Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (September 5, 1867 - December 27, 1944) was an American composer and pianist. She was the first successful American female composer of large-scale art music. Her "Gaelic" Symphony, premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1896, was the first symphony composed and published by an American woman. She was one of the first American composers to succeed without the benefit of European training, and one of the most respected and acclaimed American composers of her era.
Rise to prominence
A major compositional success came with her Mass in E-flat major, which was performed in 1892 by the Handel and Haydn Society orchestra, which since its foundation in 1815 had never performed a piece composed by a woman. Newspaper music critics responded to the Mass by declaring Beach one of America's foremost composers, comparing the piece to Masses by Cherubini and Bach.  Beach followed this up with an important milestone in music history: her Gaelic Symphony, the first symphony composed and published by an American woman. It premiered October 30, 1896, performed by the Boston Symphony "with exceptional success," although "whatever the merits or defects of the symphony were thought to be, critics went to extraordinary lengths in their attempts to relate them to the composer's sex." Composer George Whitefield Chadwick (1854-1931) wrote to Beach that he and his colleague Horatio Parker (1863-1919) had attended the Gaelic Symphony's premiere and much enjoyed it: "I always feel a thrill of pride myself whenever I hear a fine work by any of us, and as such you will have to be counted in, whether you [like it] or not - one of the boys." These "boys" were a group of composers unofficially known as the Second New England School, and included not only Chadwick and Parker but also John Knowles Paine (1839-1926), Arthur Foote (1853-1937), and Edward MacDowell (1860-1908). With the addition of Beach, they collectively became known as the Boston Six, of whom Beach was the youngest.  In 1900, the Boston Symphony premiered Beach's Piano Concerto, with the composer as soloist. It has been suggested that the piece suggests Beach's struggles against her mother and husband for control of her musical life.

Q: When did she begin her rise?
A: major compositional success came with her Mass in E-flat major, which was performed in 1892

Q: What happened with that success?
A: woman. Newspaper music critics responded to the Mass by declaring Beach one of America's foremost composers, comparing the piece to Masses by Cherubini and Bach.

Q: Did she have other well received pieces?
A: Beach followed this up with an important milestone in music history: her Gaelic Symphony,

Q: How did this piece do with critics?
A: with exceptional success," although "whatever the merits or defects of the symphony were thought to be,
Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
critics went to extraordinary lengths in their attempts to relate them to the composer's sex."
critics went to extraordinary lengths in their attempts to relate them to the composer's sex."