Amy Cheney Beach, an American composer and pianist, was the first successful American woman to write a symphony and to achieve wide recognition in America. Amy Cheney Beach, born in Henniker, New Hampshire on September 5, 1867 to a prominent New England family, was a child prodigy who became the best known woman composer of her time period and the first in the United States (Library). Beach was the only child of Charles Abbor Cheney and Clara Imogene Cheney (Amy Beach (1867-1944)). Charles Abbor Cheney was a mathematician and entrepreneur and Clara Imogene Cheney, better known as Marcy, was a talented singer, and pianist (Amy Beach (1867-1944)).
Amy Cheney Beach began to compose music at a very early age. By the age of one Amy Cheney Beach…show more content… Amy Beach began work on her Symphony in E-minor, also known as the “Gaelic Symphony,” in 1894 and completed it in 1896 (Amy Beach and the American Symphonic Movement). The “Gaelic Symphony” was scored for pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, and strings (Gaelic Symphony). The first movement of the “Gaelic Symphony” begins with intense energy. The dynamic second movement has an elegant theme that returns in varied form in the movement’s middle section. For the third movement, Beach sets two gloomy Irish themes in counterpoint, so that they are heard concurrently. In the final movement, the melody of the first movement returns but with a more intense feeling (Gaelic Symphony). Beach’s symphony was performed by the Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Hamburg, and Leipzig orchestras during her life-time (Gaelic…show more content… H.H.A. Beach amazed the world with her complex styles of music composition and symphonies. Some of Beach’s well known pieces are songs such as the “The Three Years at the Spring” (Amy Beach). Amy Beach went on to become one of the most significant musical artists of all time. Amy Beach influenced many people, but Amy Cheney Beach was most inspired by her mother Marcy, who shared the same passion and love for music as Amy did (Amy Beach). With countless solos, operas and performances all over the world Mrs. H.H.A Beach became a renowned artist known in America and Europe. In addition to the Mass in E-Flat Major and the Gaelic Symphony, Beach's compositions include a violin sonata, a piano concerto, a piano quintet and a piano trio, several choral and chamber music compositions, piano music, approximately 150 songs and the opera Cabildo (Gaelic