This
month, Clef Notes looks at important women composers throughout history. Let’s
get started with Amy Beach (1867–1944), who celebrates her 150th
birthday today! Amy grew up in Boston during an era when women were just
starting to gain a few rights including the right to attend college and hold a
public job. That being said, it was still quite difficult for her to break
through in the music world, despite her incredible talents.
Amy
Beach was a child prodigy who studied privately early on and taught herself how
to compose. By the time she turned 18, Amy was appearing with the Boston
Symphony Orchestra and publishing her early compositions. After marrying a
wealthy doctor, however, she gave up her concert appearances due to his view
that it was not respectable for a woman to hold such a position. He did
encourage her to focus her efforts on composition, which led to a period of
many outstanding works. Following his death in 1910, Amy took up touring again,
performing her own works.
At
the time when Amy lived, women were thought to be incapable of composing larger
works (such as symphonies or concertos). Amy decided to prove this theory wrong
by writing quite a few major works including her Mass in E-flat, Gaelic
Symphony, Piano Concerto, and Piano Quintet. She ended up being an inspiration
for many women to follow in her footsteps. Next time, we’ll look at one of her
major works, the Gaelic Symphony.
