"Burney indicts Cecilia's vague quest to be mistress of her own time as naive and impossible Just as she does with the belief that music provides women with a reprieve from patriarchal politics." T H E POWER OF H E R VOICE Music and Patriarchal Politics in Frances Burney's Cecilia r M E G A N G R A N D M O N T S A I N T C E C I L I A I S , T O T H E C A T H O L I C C H U R C H , T H E P A T R O N S A I N T O F M U S I C . B U T T O F E M I N I S T M U S I C O L O G I S T S S U S A N C O O K A N D J U D Y T S O U , S H E I S I N S T E A D T H E " P A T R O N I Z E D " S A I N T O F M U - S I C , A S Y M B O L O F T H E L I M I T E D R O L E T O W H I C H W O M E N H A V E B E E N T R A D I T I O N A L L Y C O N F I N E D I N W E S T E R N M U S I C . I N H E R N O V E L CECILIA, H O W E V E R , F R A N C E S B U R N E Y W O R K S T O R E C L A I M T H E F I G U R E O F T H E F E M A L E M U S I C I A N F R O M T H E P E RI P H E R Y O F A R T I S T I C R E L E V A N C E . B U R N E Y ' S M U - S I C - L O V I N G P R O T A G O N I S T C E C I L I A S E R V E S A S A V E H I C L E T O E X P L O R E A N U M B E R O F E I G H T E E N T H - C E N T U R Y C O N C E R N S , M O S T N O T A B L Y E M E R G I N G C L A S S C O N F L I C T S A N D T H E T E N S I O N B E T W E E N A W O M A N ' S P E R S O N A L I N V E S T M E N T I N A R T A N D T H E M A L E , P U B L I C W O R L D T H A T D E V A L U E S T H A T A R T . B U R N E Y S I T U A T E S H E R H E R O I N E P A R A D O X I C A L L Y B O T H I N S I D E A N D A P A R T F R O M P A T R I A R - C H A L S O C I E T Y ; I T I S C E C I L I A ' S M U S I C T H A T A L L O W S H E R T O S T A N D O N T H E B R I N K , B U R N E Y C E R - T A I N L Y A C K N O W L E D G E S T H E W A Y S I N W H I C H M U S I C F U N C T I O N S A S A T O O L O F P A T R I A R C H Y , R E N - D E R I N G W O M E N S U B M I S S I V E . H O W E V E R , I N R E - V I S I O N I N G S A I N T C E C I L I A A S S I M P L Y C E C I L I A S H E A L S O Q U I E T L Y S U G G E S T S T H E P O S S I B I L I T Y O F C H A N G E , A S U G G E S T I O N T H A T H O L D S W E I G H T F O R F E M A L E A R T I S T S T O D A Y . Frances Burney's second novel Cecilia features a m u s i c a l hero ine , one whose n a m e i m m e d i a t e l y conjures images o f (and is arguably derived f r o m ) the early Chr i s t i an m a r t y r Cecilia, pa t ron saint o f mus ic . H o w Saint Cecilia came to be k n o w n as the p a t r o n saint o f m u s i c is somewhat baf- f l i n g , as she herse l f was no m u s i c i a n . H e r father wanted her to m a r r y a y o u n g m a n n a m e d Valerian, a n d arranged for an organ to be played at the i r w e d d i n g . Cecilia, how- ever, chose n o t to m a r r y Valerian. Instead she "sang i n her heart to God alone" as she was p u t to death. 1 I n the eigh- teenth and n ineteenth centuries, y o u n g w o m e n s tudying m u s i c were often ins t ructed to look to Saint Cecilia for i n - spirat ion. H e r portra i t , depic t ing her eyes upraised to heaven w h i l e she played a v i o l i n or an organ, h u n g over m a n y ladies' p ianofortes . 2 Femin i s t musicologists Susan Cook a n d Judy Tsou argue that Cecilia's p o s i t i o n as the p a t r o n saint o f m u s i c renders her a "stereotypical and patr iarchal" symbol . 3 They refer to her, rather, as the "patronized saint o f mus ic , l i m i t e d , by her sex, to a passive role o f idealized, even s w o o n i n g [or dened w i t h al l o f the t rad i t iona l associations o f the saint for w h o m she is n a m e d , such as modesty, chastity, piety, a n d a wi l l ingness to m a r t y r herself. Yet Burney has n o t s i m p l y t ransplanted the p a t r o n saint o f m u s i c i n t o her novel . Cecilia Beverley is an eighteenth-century w o m a n w i t h eighteenth-century concerns, some o f w h i c h are n o t ent ire ly cont inuous w i t h the legacy o f Saint Cecilia. For example, w h i l e b o t h stories are concerned w i t h correct fe- male behavior, Cecilia hinges s ignif icantly o n class con- flict, a d i m e n s i o n that is ent ire ly absent f r o m the story o f Saint Cecilia's l i fe . Burney uses the idea o f "Cecil ia ," angel o f mus ic , as a vehicle to explore contemporary ideas about w o m e n i n mus ic ; by t i t l i n g i t Cecilia, Burney signals th is as one o f her novel's m a j o r concerns. Th i s is n o t the usual reading o f the novel—Julia Epstein r i g h t f u l l y reads Cecilia as an explorat ion o f class tensions and the social break- d o w n that occurs as a result o f those tensions. But exam- i n i n g Cecilia t h r o u g h a mus ica l lens allows us to observe dif ferent tensions that animate the novel . I t n o t on ly i l l u - minates those same class conflicts observed by Epstein b u t also reveals a cr i t ica l tens ion between women ' s personal , "For both the Burney family and the fictional Cecilia Beverley, music functions simultaneously as a tool of the dominant patriarchal society and a means to break with that society." dying] muse or per former [emphasis added] . " 4 I n al l l i k e l i - h o o d Cecilia never h a d any f o r m a l m u s i c a l t r a i n i n g ; she was n a m e d a saint by the patr iarchal i n s t i t u t i o n o f the C h u r c h , a n d the m a n y portrai ts o f her have all been imag- i n e d and pa inted by male artists. I n her p ioneer ing w o r k , Music e[ Women: The Story of Women in their Relation to Mu- sic, Sophie D r i n k e r notes that Saint Cecilia is a "represen- tative o f the pattern w i t h i n w h i c h w o m e n as music ians have been conf ined" since the t i m e o f her canonizat ion i n the sixteenth century. 