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drplaceboIt's Forgotten Masterpiece Friday!
Luise Adolpha Le Beau (1850-1927) was a celebrated pianist, often compared to Clara Schumann, who was in fact briefly her piano teacher. But unlike Clara Schumann, Le Beau as a composer quickly abandoned writing for solo piano, and made her name with compositions that included other instruments. By her mid-twenties she had an impressive list of musical connections -- in addition to Clara Schumann, she was a student of Joseph Rheinberger, and a friend of Brahms and Liszt -- yet as a woman composer encountered blatant prejudice throughout her career. An only child, she showed musical talent at an early age, and was fortunate in that her father was extremely encouraging; an amateur composer himself, Wilhelm Le Beau served as his daughter's first composition teacher and even relocated the family several times to ensure that she received the best possible education.
Le Beau had her most productive years as a composer in Munich, where she had studied, yet found it difficult to build a reputation there because most musicians refused to play her music despite the endorsements of the likes of Rheinberger and Brahms. As a result, she relocated in 1885 to the smaller town of Wiesbaden, where she could get performances simply by virtue of being a local composer. It was there that she began to receive recognition for her compositions; her piano concerto was so wildly successful on its publication that it was performed as far afield as Australia and Turkey by 1890. But the prejudice continued: having also been a music critic for a major Berlin music journal for some time, she quit upon discovering that her editor was drastically amending her columns. Nominated for a prestigious faculty position at the Royal School of Music in Berlin, she was ultimately rejected expressly because she was a woman.
Eventually, frustrated by prejudice, Le Beau ceased composing and performing around 1903 and began writing her autobiography, Lebenserinnerungen einer Komponistin (Memoirs of a Female Composer), which was published in 1910. Upon its publication she returned to her hometown of Baden-Baden and went into semi-retirement; she continued to teach and again worked as a music critic for a time, but did not resume composing until the 1920s after being offered a pension for life by the father of one of her students. Her international fame was short-lived, and she died largely forgotten -- except in her hometown, where the music library was renamed after her shortly after her death.
This week's piece, Le Beau's cello sonata, was composed in 1878 and entered into an international composition contest in 1882. The sonata won first prize... but the composer was surprised to discover that a certificate had been printed identifying her as "Herr Luise Adolpha Le Beau." The word "Herr" had to be crossed out and replaced with "Fräulein" at the last minute. The sonata itself shows the influence of Schumann and Brahms and features soaring Romantic gestures and a driving, virtuosic piano part.
Luise Adolpha Le Beau (1850-1927) was a celebrated pianist, often compared to Clara Schumann, who was in fact briefly her piano teacher. But unlike Clara Schumann, Le Beau as a composer quickly abandoned writing for solo piano, and made her name with compositions that included other instruments. By her mid-twenties she had an impressive list of musical connections -- in addition to Clara Schumann, she was a student of Joseph Rheinberger, and a friend of Brahms and Liszt -- yet as a woman composer encountered blatant prejudice throughout her career. An only child, she showed musical talent at an early age, and was fortunate in that her father was extremely encouraging; an amateur composer himself, Wilhelm Le Beau served as his daughter's first composition teacher and even relocated the family several times to ensure that she received the best possible education.
Le Beau had her most productive years as a composer in Munich, where she had studied, yet found it difficult to build a reputation there because most musicians refused to play her music despite the endorsements of the likes of Rheinberger and Brahms. As a result, she relocated in 1885 to the smaller town of Wiesbaden, where she could get performances simply by virtue of being a local composer. It was there that she began to receive recognition for her compositions; her piano concerto was so wildly successful on its publication that it was performed as far afield as Australia and Turkey by 1890. But the prejudice continued: having also been a music critic for a major Berlin music journal for some time, she quit upon discovering that her editor was drastically amending her columns. Nominated for a prestigious faculty position at the Royal School of Music in Berlin, she was ultimately rejected expressly because she was a woman.
Eventually, frustrated by prejudice, Le Beau ceased composing and performing around 1903 and began writing her autobiography, Lebenserinnerungen einer Komponistin (Memoirs of a Female Composer), which was published in 1910. Upon its publication she returned to her hometown of Baden-Baden and went into semi-retirement; she continued to teach and again worked as a music critic for a time, but did not resume composing until the 1920s after being offered a pension for life by the father of one of her students. Her international fame was short-lived, and she died largely forgotten -- except in her hometown, where the music library was renamed after her shortly after her death.
This week's piece, Le Beau's cello sonata, was composed in 1878 and entered into an international composition contest in 1882. The sonata won first prize... but the composer was surprised to discover that a certificate had been printed identifying her as "Herr Luise Adolpha Le Beau." The word "Herr" had to be crossed out and replaced with "Fräulein" at the last minute. The sonata itself shows the influence of Schumann and Brahms and features soaring Romantic gestures and a driving, virtuosic piano part.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-10-13 08:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-10-13 08:43 pm (UTC)You might want to go back through my Forgotten Masterpiece Fridays tag. There's a bunch. And there's more coming. (I did say at the beginning that I was going to try to keep it under 50% white European men.) I can suggest some other pieces by composers I've already posted, just need to go back and see who they are. Le Beau's piano concerto is also on YouTube, for example.
In future FMFs, you may see Laura Valborg Aulin, Grace Williams, Ljubica Maric, and Marie Jaell among others. I'm slightly hesitant to post stuff by Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn, mostly because they're the first two women composers 99% of classical listeners think of, but Clara Schumann's piano concerto and piano trio are both outstanding.
Another piece that's a favorite of mine but far too well known to be a "forgotten masterpiece" is Rebecca Clarke's viola sonata. It might have been "forgotten" as of the 1980s, but over the last 20 years it's been the single most frequently performed piece featuring solo viola, and for good reason.
Among currently active women composers, I especially like Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Jennifer Higdon.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-10-13 09:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-10-13 09:46 pm (UTC)Tried a YouTube download site? There's a few free ones where you can paste a YouTube link and download to your hard drive.
Also, as long as you're in Sweden, this two-disc set (or tracks from it) may be apropos. I've actually posted a piece from it before, as well as a piece by another one of the composers.
https://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/classical/products/8021851--swedish-chamber-music
(no subject)
Date: 2017-10-13 10:02 pm (UTC)I have particular music choices for particule jobs. Alice Mary Smith and the Brandenburg concertos were my tracks of choice while I was working on the Rwanda memoirs, and I still prefer them while I work on my giant Qur'an hadith project. I use the Beethoven symphonies, Mozart's Requiem, or Dvorak when I'm working on science. (Sometimes Verdi's Requiem but it does that thing that symphonic music does with huge variations in volume and that can give me a goddamn heart attack if I'm not expecting it.)
(no subject)
Date: 2017-10-13 11:50 pm (UTC)Ooh, the Mozart Requiem. I'm playing that in November. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2017-10-14 06:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-10-14 07:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-10-14 08:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-10-15 11:37 am (UTC)