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sai-national.org • Winter 2024 13 Music Histy You see, at the time it was a woman's goal in life to marry. This was referred to as "well settled." She would be taken care of and have as her work creating a lovely home for her husband. Once married, it was her duty to produce children and caring for them would become her occupation. Now let's go to our first musical selection in the social soundtrack. It is Edward Holst's The New Woman March. Composed in 1895, it signaled a new status for women. This status was particularly true for women who inherited money. They were often able to live on their own and did not need to marry. This female was known in the popular press as The New Woman. Notice that a man composed this march. That does not mean that women weren't composers of band music. It is possible that women wrote under pen names or, like Nannerl Mozart and Fanny Mendelssohn, they got published under their brothers' names. Do you see the parallel to the Bronte sisters? Edward Holst was Danish. He was a play-write and actor, but is known for his compositions for bands. His publisher was Carl Fischer, at that time (1895) an all-important publisher of band music. What does this mean for us? It is a march that they thought would sell. While it might be artistic, they were looking at marches as a commodity. Much has been written regarding what Mark Twain called "The Gilded Age." Mrs. Astor and her 400 of New York's society elite had held sway for quite some time, but magazines in both Britain and the United States were now abuzz with articles about The New Woman. The 1890s were a time of change. We can follow women trying to find their place, be it nursing, writing, or business, but unless she were that independent New Woman, she still needed to marry. Social norms would dictate throughout the 19 th century that it was a young girl's sole pursuit to find a man. The idea of marrying for love was relatively new. On occasion the daughter of a family might be pressured into marrying an older man quite literally for his money. Perhaps her father had died or his business had failed. These two ideas are set down in a piece of music with lyrics by Arthur J. Lamb and music by Harry von Tilzer. Lamb and von Tilzer were both important names in American popular music. They described a woman's situation in their song A Bird In A Gilded Cage: The ballroom was fill'd with fashion's throng, It shone with a thousand lights, And there was a woman who passed along, The fairest of all the sights; A girl to her lover then softly sighed, "There's riches at her command," "But she married for wealth, not for love," he cried, "Tho she lives in a mansion grand." Refrain: She's only a bird in a gilded cage, A beautiful sight to see, You may think she's happy and free from care, She's not tho' she seems to be, 'Tis sad when you think of her wasted life, For youth cannot mate with age, And her beauty was sold for an old man's gold, She's a bird in a gilded cage. NEW WOMAN continued on page 22 Library of Congress, Music Division Library of Congress, Music Division

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