(b Henniker, NH, 5 Sept 1867; d New York, 27 Dec 1944). American composer and pianist. She was the first American woman to succeed as a composer of large-scale art music and was celebrated during her lifetime as the foremost woman composer of the USA. A descendant of a distinguished New England family, she was the only child of Charles Abbott Cheney, a paper manufacturer and importer, and Clara Imogene (Marcy) Cheney, a talented amateur singer and pianist. At the age of one she could sing 40 tunes accurately and always in the same key; before the age of two she improvised alto lines against her mother's soprano melodies; at three she taught herself to read; and at four she mentally composed her first piano pieces and later played them, and could play by ear whatever music she heard, including hymns in four-part harmony. The Cheneys moved to Chelsea, Massachusetts, about 1871. Amy's mother agreed to teach her the piano when she was six, and at seven she gave her first public recitals, playing works by Handel, Beethoven and Chopin, and her own pieces. In 1875 the family moved to Boston, where her parents were advised that she could enter a European conservatory; but they decided on local training, engaging Ernst Perabo and later Carl Baermann as piano teachers. Her development as a pianist was monitored by a circle including Louis C. Elson, Percy Goetschius, H.W. Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, William Mason and Henry Harris Aubrey Beach (1843–1910), a physician who lectured on anatomy at Harvard and was an amateur singer; she was to marry him in 1885.
At
her successful début in Boston (24 October 1883) she played Chopin's Rondo in E
and Moscheles's G minor
Concerto, conducted by Adolf Neuendorff; at her début with the Boston SO (28
March 1885), the first of several appearances with that orchestra, she played
Chopin's F minor Concerto with Wilhelm Gericke conducting. After her marriage
to Dr Beach, and in respect of his wishes, she curtailed her performances,
giving only annual recitals, with proceeds donated to charity. Most
significantly, following her husband's wishes, her focus changed to
composition.
Her
training in composition was limited to one year of harmony and counterpoint
with Junius W. Hill. In 1884 she sought a composition teacher, consulting
Gericke, who prescribed a course of independent study using the masters as
models. Following his advice, and for the next ten years, she taught herself
fugue, double fugue, composition and orchestration, using a range of theory
texts, and translating treatises by Berlioz and Gevaert. During that time, she
also produced a substantial body of work including her Mass in E op.5, an 85-minute work for large
performing forces. Almost all of her compositions were performed (in particular
her songs and choral pieces), and were published by Arthur P. Schmidt, her
exclusive publisher from 1885 to 1910.
Beach's first published work was The Rainy Day, a setting of Longfellow's poem, composed in 1880 and issued in 1883. Her major works during the period 1885–1910 include the Mass, the Symphony op.32, the Violin Sonata op.34, the Piano Concerto op.45, the Variations on Balkan Themes op.60 and the Piano Quintet op.67 – introduced by such ensembles as the Boston Handel and Haydn Society, the Kneisel Quartet and the Boston SO. Eminent singers of the time, such as Emma Eames and Marcella Sembrich, presented her songs on recital programmes. Two of her many songs, Ecstasy op.19 no.2 and The Year's at the Spring op.44 no.1, sold many thousands of copies. Among her commissioned works were the Festival Jubilate op.17, written for the dedication (1 May 1893) of the Women's Building of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Eilende Wolken op.18, given its première by the Symphony Society of New York (2 December 1892) and the Song of Welcome op.42, for the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, Omaha (1898); others were the Panama Hymn op.74, for the international Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco (1915), and the Theme and Variations for Flute and String Quartet op.80, for the San Francisco Chamber Music Society.
After her husband's death in 1910 and her mother's in 1911, Beach went to Europe (sailing on 5 September 1911), determined to establish a reputation there as both performer and composer and to promote the sale of her own works. Beginning in autumn 1912 she gave recitals in German cities, playing her sonata and quintet and accompanying her songs; her symphony was given in Leipzig and Hauburg, and her concerto in those two cities and in Berlin. The reviews were favourable: one journal stated that Beach was the leading American composer and the critic Pfohl called Beach a ‘virtuoso pianist’ who had, as a composer, ‘a musical nature tinged with genius’.
At the outbreak of World War I Beach returned to the USA, with 30 concerts already scheduled in the East and Midwest, and in 1915 moved briefly to New York and San Francisco, settling in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, in 1916. Thereafter she spent winters on tour and summers practising and composing in Hillsborough; in Centerville on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where she owned land purchased with the proceeds of her song Ecstasy; and, from 1921, as a fellow at the MacDowell Colony where almost all her later works were composed. Outstanding among them are the String Quartet op.89, the two Hermit Thrush pieces op.92, From Grandmother's Garden op.97, Rendezvous op.120, The Canticle of the Sun op.123, Three Piano Pieces op.128, and the chamber opera Cabildo op.149. She made several trips abroad, including one to Rome (1929), where she finished her String Quartet. In 1942, to celebrate Beach's 75th birthday, Elena de Sayn, a violinist and critic from Washington, DC, organized two retrospective concerts of her music.
