Musical Salons of the Enlightenment: Platforms for Women’s Musical Agency

Abstract: Musical institutions changed dramatically in eighteenth-century Europe, as well as in the British colonies and the early United States. With increased social fluidity came the widespread emergence of amateur music lessons, public concerts by professional musicians, musical encyclopedias, and journals featuring musical scholarship and criticism. While most of these institutions persist today, others have waned, and, as a result, their roles in eighteenth-century society and musical life are little understood. One among these is the musical salon—a regular gathering of artists, intellectuals, professional and amateur musicians, and listeners, usually presided over by a woman who acted as hostess, or salonnière, who was often also a musician herself. This essay considers three women who hosted salons with music at their center: Anne-Louise Boyvin d’Hardancourt Brillon de Jouy (1744–1824) in Paris, Marianna Martines (1744–1812) in Vienna, and Sara Levy (1761–1854) in Berlin. These cases show how individual salons reflected the artistic and social priorities of the women at their center. Through their musical salons, these three women found space for their own creativity and had profound impacts on the musical culture of the late eighteenth century. 

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