I'm doing a research project for my undergrad career (I have about 2 years) on female musicians. Originally, I wanted to look at Elizabethan musicians, but I couldn't find any sources. I'm looking at changing the time frame, but would like any and all suggestions from /r/history about female musicians. Please, and thank you.
Let's summon /u/caffarelli, she might be able to help with this... Also, ask at /r/musicology.
You might be interested in reading these (if you have not read them already):
JSTOR shows some stuff for elizabethan female musicians, have you found anything interesting there?
It sounds like you'll be able to gather enough information on Elizabethan musicians, but in case you still want to broaden your search, I think singer/dancer-slaves are fascinating. They were often found in ancient cultures (Helenistic Greece, 300 BC; Roman-Era Greece, 300s AD), but I'm a bit more familiar with scholarship on medieval Islamic slavery. Two pertinent articles:
‘Athamina, Khalil, “How did Islam Contribute to Change the Legal Status of Women: The Case of the Jawārī, or the Female Slaves,” Al-Qanṭara: Revista de estudios árabes 28.2 (2007), pp. 383-408.
Gordon, Matthew S., “Preliminary Remarks on Slaves and Slave Labor in the Third/Ninth Century ʿAbbāsid Empire,” in Laura Culbertson, ed., Slaves and Households in the Near East, Oriental Institute Seminars 7 (Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 2011), pp. 71-84.
Right now I'm reading the Oxford History of Music by Richard Taruskin. It's quite new (2005). He gives more attention to female musicians and composers than traditional histories of music tend to, although it's still of course a male dominated field. One of the earlier chapters in the 17-18 century volume discusses female composers and the social meanings and perceptions of their roles in good detail, and if you were to look in the bibliography for that chapter I suspect you'd find that it pointed to more in-depth sources on the topic.
