Amy Beach

[BoliverAllmon]

what do you think of her music? I put her on the same level as Mozart as far prodigy status. She composed what she did with no lessons. She was even discouraged from taking composition or piano lessons.

what is your favorite piece of hers?

[Lance Morrison]

she seems like an interesting personality....but what is her music like?

[BoliverAllmon]

really cool. go listen to her prelude and fugue from classicalarchives.net

[cygnusdei]

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread. I heard Beach's piano quintet on the radio a couple of days ago. Crafty piece of work. I had heard of Amy Beach but had never heard her music before.
Anyway Joanne Polk (apparently a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music) has 2 CDs of Beach piano music on Yahoo! music (subscription). I'm listening to them now.

[rachfan]

Starting around 1875, Beach studied music in Boston--piano, counterpoint, harmony, and composition.  In her young years she was devoted to piano studies and eventually played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  But when it came to composing, beyond the basic courses she was mostly self-taught in composition and orchestration.

I like Beach's music a lot!  The only piano piece I learned of hers awhile back was "Dreaming", Op. 15, No. 3, a reverie as the title suggests. It's one of her better short character pieces.  Unfortunately, I didn't record it, otherwise I'd post it here for you to hear. 

Her Sonata in Am for Piano and Violin, Op. 34 is outstanding!  You need to hear it!  She also wrote the Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano, Op. 150 which is very well crafted too.

This composer even wrote for voice!  I once heard her song for soprano, "I Send My Heart Up To Thee".  It was ultra-romantic!  I've never forgotten it.  I'd love to accompany a singer doing that song.  The piano part is lush!

She wrote a reputedly dazzling Piano Concerto, Op. 45 in C#m--which I've never heard.  I think it is available on CD though.  She toured Europe as a virtuoso pianist with the concerto, which received critical acclaim, as did her other works which she performed in recital and ensembles. 

I lived in Nashua, New Hampshire for 12 years, and always meant to drive to Henniker, the town where she was born and lived all her life.  I just wanted to get a sense of her surroundings.  But I never made it over there, as it was a really busy part of my life.  (Now we're in Maine.)

When I was a kid, she was always referred to as Mrs. H. H. A. Beach.  After women's lib, she posthumously became Amy Beach.     I think very highly of this American composer.

[retrouvailles]

I admittedly have never thought too highly of Amy Beach, especially when I compare her to the myriad of other American composers and woman composers. I have heard a great number of her works (some solo piano works, lots of chamber music, her "Gaelic" Symphony, and her piano concerto) and none of them have really struck me. Sure, it sounds good and is well crafted, but it is missing that element of music that really makes an impression on you. If you want a good American woman composer, look to the 20th/21st century, which is when American woman composers really shine and seemed to break free of what was around them. Amy Beach almost sounds like a "generic" romantic composer to me. Like, there is nothing that distinguishes her from her contemporaries. Perhaps I am just missing something in her music. I don't know.