Classical Music: A Duality of Masculine and Feminine
I have been reading through Christopher Small’s Musicking, and it has proved to be a masterpiece of critical thinking regarding classical music culture and life in general.
Classical music is often described as the traversal between moments of tension and peace. A competing yet complementary hypothesis put forth in this book is one of the relationships between masculine and feminine. As evidence, it is explained that in nearly all sonata-form works, the one theme is very masculine and the second theme is very feminine. After the introduction of these themes, the rest of the piece explores the relationships between these two contrasting themes.
Masculine music is generally described as rhythmic with strong use of functional harmony. When it comes to instrumentation, brass, drums, and other kinds of strong articulation create this feeling.
Feminine classical music tends to be more lyrical, slurred, elusive, dolce, and harmonically ambiguous.
At the end of the day, all instrumental music derives its meaning from the listener; without words to literally tell us what the music is about, we are free to choose our own meaning. When it comes to symphonic music, musicologists will look to opera to help assign masculine and feminine traits to themes. This makes sense, some hand waiving goes along with “this is the kind of theme assigned to a brute if this were an opera.”
We can apply these insights to is Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet overture. Loud, manly, aggressive themes can be heard, complete with timpani and cymbal crashes, to be followed by the most serene moments of lyrical winds supported by lush strings.
Masculine and Feminine in Programmatic Pastoral Music
One observation by this author regarding feminine music writing and music about serene nature. Beethoven and Aaron Copeland employ beautiful feminine lyric themes when depicting a countryside.
Take Beethoven’s Pastorale Symphony (Number 6). The intro is just so delightful.
Later on in the Pastorale Symphony, a sinister masculine theme sneaks in (29:30 timestamp on the above recording) as a storm. It’s from this harsh harassment that when the serene beauty returns, and we appreciate it more from having the contrast.
In Aaron Copeland’s very popular Rodeo, the Saturday Night Waltz is one of the most innocent and beautiful pieces of music ever written. The movement opens with strings playing open-fifths. This gives the idea of a rustic country band inviting dancers to the party.
This most gorgeous Saturday Night Waltz winds itself down gently to have the most famous Hoe-Down kick us in the teeth. It is loud, masculine, obvious, in our face, and telling us that he is here and running the show now. The drums and brass fanfare leave nothing to the imagination. Different individuals get a chance to show off as the melody gets passed through different instruments.
