity - by the end of the 20th century, the harp had turned into an exclusively female instrument. However, they did not stand on ceremony with violators of gender uniformity, they were not included in the staff and were not even indicated in posters, and the ladies were always on the outskirts, so that the rest could pretend that they simply did not exist.
The situation changed only at the end of the millennium, and even then in connection with the upcoming tour of America. Overseas feminists, having learned about such a terrible infringement of rights, were preparing for loud speeches and boycotts, so the leadership of the orchestra had to explain their position, and then change it, when several international organizations united and sent a petition demanding an immediate change in gender policy.
In 1997, the Vienna Philharmonic was forced to admit its defeat: the line "only men" was deleted from the charter, but it took another ten years for women to really appear in the orchestra. The violinist and violist became the "first swallows", and they really had a hard time at first. Only in 2011, when the orchestra was punished with a funding cut of 2.29 million euros, did its gender policy really change. Today, there is a certain percentage of women in the collective, two of them, by the way, are from Russia, and one lady even holds the position of accompanist (group leader). The latter fact became a real sensation and was separately noted in the media.
By the way, the history of the Vienna Philharmonic is not unique. In the Berlin and Prague orchestras, the “female expansion” was treated in about the same way, but in France and the United States today, real equality reigns in the music segment - men and women in the orchestras play approximately equally, and ladies are even present in such “primordially male” groups, like brass and drums.
Over the past hundred years, women have indeed come a long way in matters of equality. Even the primordial female duties are no longer a reason for active ladies to reduce their activity: the Prime Minister of New Zealand became the second leader of the country in history to give birth to
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