Nineteenth-century composers were drawn to subjects related to gender. Songs about women open a
view into nineteenth-century understandings of gender and sexuality. The author argues about
ways to hear sexual difference in Lied analyzing musical compositions in the light of composer
biographies and in terms of musical gestures. Her comparison of the Suleika and Lorelei songs
by Romantic composers including the Mendelssohns and the Schumanns reveals cultural and
sexual anxieties besides conflicting arguments about music and its perception. Both the songs
and their critique illustrate the functioning of gender in nineteenth-century composition and
aesthetic reasoning.