A highly disciplined composer, capable of producing large-scale works in a few days, Beach was also energetic in the promotion of her compositions, arranging for performances as soon as works were completed. As a pianist, she had a virtuoso technique and an extraordinary memory. She was interested in philosophy and science, and was fluent in German and French. Deeply religious, she later became virtual composer-in-residence at St Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York. She was generous, using her status as dean of American women composers to further the careers of many young musicians. She served as leader of several organizations, including the Music Teachers National Association and the Music Educators National Conference, and was co-founder in 1925 and the first president of the Society of American Women Composers. Heart disease caused her retirement in 1940 and her death in 1944. Her will assigned her royalties to the MacDowell Colony.
Beach's earliest works demonstrate her ability to create a long line and her sensitivity to relationships between music and text. Song is at the core of her style – she used some of her songs as themes in her instrumental works (e.g. the Symphony, the Piano Concerto op.45 and the Piano Trio op.150) – but her remarkable ear for harmony and harmonic colour is also apparent from the beginning. Like the early Romantics, Beach emphasized modal degrees and used mixed modes. Her perfect pitch and association of keys with colours and by extension with moods resulted in the expressive use of modulation (e.g. the song Die vier Brüder from op.1).
Her mature style, characterized by increasing chromaticism, use of long-held and overlapping appoggiaturas, 7th and augmented-6th chords, modulation by 3rds and avoidance of the dominant, shows her debt to the late Romantics, as well to the use of Scottish, Irish, American and European folk music in some 30 compositions. However, she was acutely aware of the stylistic changes in music from the 1910s, and a significant number of her late works depart from the previously lush harmonies. The String Quartet (1929), for example, which quotes three simple Inuit melodies, displays lean textures and contrapuntally driven, unresolved dissonances, while From Grandmother's Garden, whose title may suggest a retrospective style, moves further away from tonality. Her most adventurous pieces verge on atonality itself: the first of the op.128 set of three pieces for piano, ‘Scherzino: a Peterborough Chipmunk’, begins with a series of arpeggiated seventh chords without tonal implications, while the Improvisation, op.148 no.1, employs whole-tone arpeggios arranged in chromatic wedges.
Beach first made her reputation as a composer of art songs. But it was her large-scale works beginning with the Mass and the Symphony that won her acceptance first by her Boston colleagues then nationally and internationally. Her most popular works in addition to the songs were the Symphony, which had dozens of performances by leading orchestras, the Violin Sonata, the Piano Quintet, the Theme and Variations for flute quintet, the Hermit Thrush pieces for piano and, among the secular choral works, The Chambered Nautilus. Her sacred works, in particular the anthem Let this mind be in you and the Expressionist The Canticle of the Sun, remained in the repertory of church choirs for years after her death when her other works were no longer heard. Many of her works have returned to the concert stage and about two-thirds of a total of 300 have been recorded.
ADRIENNE FRIED BLOCK
printed works published in Boston unless otherwise stated
|
fs |
full score |
|
os |
organ score |
|
ps |
piano score |
For index to vocal works see GroveA
op.
