Women and the music profession in Victorian England: The Royal Society of Female Musicians, 1839–1866

Abstract

In the early nineteenth century new social, educational, and professional opportunities made it possible for women musicians to achieve levels of financial success and professional status which they could not attain in any other occupation. At the same time they continued to face obstacles such as their exclusion from all‐male professional organizations like the Royal Society of Musicians, a benefit society for musicians experiencing financial hardship. By the late 1830s the first generation of female students at the Royal Academy of Music were entering the London musical scene just as stories of destitution among once‐famous women singers and debates over women's role and rights were particularly acute and well‐publicized. These circumstances led the singer Elizabeth Masson, who had tried unsuccessfully to gain admittance to the all‐male RSM, to found a comparable society for women. Founded in 1839, the Royal Society of Female Musicians included many of the leading female musicians of the time. For the next twenty‐five years, the RSFM was extraordinarily successful in amassing funds from individual contributions and from the proceeds of its annual benefit concerts. By 1866 the financial strength of the organization was sufficient to break down the barriers to membership in the RSM, and the two societies merged. From that time women could join the RSM, although they were not allowed participate in the governance or administration of the society. The story sheds light on the careers of these women musicians, as well as on the complexities inherent in the lives, work, and values of professional women in Victorian England.