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hile you might not know her name, Amy Beach’s accom- and taught herself to read at age
plishments in her day were a big deal - especially because she three. At age four she played four-
Wwas a woman playing in a man’s world. part hymns and wrote her first
Shortly after Antonin Dvorak arrived in the United States in 1892 compositions with Clara’s help,
for a historic visit that resulted in the creation of his “New World” including a little piece for piano
Symphony, he made a cursory remark to a Boston newspaper about entitled “Mamma’s Waltz.” By the
gender and the field of music. age of six, she began studying piano
“Here all the ladies play,” Dvorak with her mother and performed her
said. “It is well; it is nice. But I am afraid first public recitals one year later,
the ladies cannot help us much. They playing works by Handel,
have not the creative power.” Beethoven, Chopin, and some of
His contention that women might her own pieces.
play but not create—that they could be As with her musical training,
performers, not composers—was com- Beach’s academic education was Amy (Cheney) Beach, age 16
monplace at the time. Ten days later, also home-centered. Her mother
though, another paper published a rebut- taught her at home for six years. She then attended a private school run
tal from an up-and- by W. L. Whittemore. Beach particularly enjoyed
coming Boston com- natural science and languages like French and
poser named Amy German. While she was encouraged academically, it
Beach, who would was within the limits of what was expected of young
soon go on to prove women in this period.
Dvorak wrong. In 1875 the family moved to Boston, where
Child Prodegy Amy Cheney “From the year Amy studied with the leading pianists of her day,
1675 to the year including Ernst Perabo of the New England
1885, women have composed 153 works,” Amy Conservatory and Carl Baermann, a pupil and
Beach wrote. “Including 55 serious operas, 6 can- friend of Franz Liszt.
tatas, 53 comic operas, 17 operettas, 6 sing-spiele, 4 In 1884, at age 16, Amy gave her first
ballets, 4 vaudevilles, 2 oratorios, one each of fares, public recital in Boston. A year later, she
pastorales, masques, ballads, and buffas.” performed the Chopin Concerto in F Minor with the
The question is, who was Amy Beach to Boston Symphony Orchestra, with Wilhelm
comment on such matters? Gericke conducting.
Although Beach admired her mother and owed
Amy Cheney, Child Prodigy her an enormous debt for nurturing her career,
biographers describe Clara as “rather repressive” and
Amy Marcy Cheney was born on September 5, “controlling.” The same could also be said for the
1867, in Henniker, New Hampshire, the only child man Amy chose to marry.
of a prominent New England family. Her mother,
Clara Imogene (Marcy) Cheney, was a talented
amateur singer and pianist, her father, Charles Mrs. H.H.A. Beach
Cheney, owned a paper mill. On December 2, 1885, Amy married Dr. Henry
Amy was a true prodigy who, according to her Harris Aubrey Beach (1843-1910), a physician,
biographers, memorized forty songs at the age of one Amy and Dr. Henry Beach Harvard University lecturer, and amateur singer
20 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles