Elisa Gayán, an Invisibilized Figure

Abstract

Women and gender dissidents were largely excluded from official historiographical narratives until the late twentieth century, as they were not considered subjects of interest. In the case of Chilean music history, hundreds of women devoted their lives and work to music; however, they remain absent from its narrative. Elisa Gayán Contador (1912–1972) is one of these women. She taught for more than forty years in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Chile, building a distinguished profile that led her to become the institution’s first woman dean. She also founded and directed both the Association of Music Education (1960–1968) and the Evening School of Music (1960–1968) (Bustos 2015: 25). From historical musicology and gender studies, this article seeks to reposition Elisa Gayán as a historical subject and to assess the significance of her contributions. It describes her career and the music education projects in which she participated and provided leadership, as well as the context in which these initiatives developed. The methodology is based on qualitative analysis of the historiographical narrative of Chilean art music, where Elisa Gayán Contador, the Association of Music Education, and the Evening School of Music are mentioned. Additional sources include Gayán’s publications in the Revista Musical Chilena, primary materials from the National Library’s Press Room and Music Archive, and archival documents from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Chile.