5 W i t h i n Cecilia's perplex ing and mis lead ing mus ica l s y m b o l i s m , the whole h is tory o f fe- male par t i c ipat ion i n m u s i c i n the m o d e r n Western w o r l d , and h o w that par t i c ipat ion has been directly def ined by the i r sex, emerges. I n creat ing her hero ine , Cecilia Beverley, Frances Burney self-consciously enters i n t o th is dialogue about w o m e n and mus ic . As a m u s i c lover, Cecilia is a character bur- private inves tment i n the arts a n d the pub l i c expectations i m p o s e d o n w o m e n by m e n t h r o u g h those same arts. . The daughter o f a p r o m i n e n t a n d arguably the first m u s i - cologist, a n d a creative w o m a n herself, Burney was strong- ly invested i n the arts a n d women ' s par t i c ipat ion i n t h e m . I n her essay o n the Burney family, Kate C h i s o l m remarks that increased m i d d l e class trade wea l th f r o m the 1760s o n w a r d resulted i n increased par t ic ipat ion i n leisure ac- tivit ies l ike m u s i c . 6 Indeed, Frances' father, Charles Bur- ney, wrote i n The Present State of Music in France and Italy, the w o r k that l aunched his career i n 1771, that "there was hardly a private fami ly . . . w i t h o u t its flute, its fiddle, its harps ichord , or gu i tar . " 7 B o r n undeniab ly to the m i d d l e class, Dr. Burney was nevertheless d e t e r m i n e d to achieve u p w a r d social m o b i l i t y for h i m s e l f and his family. H e be- came a private harps ichord t u t o r for c h i l d r e n o f the local gentry. H i s sk i l l at teaching a n d i n n o v a t i o n at his craft, ex- empl i f i ed by devis ing a n e w and u n i q u e m e t h o d o f str ik- E L E M E N T S F A L L 2010 i n g the harps ichord keys, rendered h i m enormous ly suc- cessful w i t h i n a short per iod o f t i m e . Kate C h i s o l m observes that i t was indeed his " m u s i c a l ab i l i ty " that "gave h i m the o p p o r t u n i t y to better h imsel f , b e c o m i n g as social- ly m o b i l e as i f he h a d been b o r n r i c h and w e l l connected . " 8 Particularly after the success o f his w o r k , The Present State of Musici Burney was able to associate w i t h an exceptional variety o f people, some o f w h o m were the m o s t wel l - k n o w n European music ians o f h is day; Frances later be- came fr iends w i t h famous I ta l ian castrato Pacchierotti , w h o is gleefully a l luded to i n Cecilia. Sunday afternoons were a treat for any L o n d o n music-lover lucky e n o u g h to be i n v i t e d to one o f Dr. Burney's i n f o r m a l concerts, w h i c h often starred the latest "operatic sensations" f r o m the Con- t i n e n t , as w e l l as Burney's o w n musica l ly gifted daughters, Susan and H e t t y . 9 A l l th is should have been imposs ib le for a m a n w h o was the son o f a s t rugg l ing port ra i t painter a n d danc ing master. W h i l e n o t musica l ly i n c l i n e d — s h e once wrote o f the "The- ory o f Mus ic " that she h a d "no expectation o f go ing so deep i n the science mysel f "—Frances Burney certainly h a d a deep appreciat ion for mus ic ; she wrote frequently o f her father's "Mus ica l Meet ings" i n her journals , and once de- clared s i m p l y that " I a m m o s t greedily h u n g r y for a l i t t l e m u s i c . " 1 0 She also recognized what social and economic possibil it ies i t had opened to her family, revealed by Ceci- lia's in te r rogat ion o f the re lat ionship between class a n d mus ic . For b o t h the Burney f ami ly and the fictional Cecilia Bever- ley, m u s i c funct ions s imultaneous ly as a too l o f the d o m i - nant patr iarchal society and a means to break w i t h that society. M e m b e r s o f the eighteenth-century Engl ish gen- try educated the i r daughters i n m u s i c to make t h e m better "products " o n the marr iage market . Charles Burney was able to use the condit ions o f that m a r k e t to change the situ- a t ion o f his o w n daughters. Ironical ly , he d i d not remove t h e m f r o m the patr iarchal economy, b u t rather chose to pos i t ion t h e m m o r e advantageously. Regardless, his m u s i c made possible a social m o b i l i t y and flexibility largely u n - heard of . 