Four Sketches, Op. 15

• Amy Beach published this set of four piano miniatures in 1892. As is the case with many of her piano pieces, Beach introduces each of the four pieces in this set with a literary quotation.¹

1. “In Autumn,” Op. 15, No. 1 

“Feuillages jaunissants sur les gazons épars”  

“With yellowing leaves scattered on lawns” 

From “L’automne” by Alphonse de Lamartine 

2. “Phantoms,” Op. 15, No. 2 

“Toutes fragiles fleurs, sitôt mortes que nées !” 

“Such fragile flowers, dead as soon as they are born!”²

From “Fantômes,” in Les orientalesby Victor Hugo 

3. “Dreaming,” Op. 15, No. 3 

“Tu me parles du fond d’un rêve” 

“You speak to me from the depths of a dream” 

From “A celle qui est voilée” by Victor Hugo 

4. “Fire-flies,” Op. 15, No. 4 

“Naître avec le printemps, mourir avec les roses” 

“To be born with the spring, to die with the roses” 

From “Le papillon” by Lamartine

1. Amy Beach, Four Sketches, Op. 15 (Boston: Arthur P. Schmidt, 1892).
2. Translated in Edward D. Latham, “Gapped Lines and Ghostly Flowers in Amy Beach’s ‘Phantoms,’ Op. 15, No. 2,” in Analytical Essays on Music by Women Composers: Secular & Sacred Music to 1900, ed. Brenda Ravenscroft and Laurel Parsons (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018), ebook.