In eighteenth-century England, "variety" became a prized aesthetic in musical culture. Not only was variety--of counterpoint, harmony, melody, and orchestration--expected for good composition, but it also manifested in cultural mediums such as songbook anthologies, which compiled miscellaneous songs ...
It fills the persistent need to document women's poetic expression during the long eighteenth century and to rewrite the literary history of the period, a history from which women have largely been excluded.
