Luise Adolpha Le Beau facts for kids
Luise Adolpha Le Beau (born April 25, 1850, died July 17, 1927) was a German composer of classical music. She was also a talented pianist, teacher, and music critic. Luise studied with famous musicians like Clara Schumann and Franz Lachner. Her main teacher was Josef Gabriel Rheinberger. Like many women composers of her time, she started as a pianist. Later, she earned a living by teaching, performing, and writing about music.
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Early Life of Luise Adolpha Le Beau
Luise Adolpha Le Beau was born on April 25, 1850, in Rastatt, which was then part of the Grand Duchy of Baden. She was the only daughter of Wilhelm Le Beau, a military officer, and Karoline Le Beau. In 1856, her father retired from the army. Both her parents then focused on teaching their daughter.
Luise's father was also a musician and composer. He started giving her piano lessons when she was just five years old. By the age of eight, Luise had already composed her first piece of music! From 1863 to 1866, she studied languages at a local girls' school. At sixteen, she finished her schooling. After that, she spent all her time on music.
Education and Musical Beginnings
After her confirmation in 1865, Luise began taking piano lessons. Her teacher was William Kalliwoda, a court music director in Karlsruhe. She also took singing lessons from Anton Haizinger.
In 1868, Luise made her first public appearance as a pianist. She played two important piano concertos in Karlsruhe. These were Beethoven's E-flat major Concerto and Felix Mendelssohn's G minor Concerto. In 1870, she met famous musicians Franz Lachner and Anton Rubinstein.
In 1873, Luise wanted to take piano lessons from Clara Schumann in Baden-Baden. She had twelve lessons that summer. However, their studies ended because of differences in teaching styles and personal opinions. In February 1874, Luise went on a concert tour in the Netherlands. She visited five cities, starting in Utrecht. She later wrote that her health was "unstable" for touring.
Career in Munich
In 1876, Luise's family moved to Munich. They had a letter of recommendation from the pianist Hans von Bülow. This move helped Luise study with the composer Josef Gabriel Rheinberger. Because of the rules at the Royal Music School, Luise was taught separately from the male students. Rheinberger and Luise became close friends. He even dedicated his "Toccata for piano" to her.
While at the Royal Music School, Ernst Melchior Sachse taught Luise about counterpoint, harmony, and music forms. Franz Lachner also gave her feedback on many of her compositions.
The years from 1876 to 1885 were Luise's most active time for composing. In 1877, she went on a concert tour with singer Aglaia Orgeni and violinist Bartha Haft. They visited several towns in Bavaria. Luise performed her own music during these concerts.
Luise also worked as a music critic. She wrote reviews for a newspaper in Berlin starting in 1878. She eventually stopped writing reviews because her editor kept changing her articles. In 1878, she also started her "private music course." This course was for young women from educated families. It helped them prepare to become piano teachers.
Luise started to focus more on other composers like Berlioz, Wagner, Chopin, and Schumann. She slowly became less connected to Rheinberger. This led to their teaching relationship ending in 1880.
In the summer of 1882, she wrote her piece "Op.27, Ruth - Biblical Scenes." This work was for solo singers, a choir, and an orchestra. It was published in Leipzig and first performed on March 5, 1883, in Munich. Also in 1882, she won first prize for her "Cello Sonata op.17" in an international competition. That same year, Luise met Franz Liszt in Weimar. She was disappointed by this meeting because it didn't help her make new connections or improve her piano skills.
Luise's "Quartet Op.28 for Piano, Violin, Viola and Cello" was first performed in Leipzig. In 1884, she met the writer Luise Hitz and set some of her poems to music. That year, she also traveled to Salzburg and Vienna. There, she met Eduard Hanslick and Johannes Brahms.
Career in Berlin
By 1885, Luise's parents were becoming weaker. Also, Luise found it hard to find musicians to work with in Munich. So, her family moved to Wiesbaden. In Wiesbaden, some of Luise's pieces were performed. She also taught music theory and singing lessons. While there, she started working on her pieces "Hadumoth, Op.40" and "Piano Concerto, Op. 37."
Luise's music began to be performed outside of Europe. Her compositions reached places as far as Sydney, Australia, and Constantinople (now Istanbul).
In 1890, the family had to move again, this time to Berlin. Luise started studying music history at the Royal Library. Later, she gave her music to the Royal Library to keep it safe. In Berlin, she met other musicians like Woldemar Bargiel and Joseph Joachim. During this time, Luise taught only a few students. This allowed her to focus on composing and copying the music for "Hadumoth."
Georg Vierling, a member of Berlin's Royal Academy of Arts, suggested Luise for a professor position at the Royal School of Music. However, Luise was not given the job. This was because the position was never given to women.
Career in Baden-Baden
Luise and her family moved one last time in 1893. They settled in Baden-Baden. On November 19, 1893, her work "Hadumoth, Op. 40" was performed for the first time. Over the next few years, she wrote several more pieces. This included "Symphony Op.41 for Orchestra," which premiered in 1895 in Baden-Baden.
After a stroke, Luise's father, William Le Beau, died in 1896. This left Luise to care for her mother alone, who had become almost blind.
In the summer of 1897, Luise finished her symphonic poem "Hohenbaden." It was first performed on February 25, 1898, in Baden-Baden. In 1900, her mother died. Luise Adolpha Le Beau's last major chamber music piece was "String Quintet, Op.54." It was written in 1901 but was not published. In 1902, Luise composed the fairy-tale opera "The Enchanted Caliph, Op.55." She dedicated this opera to her parents. Other compositions (Op.56 to Op.65) followed in Baden-Baden in the years after.
Later Life and Legacy
In 1902, Luise met the singer Alfredo de'Giorgio during a trip to Rome. In 1903, she decided to stop her musical career. This was 24 years before she passed away. From 1906 to 1910, she lived in Italy. In 1910, Luise published her autobiography. It was called Lebenserinnerungen einer Komponistin, which means Memoirs of a Female Composer.
Her memoirs shared stories about her concerts and her experiences with other musicians. She mentioned her personal life, composing process, and inspirations only briefly. She used her old diaries to help her remember the stories. However, these diaries do not seem to exist anymore.
Luise's final years involved traveling, teaching, composing, giving concerts, and writing music reviews. She wrote an article about music in Baden-Baden after World War I. In 1922, the father of one of her former students offered her a pension for the rest of her life. On her 75th birthday, Luise gave a concert of her own piano compositions.
Luise Adolpha Le Beau died on July 17, 1927, at 77 years old, in Baden-Baden. She was buried next to her parents in the city cemetery. To honor her, the city of Baden-Baden named its music library after her. On July 23, 2004, a memorial plaque was placed at Lichtentaler Straße 46. This was the building where she lived and died.
Compositions
See also
In Spanish: Luise Adolpha Le Beau para niños
