Race and gender have emerged most powerfully in my writing this semester. I now think of Paris as a kind of “promised land” for people of color in the 1920s. As we see with Ada “Bricktop” Smith, African Americans (even African American women) were able to live autonomously and have control over their own finances. Paris offered black Americanness a social currency that allowed access to artistic communities and creative spaces. Paris offered everything that America couldn’t- success, power, and respect. However, Josephine Baker points out the cost of this power, as black bodies were often dehumanized and only popular because of their “savagery.”
I really enjoyed reading about the influential female figures in the 1920s Parisian music scene. It was amazing how everything seemed to be connected- I had no idea Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge started the precursor to the Tanglewood Festival, that she funded Barber’s Hermit Songs (which I have sang in my voice lessons), or even that she helped Aaron Copland create Appalachian Spring. On the one hand, it makes me really frustrated and sad that not very many people know about this amazing woman- she helped some of the best American music ever composed come to fruition. On the other hand, how incredible is it that women not just men like I thought before this class, helped create this amazing music.
The treatment of Germaine Tailleferre bothered me the most. Am I that surprised by it? No, but it made me so frustrated that critics always seemed to take her gender, beauty, and physical appearance, into account before her music. She was a female composer, not a composer. She was also incredibly confined by Parlor music while her male counterparts were able to have their pieces performed in the big music halls. I think Tailleferre goes to show how much women can accomplish even in the face of sexism.
Overall, this class was extremely helpful in understanding the connections between a generation of highly influential composers, musicians, and patrons. Making all of these connections, and understanding their impact, will help myself become a better musician and composer.