|
149 |
Cabildo (1, N.B. Stephens), solo vv, chorus, spkr, vn, vc, pf, 1932; Athens, GA, 27 Feb 1945 |
|
18 |
Eilende Wolken, Segler die Lüfte (F. von Schiller), A, orch, 1892, vs (1892) |
|
22 |
Bal masque, perf. 1893, version for pf (1894) |
|
32 |
‘Gaelic’ Symphony, e, 1894–6, fs (1897) |
|
45 |
Piano
Concerto, c |
|
53 |
Jephthah's Daughter (Mollevaut, after Bible: Judges xi.38, It. trans., I. Martinez, Eng. trans., A.M. Beach), S, orch, vs (1903) |
|
23 |
Romance, vn, pf (1893) |
|
34 |
Vn Sonata, a, 1896 (1899), transcr. va, pf, transcr. fl, pf |
|
40/1–3 |
Three Compositions, vn, pf (1898), arr. vc (1903): La captive, Berceuse, Mazurka |
|
55 |
Invocation, vn, pf/org, vc obbl (1904) |
|
67 |
Piano
Quintet, f |
|
80 |
Theme and Variations, fl, str qt, 1916 (1920), ed. J. Graziano, American Chamber Music, Three Centuries of American Music, viii (1991) |
|
— |
Caprice, The Water Sprites, fl, vc, pf, 1921, The Water Sprites arr. pf |
|
89 |
String Quartet, 1 movt, 1929, ed. A.F. Block, Music of the United States of America, iii (Madison, WI, 1994) |
|
90 |
Pastorale, fl, vc, pf, 1921, arr. vc, org, arr. vc, pf |
|
— |
Prelude, vn, vc, pf, 1931 [frag.] |
|
125 |
Lento espressivo, vn, pf |
|
150 |
Piano Trio, 1938 (1939) |
|
151 |
Pastorale, ww qnt (1942) |
piano unless otherwise stated
|
3 |
Cadenza to Beethoven: Piano Concerto no.3, op.37, 1st movt (1888) |
|
4 |
Valse-caprice (1889) |
|
6 |
Ballad (1894), G |
|
15/1–4 |
Four Sketches (1892): In Autumn, Phantoms, Dreaming, arr. vc, pf, Fireflies |
|
— |
Untitled, 3 movts, pf 4 hands, before 1893 |
|
22 |
Bal masque (1894) |
|
25 |
Children's Carnival (1894) |
|
28/1–3 |
Trois morceaux caractéristiques (1894): Barcarolle, rev. 1937, arr. vn, pf, 1937; Minuet italien; Danse des fleurs |
|
36/1–5 |
Children's Album (1897): Minuet, Gavotte, Waltz, March, Polka |
|
47 |
Summer Dreams, pf 4 hands (1901) |
|
54/1–2 |
Scottish Legend, Gavotte fantastique (1903) |
|
60 |
Variations on Balkan Themes, 1904 (1906), orchd 1906, rev. (1936), arr. 2 pf (1937) |
|
64/1–4 |
Eskimos: Four Characteristic Pieces (1907), rev. (1943): Arctic Night, The Returning Hunter, Exiles, With Dog Teams |
|
65/1–5 |
Suite française (1907): Les rêves de Columbine, La fée de la fontaine, Le prince gracieux, Valse étoiles, Danse d'Arlequin |
|
70 |
Iverniana, 2 pf, 1910, lost |
|
81 |
Prelude and Fugue, 1917 (1918) |
|
83 |
From Blackbird Hills (1922) |
|
87 |
Fantasia fugata (1923) |
|
91 |
The Fair Hills of Eire, pf/org (1922), rev. as Prelude on an Old Folk Tune, org (1943) |
|
92/1–2 |
Hermit Thrush at Eve, Hermit Thrush at Morn, 1921 (1922) |
|
97/1–5 |
From Grandmother's Garden (1922) Morning Glories, Heartsease, Mignonette, Rosemary and Rue, Honeysuckle |
|
102/1–2 |
Piano Compositions (1924): Farewell Summer, Dancing Leaves |
|
104 |
Suite for Two Pianos Founded upon Old Irish Melodies (1924) |
|
106 |
Old Chapel by Moonlight (1924) |
|
107 |
Nocturne (1924) |
|
108 |
A Cradle Song of the Lonely Mother (1924) |
|
111 |
From Olden Times |
|
114 |
By the Still Waters (1925) |
|
116 |
Tyrolean Valse-fantaisie (1926) |
|
119 |
From Six to Twelve (1927) |
|
— |
A Bit of Cairo (1928) |
|
— |
A September Forest, 1930 |
|
128/1–3 |
Three Pf Pieces (1932): Scherzino: a Peterborough Chipmunk, Young Birches, A Humming Bird |
|
130 |
Out of the Depths (1932) |
|
148 |
Five Improvisations, 1934 (1938) |
4 voices and organ, unless otherwise stated
