Out into the fields they went together and waited, motionless, for the birds to appear. Then just as soon as one of the little feathered creatures trilled out his melody, Amy wrote it down in notes. The song thus caught was kept for all time. She continued this practice of recording songs so that she finally had a volume filled with bird melodies.
Amy Cheney studied under Ernst Perabo, Carl Baerman, and Junius W. Hill. She also studied many musical subjects independently. She did not always want to be helped over the problems that confronted her, preferring to work them out alone. Translating books on music and memorizing and rewriting difficult music were some of the hard tasks that this earnest, thorough young student set for herself.
At sixteen years of age this young pianist made her first professional appearance before the public at a recital in Boston, and was greatly praised. The next year she played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and with the Theodore Thomas Orchestra. During that year a beautiful song which she had composed, entitled With Violets, was published. It was considered by musical critics to be faultless in form.
The following year Amy Cheney became the wife of Dr. H. H. A. Beach, of Boston. She did not, however, give up her musical career. In fact, all of her most important pieces of music were written after her marriage.
Mrs. Beach has composed music for the orchestra, piano, and violin, and has also written cantatas and many songs. One of her most famous and successful pieces of music is her Jubilate cantata, written for the dedication of the Woman’s Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893. At this Exposition Maud Powell, the famous violinist, and Mrs. Beach played one of Mrs. Beach’s compositions written for the violin and piano.
The music for a poem called Dark Is the Night is thought by many people to be her best song. Other favorites are: Across the World, Scottish Cradle Song, and Fairy Lullaby. Mrs. Beach’s songs are always enjoyed by those who appreciate the best music.
Success did not spoil the young girl whose marked musical ability had attracted attention ever since her babyhood. Not content with what had come easily to her, Amy Marcy Cheney Beach kept on working to develop her talent. Her love of music and enthusiasm for it were not alone responsible for placing her foremost among the women composers of America. It was her desire for knowledge, leading her to studiously apply herself to her work, that enabled her to create music which has brought pleasure to thousands of people.