1 1 Cecilia's love o f m u s i c situates her i n a s i m i - lar ly paradoxical manner . O n the one h a n d , her natura l b u t u n t u t o r e d love o f m u s i c signals her appropriate par- t i c ipa t ion i n patr iarchal society. As an audience m e m b e r and as a per former , she m a i n t a i n s a doci l i ty o f body con- sistent w i t h the expectations o f her society. Yet the genu- ineness o f her appreciat ion separates her f r o m the other w o m e n o f the novel , l ike M r s . H a r r e l or Miss Larrolles, T H E P O W E R O F H E R V O I C E w h o enjoy m u s i c n o t i n i t se l f b u t mere ly as just i f icat ion to be i n publ ic . Th i s doubleness o f the use o f m u s i c i n Bur- ney's o w n l i fe , b o t h freeing her f r o m and l o c k i n g her i n t o a r i g i d class system, directly resembles the double repre- sentat ion o f m u s i c i n her novel . I n Divided Fictions, Kr i shna Straub l ikewise traces these cross-purposes i n Burney's fiction to "cur ious ly" v iew w o m e n as " b o t h ' i n ' a n d 'out ' o f what they d o . " 1 2 I n order to explain th is ambivalence, Straub draws o n the w o r k o f s t ructura l anthropology and M i c h e l Foucault; she consid- ers the di f f iculty o f female ident i ty i n l i g h t o f the fact that "the h u m a n m i n d and body are shaped by w h a t they d o . " 1 3 I n the e ighteenth century, m i d d l e and upper class single w o m e n d i d n o t have a concrete way to divide women ' s oc- ECSTASY OF SAINT CECILIA BY RAPHAEL. cupations i n t o either " w o r k " or "play." The lack o f accept- able female occupations, as w e l l as the a m b i g u i t y about h o w to categorize the few occupations that were accept- able, contr ibuted , Straub argues, to "a general a n d perva- sive tendency to devalue the ways i n w h i c h w o m e n spend the i r t i m e . " 1 4 Young w o m e n received intense m i x e d mes- sages f r o m patr iarchal society, w h i c h t o l d t h e m that w h i l e single, they m u s t innocent ly and product ively fill the i r le i - sure hours , yet d i d n o t value the w o r k o f women ' s hands beyond that . That is, women ' s needlework or music-mak- i n g or p a i n t i n g were n o t aesthetically valuable b u t only w o r t h w h i l e i n that these pursui ts kept w o m e n out o f t r o u - ble u n t i l they were m a r r i e d . Straub compares this att i tude t o w a r d that o f a parent a m u s i n g the i r c h i l d w i t h f inger p a i n t i n g o n a ra iny day. 1 5 W o m e n l ike Frances Burney were encouraged to participate i n activities such as p lay ing the pianoforte , yet they were s imultaneous ly u r g e d n o t to take the i r art or themselves too seriously, m a k i n g "ego-in- vestment . . . fool i sh or perverse ." 1 6 Burney attempts to situate her hero ine b o t h ins ide and apart f r o m patr iarchal society, a n d m u s i c serves as the means to b o t h . Burney views m u s i c as transcendent a n d transformative to a certain extent. As a purely aesthetic experience, i t l i fts one out o f one's circumstances. I n Ceci- lia, as i n Evelina, the hero ine at the opera is described as "enraptured" and " i n t e n t , " " w i t h an avidity o f a t tent ion al- m o s t p a i n f u l f r o m its o w n eagerness." 1 7 A l t h o u g h Cecilia, l ike Burney herself, has " l i t t l e s k i l l , " she has what Burney deems a preferable, "natura l love o f the a r t . " 1 8 The sheer a m o u n t o f page space devoted to Cecilia's en joyment o f her f irst opera rehearsal does absolutely n o t h i n g to for- w a r d the p lot o f the novel ; i n i t , we discover Burney's per- sonal c o m m i t m e n t to the art. She describes at l e n g t h "the pleasure she received f r o m the m u s i c , " and Pacchierotti 's m o v i n g per formance i n particular, his voice "always either sweet or i m p a s s i o n e d . " 1 9 I n descr ibing Cecilia's enjoy- m e n t o f the opera, Burney qui te obviously channels her o w n , especially g iven her i n c l u s i o n o f personal f r i e n d Pac- chierot t i . Like her contemporar ies , Burney subscribes to the idea that what w o m e n do reflects s o m e t h i n g about the i r m i n d . However, u n l i k e her contemporar ies , w h o often t r i e d to devalue women ' s mus ic , Burney indicates to her readers that women ' s m u s i c is w o r t h the investment . Th i s mes- sage resonated deeply w i t h Burney's readers: w h i l e o n a visit to the h o m e o f a f ami ly f r i end , "Burney was amused to find a copy o f Cecilia i n w h i c h ' the chapter, A n Opera V Rehearsal, was so w e l l read, the leaves always flew apart to display i t . ' " 2 0 H e r readers appreciated her m i n u t e l y de- tai led descr ipt ion o f Pacchierotti 's per formance and re- t u r n e d to i t over a n d over again. Perhaps part o f music ' s appeal as a female occupat ion was located i n its abi l i ty to be the vehicle for rebe l l ion or l ibera t ion f r o m larger patr i - archal structures w i t h o u t actually l o o k i n g l ike i t . D u r i n g the f o l l o w i n g opera performance, for instance, M r . Monck- t o n observes that Cecilia's "whole m i n d h a d been i n t e n t u p o n the per formance, " w h i l e at the rehearsal, "her m i n d " was scarcely "at l iberty to attend to any emot ions b u t its "Women like Frances Burney were encouraged to participate in activities such as playing the pianoforte, yet they were simultaneously urged not to take their art or themselves too seriously." o w n . " 2 1 I n the rest o f the novel , Cecilia is always account- able to someone else (the Harre ls , the Delviles) and is of- ten out o f contro l , whereas the opera provides Cecilia w i t h an e n v i r o n m e n t for m e n t a l self-sufficiency, i n w h i c h she is sovereign over her o w n thoughts and feelings and ac- countable to no one b u t herself. To forget that m u s i c also funct ions as a too l o f the disci- p l inary apparatus w o u l d be fool ish, or i n the w o r l d o f Ceci- lia, even dangerous. Burney repeatedly shows the reader that the publ ic spaces o f the novel i n w h i c h m u s i c is per- f o r m e d — t h e Opera, Vauxhal l , etc.