„Die Frau und das Cembalo“?

Stereotypisierungen, Selbstentwürfe und Strategien von Musikerinnen im 20. Jahrhundert

Abstract

At first glance, the harpsichord may not appear as a medium of new music in the twentieth century. However, this is precisely the approach taken by the two musicians at the centre of this article: harpsichordists Sylvia Marlowe (USA, 1908–1981) and Antoinette Vischer (Switzerland, 1909–1973). The significant similarities but also differences of their careers and repertoires justify a joint biographical approach. Marlowe was born into a middle-class Brooklyn family, Vischer’s parents were part of Basel’s upper class. Both began with playing the piano; both switched to the harpsichord in the 1930s; both conceptualized it as an instrument for the music of their times; both committed themselves to creating a new harpsichord repertoire. In this article, I compare and contrast Marlowe and Vischer on the basis of extensive primary source material preserved (hitherto largely untouched) in archives in New York and Basel. Looking at their lives and their repertoire, I demonstrate the impact of intersecting dimensions such as gender and class on their artistry, and show how they constructed self-images and confronted external ascriptions. In particular, I draw on scholarship of gendered associations of instruments (e. g., Hoffmann 1991) and on musical career trajectories by women (e. g., Fauser 2006). Thus, this study of these two harpsichordists allows us not only to appreciate the general tensions between conservative and progressive gender concepts of their time, but also to specify this perspective in relation to their respective sociocultural environments.