Gender stereotypes in certain pieces

[frederic]

What are some of these pieces?

[mrchops10]

I don't quite understand the question, but to me certain composers have more feminine characteristics. Chief among these is Mozart. Interestingly, whenever I mention this opinion, somebody always bristles and protests that Mozart isn't at all weak.

But feminine certainly doesn't mean weak, especially not to anyone whose met the women in my family. There is a quickness and lightness to Mozart, a sublime indecisiveness or subtlety which is characteristically feminine. In his operas, for instance, the best roles are always for sopranos, the quintessential female voice. These women are also always strong-minded and powerful. Schubert is the opposite extreme. His greatest writing is for a lyric tenor voice, and his songs often portray a person who is extremely single-minded or obsessed, and also chronically weak. The Queen of the Night could beat up the Miller of "Die Schone Mullerin."

We often fall into the trap of assuming that something that the weak is feminine, but it is not so. Hopefully, now in the 21st century we can see gender differences with more subtlety, and so be less limited by them.

[superstition2]

Hmm. I've never thought of Mozart's music as effeminate. Frankly, I don't think of any classical music as being effeminate, I suppose. Perhaps that's because I have so little music that was composed by women. Maybe Hildegard Von Bingen's music is effeminate?

[chopiabin]

How can music have gender qualities? Assigning gender to inanimate objects or concepts doesn't really make any sense. It just shows man trying to remake the world in his own image.

[stevie]

hmmmm

listening to the music of Alkan, it is quite obvious he was male. and had extremely large and hairy testicles.

but chopin....chopin is quite feminine, he may have been a hermaphrodite....

[prometheus]

How can music be either feminine or masculine?

[stevie]

maybe it cant in an absolute sense, but use adjectives that are associated with either masculinity or femininity...

then find music that fits those adjectives too...

physical strength is typically a male thing too, so loud showy virtuoso music is more masculine by nature id say...

[pabst]

How can music be either feminine or masculine?

well some music, of course not all, requires you to take part in it, or else it wouldn't stand by itself. And it is quite obvious, like certain parts of Liszt's HR 2, Sonata and Mephisto Waltz, exactly where the composer is trying to mimic a certain feminine situation-condition. But I am pretty sure this isn't what you asked.

[prometheus]

Music that doesn't stand by itself? You mean bad music? I don't really consider those Liszt pieces bad music.

Let me get this right; so rock music is for males while classical music is for females?

[pabst]

im talking about music that isn't absolutely abstract. If u can't understand this argument, the conversation is over.

[stevie]

hmmm, well come to think of it, wild jagd perfectly expresses a woman on her period.

[pabst]

hahaha RICH

[musicsdarkangel]

I don't understand the question,


but i'll say this,

I think that women are much better at performing Mozart, while men are better at Beethoven.

[rc]

On a tangent:

I don't know how many folks here are into literature, but you can tell the difference between a female or a male author (besides looking at the cover). When I'm reading through a book of short stories, I can usually tell without looking whether the author was male or female. When I'm reading a story by a male, It's more interesting and makes more sense to me as a male. Female authors, not always so. I still enjoy the story, but I don't always feel like I 'got it' by the end. One in particular completely baffled me throughout, by the end I didn't know what the hell just happened, sure enough the author was female.

You can see this reflected in book recommendation lists. People tend to prefer books by their own gender.

Movies are an obvious example, often there's no question whether a movie is meant for men or women.

Music's the same. The problem with classical is it's almost entirely composed by men, I'm not familiar with any classical composed by a lady.

[frederic]

I don't understand the question,


but i'll say this,

I think that women are much better at performing Mozart, while men are better at Beethoven.

sorry folks. what i meant was, are there pieces that you tend to relate to a female performer rather than a male and vice versa. and your reasons.

Sorry for not elaborating earlier. It just sort of sprang to my mind quicky.

So yes, musicsdarkangel, you are on the right track.

But through my careless questioning, i do find it interesting how some attempted to interpret my question. Maybe it's asking whether you can tell a piece is written by a male or female, like how rc rightly compares with literature and film.
Another view is whether certain pieces of music have gender qualities, though that, i think, is weaker.

[apion]

Beethoven and Brahms piano works strike me as being quite "masculine".