Amy Beach Biography - A Very Quick Guide

American composer and pianist Amy Beach was born in 1867 in Henniker, New Hampshire. A child prodigy, she displayed perfect pitch and early compositional ability, later studying piano privately in Boston. After her marriage to the physician Henry Harris Aubrey Beach, she performed less publicly but devoted significant time to composing, becoming the leading female composer of the Second New England School. Following her husband’s death in 1910, she resumed an active performing and touring career in the United States and Europe.

Beach composed in a wide range of genres, including songs, chamber music, choral works, and large-scale orchestral pieces. Her “Gaelic” Symphony (1896) was the first symphony by an American woman to be published and performed widely. Other important works include the Piano Concerto (1900) . She drew inspiration from European Romanticism, American folk sources including Indigenous and African American traditions. Beach died in 1944, leaving an important legacy in American classical music and paving the way for future generations of women composers.