—are c o m p r o m i s e d spaces, and as m u c h as Cecilia m i g h t l o n g to lose herse l f to mus ic , i n reality they can provide no entirely safe or per- m a n e n t refuge. The p r o b l e m i n h e r e n t to p e r f o r m i n g m u - sic i n publ ic is that the pub l i c was a t h o r o u g h l y male-dom- inated sphere. Therefore, as an activity either done by w o m e n (such as a soprano at the opera), or for w o m e n (as m e m b e r s o f an audience), the performance always oc- curred only w i t h male p e r m i s s i o n and supervis ion. At E L E M E N T S : : FALL2010 least i n publ ic , there was n o such t h i n g as a total ly f e m i - n i n e mus ica l per formance since i t was, inevitably, a perfor- mance u n d e r the male gaze. 2 2 For instance, i n one o f the most dangerous incidents i n the novel , Cecilia attends "a new serious opera" w i t h the H a r r e l s . 2 3 Sir Robert Floyer, w h o persists i n his p u r s u i t o f Cecilia despite her discour- agement, takes advantage o f her i m m o b i l i t y , " saunter ing d o w n fop's alley, [he] stationed h i m s e l f by her side . . . t u r n e d his eyes f r o m the stage to her face, as better w o r t h his notice, a n d equally dest ined for his a m u s e m e n t . " 2 4 Fop's alley was the aisle a long w h i c h gent lemen could w a l k ATTRACTING ROMANTIC ATTENTION WAS ONE OF THE MANY USES OF FEMALE MUSIC. d u r i n g an opera i n order to survey the ladies. Ladies, how- ever, were supposed to "s it decorously and n o t to patro l the house . " 2 5 The Opera House is actually designed so that gent l emen can physically enact the patr iarchal economy w i t h every step they take a long "fop's alley." Male subjuga- t i o n o f w o m e n is so i n s t i t u t i o n a l that i t l i tera l ly i n f o r m s even the architecture o f the eighteenth-century w o r l d . Sir Robert's " saunter ing d o w n fop's alley" i l l u m i n a t e s the deep roots o f patr iarchy even i n a supposedly female site l ike the Opera House . I t is possible to see the Opera House as n o t designed for mus ica l per formance, b u t rather for female per formance. Cecilia, i n her a t tempt to enjoy the opera, is effectively paralyzed by and objectif ied u n d e r Sir Robert's gaze. H e r personhood is m e t o n y m i c a l l y replaced by "her face"; she is reduced to her body, w h i c h becomes a k i n d o f per formance that i n Floyer's view, the v iew o f the male patr iarch, is as "destined for his a m u s e m e n t " as the opera. I n th is way, the Opera House is a space i n w h i c h w o m e n are expected to p e r f o r m for the patr iarchal economy whether they are o n stage or not . W o m e n , part icular ly the i r bodies, are t rans formed i n t o a spectacle. A l t h o u g h Cecilia w o u l d l ike to enjoy the mus ic , she is unexpectedly t h r u s t i n t o the role o f per former herself, and is therefore i m p e d e d i n what she hoped w o u l d be a strictly private, aesthetic experience. I n Discipline and Punish, M i c h e l Foucault considers the disci- p l ine o f tor ture and concludes that " the fact that the gu i l ty . . . shou ld m o a n a n d cry out u n d e r the blows is n o t a shameful side-effect, i t is the very ceremonia l o f justice be- i n g expressed i n all its f o r c e . " 2 6 Cecilia's t reatment at the hands o f Sir Robert Floyer can be seen as a k i n d o f to r ture , i n that her d i scomfort u n d e r his gaze is n o t mere ly a "side- effect" o f some larger project; h is goal is i n fact to make her feel objectif ied, as he admits n u m e r o u s t imes t h r o u g h - out the novel (we w i l l later see Gi lbert and Gubar make a s imi la r p o i n t about female il lness as i t applies to Sense and Sensibility). H i s offensive gaze, as w e l l as his " saunter ing" d o w n the alley, is an enactment o f his power as a m a n i n a male , pub l i c space, and i t occurs at Cecilia's expense. 2 7 Ce- cilia's n i g h t at the opera teaches her that she was m i s t a k e n to believe that m u s i c provides her any measure o f cover f r o m the male gaze, so l o n g as that m u s i c is p e r f o r m e d i n the pub l i c sphere. The entire spectacle o f opera is cyni- cally cast n o t as a transformative , u n i q u e l y female experi- ence, b u t rather, i n the words o f Foucault, as "a pol i t ica l r i t u a l , " a ceremony "by w h i c h power is mani fested, " i n this case directly o n the mus ica l , female body . 