Ballrooms, Ballgowns, and, err… not so many Balls

The performance of Verdi’s Nabucco at Herrenchiemsee last Saturday left a lot to be desired in the singers, but it definitely had notable virtues. For one, the orchestra repeatedly outshone the singers musically. The setting in the palace’s Hall of Mirrors was also quite an experience. Other such virtues included…   

• A strong, female protagonist in Abigail
• A very chic, charismatic woman conductor 
• A classy, sexy woman concertmistress with BARE SHOULDERS!
• A neatly put together, very feminine, woman offstage brass conductor.
• A whole host of lovely, feminine musicians in the orchestra in black, non-uniform formal wear that didn’t hide the fact that they had waists and hips and (gasp!) breasts. Ballgowns with huge skirts, dress suits and bare shoulders were de rigeur.

Way to own it, ladies!!!!

Women were by no means in the majority, but the experience interested me, because women have been pretty unsuccessful at (rumored to be excluded from?) winning jobs in orchestras in this part of the world. There’s also this interesting tidbit.*

Comparing to my experience in the US I wonder about our cultural demands on professional women musicians. For example, I can’t think of anywhere where bare shoulders are acceptable attire for a woman performing or auditioning. Occasionally it’s done with more avant garde concerts and casual settings, and soloists are the exception, seeing that they benefit from the diva archetype. Still, for the average musician the rule is to cover from neck to wrist to ankle…. and, oh ja, pantyhose too. Shoes are to be “sensible” and jewelry kept to a “tasteful” minimum. I won’t even get into the topic of breasticles in the public sphere.

But why? Uniform appearance, formal designations, not wanting to draw attention to individuals blagh blargity blagh … That doesn’t really cut it anymore, seeing as though I just saw a concert where the attire added to the experience. It’s just as easy to make black formal gowns a requirement as it is non-descript black. Even define the cut of the dress or the neckline if you must, it’s still just as easy. To some, uniforms may be that important, but women certainly wouldn’t be asked to wear a tux. You see, there’s this netherland between society’s sexualized objectivity of women, and it’s (and their!) insistence that they not become men.

Furthermore, it seems unfair that women are asked to remove every physical signifier of their sexual attractiveness from view when the rest of society demands exactly the opposite. I’m sure the “smart/serious girls are ugly; dumb/unambitious girls are pretty” stereotype plays into the professionalism of such a demand, but the rest of the world has managed to at the very least recognize it, even if it’s not dealt with.

So, this is my question: Why in America, where women are more present in orchestras is their sexuality, quite literally, under wraps? And why, here in Europe, where women are less present in orchestras, are women more free to embrace tokens of femininity?

Oh I get it. It’s difficult enough as it is to concentrate on the music when you realize that the person that shares your stand (just two feet away!) has breasts somewhere underneath that head to toe polyester. Imagine what would happen if there was a shadow of cleavage! Mayhem! Mayhem! Funny how it’s also disrespectful to men’s sense of self-control, no?

 

 

* To clarify, I don’t offer this example to pigeonhole present German culture in WWII or reify any synonymity between Germans and historical Nazism, but rather as one example of women’s complex role in in German’s musical history.