Did You Know?

Did you know that actresses/ female instrument virtuosos in the 17th century quit performing at 18. If women were performing at 18 on stage, in front of people, they were eligible to any rich nobleman that wanted her, WHETHER OR NOT SHE WAS MARRIED. Actresses were automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church, and frowned upon by society. Most women stopped performing to maintain their respectablility in society. Sadly, many female piano virtusos, even those trained by Bach himself, were never discovered. Who knows what we could have learned from them, or perhaps how much music was never discovered that maybe they composed or was composed for them. Music history and the way society developed with and around it is just fascinating! Today in the United States, actresses are some of the most famous women in our society! So my dear friend Hilary...if you were the wonderful actress you are today in the 17th century, you would be an outcast in society...susceptible to any old man that wanted you!!