Overture No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 24

Composer: FARRENC, Louise
  • Farrenc composed two concert overtures in 1834: No. 1, Op. 23, and this one, her Op. 24. Both remained unpublished during her lifetime. These were Farrenc’s first orchestral works.1
  • The Orchestre de le Société des Concerts du Conservatoire performed this overture in 1840. This was a remarkable achievement because the Société rarely played instrumental repertoire by French composers, let alone music by women.2 (There wasn’t a long French orchestral tradition yet in the early 19th century – Germany and Austria were still seen as the leaders in this field.)

Sources

  1. Bea Friedland, “Farrenc family,” Grove Music Online, (2001), accessed August 6, 2021,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000009336.
  2. Christin Heitmann, liner notes to Louise Farrenc: Symphony 2; Overtures 1 & 2, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Johannes Goritzki, Chandos 999 820-2, CD, 2000.

Cut IDs

23840