|
5 |
Mass,
E |
|
— |
Graduale (Thou Glory of Jerusalem), T, orch, ps (1892) [addition to Mass, op.5] |
|
7 |
O praise the Lord, all ye nations (Ps cxvii) (1891) |
|
8/1–3 |
Choral Responses (1891): Nunc dimittis (Bible: Luke ii.29), With prayer and supplication (Bible: Philippians iv.6–7), Peace I leave with you (Bible: John iv.27) |
|
17 |
Festival Jubilate (Ps c), D, 7vv, orch, 1891, ps (1892) |
|
24 |
Bethlehem (G.C. Hugg) (1893) |
|
27 |
Alleluia, Christ is risen (after M. Weisse, C.F. Gellert, T. Scott, T. Gibbons) (1895), arr. with vn obbl (1904) |
|
33 |
Teach me thy way (Ps lxxxvi.11–12), 1895 |
|
38 |
Peace on earth (E.H. Sears) (1897) |
|
50 |
Help us, O God (Pss lxxix.9, 5; xlv.6; xliv.26), 5vv (1903) |
|
52 |
A Hymn of Freedom: America (S.F. Smith), 4vv, org/pf (1903), rev. with text O Lord our God arise (1944) |
|
63 |
Service in A, S, A, T, B, 4vv, org: Te Deum, Benedictus (1905), rev. omitting Gloria, 1934; Jubilate Deo; Magnificat; Nunc dimittis (1906) |
|
74 |
All hail the power of Jesus' name (E. Perronet), 4vv, org/pf, 1914 (1915) |
|
76 |
Thou knowest, Lord (J. Borthwick), T, B, 4vv, org (1915) |
|
78/1–4 |
Canticles (1916): Bonum est, confiteri (Ps xcii. 1–4), S, 4vv, org; Deus misereatur (Ps lxvii); Cantate Domino (Ps xcviii); Benedic, anima mea (Ps ciii) |
|
84 |
Te Deum, f, T, male chorus 3vv, org, 1921 (1922) |
|
95 |
Constant Christmas (P. Brooks), S, A, 4vv, org (1922) |
|
96 |
The Lord is my shepherd (Ps xxiii), female chorus 3vv, org (1923) |
|
98 |
I will lift up mine eyes (Ps cxxi), 4vv (1923) |
|
103/1–2 |
Benedictus es, Domine, Benedictus (Bible: Luke i.67–81), B, 4vv, org (1924) |
|
105 |
Let this mind be in you (Bible: Philippians ii.5–11), S, B, 4vv, org (1924) |
|
109 |
Lord of the worlds above (I. Watts), S, T, B, 4vv, org (1925) |
|
115 |
Around the Manger (R. Davis), 4vv, org/pf (1925), version for 1v, pf/org (1925); rev. female chorus 3vv, org/pf (1925), rev. female chorus 4vv, org/pf (1929) |
|
121 |
Benedicite omnia opera Domini (Bible: Daniel iii.56–8) (1928) |
|
122 |
Communion Responses: Kyrie, Gloria tibi, Sursum corda, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Gloria, S, A, T, B, 4vv, org (1928) |
|
— |
Agnus Dei, SA, chorus, org/pf (1936) [suppl. to op.122] |
|
123 |
The Canticle of the Sun (St Francis), S, Mez, T, B, 4vv, orch, 1924, os (1928) |
|
125/2 |
Evening Hymn: The shadows of the evening hours (A. Procter), S, A, 4vv, 1934 (1936) |
|
132 |
Christ in the universe (A. Meynell), A, T, 4vv, orch, os (1931) |
|
133 |
Four Choral Responses (J. Fischer) (1932) |
|
134 |
God is our stronghold (E. Wordsworth), S, 4vv, org |
|
139 |
Hearken unto me (Bible: Isaiah li.1, 3; xliii.1–3; xl.28, 31), S, A, T, B, 4vv, orch, os (1934) |
|
141 |
O Lord, God of Israel (Bible: 1 Kings viii.23, 27–30, 34), S, A, B, 4vv, 1935 |
|
146 |
Lord of all being (O.W. Holmes) (1938) |
|
147 |
I will give thanks (Ps cxi), S, 4vv, org (1939) |
|
— |
Hymn: O God of love, O King of peace (H.W. Baker), 4vv, 1941 (1942) |
|
— |
Pax nobiscum (E. Marlatt), (female chorus 3vv)/(male chorus 3vv/4vv), org (1944) |
|
9 |
The Little Brown Bee (M. Eytinge), female chorus 4vv (1891) |
|
— |
Singing Joyfully (J.W. Chadwick), children's chorus 2vv, pf |
|
16 |
The Minstrel and the King: Rudolph von Hapsburg (F. von Schiller), T, B, male chorus 4vv, orch, ps (1890) |
|
26/4 |
Wouldn't that be queer (E.J. Cooley), female chorus 3vv, pf (1919) [arr. of song] |