2 8 Cecilia's n i g h t at the opera gets worse. As she leaves her seat, M r . Belf ield offers her his a r m , w h i c h she accepts, just before Sir Robert Floyer does the same. I n her d isdain for Sir Robert, she accepts M r . Belfield, w h i c h s l ightly i n f u - riates Sir Robert. H e insul ts Belfield by d e m a n d i n g o f Ce- ci l ia , " W i l l y o u suffer such an i m p e r t i n e n t fe l low as that , Miss Beverley, to have the h o n o u r o f t a k i n g your hand?" ) T H E P O W E R O F H E R V O I C E a n d t h e n nearly begins a due l i n the Opera House , u n t i l y o u n g Delvile in te r fe res . 2 9 Cecilia is very a larmed for b o t h men's safety, i n part icular because she has an " i m m e d i a t e consciousness that she was herse l f the real cause o f the q u a r r e l . " 3 0 Foucault argues that spectacle is an "exercise o f te r ror " over its v i c t i m s , and indeed Cecilia's n i g h t at the opera begins w i t h d i scomfort w h i l e b e i n g looked at by Floyer a n d concludes w i t h terror as the two men's dis- agreement escalates. 3 1 The due l takes place later i n the novel and Belf ield is a lmost m o r t a l l y w o u n d e d . A l t h o u g h i t is eventually revealed that the due l occurs for other rea- sons t h a n over Cecilia, her " incaut ious e m o t i o n " i n fearing for b o t h men's lives "had given rise to suspicions o f her h a r b o u r i n g a part ia l i ty for a m a n w h o m every day she m o r e heart i ly d i s l iked , " and for a t i m e r u i n s her chances w i t h y o u n g Delvi le, w h o t h i n k s that she is engaged to one o f t h e m . 3 2 U l t i m a t e l y what the a lmost-duel at the Opera House reveals to the reader is Cecilia's vu lnerabi l i ty even i n a t rad i t iona l ly f e m i n i n e space. W h i l e Cecilia may be- lieve that she goes to the opera mere ly for the i n n o c e n t en joyment o f mus ic , Burney cynically casts that be l i e f as an i l l u s i o n ; male cont ro l is p e r m i t t e d a n d even encouraged at the opera, and art therefore fails to protect w o m e n . Ce- cilia's hope o f hear ing the per formance w h i l e r e m a i n i n g detached f r o m the m e n that s u r r o u n d her t u r n s out to be naive and dangerous to her future chances o f happiness. Sites o f mus ica l praxis are only secondarily i n t e n d e d to provide aesthetic en joyment . T h e i r p r i m a r y purpose, ac- c o r d i n g to Burney, is to reify patr iarchal pol i t ica l values, i n c l u d i n g b o t h gender a n d class hierarchies. I n p u t t i n g w o m e n o n display b o t h o n a n d offstage, the Opera House funct ions as a locus for the enactment and display o f patr i - archal values. To Burney, the Opera House is also c o m p r o m i s e d i n other less dangerous b u t equally f rus t ra t ing ways. For instance, a lmost n o one i n the novel , except Cecilia herself, takes m u s i c seriously. M r s . Harrel 's "love o f the Opera" is i n - stead "merely a love o f company, fashion, and shew." Sim- AMONGST THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ARISTOCRACY, THE FEMALE ROLE IN MUSICAL PERFORMANCE WAS MORE CEREMONIAL A N D SOCIAL T H A N ARTISTIC. E L E M E N T S F A L L 2010 i larly, Miss Larolles' only concern at the opera is to find a seat "at the outside" o f her box " o n purpose to speak to a person or t w o . " 3 3 Nei ther o f t h e m attends the opera for the m u s i c a l per formance b u t rather to see and be seen. W h i l e at the opera itself, Cecilia is vexed that the Harrels arrive so late that they miss a lmost the ent ire first act, and the rest o f the act is r u i n e d by a group o f y o u n g ladies, "whose t i t - t e r i n g and loquacity a l lowed no one i n the i r v i c in i ty to hear," w h i l e they themselves " l i s tened to n o t a note"; th is seems to have been a pet peeve o f Burney's , as she repl i - cates th is scene at a private concert later i n the novel w i t h a dif ferent g roup o f y o u n g w o m e n and m o r e " u n m e a n i n g conversat ion . " 3 4 The second act is n o better, as she is t h e n seated near a g roup o f y o u n g m e n a n d "no sooner was the second act begun, t h a n the i r a t tent ion ended ! " 3 5 Finally, the ennuye, M r . Meadows, expresses his o p i n i o n o f the op- era to Cecilia after its conclus ion, perversely protest ing that i n spite o f his attendance, " I hate a solo. . . . I hardly ever a t tempt to l i s ten to a song. . . . One is sick to death o f m u s i c . " 3 6 W i t h these repeated aggrieved reflections, Bur- ney again reveals her personal inves tment i n the art; as the daughter o f the famous Dr. Burney and f r i e n d to m a n y professional mus ic ians , she p la in ly resents what is called "fashionable i n a t t e n t i o n " to m u s i c . 