Born:
September 5, 1867
Birthplace:
Henniker, New Hampshire
Died:
December 27, 1944 in New York City
Also Known As:
Amy Marcy Cheney Beach, Mrs. H.H.A. Beach, piano virtuoso, first major American female composer and one of the leading composers of the New England School.
Type of Compositions:
Beach was famous for her songs but she also wrote orchestral,
chamber and
choral music, both sacred and secular. She wrote pieces for the piano and keyboard as well as songs for voice. Amy Beach also wrote an
opera called "Cabildo".
Influence:
Her mother, Clara Imogene Marcy Cheney, started teaching her how to play the piano at age six. Also, she studied under fine teachers like Ernest Perabo, Carl Baermann, and Junius W. Hill but Beach was primarily self-taught. Amy Beach had perfect pitch and showed great musical talent even as a child. At the young age of four, she can read four-part
hymns and could compose music in her head and later on translate it on the
piano. She made her musical debut when she was 16 and in 1885 played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Notable Works:
Some of her celebrated compositions are: "Gaelic Symphony," "Cabildo," "Mass in E-flat," "The Song of Welcome," "The Chambered Nautilus," "Eilende Wolken," "The Hermit Thrush at Morn," "The Hermit Thrush at Eve," "Dreaming," "Ah, Love, But a Day" and "The Year's at the Spring" (the laat two are set to the poems of Browning)
Interesting Fact:
She married Henry Harris Aubrey Beach, M.D when she was 18. Her husband, who was 25 years older, convinced her to limit her public performances. However, she did manage to publish her works under the name Mrs. H. H. A. Beach. When her husband died in 1910, she decided to revive her career using her maiden name - Amy Beach. Her comeback as a concert pianist proved to be successful.
Music Sample:
"Dreaming" from www.classicalmidiresource.com
