Amy Marcy Cheney Beach
Personal Information
Born: 1867
Died: 1944
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: White
Education
attended private school in Boston; musical education was through private tutors or self-taught
Professional Life
Field of Study: Composer/Pianist
Institution/Corporation: MacDowell Colony
Degrees & Memberships: Honorary Masters Degree University of New Hampshire (1928); Member: Fellow MacDowell Colony; President of the Board of Councillors of New England Conservatory of Music; founder & 1st President of the Society of American women Composers (1925); Chapter R of th P. E. O. Sisterhood; Music Teachers National Association; Music Educators National conmference
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 1999 American Classical Music Hall of Fame & Museum; 2000 her name was added to the granite wall of Boston's Hatch Shell; 1994 Bronze Plaque was placed at her Boston residence by the Boston women's Heritage Trail; September 5, 2017 was declared Amy Beach Say in Boston
Achievements: first successful American female composer of large-scale art music; her Gaelic Symphony, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1896, was the first symphony composed and published by an American woman; one of the first American composers to succeed without the benefit of European training, and one of the most respected and acclaimed American composers of her era.; as a pianist, was acclaimed for concerts she gave featuring her own music in the United States and in Germany; 1st female composer to have her work performed by the Handel & Haydn Society Orchestra;
was considered a child prodigy, could sing 40 songs accurately by age 1, improvised counter-melody by age 2, & taught herself to read by age 3
composed 3 waltzes for piano at age 4 without the benefit of a piano
could paly music by ear including 4-part hymns
had perfect pitch
experienced synesthesia a condition where each key was associated with a particular color
only formal composing training she received was from 1881-82 when she studied harmony & counterpoint with Junius W. Hill at Wellesley College
taught herself counterpoint, harmony, & fugue by reading any book about the topics she could find
made her concert debut at age 16 (1883)
got married to Dr. Henry Harris Aubrey Beach at 18 & he was 24 years older than her
she agreed to never teach piano, limit her performances to 1-2 public recitals yearly with profits donated to charity, devote herself to composing, & stop working with tutors as conditions of her marriage
her work was published under the name Mrs. H. H. A. Beach until after her husband's death in 1910
her mother died 7 months after her husband & she went to Europe to rest & mourn
returned to America in 1814 but had a trunkful of her music manuscripts confiscated at the Belgian border, they were not returned to her until 1929
1930 was composer-in-residence at New York's St. Bartholomew's Episcopal church
retired in 1940 due to heart problems
per her will, all her royalties after death & her estate were given to the MacDowell Colony
a collection of her writings including diaries, correspondence, music manuscripts & ephemera are housed at the University of New Hampshire Library