Description
Book SynopsisAmy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867-1944), the most widely performed composer of her generation, was the first American woman to succeed as a creator of large-scale art music. Her Gaelic Symphony, given its premiere by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1896, was the first work of its kind by an American woman to be performed by an American orchestra. Almost all of her more than 300 works were published soon after they were composed and performed, and today her music is finding new advocates and audiences for its energy, intensity, and sheer beauty. Yet, until now, no full-length critical biography of Beach''s life or comprehensive critical overview of her music existed. This biography admirably fills that gap, fully examining the connections between Beach''s life and work in light of social currents and dominant ideologies. Born into a musical family in Victorian times, Amy Beach started composing as a child of four and was equally gifted as a pianist. Her talent was recognized early by Bosto
Trade ReviewAward-winning study... her music... is enjoying a revival of interest that is richly deserved and long overdue. Block's book is a thorough, academic study of Beach's life and work. She handles the musical elements with both sharp analytic skills and considerable sensitivity. It is a satisfying and illuminating read and hopefully will encourage more musicians to delve into the music itself - which, by the way, is strong, beautiful and filled with Beach's individual musical voice. * Jessica Duchen, Classical Music 17/06/2000. *
Block's patient reconstruction of the complex mediations that shaped Beach's career is a refreshing change from the one dimensional revisionism of some recent biographies ... painstaking reconstruction of a career suspended awkwardly between genius and conventional restraint. * Brian Morton, Times Higher Education Supplement *
Table of Contents1: A Prodigy's New England Upbringing 2: The Cheneys and the Marcys 3: A Prodigy Despite Her Mother 4: The Making of a Composer: I 5: Two Ways of Looking at a Marriage 6: The Making of a Composer: II 7: Becoming Mistress of Her Craft 8: Reaching Out to the World 9: "One of the Boys" 10: Amy Beach's Boston 11: The Composer at the Keyboard: Beach Plays Beach 12: "A Veritable Autobiography"?: The Piano Concerto 13: The Composer's Workshop 14: Choral Music 15: The Chambered Nautilus 16: Europe and a New Life 17: "Lion of the Hour" 18: My Old New Hampshire House 19: At the MacDowell Colony: "Solitude in Silence" 20: Caring 21: A Fascinating New York Life 22: Beach the Modernist? 23: Reckonings 24: Harvest Time Postlude: The Legacy Appendix: Catalog of Works Music's Ten Commandments as Given for Young Composers
