Beach, Amy Marcy

Beach, Amy Marcy
orig. Amy Marcy Cheney known as Mrs. H.H.A. Beach

born Sept. 5, 1867, Henniker, N.H., U.S.
died Dec. 27, 1944, New York, N.Y.

U.S. composer and pianist.

A precociously brilliant musician, she performed as soloist with major orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. As a composer she was devoted to German Romanticism rather than American themes or sources. Her best-loved works were her songs. Her Gaelic Symphony (1894) was the first symphony by an American woman. Other works include a piano concerto (1899), the choral pieces The Chambered Nautilus (1907) and Canticle of the Sun (1928), the opera Cabildo (1932), and a piano quintet (1907).

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▪ American musician
née  Amy Marcy Cheney , married name  Mrs. H.H.A. Beach 
born Sept. 5, 1867, Henniker, N.H., U.S.
died Dec. 27, 1944, New York, N.Y.

      American pianist and composer known for her Piano Concerto (1900) and her Gaelic Symphony (1894), the first symphony by an American woman composer.

      Amy Cheney had already demonstrated precocious musical talent when the family moved to Boston in 1870. She began taking piano lessons at age six, although she had been composing simple melodies on the keyboard since age four. In October 1883, at the age of 16, she gave her first public recital at Boston Music Hall. Several more successful recitals followed, and in March 1885 she played the Chopin Piano Concerto in F Minor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

      In December 1885 she married Henry H.A. Beach, an eminent surgeon, Harvard University professor, and devoted amateur musician. He encouraged his wife to concentrate on composition, and, curtailing her public performing, she undertook a rigorous course of self-instruction in musical theory and composition. Her first efforts were in smaller forms—musical settings of favourite poems and other pieces—but in February 1892 she heard the Boston Symphony and the Handel and Haydn Society perform her Mass in E-flat (written 1890), her first major work (numbered Opus 5) and the first by a woman to be performed by those organizations. Her subsequent important compositions include "Eilende Wolken" (1892), an aria based on text by Friedrich von Schiller; Festival Jubilate (1891) for the dedication of the Woman's Building at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893; the Gaelic Symphony; Sonata in A Minor (1896); and Piano Concerto in C-sharp Minor (1899).

      Mrs. H.H.A. Beach, as she was known, was by far the preeminent woman composer in the United States, and her more than 150 numbered works, nearly all of which were published, also included choral works, church music, chamber works, cantatas, and songs to words of Shakespeare, Robert Burns, and Robert Browning. After the death of her husband in 1910, she spent the years 1911–14 in Europe, where her performances and compositions were widely acclaimed.

Additional Reading
Amy Beach's life and work are examined in Walter S. Jenkins, The Remarkable Mrs. Beach, American Composer, ed. by John H. Baron (1994); and Jeanell Wise Brown, Amy Beach and Her Chamber Music: Biography, Documents, Style (1994).

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Beach, Amy Marcy — orig. Amy Marcy Cheney llamada Mrs. H.H.A. Beach (5 sep. 1867, Henniker, N.H., EE.UU.–27 dic. 1944, Nueva York, N.Y.). Compositora y pianista estadounidense. Música precoz y brillante, se presentó como solista con las principales orquestas de… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Amy Marcy Cheney Beach — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Amy Marcy Cheney Beach Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (5 de septiembre de 1867, Henniker 27 de diciembre de 1944) fue una distinguida compositora y pianista de Nueva Hampshire, Nueva Inglaterra. Fue una de las primeras comp …   Wikipedia Español

  • Amy Beach — Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (September 5, 1867 – December 27, 1944) was an American composer and pianist. She was the first successful American female composer of large scale art music. Most of her compositions and performances were under the… …   Wikipedia

  • Marcy — /mahr see/, n. 1. Mount, a mountain in NE New York: highest peak of the Adirondack Mountains, 5344 ft. (1629 m). 2. a female given name, form of Marcia. * * * (as used in expressions) Beach Amy Marcy Amy Marcy Cheney Marcy William Learned Tweed… …   Universalium

  • Marcy — (as used in expressions) Beach, Amy Marcy Amy Marcy Cheney Marcy, William L(earned) Tweed, William Marcy …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • amy — /ay mee/, n., pl. amies. Slang. a vial of amyl nitrate. [by shortening] * * * (as used in expressions) Beach Amy Marcy Amy Marcy Cheney Amy Lyon Lowell Amy * * * …   Universalium

  • Amy — /ay mee/, n. a female given name: from a French word meaning beloved. * * * (as used in expressions) Beach Amy Marcy Amy Marcy Cheney Amy Lyon Lowell Amy * * * …   Universalium

  • Amy — (as used in expressions) Beach, Amy Marcy Amy Marcy Cheney Amy Lyon Lowell, Amy …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • beach — beachless, adj. /beech/, n. 1. an expanse of sand or pebbles along a shore. 2. the part of the shore of an ocean, sea, large river, lake, etc., washed by the tide or waves. 3. the area adjacent to a seashore: We re vacationing at the beach. v.t.… …   Universalium

  • Beach — /beech/, n. 1. Moses Yale, 1800 68, U.S. newspaper publisher. 2. Rex Ellingwood /el ing wood /, 1877 1949, U.S. novelist and short story writer. * * * I Sediments that accumulate along sea or lake shores. One type of beach occurs as a sediment… …   Universalium

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