Explores the world of women's professional and amateur musical activity as it developed on and beyond the island of Ireland. In a story which spans several centuries, the book highlights representative composers and performers in classical music, Irish traditional music, and contemporary art music whose contributions have been marginalised in music narratives. As well as investigating the careers of public figures, this edited collection brings attention to women who engaged with and taught music in a variety of domestic settings. It also shines a spotlight on women who worked behind the scenes to build infrastructures such as festivals and educational institutions which remain at the heart of the country's musical life today. The book addresses and reconsiders ideas about the intersections of music, gender, and Irish society, including how the national emblem of the harp became recast as a symbol of Irish womanhood in the twentieth century. The book is divided into four parts. Part 1 surveys women musicians in Irish society of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Part 2 discusses women and practice in Irish traditional music. Part 3 studies gaps and gender politics in the history of twentieth-century women composers and performers. Part 4 situates discourses of women, gender, and music in the twenty-first century. The book's contributors encompass musicologists, cultural historians, composers, and performers.

About the Author
Dr Laura Watson is Associate Professor of Music at Maynooth University. She is the author of Paul Dukas: Composer and Critic (2019), co-editor of Paul Dukas: Legacies of a French Musician (Abingdon: 2019), and one of the founding members of the Sounding the Feminists Working Group. Dr Ita Beausang is a music graduate of University College Cork and emeritus lecturer at TU Dublin. Dr Jennifer O'Connor-Madsen works in Arts management. She holds a BA (Hons), an MA and a PhD in musicology from Maynooth University. Dr Laura Watson is Associate Professor of Music at Maynooth University. She is the author of Paul Dukas: Composer and Critic (2019), co-editor of Paul Dukas: Legacies of a French Musician (Abingdon: 2019), and one of the founding members of the Sounding the Feminists Working Group. Dr Jennifer O'Connor-Madsen works in Arts management. She holds a BA (Hons), an MA and a PhD in musicology from Maynooth University. Dr Ita Beausang is a music graduate of University College Cork and emeritus lecturer at TU Dublin.


Book Information
ISBN 9781783277551
Author Laura Watson
Format Hardback
Page Count 270
Imprint The Boydell Press
Publisher Boydell & Brewer Ltd