3 7 Austen w i l l later de- pict the same general insens ib i l i ty o f the tone to the arts, m o s t notably i n Sense and Sensibility. T h r o u g h the subversive voice o f Lady H o n o r i a , Burney is able to fur ther explore some o f the m o r e extreme op in ions o f m u s i c as a d isc ip l inary tool . As Epstein notes i n The Iron Pen, Lady Honor ia ' s c o m m e n t s are d isrupt ive b u t " k n o w i n g , calculated, a n d i n s i g h t f u l . " 3 8 Burney describes her as the average wel l -bred lady; she had received "a fash- ionable educat ion. . . She sung a l i t t l e , played a l i t t l e . " 3 9 She is remarkable n o t for the breadth o f her accomplish- c h a r m e d by Lady H o n o r i a , and a l though careful not to give her too m u c h narrative power, Burney does grant her the novel's last w o r d . She brazenly states her o p i n i o n o f gen- der relations to senior M r . Delvi le, asserting, "Not a creature thinks of our principles, till they find them out by our conduct: and nobody can possibly do that till we are married, for they give us no power beforehand. The men know nothing of us in the world while we are single, but how we can . . . play a lesson upon the harpsichord. "4° One wonders if , after the heavy, me lodramat ic romance between Cecilia and Delvi le, Burney felt the need to in ject her novel w i t h what m i g h t be a m o r e honest and realistic look at relations between m e n a n d w o m e n . Epstein agrees, r e m a r k i n g that Lady Honoria ' s "sharp w i t refreshingly challenges the staid codes o f social behavior i n the nov- e l . " 4 1 She reveals, i n one swift c o m m e n t , the cu l ture o f accompl ishments as a mere patr iarchal device to keep w o m e n superficial , the f u l f i l l m e n t o f H a n n a h More's fear o f w o m a n as "o rnament . " She also echoes Mary W o l l - stonecraft's d isdain for the so-called system o f female edu- cat ion, as she sarcastically adds, " O n o , Sir, I w o u l d n o t have her study at al l ; it 's m i g h t y w e l l for c h i l d r e n , b u t re- ally after sixteen . . . one has quite e n o u g h fatigue i n dress- i n g . . . w i t h o u t all that t o r m e n t o f first and second posi- t i o n , and E u p o n the first l ine , and F u p o n the first space!" 4 2 Finally, Lady H o n o r i a exposes class tensions between the aristocracy & gentry and the increasingly wealthy m i d d l e classes as she asks M r . Delvi le, "Dear Sir, w h a t should we al l do w i t h b i r t h i f i t was not for wealth? I t w o u l d ne i ther take us to Ranelagh nor the O p e r a . " 4 3 The snobbish i n - breeding advocated by Delvile senior is n o t financially u n - sustainable; a fashionable lifestyle, and the mus ica l dissi- pations i t demands , comes at a cost that on ly some can pay. "Cecilia uses music-making to try to escape the disciplinary apparatus, specifically its strict control of her time/' ments , w h i c h are perfectly ordinary, b u t rather for the clar- i ty and accuracy w i t h w h i c h she observes her o w n society. She is perhaps the forerunner to Lizzy Bennet, the sardon- ic sociologist, or Mary Crawford, the b r i l l i a n t b u t danger- ous challenger o f social n o r m s . I t is d i f f icul t n o t to be Mus ic , or at least certain k inds o f m u s i c , is a d ivers ion only available to the wealthy. Julia Epstein, i n The Iron Pen, also notes Burney's inc l ina- t i o n to render publ ic places o f pleasure as "discursive sites T H E P O W E R O F H E R V O I C E for the m a p p i n g o f social c lassi f icat ions." 4 4 Burney o f course h a d personal reasons to insert herse l f i n t o th is dis- cussion about m u s i c a n d class; her family 's financial and social successes were due to her father's ind i rec t forward- i n g o f the patr iarchal economy by teaching w o m e n mus ic . T h u s the Opera House , for example, is n o t mere ly a gen- dered space b u t a classed one as we l l . Epstein darkly inter- prets the novel p r i m a r i l y as "a perpetual game o f gender and class warfare," a n d Terry Castle calls i t the " i n s t i t u t i o n - a l izat ion o f . . . sexual theater . " 4 5 A l t h o u g h b o t h scholars p r i m a r i l y examine the ways i n w h i c h th is class warfare oc- curs d u r i n g the masquerade, the i r analysis can easily be extended to c o m p r e h e n d the other pub l i c spaces o f the novel where m u s i c is per formed, such as balls, the opera, and Vauxhal l . Class warfare is perfectly a n d l i teral ly appar- ent i n the near due l between Belf ield and Floyers at the Opera House; Floyers considers Belf ield as an i m p e r t i n e n t upstart i n c l a i m i n g Cecilia's h a n d , w h i l e he is t i t l e d and therefore m o r e w o r t h y o f i t . I n c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h th is r i g i d u p h o l d i n g o f class, mus ic permi t s a k i n d o f permiss ib le crossing o f class boundaries , w h i c h , i n be ing permiss ib le , ma inta ins those boundaries . I n her madness at the e n d o f the novel , Cecilia, " t h o u g h natural ly and c o m m o n l y o f a s i lent a n d quiet disposi t ion. . . was n o w n o t a m o m e n t s t i l l . " 4 6 T h o u g h n o t exactly m a k i n g mus ic , Cecilia-the- m a d w o m a n ' s tongue is freed i n her i l lness i n a way that Cecilia-the-heiress was never al lowed. However, the read- er knows that Cecilia is i n fact an heiress, and indeed, her recovery is m a r k e d by her again b e c o m i n g "quiet and com- posed... contentedly s i l e n t . " 4 7 H e r b r i e f in ter lude o f mad- ness reinforces for the