COMPOSING BIOGRAPHIES OF FOUR AUSTRALIAN WOMEN: FEMINISM, MOTHERHOOD AND MUSIC Jillian Graham (BMus, MMus) Thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy February 2009 Faculty of Music The University of Melbourne This thesis is dedicated with love to my children and to my mother Olivier and Freya Miller Pamela Graham ii ABSTRACT This thesis examines the impact of gender, feminism and motherhood on the careers of four Australian composers: Margaret Sutherland (1897–1984), Ann Carr-Boyd (b. 1938), Elena Kats-Chernin (b. 1957) and Katy Abbott (b. 1971). Aspects of the biographies of each of these women are explored, and I situate their narratives within the cultural and musical contexts of their eras, in order to achieve heightened understanding of the ideologies and external influences that have contributed to their choices and experiences. Methodologies derived from feminist biography and oral history/ethnography underpin this study. Theorists who inform this work include Marcia Citron, Daphne de Marneffe, Sherna Gluck, Carolyn Heilbrun, Anne Manne, Ann Oakley, Alessandro Portelli, Adrienne Rich and Robert Stake, along with many others. The demands traditionally placed on women through motherhood and domesticity have led to a lack of time and creative space being available to develop their careers. Thus they have faced significant challenges in gaining public recognition as serious composers. There is a need for biographical analysis of these women’s lives, in order to consider their experiences and the encumbrances they have faced through attempting to combine their creative and mothering roles. Previous scholarship has concentrated more on their compositions than on the women who created them, and the impact of private lives on public lives has not been considered worthy of consideration. Three broad themes are investigated. First, the ways in which each composer’s family background, upbringing and education have impacted on their decision to enter the traditionally male field of composition are explored. The positive influence from family and other mentors, and opportunities for a sound musical education, are factors particularly necessary for aspiring female composers. I argue that all four women have benefited from upbringings in families where education and artistic endeavour have been valued highly. iii The second theme concerns the extent to which the feminist movement has influenced the women’s lives as composers and mothers, and the levels of frustration, and/or satisfaction or pleasure each has felt in blending motherhood with composition. I contend that all four composers have led feminist lives in the sense that they have exercised agency and a sense of entitlement in choices regarding their domestic and work lives. The three living composers have reaped the benefits of second-wave feminism, but have eschewed complete engagement with its agenda, especially its repudiation of motherhood. They can more readily be identified with the currently- evolving third wave of feminism, which advocates women’s freedom to choose how to balance the equally-valued roles of motherhood and the public world of work. I assert that Sutherland was a third-wave prototype, a position that was atypical of her era. The third and final theme comprises an investigation of the ways in which historical and enduring negative attitudes towards women as musical creators have played out in the musical careers in these composers. It is contested that Sutherland experienced greater challenges than her successors in the areas of dissemination, composition for larger forces, and critical reception, but appears to have been more comfortable in promoting her work. The exploration of their careers demonstrates that all four of these creative mothers are well-respected and recognised composers. They are ‘third-wave’ women who have considerably enriched Australia’s musical landscape. iv DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY (i) The thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD. (ii) Due acknowledgment has been made in the text to all other material used. (iii) The thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of bibliography and appendices. SIGNATURE__________________________________________________________ NAME IN FULL________________________________________________________ DATE_________________________________________________________________ v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you especially to my two supervisors, Dr Fay Anderson and Dr Linda Kouvaras, for their invaluable insights and assistance, their ability to strike an excellent balance between intellectual rigour and positive reinforcement, and their generosity with time. I am also grateful to Associate Professor Kerry Murphy for her encouragement and advocacy during the