Louise Farrenc and Nineteenth-Century French Feminist Musical Praxis

Abstract Louise Farrenc’s Nonet, which features an allusion to Beethoven’s Third Symphony, premiered to positive reviews in 1850. Around the same time, Farrenc successfully petitioned for her salary as a piano professor at the Paris Conservatoire to match that of her male colleagues. Indeed, much of Farrenc’s career involved subtly challenging the gender norms and social boundaries of nineteenth-century France. In this article, I examine Farrenc’s career in terms of nineteenth-century French feminist praxis. I analyse Farrenc’s sociohistorical context to demonstrate how she played by and subverted gender norms, and examine her Conservatoire students’ careers to illustrate her support of female students, providing them with instruction and performance opportunities. Finally, I read Farrenc’s Nonet as a musical challenge to normative gender roles, a nod to the declining popularity of her colleague and rival Henri Herz, and a response to the 1848 Revolution.