Amy Beach (1867-1944)
Theme and Variations, for flute and string quartet (1916)
Amy (Cheney) Beach, the United States’ first major native-born and -trained composer, was born in Henniker, New Hampshire in 1867. From an early age, she displayed musical talent, though it wasn’t until her family relocated to Boston in the 1870s that she received formal training in piano – she was one of the late-19th-century’s greatest keyboard virtuosi – and a year of composition lessons. Remarkably, in the latter area, Beach, one of the 19th- and 20th-century’s most important female composers, was largely self-taught.
Early on, she experienced great success as a composer of large-scale forms: her Symphony in E minor (“Gaelic”) and Piano Concerto were both premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and, to this day, stand as two of the most brilliant, engaging, and finely-crafted examples of American symphonic music of her era.
Following the turn of the century, Beach’s output (which grew to over 300 works) focused primarily on songs and chamber music. The Theme and Variations for flute and string quartet dates from this period and was written in 1916 on a commission from the San Francisco Chamber Music Society. As with many of Beach’s compositions, the principle theme is drawn from one of her many songs, in this instance a certain Indian Lullaby.
We hear this melody played, at first, only by the string quartet. After the statement of the theme, the flute enters with an extended solo and the first variation – basically a repetition of the theme now with a flute descant – commences. Five further variations ensue, each alternating characters and moods: a brisk second variation; a slow, sad, waltzing third; a short, enigmatic fourth; a sprawling fifth, this the emotional heart of the composition; and a contrapuntal sixth, which ends with a restatement of the theme now involving the flute.
In all, it’s a complex, ambitious score, a glowing example of the American Romantic style of which Beach, along with George Whitefield Chadwick, John Knowles Paine, and Arthur Foote, was such a wonderful exemplar.
© Jonathan Blumhofer
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