reader, as i t does for M r . Delvi le senior, that Cecilia really does n o t be long i n the Three Blue Balls, she belongs i n Delvi le Castle. H e r restorat ion to si- lence demonstrates her ambivalent ly characterized resto- r a t i o n to her r i g h t f u l class and social sphere. Yet at the same t i m e , Cecilia's love o f m u s i c also marks her as an appropriate partner for the w e l l - b o r n Delvi le. H e admits that before he m e t her, he h a d already heard o f her "accompl i shments , " a t e r m by w h i c h m u s i c a l talent was a lmost certainly i m p l i e d . M r s . Delvi le, also, remarks a n u m b e r o f t imes that Cecilia's "v i r tue , beauty, educat ion, for tune a n d fami ly were al l unexcept ionable . " 4 8 "Educa- t i o n , " l ike "accompl i shments , " w o u l d have comprehended a wide range o f subjects, m u s i c a m o n g t h e m . H e r m u s i - cality n o t only makes her desirable as a w o m a n - i t gives her "beauty" - b u t i t also, as an i n d i c a t i o n o f her " for tune and family , " makes her desirable as a financial partner. Young Delvile is convinced that her "accompl ishments , V j o i n e d to the splendour o f her fo r tune" cannot fai l to con- vince his parents o f her suitabi l i ty as his w i f e . 4 9 A l t h o u g h Cecilia is not t h r i l l e d to participate i n patr iarchal society and sometimes seeks refuge i n mus ic , those a r o u n d her insist o n reading her m u s i c - m a k i n g as a symbol o f a w o m - an invested i n the d o m i n a n t ideology. Cecilia uses m u s i c - m a k i n g to t ry to escape the disc ip l inary apparatus, specifically its strict cont ro l o f her t i m e . Rather t h a n spending every day and every n i g h t i n diss ipat ion w i t h the Harre ls , Cecilia eventually desires to become "mistress o f her o w n t i m e . " 5 0 Ironical ly , o f course, her "fa- vour i te studies" are also those that patr iarchy w o u l d choose for her, m u s i c and reading, as w e l l as w a l k i n g and fancy w o r k . 5 1 I t is d i f f icul t to k n o w i f th is is the choice o f a t r u l y l iberated m i n d , one that can choose its o w n occupations w i t h o u t reference to the w i d e r w o r l d , or i f Cecilia is mere ly b e c o m i n g her o w n patr iarchal task-master. Kr i s t ina Straub w o u l d l ike ly argue the latter, as Cecilia also uses these occupations to "keep e m o t i o n a l chaos at bay," a ten- s ion later explored i n Austen's Sense and Sensibility.52 I n order to distract herse l f f r o m her affection for y o u n g Del- vi le, Cecilia throws herse l f i n t o these rat ional employ- ments . For instance, she asks M r . M o n c k t o n to order her "a Piano Forte o f M e r l i n ' s . " 5 3 But the r o m a n t i c p lot w i l l n o t leave her alone w i t h her mus ic . Moreover, Straub argues that " the very employments designed to give Cecilia con- t r o l often betray her i n t o helplessness." For example, Lady H o n o r i a remarks o n Cecilia's poor needlework w h e n ask- i n g her for her feelings o n D e l v i l e . 5 4 Cecilia's already questionable p l a n for " independence" f r o m patr iarchal d isc ipl ine is an ut ter fai lure. Neither m u - sic n o r any other e m p l o y m e n t can keep her separated f r o m Delvi le, and Cecilia does n o t find satisfaction i n pur- s u i n g t h e m independent ly anyway because the sol itude is o v e r w h e l m i n g l y lonely. A l t h o u g h earlier at the opera Ceci- l ia was thwar ted i n t r y i n g to enact private e n j o y m e n t o f m u s i c i n a pub l i c space, she n o w finds that privacy unsat- isfying. Burney here demonstrates her native conserva- t i s m . She certainly has reservations about the patr iarchal economy, as expressed by Cecilia's uneasiness u n d e r Sir Robert Floyer's gaze at the opera. Nonetheless, her heroine m u s t and does participate i n that economy i n her marr iage to y o u n g Delvile. Burney indicts Cecilia's vague quest to be mistress o f her o w n t i m e as naive and imposs ib le , just as she does w i t h the be l ie f that m u s i c provides w o m e n w i t h a reprieve f r o m patr iarchal pol i t ics . Those pol it ics have even invaded the supposedly "safe" domestic , female E L E M E N T S F A L L 2010 sphere, leaving Cecilia no refuge except that o f Delvile's arms. A t the very least, a l t h o u g h Cecilia ends the novel subject to the voice o f patr iarchy made manifest b o t h i n her husband a n d her father-in-law, readers can rejoice that u n l i k e Saint Cecilia, her mus ica l talent is g iven to her n o t by m a n b u t by a fe l low w o m a n , her creator, Frances Burney. I n w r i t - i n g a mus ica l hero ine , Burney begins the process o f re- c l a i m i n g Cecilia and other female music ians f r o m a his- tory w r i t t e n by m e n . I n Divided Fictions, Straub convinc ing ly proposes that Burney seeks "conventional , n o t revis ionary" solutions to the p r o b l e m o f female self- ident i f i ca t ion u n d e r patr iarchy. 