Amy Marcy Cheney Beach

Pioneering American Female Composer and Pianist

Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867–1944) was a pioneering American composer and pianist. She was the first successful American female composer of large-scale art music, and her "Gaelic" Symphony, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1896, was the first symphony composed and published by an American woman. She was largely self-taught in composition, although she received piano lessons from an early age and made her concert debut as a pianist at the age of sixteen. Throughout her career, Beach composed and performed extensively, often premiering her own works. Her compositions include works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, piano solos, choral works, and songs. After her husband's death in 1910, Beach toured Europe as a pianist, playing her own compositions to great acclaim before returning to America. Her music was influenced by the Romantic tradition as well as American folk themes, as evidenced in her "Gaelic" Symphony which incorporates Irish melodies. Amy Beach's legacy is that of a trailblazer for women in classical music, both as a composer and performer.