The Ideal World of Mrs. Widder's Soire Musicale: Social Identity and Musical Life in Nineteenth-Century Ontario (Mercury Series (0316-1854))

In 1844 Mrs. Frederick Widder held a Soiree Musicale in her Toronto home. This book examines the concert program as evidence of social, political, and business history. The Soiree Musicale, with amateurs and professionals performing a potpourri of musical genres, was typical of the way musical life affected and reflected contemporary values, thoughts, and beliefs in nineteenth-century Ontario. This study of Mrs. Widders' lavish domestic concert reconstructs the world of one elite group, many of whom were central figures in pre-Confederation Canadian political history. From this microhistory emerges a new approach to the Soiree Musicale as a "drama of difference," reflecting distinct categories of class and gender in an idealized hierarchical universe.Kristina Marie Guiguet is the author of 'The Ideal World of Mrs. Widder's Soire Musicale: Social Identity and Musical Life in Nineteenth-Century Ontario (Mercury Series (0316-1854))', published 2005 under ISBN 9780660193441 and ISBN 0660193442.