Born in Henniker, NH, Sept 5, 1867
Died in New York, NY, Dec 27, 1944
- Amy Marcy Cheney was a child prodigy: she could sing forty melodies accurately at the age of 1; she taught herself to read at age 3; she could compose and play by ear by age 4.
- Amy Marcy Cheney played her premiere as a piano soloist with orchestra in 1883, and premiered with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1885, playing Chopin’s f minor concerto.
- After her 1885 marriage, at her husband’s request, Amy Beach reduced her public appearances as a pianist, and played only for charity. (A professional career was considered inappropriate for a married woman of her social status.) Beach transferred her main musical efforts to composing.
- At her husband’s request, during her married life Beach frequently published as “Mrs. H.H.A. Beach.”
- Beach’s Symphony in e minor, Op. 32, “Gaelic,” was the first symphony by an American to garner international acclaim. It premiered with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on October 30, 1896.
- George Whitefield Chadwick and other contemporaries considered Beach part of the Second New England School of composers.1
Biography from the Library of Congress
Sources
- Adrienne Fried Block and E. Douglas Bomberger, “Beach [Cheney], Amy Marcy,” Grove Music Online (October 16, 2013), accessed June 4, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002248268.
Pieces
- By the Still Waters, Op. 114
- Four Sketches, Op. 15
- Hermit Thrush, Op. 92
- Invocation, Op. 55
- Les rêves de Columbine, Op. 65 (The Dreams of Columbina)
- Piano Concerto in c-sharp minor, Op. 45
- Piano Quintet in f-sharp minor, Op. 67
- Piano Trio, Op. 150
- Romance for Violin and Piano, Op. 23
- Scottish Legend, Op. 53, No. 1
- Symphony in e minor, Op. 32, “Gaelic”
- Tyrolean Valse-Fantaisie, Op. 116
- Violin Sonata in a minor, Op. 34