Abstract
<p>Can music speak? What role does the body play in listening to music? These questions would have been dismissed as absurd 50 years ago; today they are highly relevant. In her study, Eva Rieger shows how the women's movement emerged in 1976 in its search for identity and history, and how women were defined within a bourgeois musical culture dominated by male interests: whether as evil madmen or representatives of love—from sonata form to contemporary film scores. In addition to describing feminist music research since 1976, the book includes chapters with film and opera analyses, on military music, and on the dissolution of gender roles. The study explores the power of one gender over the other; alongside justified criticism, the author offers insights into the current state of musical life and formulates proposals for the future.</p>