Composed the Gaelic Symphony and the Mass in E-flat major

A major compositional success for Beach came with her Mass in E-flat major, which was performed in 1892 by the Handel and Haydn Society orchestra, which since its foundation in 1815 had never performed a piece composed by a woman. Newspaper music critics responded to the Mass by declaring her one of America's foremost composers, comparing the piece to Masses by Cherubini and Bach. Beach followed this up with an important milestone in music history: her Gaelic Symphony, the first symphony composed and published by an American woman. It premiered October 30, 1896, performed by the Boston Symphony "with exceptional success," although "whatever the merits or defects of the symphony were thought to be, critics went to extraordinary lengths in their attempts to relate them to the composer's sex.”

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Category:
Arts - Music

Completion Status:
yes

Patent Number:
N/A

Co-Inventor:
None