Music Theory for the “Weaker Sex”: Oliveria Prescott’s Columns forThe Girl’s Own Paper

Abstract

In this article, I examine a cluster of music theory essays by Oliveria Louisa Prescott (1842–1917), which were published between 1886 and 1891 in The Girl’s Own Paper (TGOP), the most popular periodical for young women in Victorian England. Although little known today, Prescott sustained a vibrant musical career in London as a composer and teacher, and her articles on music theory regularly appeared in major periodicals such as The Musical World and TGOP. Prescott’s work for TGOP presents a rare opportunity to explore music theory that was not just written by a woman, but also intended for a genteel female audience in the Victorian era. Her articles include explanations of fundamental theoretical subjects (cadences, basic harmonic progressions) as well as short analyses of solo piano works by Beethoven and Mendelssohn. But these articles are also noteworthy for their discussions of more advanced theoretical topics (such as chromatic harmony), concepts that might seem surprising for a popular periodical for young ladies. Mainstream journalism is often devalued as a “less serious” form of intellectual discourse, but Prescott’s work complicates stereotypes of ignorant amateur female musicians and the so-called “private” sphere, and it demonstrates how print journalism could serve as a vital public platform for the circulation of music theory among young British women in the Victorian era.

Public Music Theory’s Neoliberal Learning Outcomes

“…Recent years have seen a growing interest among U.S. professional music theorists in scholarly engagement with the public, activity that generally falls under the rubric of "public music theory" (PMT). Examples are wide-ranging, including publications in journalistic outlets (Barna 2020;White 2020), explorations of historical examples of PMT (Lumsden 2020;Jenkins 2017aJenkins , 2020, and an evaluation of online music analytical thinkpieces (O'Hara 2018). (1) In addition, there are numerous suggestions on how to bring PMT activities into the classroom, such as writing program notes and newspaper articles (Belcher and Grant 2019), recording podcasts (Gomez-Peck and Teeple 2020), editing Wikipedia articles (Bourne 2017), and performing lecture recitals in local community centers (Peebles 2017;Stevens 2022).…”