The Musician´s Estate as Memory Storage

In the 19th century, with the somewhat belated recognition of the worthiness of history and biography of famous musicians and composers, care for their estates and legacies became more relevant. Fuelled by that, a constantly increasing amount of relevant writing both scholarly and non-scholarly produced in close connection to the then-flourishing set of bourgeois ideals and normative values, affected conceptions of nearly exclusively male-connotated creative genius. This implicitly leads to a distinct image of professional creative musicianship that has dominated the respective discourse, not only in public, but amongst specialists as well. Also, a specific group identity has been created, along with a permanentpresencewithin what Aleida Assmann calls functional memory (Funktionsgedächtnis), influencing musical canon. In contrast, female creatives initially usually only attained a place within more passive stored memory (Speichergedächtnis) provided their respective estates and legacies were considered worth of preservation, which is to be regarded as the crucial preliminary stage of tradition. In their individual composition, these estates may help understanding what was important to their former owner, being collections, but at the same time materialised re- collections as well, following the current scholarly agreement that memories are essential to the formation of the notion of a (professional) Self. Thus, by drawing on the women musicians and composers increasing (self-)perception as history-worthy from mid-19th century to present, a gradual development of a specific functional memory of female musical professionalism leads to enforced preservation of their estates and the production of autobiographical accounts to serve as memory storage in a reciprocate way. An interaction is created with impact also on the discourse and evaluation of female creativity within expert music critics and public discourse, influencing both individual and collective memory. In order to investigate this connection, the estates and/or legacies of six female musicians and composers from mid-19th century to near present are examined and mutually compared for their specific structure and preservation status generally. Also, more specifically, their respective autobiographical writings (understood as a part of their consciously traded legacy, while keeping in mind that autobiographical memory itself depends on socially and culturally constructed narratives) are analysed: Luise Adolpha Le Beau, Ethel Smyth, Mary Dickenson-Auner, Elly Ney, Grete von Zieritz and her daughter, Hedi Gigler-Dongas, hence covering the generational range of long 19th century to postmodernity in Great Britain, Germany and Austria and also promising concrete insights in the specifics of said dynamics during Nazi time.

Based on the legacies of selected female musicians and composers, the research project examined the conditions and implications for the performative development of a specific functional memory (A. Assmann) of women's musical professionalism, following the men's model. Six case studies - Luise Adolpha Le Beau, Ethel Smyth, Mary Dickenson-Auner, Elly Ney, Grete von Zieritz and her daughter, Hedi Gigler-Dongas - provided relevant insights, covering the generational range of long 19th century to postmodernity in Austria, Germany and Great Britain. The rich personal archive of the violinist and violin pedagogue Gigler-Dongas, who died in 2017, was assessed for the first time, and - both individually and from a family perspective, in tandem with Zieritz - formed one of the project's essential pillars. Also, life writings such as letters and diaries have been confirmed as highly significant sources for the issue at hand, such as those pertinent to Smyth, who generally served as an essential reference point among the chosen examples. In analysing the extensive materials, the project focused centrally on the reciprocal effects of the gradual change in question, which manifests itself at the individual level i.a. in the shape of a professionally driven awareness of legacy. The interconnections of this change with questions of the archive(s), music historiography, and the canon, as well as implicitly gendered value judgements, which continue to resonate in professional and public discourse today, are examined in a series of scholarly events, lectures, and publications. Thus, the project also contributes to a better understanding of cultural processes deeply rooted in society. At the level of the individual case studies, the common characteristics identified between the selected musicians overall tend to be reflected less in shared networks than in recurring strategies and patterns of self(re)presentation, such as established topoi of autobiographical writing, or through the creation of professional personas. Respective traces can be found in written, visual, as well as material form. In the examples of Le Beau and Gigler-Dongas, which are the chronologically most distant, it was possible to show how the estate's material level is interwoven with the estate giver's self-representation in her outwardly directed autobiographical writings. Beyond a merely memory-supporting purpose, these interlockings can provide a) tangible evidence of the records' trustworthiness, and b) may serve as a medium for conveying a specific message and communicating a professional self-image to contemporaries and future generations that is based on personal experience. Moreover, the research shows that comparing the scope for action, networks, and strategic positioning during the two World Wars, but especially during the Nazi regime and its aftermath, is a particularly fruitful approach, which will be further explored by relating the findings to those concerning male artists active during the same periods.