5 5 Indeed, i t w o u l d do vio- lence to the novel n o t to acknowledge the darkness o f its v i s ion . Cecilia certainly presents a w o r l d o f relentless, i n - vasive patriarchy. Burney begins her novel by seeming to u p h o l d the b inary between publ ic (male) and private (fe- male) . Yet by novel's e n d i t is clear that Burney decon- structs that b inary to suggest that i n a w o r l d o f patr iarchal power, no space is exempt f r o m that power. T h u s the Op- era House as w e l l as the m u s i c par lor become sites for the e x h i b i t i o n o f d isc ip l inary pol i t ics . Even w h i l e m a k i n g m u - sic alone i n her h o m e , Cecilia is s t i l l t rapped by patriarchy, her range o f m o t i o n and activities s t i l l restricted to those encouraged by the d o m i n a n t ideology. S imply i n the act o f creating a female character w h o has a dynamic and engag- i n g re lat ionship w i t h m u s i c , however, Burney was revi- sionary. Th i s is not Saint Cecilia as presented to the w o r l d by a male priest or artist; i t is Cecilia, recreated by a sister music-lover. E N D N O T E S 1. Drinker (264) 2. Drinker (263) 3. Cook and Tsou (1) 4. Ibid. 5. Drinker (264) 6. Chisolm (10) 7. Burney 1988 (6) 8. Chisolm (10) 9. Ibid. 10. D'Arblay (338, 436) ' 11. Frances i n particular achieved such mobility, thanks to her fa- ther's fame, as well as her own literary reputation, that i n 1786 she was offered and accepted a position at court with Queen Charlotte. Chisholm (20) 12. Straub (89) 13. Straub (78). 14. Straub (79) 15. Straub (88) 16. Straub (89) 17. Burney 1988 (65, 136) 18. Burney 1988 (64) 19. Burney 1988 (65) 20. Burney 1988 (962) 21. Burney 1988 (136, 65) 22. For more on the male gaze and women as "to-be-looked-at- ness," see Laura Mulvey's essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." 23. Burney 1988 (59) 24. Burney 1988 (135) 25. Burney 1988 (972) 26. Foucault (34) 27. In Burney's previous novel Evelina, the heroine, at her first ball, similarly remarks disgustedly that "the gentlemen, as they passed and repassed, looked as i f they thought we were quite at their disposal." Burney 1997 (74) 28. Foucault (47) 29. Burney 1988 (137) 30. Burney 1988 (138) 31. Foucault (49) 32. Burney 1988 (162) 33. Burney 1988 (131, 286) 34. Burney 1988 (134, 323) 35. Burney 1988 (135) 36. Burney 1988 (266-267) 37. Burney 1988 (979); The theme is developed first i n Evelina, i n which the heroine writes of her first opera visit, " I could have thought I was i n paradise, but for the continual talking of the com- pany around me." Burney 1988 (84) 38. Epstein (167) 39. Burney 1988 (464) 40. Burney 1988 (934) 41. Epstein (167) 42. Lady Honoria is referring to notes on the musical staff. Burney (935) 43. Burney 1988 (936-937) 44. Epstein (161) 45. Epstein (167); Castle, cited i n Epstein (162) 46. Burney 1988 (901) 47. Burney 1988 (920) 48. Burney 1988 (512) 49. Burney 1988 (564) 50. Burney 1988 (55) 51. Ibid. 52. Straub (132) 53. Burney 1988 (460) 54. Straub (134) 55. Straub (107) R E F E R E N C E S Burney, Charles. The present state of music in France and Italy: or, the journal of a tour through those countries, undertaken to collect materials for a general history of music. By Charles Burney, ) T H E P O W E R O F H E R V O I C E Mus. D. London, 1771. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. http://find.galegroup.com/ecco/infomark.do?&contentSet=ECC OArticles&type=multipage&tabID=Tooi&prodId=ECCO&docId =CWi05523390&source=gale&userGroupName=mlin_m_bostco U&version=i.o&docLevel=FASCIMILE. Burney, Frances. Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress. New York: Ox- ford UP, 1988. —. Evelina. Ed. Krishna Straub. Boston: Bedford, 1997. Chisholm, Kate. "The Burney Family." Ed. Peter Sabor. The Cam- bridge Companion to Frances. Burney. Cambridge [etc.]: Cambridge UP, 2007. 7-22. Cook, Susan C , and Judy S. Tsou, eds. "Bright Cecilia" Introduc- tion. Cecilia Reclaimed: Feminist Perspectives on Gender and Music. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1994. 1-14. D'Arblay, Frances Burney. "Diary of Frances Burney D'Arblay, May, 1780." Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay, vol. 1: 1778- 1780. Ed. Charlotte Frances Barrett. London, England: H . Col- burn, 1842. 436. —. "Diary of Frances Burney D'Arblay, January, 1773." The Early Diary of Frances Burney, 1768-1778. With a Selection from Her Correspondence and from the Journals of her Sisters, Susan and Charlotte Burney, vol. 1. Ed. Ellis, Annie Raine. London, England: G. Bell & Son, 1889.338. Drinker, Sophie. Music &l Women: The Story of Women in their Rela- tion to Music. New York: The Feminist Press, 1995. Epstein, Julia. The Iron Pen: Frances Burney and the Politics of Wom- en's Writing. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin, 1989. Foucault, Michel. Discipline e[ Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Vintage, 1995. Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." Femi- nisms: An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism. Ed. Robyn R. Warhol and Herndl Diane Price. 2 n d ed. New Brunswick, NJ: Rut- gers UP, 1997 438-48: Straub, Krishna. Divided Fictions: Fanny Burney and Feminine Strategy. Lexington,Ky.: University of Kentucky, 1987. http://find.galegroup.com/ecco/infomark.do?&contentSet=ECC