Presents
Amy Beach
Romance for Violin and Piano, Op.23
Amy Beach's Romance for Violin and Piano came relatively early in her career. It was composed in 1893 and dedicated to the then famous American violinist Maud Powell. Beach and Powell premiered the work in the year that it was composed at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It is in three sections with the melodies shared by both players.
Amy Beach (1867-1944) née Cheney was born in Henniker, New Hampshire. She studied piano with several at the time well-known piano teachers, including Ernst Perabo and Kal Baermann, but with regard to composition she was almost entirely self-taught. She made her concert debut at the age of 16. Two years later, she married a physician 24 years her senior, Dr.Henry Harris Aubrey Beach. During her lifetime, she was known neither by her maiden name nor her own given name but my the moniker “Mrs. H.H.A. Beach.” That this was so, one must remember that this was the practice at the time and even the most celebrated actresses in Britain and America were known by their husband’s names. Hence, all of her compositions appeared under the name of Mrs. H.H.A. Beach and it is only recently in more egalitarian times that she has finally become known under her own name, Amy Beach. For social propriety’s sake, her husband, as a member of Boston’s upper crust, insisted that she limit her concert performances to one a year. It was only after his death in 1910 that she embarked on a concert tour of both Europe and America. She wrote in most genres and was the first American woman to write a symphonic work. Ultimately, she was considered one of America’s leading composers and the only female composer to be ranked alongside of Arthur Foote, George Chadwick, Edward MacDowell, and Horatio Parker. Her writing is in a late Romantic idiom, showing the influence of Brahms and and Cesar Franck.
This is an enjoyable work which can be recommended to both professionals and amateurs as a recital piece. Long out of print and unavailable, we are pleased to reintroduce it once again.
Parts: $14.95
