Late RomanticAmy Beach
Amy Beach was born in the United States.
Amy Beach’s life
The big moments of this life, and what was happening in the world at the same time.
A life at a glance
- 1867👶 Birth
Born in Henniker on 5 September (Amy Marcy Cheney)
- 1868❤️ Private lifeage 1
At one, she already sings about forty tunes in tune
- 1871🎼 Workage 4
Composes her first waltzes at 4
- 1875🌍 Meanwhile
The Palais Garnier opera house opens in Paris
- 1877🌍 Meanwhile
Edison invents the phonograph: sound can be recorded!
- 1883🎩 Careerage 16
Debut as a pianist in Boston at 16
- 1892🎼 Workage 25
Mass in E-flat, premiered by the Handel and Haydn Society
- 1893🎼 Workage 26
Festival Jubilate for the Chicago World’s Fair
- 1911🧳 Journeyage 44
After her husband’s death, triumphant tour of Europe
- 1912🌍 Meanwhile
The Titanic sinks
- 1921🎩 Careerage 54
Fellow of the MacDowell Colony, where she composes every summer
- 1927🌍 Meanwhile
First talking picture (The Jazz Singer)
- 1944🕯️ Deathage 77
Dies in New York on 27 December
Listen to the music
Press the big button to listen. Close your eyes: how does it make you feel?
Amy Beach’s music is in the public domain, but Wikimedia Commons does not yet offer a freely licensed recording of these works. The links below lead to scores and searches on Commons; as soon as a free recording is published, it can be added here.
Once upon a time…
Amy Beach was born in the United States. She was an incredible child: at one she could already sing forty songs perfectly in tune! At four she made up waltzes in her head.
She taught herself almost entirely to compose, reading books and studying the scores of great musicians. At sixteen she gave her first concert in Boston.
She wrote a symphony inspired by old Irish songs: the first symphony written by an American woman! She loved nature and wrote down birdsong to put it in her music.
Later she helped young women composers become known.
Amy Beach’s instruments
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