Amy Beach (Mrs. H. H. A. Beach)

Amy Beach (Mrs. H. H. A. Beach) Amy Beach Facts Known for: classical composer, whose success was unusual for her sex, one of few American composers recognized internationally at the timeOccupation: pianist, composerDates: September 5, 1867 - December 27, 1944Also known as: Amy Marcy Cheney, Amy Marcy Cheney Beach, Amy Cheney Beach, Mrs. H. H. A. Beach Amy Beach Biography: Amy Cheney began to sing at the age of two and play piano at the age of four. She began her formal study of piano at age six, taught first by her mother. When she performed in her first public recital at age seven, she included some pieces of her own composition. Her parents had her study music in Boston, although it was more common for musicians of her talent to study in Europe. She attended a private school in Boston and studied with musical teachers and coaches Ernst Perabo, Junius Hill and Carl Baermann. At the age of sixteen, Amy Cheney had her professional debut, and in March, 1885, appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, performing Chopins F minor concerto. In December of 1885, when she was eighteen, Amy married a much-older man. Dr. Henry Harris Aubrey Beach was a surgeon in Boston who was also an amateur musician. Amy Beach used the professional name Mrs. H. H. A. Beach from that time on, though more recently, she has been credited as Amy Beach or Amy Cheney Beach. Dr. Beach encouraged his wife to compose and publish her compositions, rather than perform publicly, after their marriage, bowing to a Victorian custom of wives avoiding the public sphere. Her Mass was performed by the Boston Symphony in 1892. She had achieved enough recognition to be asked to compose a choral piece for the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago. Her Gaelic Symphony, based on folk tunes of Ireland, by that same orchestra in 1896. She composed a piano concerto, and in a rare public appearance, soloed with the Boston Symphony in April of 1900 to debut that piece. A 1904 work, Variations on Balkan Themes, also used folk tunes as inspiration. In 1910, Dr. Beach died; the marriage had been happy but childless. Amy Beach continued composing and returned to performing. She toured Europe, playing her own compositions. Europeans were not used to either American composers or female composers meeting their high standards for classical music, and she gained considerable attention for her work there. Amy Beach began using that name when in Europe, but returned to using Mrs. H. H. A. Beach when she discovered that she already had some recognition for her compositions published under that name. She was once asked in Europe, when still using the name Amy Beach, whether she was the daughter of Mrs. H. H. A. Beach. When Amy Beach returned to America in 1914, she lived in New York and continued composing and performing. She played at two other Worlds Fairs: in 1915 in San Francisco and in 1939 in New York. She performed at the White House for Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. The womens suffrage movement used her career as an example of a womans success. That it was unusual for a woman to achieve her level of recognition is reflected in the comment by George Witefield Chadwick, another Boston composer, who called her one of the boys for her excellence. Her style, influenced by the New England composers and romantics, and influenced by the American Transcendentalists, was considered during her own lifetime to be somewhat out of date. In the 1970s, with the rise of feminism and attention to womens history, Amy Beachs music was rediscovered and performed more often than it had been. No known recordings of her own performances exist. Key Works Amy Beach wrote more than 150 works, and published almost all of those. These are some of the best-known: 1889: Valse-Caprice1892: Fireflies1892: Mass in E-flat major1892: aria Eilende Wolken1893: Festival Jubilate1893: Ecstasy1894: Ballad1896: Gaelic Symphony1900: Three Browning Songs1903: June1904: Shena Van1907: The Chambered Nautilus1915: Panama Hymn1922: The Hermit Thrush at Eve and The Hermit Thrush at Morn1928: The Canticle of the Sun