What Does "Respectable" Mean?: Considering the Changing Ideas on Women in Music and Society in the Case of Amy Beach

Abstract

This thesis examines how late-nineteenth century American composer Amy Beach made a career for herself and how her career arguably serves as an embodiment of the changing ideologies surrounding women and “respectability” at the turn of the twentieth century, particularly in regard to the concept of gender roles and the binary of the public sphere versus the private sphere. To accomplish this, this thesis will examine relevant context to the aforementioned ideas and concepts in three separate periods within the life of Amy Beach: her early years, her life after marriage, and her later years. This thesis will also analyze what ideologies and figures were the most impactful on her with the purpose of better understanding the influence of external figures and factors on the careers of women in music.