Feminine Endings

Feminine Endings

Music, Gender, and Sexuality

Susan McClary
Table of Contents

$20.00 Paper
ISBN: 0-8166-4189-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-4189-5

A new edition of a classic work that revolutionized its field.

When it was originally published in 1991, Feminine Endings was immediately controversial for its unprecedented intermingling of cultural criticism and musical studies, an approach that came to be called "the New Musicology." Through case studies of works ranging from the canonical-operas by Monteverdi and Bizet-to the contemporary—the performance art of Diamanda Galás and popular songs by Madonna-Susan McClary focuses on the ways music produces images of gender, desire, pleasure, and the body, and explores the gender-based metaphors that circulate in discourse about music. The now classic work features a new introduction that discusses the critical reception it received and the debates it has inspired.

"A major book. McClary's achievement borders on the miraculous." —Village Voice

"McClary writes with a racy, vigorous, and consistently entertaining style. What she has to say specifically about the music and the text is sharp, accurate, and telling; she hears what takes place musically with unusual sensitivity." —New York Review of Books

"Feminine Endings, a provocative 'sexual politics' of Western classical or art music, rocks conservative musicology at its core. No review can do justice to the wealth of ideas and possibilities McClary's book presents. All music-lovers should read it, and cheer." —Women's Review of Books

“Music lovers who want to understand sexism in the classical-music biz will want this immediately.” —Los Angeles Reader

“McClary is one of the nation’s leading feminist musicologists. Feminine Endings is both substantial and provocative.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“An innovative volume of feminist music criticism, with topics that range from symphonies to Madonna.” —Feminist Bookstore News

Susan McClary, professor of musicology at the University of California, Los Angeles, specializes in the cultural criticism of music, both the European canon and contemporary popular genres. Her most recent book is Conventional Wisdom: The Content of Musical Form (2000).

240 pages | 3 halftones, 25 pieces of music | 5 7/8 x 9 | 2002

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements
Feminine Endings In Retrospect

1. Introduction: A Material Girl in Bluebeard’s Castle
2. Constructions of Gender in Monteverdi’s Dramatic Music
3. Sexual Politics n Classical Music
4. Excess and Frame: The Musical Representation of Madwomen
5. Getting Down Off the Beanstalk: The Presence of a Woman’s Voice in Janika Vandervelde’s Genesis II
6. This Is Not a Story My People Tell: Musical Time and Space According to Laurie Anderson
7. Living to Tell: Madonna’s Resurrection of the Fleshly

Notes
Index



Feminine Endings *Music, Gender, and Sexuality* Susan McClary Table of Contents		$20.00 Paper ISBN: 0-8166-4189-7 ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-4189-5
A new edition of a classic work that revolutionized its field. When it was originally published in 1991, Feminine Endings was immediately controversial for its unprecedented intermingling of cultural criticism and musical studies, an approach that came to be called "the New Musicology." Through case studies of works ranging from the canonical-operas by Monteverdi and Bizet-to the contemporary—the performance art of Diamanda Galás and popular songs by Madonna-Susan McClary focuses on the ways music produces images of gender, desire, pleasure, and the body, and explores the gender-based metaphors that circulate in discourse about music. The now classic work features a new introduction that discusses the critical reception it received and the debates it has inspired. "A major book. McClary's achievement borders on the miraculous." —Village Voice "McClary writes with a racy, vigorous, and consistently entertaining style. What she has to say specifically about the music and the text is sharp, accurate, and telling; she hears what takes place musically with unusual sensitivity." —New York Review of Books "Feminine Endings, a provocative 'sexual politics' of Western classical or art music, rocks conservative musicology at its core. No review can do justice to the wealth of ideas and possibilities McClary's book presents. All music-lovers should read it, and cheer." —Women's Review of Books “Music lovers who want to understand sexism in the classical-music biz will want this immediately.” —Los Angeles Reader “McClary is one of the nation’s leading feminist musicologists. Feminine Endings is both substantial and provocative.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch “An innovative volume of feminist music criticism, with topics that range from symphonies to Madonna.” —Feminist Bookstore News Susan McClary, professor of musicology at the University of California, Los Angeles, specializes in the cultural criticism of music, both the European canon and contemporary popular genres. Her most recent book is Conventional Wisdom: The Content of Musical Form (2000). 240 pages \| 3 halftones, 25 pieces of music \| 5 7/8 x 9 \| 2002 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements Feminine Endings In Retrospect 1. Introduction: A Material Girl in Bluebeard’s Castle 2. Constructions of Gender in Monteverdi’s Dramatic Music 3. Sexual Politics n Classical Music 4. Excess and Frame: The Musical Representation of Madwomen 5. Getting Down Off the Beanstalk: The Presence of a Woman’s Voice in Janika Vandervelde’s Genesis II 6. This Is Not a Story My People Tell: Musical Time and Space According to Laurie Anderson 7. Living to Tell: Madonna’s Resurrection of the Fleshly Notes Index