|
— |
An Indian Lullaby (anon.), female chorus 4vv (1895) |
|
30 |
The Rose of Avon-Town (C. Mischka), S, A, female chorus 4vv, orch, ps (1896) |
|
31/1–3 |
Three Flower Songs (M. Deland), female chorus 4vv, pf (1896): The Clover, The Yellow Daisy, The Bluebell |
|
37/3 |
Fairy Lullaby (W. Shakespeare), female chorus 4vv (1907) |
|
39/1–3 |
Three Shakespeare Choruses, female chorus 4vv, pf (1897): Over hill, over dale, Come unto these yellow sands, Through the house give glimmering light |
|
42 |
Song of Welcome (H.M. Blossom), 4vv, orch, os (1898) |
|
43/4 |
Far Awa' (R. Burns), female chorus 3vv, pf (1918) [arr. of song] |
|
44/1–2 |
The year's at the spring (R. Browning), female chorus 4vv, pf (1909); Ah, love, but a day (Browning), female chorus 4vv, pf (1927) |
|
46 |
Sylvania: a Wedding Cantata (F.W. Bancroft, after W. Bloem), S, S, A, T, B, 8vv, orch, ps (1901) |
|
49 |
A Song of Liberty (F.L. Stanton), 4vv, orch, 1902, ps (1902), arr. male chorus 4vv, pf (1917) |
|
51/3 |
Juni (E. Jensen), 4vv, pf (1931), version for female chorus 3vv (1931) [arr. of song] |
|
56/4 |
Shena Van (W. Black), female chorus 3vv/male chorus 4vv (1917) [arr. of song] |
|
57/1–3 |
Only a Song (A.L. Hughes), One Summer Day (Hughes), female chorus 4vv (1904) |
|
59 |
The Sea-Fairies (A. Tennyson), S, A, female chorus 2vv, orch, org ad lib, 1904, ps (1904), acc. arr. hp, pf |
|
66 |
The Chambered Nautilus (Holmes), S, A, female chorus 4vv, orch, org ad lib, ps (1907), ed. A.F. Block (Bryn Mawr, PA, 1994) |
|
74 |
Panama Hymn (W.P. Stafford), 4vv, orch, arr. 4vv, org/pf (1915) |
|
75/1, 3 |
The Candy Lion (A.F. Brown), Dolladine (W.B. Rands), female chorus 4vv (1915) [arrs. of songs] |
|
— |
Friends (Brown), children's chorus 2vv (1917) |
|
— |
Balloons (L.A. Garnett) children's chorus (1916) |
|
82 |
Dusk in June (S. Teasdale), female chorus 4vv (1917) |
|
86 |
May Eve, 4vv, pf, 1921 (1933) |
|
94 |
Three School Songs, 4vv (1933) |
|
101 |
Peter Pan (J. Andrews), female chorus 3vv, pf (1923) |
|
110 |
The Greenwood (W.L. Bowles), 4vv (1925) |
|
118/1–2 |
The Moonboat (E.D. Watkins), children's chorus (1938), Who has seen the wind (C. Rossetti), children's chorus 2vv (1938) |
|
126/1–2 |
Sea Fever (J. Masefield), The Last Prayer, male chorus 4vv, pf (1931) |
|
127 |
When the last sea is sailed (Masefield), male chorus 4vv (1931) |
|
129 |
Drowsy Dream Town (R. Norwood), S, female chorus 3vv, pf (1932) |
|
140 |
We who sing have walked in glory (A.S. Bridgman), 1934 (1934) |
|
144 |
This morning very early (P.L. Hills), female chorus 3vv, pf, 1935 (1937) |
|
— |
The Ballad of the P.E.O. (R.C. Mitchell) female chorus, 1944 |
1 voice, piano, unless otherwise stated
|
1/1–4 |
Four Songs: With violets (K. Vannah) (1885), Die vier Brüder (F. von Schiller) (1887), Jeune fille et jeune fleur (F.R. Chateaubriand) (1887), Ariette (P.B. Shelley) (1886) |
|
2/1–3 |
Three Songs: Twilight (A.M. Beach) (1887), When far from her (H.H.A. Beach) (1889), Empress of night (H.H.A. Beach) (1891) |
|
10/1–3 |
Songs of the Sea (1890): A Canadian Boat Song (T. Moore), S, B, pf; The Night Sea (H.P. Spofford), S, S, pf; Sea Song (W.E. Channing), S, S, pf |
|
11/1–3 |
Three Songs (W.E. Henley): Dark is the night (1890), The Western Wind (1889), The Blackbird (1889) |
|
12/1–3 |
Three Songs (R. Burns): Wilt thou be my dearie? (1889) Ye banks and braes o' bonnie doon (1891), My luve is like a red, red rose, 1887 (1889) |