initial stages of my postgraduate study. Meredith Lawn, Music Archivist at the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, was efficient in her assistance with access to and information about the Carr- Boyd papers. Tony Bunney, Margaret Sutherland’s grandson and custodian of her estate, was helpful in providing me with material from Sutherland’s papers. A number of people kindly gave their time to be interviewed about Sutherland: Pamela Bloom, Jane Bunney, Valerie Cohen, Madeline Crump, Helen Gifford, Mary Merewether, Stuart Rosewarne, Margaret Schofield, Elizabeth van Rompaey and Maureen White. I thank Nancy Calo sincerely for her constant inspiration, and for taking time from her busy life to proof-read the thesis. I am grateful also to those other friends and family who were unstintingly supportive during my candidature. Finally, my greatest appreciation goes to the Australian composers who are the focus of this thesis. I am grateful to the late Dr Margaret Sutherland, OBE, AO, for her rich legacy of written autobiographical material. I thank Ann Carr-Boyd, Elena Kats- Chernin and Dr Katy Abbott, who have freely and willingly bestowed their time to discuss aspects of their lives and experiences with me, and have shown extraordinary patience and promptness in answering my subsequent regular questions. I have the deepest respect and admiration for all four women. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE i DEDICATION ii ABSTRACT iii DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vi TABLE OF CONTENTS vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xii CHAPTER ONE Introduction 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 The Composers 2 1.3 Central Argument, Focus, and Themes/Questions of Thesis 10 1.4 Relevance and Importance of Thesis 14 1.5 Theoretical Paradigms and Methodologies 15 1.5.1 Feminist Biography 15 1.5.1.1 Theoretical Basis 15 1.5.1.2 Specific Feminist Biographical Methodology Adopted in this Study 19 1.5.2 Women’s Oral History/Ethnography 20 1.5.2.1 Theoretical Basis 20 1.5.2.2 Ethical Considerations 23 1.5.2.3 Specific Oral History/Ethnographic Methodology Adopted in this Study 24 1.5.2.4 Interview Method/Structure/Questions 25 1.6 Relevant Secondary Sources 27 1.6.1 Secondary Sources for Theoretical Paradigms and Methodologies 27 1.6.1.1 New Musicology/Feminist Musicology 27 1.6.1.2 Feminist Biography 29 1.6.1.3 Auto/Biographies of Creative Women 31 1.6.1.4 Oral History/Ethnography 32 1.6.2 Secondary Sources Used in this Thesis 35 1.6.2.1 Cultural History: Feminism and the Family in Australia 35 1.6.2.2 Commentaries on the Situation of Women Composers in Australia 36 1.6.2.3 Feminist Perceptions of Motherhood 38 1.6.2.4 Historical Notions of Women’s Creativity 41 1.7 Chapter Outlines 43 vii PART ONE: FOUNDATIONS CHAPTER TWO Case Studies Early Lives, Education, Expectations 2.1 Introduction 46 2.2 Aspects of the History of Women Composers in Australia 46 2.3 Margaret Sutherland (1897–1984) 48 2.3.1 Born into an Intellectual Family 48 2.3.2 Sutherland’s Parents and the Early ‘Gala’ Days in Adelaide 49 2.3.3 The Creative and Intellectual Influences of Family Life in Melbourne 51 2.3.4 Education, Wider Influences and the Beginnings of Adversity 54 2.3.5 Expanding Horizons: To Europe to Study 60 2.3.6 Return to Australia: An “Uphill Journey” 64 2.3.7 Summary 66 2.4 Ann Carr Boyd (b. 1938) 67 2.4.1 The Third Generation of Professional Musicians 67 2.4.2 Scholarships and Education in Australia 71 2.4.3 Further Study Overseas 75 2.4.4 Summary 77 2.5 Elena Kats-Chernin (b. 1957) 78 2.5.1 Daughter Among the Russian Intelligentsia 78 2.5.2 Education for a Musically-Gifted Child 80 2.5.3 To Australia and Further Musical Education 83 2.5.4 German Experiences 86 2.5.5 Summary 88 2.6 Katy Abbott (b. 1971) 90 2.6.1 Early Years: The Musical One in the Family 90 2.6.2 From Secondary School to Music: The Transitional Years 92 2.6.3 The Emergence of Musical Creativity 93 2.6.4 Summary 95 2.7 Conclusions 96 PART TWO: FEMINIST POSITIONS CHAPTER THREE Feminism and Motherhood: Second Wave and Beyond 3.1 Introduction 98 3.2 Twentieth-Century Ideologies of Motherhood 100 3.3 The First Act: Second-Wave Feminism and Repudiation 104 3.4 The Second Act: Recuperation 108 3.5 The Third Act: Towards Third-Wave Feminism 111 3.5.1 Creative Mothers: Income, Time and Space 117 3.6 Conceiving Third-Wave Feminism 120 viii CHAPTER FOUR Case Studies Composing and Mothering: Margaret Sutherland as Third-Wave Precedent 4.1 Introduction 122 4.2 Links with Feminism 122 4.3 Motherhood and Composition: Choices, Expectations, Realities 128 4.4 Summary 131 CHAPTER FIVE Case Studies Composing and Mothering: A Feminist Choice? 5.1 Introduction 133 5.2 Relationships with Feminism 133 5.2.1 Ann Carr-Boyd 133 5.2.2 Elena-Kats-Chernin 137 5.2.3 Katy Abbott 139 5.3