Gender and musical performance in mid-nineteenth-century France: the case of Juliette Godillon and the femme d’esprit

摘要

Musical performance occupied a central place in nineteenth-century French society. Music acted as a poetic and political medium. The mid-nineteenth-century piano virtuoso Juliette Godillon conducted a sophisticated political argument about the role of technology, the problems of urbanization and the nature of religion through her live performances, unveiling a carefully constructed ‘spectacle’ of sound and sight. This article critically examines Godillon's practice of performance, her contribution to contemporary debates about the proper nature of musical art through her journal articles and her innovative and hitherto neglected contribution to the transformative nature of music.