The Ideal World of Mr Widder's Soiree Musicale: Social Identity and Musical Life in Nineteenth-Century Ontario (review)

This study explores the expression of class and gender in elite Toronto society from the narrow perspective of one musical evening hosted by Mrs Widder in 1844. Mrs Widder was the wife of Frederick Widder, commissioner of the Canada Land Company. Although their social credentials were impeccable, the efforts of the Canada Land Company to acquire the Clergy Reserves had placed Mr Widder at odds with Bishop Strachan, and he was thus precariously situated in relation to a number of the conservative Tory elite of Toronto. As we learn from this meticulously researched examination of their Soirée Musicale, however, such an evening would allow the elite to focus on the music and to set political considerations aside. What the Soirée Musicale could not overcome, however, were the restrictions of class and gender.

While the Soirée Musicale brought together professional musicians and amateurs who performed together, the carefully crafted program with its variety of music and changes in tempo to keep the audience alert was also attentive to Victorian gender and class norms. These are explored in greater depth in the chapters that follow a close analysis of the program itself and those who performed it. Gentlemen of high social class were not 'allowed' to be professional singers as that would detract from the seriousness of their masculine role. But those who enjoyed singing could perform glees, which – because they were less technically challenging – would not be perceived as taking time away from their other responsibilities. In Britain, glee clubs for gentlemen combined serious drinking with recreational singing. Professional musicians were first and foremost male, and although they had much contact with the elite, would never be considered of the same class. The musical accomplishment of middle- and upper-class women was regarded as a reflection of their leisure status and was limited to the domestic sphere. The Lady Amateur, regardless of her talent, could not become professional without a complete loss of social status. The story of Mary Jane Hagerman, later the wife of John Beverley Robinson, is a case in point. Although clearly a singer of great talent with a desire to perform publicly, the social censure that met her one attempt to do so led her to withdraw into the role of the well-regarded Lady Amateur, albeit with some public performances for charity functions.

This text is a tribute to the advantages of interdisciplinary training. The author uses her knowledge of both musicology and social history to breathe life into a surviving artifact, a musical program from 1844. Her analysis takes us from looking at a program to imagining a musical evening and in the process sheds light on the political and social world of the same Toronto elite studied earlier by Katherine McKenna. Although narrow in focus, this book should appeal to those with an interest in the social history of Ontario and to those with a particular interest in nineteenth-century musical performance.