|
13 |
Hymn of Trust (O.W. Holmes) (1891), rev. with vn obbl (1901) |
|
14/1–4 |
Four Songs, 1890 (1891): The Summer Wind (W. Learned), Le secret (J. de Resseguier), Sweetheart, sigh no more (T.B. Aldrich), The Thrush (E.R. Sill); nos.2–3 rev. (1901) |
|
19/1–3 |
Three Songs (1893): For me the jasmine buds unfold (F.E. Coates), Ecstasy (A.M. Beach), 1v, pf, vn obbl, Golden Gates |
|
20 |
(Villanelle) Across the World (E.M. Thomas) (1894), arr. 1v, vc obbl |
|
21/1–3 |
Three Songs (1893): Chanson d'amour (V. Hugo), arr. 1v, orch, arr. 1v, vc obbl (1899), Extase (Hugo), Elle et moi (F. Bovet) |
|
26/1–4 |
Four Songs (1894): My Star (C. Fabbri), Just for this (Fabbri), Spring (Fabbri), Wouldn't that be queer (E.J. Cooley); no.4 arr. chorus (1919) |
|
29/1–4 |
Four Songs, 1894 (1895): Within thy heart (A.M. Beach), The Wandering Knight (anon., Eng. trans., J.G. Lockhart), Sleep, little darling (Spofford), Haste, O beloved (W.A. Sparrow) |
|
35/1–4 |
Four Songs, 1896 (1897): Nachts (C.F. Scherenberg), Allein! (H. Heine), Nähe des Geliebten (J.W. von Goethe), Forget-me-not (H.H.A. Beach) |
|
37/1–3 |
Three Shakespeare Songs (1897): O mistress mine, Take, O take those lips away, Fairy Lullaby; no.3 arr. chorus (1907) |
|
41/1–3 |
Three Songs (1898): Anita (Fabbri), Thy beauty (Spofford), Forgotten (Fabbri) |
|
43/1–5 |
Five Burns Songs (1899): Dearie, Scottish Cradle Song, Oh were my love yon lilac fair!, Far awa', My lassie; no.3 arr. 2 S, pf (1918); no.4 arr. chorus (1918), arr. 2vv (1918), arr. female vv (1918), arr. org, 1936, arr. pf, 1936 |
|
44/1–3 |
Three [R.] Browning Songs (1900): The year's at the spring, Ah, love but a day, I send my heart up to thee; no.1 arr. S, A, pf (1900), arr. chorus (1928), arr. female vv (1928), arr. 1v, pf, vn (1900), arr. male chorus, pf (1933); no.2 arr. A, B, pf (1917), arr. S, T, pf (1917), arr. 1v, pf, vn (1920), arr. chorus by H. Norden (1949), nos.1–2 arr. chorus (1927) |
|
48/1–4 |
Four Songs (1902): Come, ah come (H.H.A. Beach), Good Morning (A.H. Lockhart), Good Night (Lockhart), Canzonetta (A. Sylvestre) |
|
51/1–4 |
Four Songs (1903): Ich sagete nicht (E. Wissman); Wir drei (H. Eschelbach), Juni (E. Jansen), Je demande à l'oiseau (Sylvestre); no.3 arr. v, pf, vn (1903), arr. 1v, orch, arr. chorus (1931) |
|
56/1–4 |
Four Songs, 1903–4 (1904): Autumn Song (H.H.A. Beach), Go not too far (F.E. Coates), I know not how to find the spring (Coates), Shena Van (W. Black); no.4 arr. chorus (1917), arr. with vn obbl (1919) |
|
61 |
Give me not love (Coates), S, T, pf (1905) |
|
62 |
When soul is joined to soul (E.B. Browning) (1905) |
|
68 |
After (Coates) (1909), arr. vn, vc, arr. A, chorus, 1936, arr. S, A, chorus, org, 1936 |
|
69/1–2 |
Two Mother Songs (1908): Baby (G. MacDonald), Hush, baby dear (A.L. Hughes) |
|
71/1–3 |
Three Songs (1910): A Prelude (A.M. Beach), O sweet content (T. Dekker), An Old Love-Story (B.L. Stathem) |
|
72/1–2 |
Two Songs (1914): Ein altes Gebet, perf. 1914, Deine Blumen (L. Zacharias) |
|
73/1–2 |
Two Songs (Zacharias) (1914): Grossmütterchen, Der Totenkranz |
|
75/1–4 |
The Candy Lion (A.F. Brown), A Thanksgiving Fable (D. Herford), Dolladine (W.B. Rands), Prayer of a Tired Child (Brown) (1914); nos.1, 3 arr. female chorus (1915) |
|
76/1–2 |
Two Songs (1914): Separation (J.L. Stoddard), The Lotos Isles (Tennyson) |
|
77/1–2 |
Two Songs (1916): I (C. Fanning), Wind o' the Westland (D. Burnett) |
