Classical Concert Music and Queer Listening

Abstract

The norms of the classical music concert, familiar from the twentieth century onward in European and United States contexts, favor an apparently uniform practice of attentive, silent listening, the audience seated in rows with a uniform visual focus. However, within this appearance of quiet conformity, listeners have diverse, intense experiences. The discontinuity between experience and demeanor reflects powerful cultural oppositions between inner and outer, public and private. The discontinuity is particularly stark in light of the erotic qualities of music, as described in brilliant work by Susan McClary (Feminine Endings, 1991) and Suzanne Cusick ("On a Lesbian Relationship with Music", 1994). My essay returns to their work, expanding their accounts to consider a broader range of sexual subjectivities, including "bottom" subjectivity as described by Trevor Hoppe and "femme" subjectivity as described by Ann Cvetkovich.