Born: 5 September 1867, United States
Died: 27 December 1944
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Mrs. H.H.A. Beach, Amy Marcy Cheney
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Born on September 5, 1867, pianist and composer Amy Marcy Cheney Beach became the first American woman to achieve widespread recognition as a composer of large-scale works with orchestra. She made her professional debut in Boston, Massachusetts in 1883, performing Chopin’s Rondo in E-flat major and Moscheles’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor in A.P. Peck’s Anniversary Concert at the Boston Music Hall. Two years later she played her first performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with Wilhelm Gericke conducting Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor. In 1892, Beach achieved her first notable success as a composer with the performance of her Mass in E-flat by Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society.
Beach’s national reputation grew through her well-received Symphony, op. 32; Violin Sonata, op. 34; and Piano Concerto, op. 45. In 1892, the Symphony Society of New York premiered her concert aria, Eilende Wolken, op. 18, the first composition by a woman played by that orchestra. As her career blossomed, Beach assumed many leadership positions, often in advancing the cause of American women composers. She was associated with the Music Teachers National Association and the Music Educators National Conference. In 1925, she was a founding member and first president of the Society of American Women Composers.
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Amy Marcy Cheney Beach was an accomplished American composer and pianist and the first successful American female composer of significant art music. Her “Gaelic” Symphony premiered with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1896, marking the first symphony composed and published by an American woman. Notably, she achieved her acclaim without the traditional European training, establishing herself as one of the most respected American composers of her era. As a pianist, she gained recognition for her concerts featuring her own compositions in both the United States and Germany.
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
American composer and pianist. Up to the time of her marriage to Dr. Henry Harris Aubrey Beach in 1885, she attained distinction as a pianist, playing in concerts and recitals; since then she has devoted herself almost entirely to composition.
The Gaelic Symphony, for full orchestra, conceded to be her best work, has been played by all the great national orchestras. Her many others works for orchestra, piano and voice have given her a place in the foremost ranks of American composers.