|
78/1–3 |
Three Songs (1917): Meadowlarks (I. Coolbrith), Night Song at Amalfi (Teasdale), In Blossom Time (Coolbrith) |
|
— |
A Song for Little May (E.H. Miller), 1922 |
|
— |
The Arrow and the Song (H.W. Longfellow), 1922 |
|
— |
Clouds (F.D. Sherman), 1922 |
|
85 |
In the Twilight (Longfellow) (1922) |
|
88 |
Spirit Divine (A. Read), S, T, org (1922) |
|
93 |
Message (Teasdale) (1922) |
|
99/1–4 |
Four Songs (1923): When Mama Sings (A.M. Beach), Little Brown-Eyed Laddie (A.D.O. Greenwood), The Moonpath (K. Adams), The Artless Maid (L. Barili) |
|
100/1–2 |
Two Songs (1924): A Mirage (B. Ochsner); Stella viatoris (J.H. Nettleton), S, vn, vc, pf |
|
112 |
Jesus my Saviour (A. Elliott) (1925) |
|
113 |
Mine be the lips (L. Speyer) (1921) |
|
115 |
Around the Manger (Davis), 1v, pf/org (1925), also version for chorus |
|
117/1–3 |
Three Songs (M. Lee) (1925): The Singer, The Host, Song in the Hills |
|
— |
Birth (E.L. Knowles), 1926 |
|
120 |
Rendezvous (Speyer), 1v, vn obbl (1928) |
|
— |
Mignonnette (1929) |
|
124 |
Springtime (S.M. Heywood) (1929) |
|
125/1–2 |
Two Sacred Songs: Spirit of Mercy (anon.) (1930), Evening Hymn: The shadows of the evening hours (A. Procter) (1934); no.2 arr. chorus (1936) |
|
131 |
Dark Garden (Speyer) (1932) |
|
135 |
To one I love (1932) |
|
136 |
Fire and Flame (A.A. Moody), 1932 (1933) |
|
137/1–2 |
Baby (S.R. Quick); May Flowers (Moody); 1932 (1933) |
|
— |
Evening song, 1934 |
|
— |
April Dreams (K.W. Harding), 1935 |
|
— |
The Deep Sea Pearl (E.M. Thomas), 1935 |
|
142 |
I sought the Lord (anon.), 1v, org, 1936 (1937) |
|
143 |
I shall be brave (Adams) (1932) |
|
145 |
Dreams |
|
152 |
Though I Take the Wings of Morning (R.N. Spencer), 1v, org/pf (1941) |
|
— |
The heart that melts |
|
— |
The Icicle Lesson |
|
— |
If women will not be inclined |
|
— |
Time has wings and swiftly flies |
|
— |
Whither (W. Müller) [after Chopin: Trois nouvelles études, no.3] |
|
— |
Du sieh'st, B, pf [frag.] |
|
— |
Arr.: Beethoven: Piano Concerto no.1, 2nd movt, pf 4 hands, 1887 |
|
— |
St John the Baptist (Bible: Matthew, Luke), lib, 1889 |
|
— |
Arr.: Berlioz: Les Troyens, Act 1 scene iii, 1v, pf, 1896 |
|
— |
Serenade, pf (1902) [transcr. of R. Strauss: Ständchen] |
|
— |
Arr.: On a hill: Negro melody (trad.), 1v, pf (1929) |
|
Air and Variations, pf, 1877; Mamma's Waltz, pf, 1877; Menuetto, pf, 1877; Romanza, pf, 1877; Petite valse, pf, 1878; The Rainy Day (H. Longfellow), 1v, pf, 1880 (1883); Allegro appassionata, Moderato, Allegro con fuoco, pf 4 hands, pubd as Three Movements for Piano Four-Hands (1998) |
|
4 Chorales: Come ye faithful (J. Hupton); Come to me (C. Elliott); O Lord, how happy should we be (J. Anstice); To heav'n I lift my waiting eyes, 4vv, 1882 |
|
The Rainy Day (Longfellow), 1v, pf, 1880 |
|
|
|
MSS and other sources in University of New Hampshire, Durham; US-Bc, KC, PHf, Wc |
|
Principal publishers: A-R Editions, Classical Vocal Reprint, Ditson, Hildegard, Masters Music, Presser, Recital, G. Schirmer, Schmidt, Walton |
‘Cristofori redivivus’, Music, xvi/May (1899), 1–5
‘Why I Chose my Profession: the Autobiography of a Woman Composer’, Mother's Magazine, xi/Feb (1914), 7–8
‘The Outlook for the Young American Composer’, The Etude, xxxiii (1915), 13–14
‘Music's Ten Commandments as given for Young Composers’, Los Angeles Examiner (28 June 1915)
‘Common Sense in Pianoforte Touch and Technic’, The Etude, xxxiv (1916), 701–2
