Photo: © Dean Carruthers 2012
Dr Nancy November, an Associate Professor at the Auckland University School of Music, has been awarded a $623,000 grant from the prestigious Marsden Fund (Te Pūtea Rangahau a Marsden).
Her research explores what Beethoven called the ‘fruitful age of translations’ – the 19th century fashion for scaled-down versions of large-scale compositions, which were performed at home, and often by women.
“It was rare and expensive to be able to go to a symphony performance,” says Dr November. “If you wanted to make music and you were a woman, you rarely made it to the stage - you almost never played in an orchestra, or in a string quartet.”
Clarissa Dunn caught up with Nancy November recently to find out more about her research, and what it might be able to tell us about the lives of 19th century women.
