Musik in fremden Welten Reiseerfahrungen deutschsprachiger Frauen im 19. Jahrhundert
Music in Strange Worlds: Travel Experiences of German-Speaking Women in the 19th Century

Summary/Abstract: The subject of this paper are the impressions and judgements made by 19th century female travellers regarding music heard abroad and regarded as alien. There is a wellfounded rationale for this slightly untypical scholarly interest – although descriptions of music are rare in the literature, singing and playing an instrument were a part of girls’ education; therefore, literary critics would be inclined to accept accounts of this particular field. Moreover, public opinion did not only concede to female authors’ spontaneous and emotional judgements, but actually demanded a flair of irrationality as an ingredient of female characteristics. Cultural research may therefore have a promising new field ahead. It is striking that the sensation of alterity is not restricted to the experience of the exotic, but can occur the moment the traveller is confronted with music of another denomination or another European country. In the writings of Friederike Brun, Ida Hahn-Hahn or Louise Mühlbach, which are the main sources for this paper, we are faced with rather derogatory and highly individual judgements. Strange was not understood as unusual, which should be treated with caution and observation, but was seen as negative and tied to negative associations. Alternatively, or as a consequence, it could be regarded as backward. Since women were careful not to refer to academic sources, Louise Mühlbach fictionalized her knowledge of Egyptian instruments, professional female singers or song texts as drawn from experience, although it can be proven to have been acquired by reading. German female writers were eager to offer to the public the very spontaneous judgements and ‘unvarnished’ descriptions they expected. This resulted in blunders that were already heavily criticized by some scholars of the time and may sound embarrassing to us, but was – also – due to the generally prevailing gender-specific determinations.

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