‘To the Girl who Wants to Compose’, The Etude, xxxv (1918), 695
‘Work out your own Salvation’, The Etude, xxxvi (1918), 11–12
‘Emotion Versus Intellect in Music’, Studies in Musical Education, History, and Aesthetics, xxvi (1932), 17–19
‘The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of a Vision’, Studies in Musical Education, History, and Aesthetics, xxvii (1933), 45–8
‘A Plea for Mercy’, Studies in Musical Education, History, and Aesthetics, xxx (1936), 163–5
‘The Mission of the Present Day Composer’, Triangle of Mu Phi Epsilon, xxxvi/Feb (1942), 71–2
‘How Music is Made’, Keyboard, iv (1942), 11, 38
‘The “How” of Creative Composition’, The Etude, lxi (1943), 151, 206, 208–9
‘The World Cries out for Harmony’, The Etude, lxvii (1944), 11
‘Los Angeles “Fairyland” Marks an Epoch in American Music’, in H. Parker: “Fairyland” Scrapbook, US-NH
EwenD
NAW
SchmidlD
‘Mrs H.H.A. Beach’, Musikliterarische Blätter, i (Vienna, 1904), 1
L.C. Elson: The History of American Music (New York, 1904, 2/1915, enlarged 3/1925 by A. Elson), 294–305
P. Goetschius: Mrs H.H.A. Beach (Boston, 1906) [incl. analytical sketch of Sym. op.32 and list of works]
G. Cowen: ‘Mrs H.H.A. Beach, the Celebrated Composer’, Musical Courier (8 June 1910)
‘Mrs. Beach's Compositions’, Musical Courier (24 March 1915)
H. Brower: Piano Mastery (New York, 1917), 179–87
B.C. Tuthill: ‘Mrs H.H.A. Beach’, MQ, xxvi (1940), 297–310
E.L. Merrill: Mrs H.H.A. Beach: her Life and Music (diss., U. of Rochester, 1963)
M.G. Eden: Anna Hyatt Huntington, Sculptor, and Mrs H.H.A. Beach, Composer (diss., Syracuse U., 1977) [incl. list of works]
A.F. Block: Introduction
to Amy Beach: Quintet in f
op.67
(New York, 1979)
C. Ammer: Unsung: a History of Women in American Music (Westport, CT, 1980)
B. Sicherman and others, eds.: Notable American Women, iv (Cambridge, MA, 1980)
A.F. Block: ‘Why Amy Beach Succeeded as a Composer: the Early Years’, CMc, no.36 (1983), 41–59
M.S. Miles: The Solo Piano Works of Mrs. H.H.A. Beach (DMA diss., Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins U., 1985)
A.F. Block: ‘Arthur P. Schmidt, Publisher and Champion of Women Composers’, Musical Woman, ii (1984–5), 145–76
L. Petteys: ‘Cahildo by Amy Marcy Beach’, Opera Journal, xxii/1 (1989), 10–19
A.F. Block: ‘Amy Beach's Music on Native American Themes’, American Music, viii/sum. (1990), 141–66
A.F. Block: ‘Dvořák, Beach and American Music’, A Celebration of American Music: Words and Music in Honor of H. Wiley Hitchcock, ed. R. Crawford, R. Allen Lott and C.J. Oja (Ann Arbor, 1990), 256–80
M.K. Kelton: The Songs of Mrs H.H.A. Beach (DMA diss., U. of Texas, 1992)
E.D. Bomberger: ‘Motivic Development in Amy Beach’s Variations on Balkan Themes, op.60’, American Music, x/3 (1992), 326–47
A.F. Block: ‘Communications: on Beach's Variations on Balkan Themes, op.60’, American Music, xi/3 (1993) 368–71
A.F. Block: ‘Amy Beach's Quartet on Inuit Themes: toward a Modernist Style’, preface to Amy Beach: Quartet for Strings (in One Movement) opus 89 (Madison, WI, 1994), pp.xi–xxxi
A.F. Block: ‘A “Veritable Autobiography”? Amy Beach's Piano Concerto in C-Sharp Minor, op.45’, MQ, lxxviii (1994), 394–416
W.S. Jenkins: The Remarkable Mrs. Beach: American Composer, ed. J.H. Baron (Warren, MI, 1994)
A.F. Block: Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian: an American Composer's Life and Work (New York, 1998)