Composer Amy Beach and a short-lived Scottish poet share a birthday. Plus, an elegy for a friend’s shorn hair as today’s poem.
The date is September 5th, Thursday, and today I’m traveling from Jakarta to Bali in Indonesia.
Today is the birthday of Robert Fergusson, Scottish poet.
He enrolled at the University of St Andrews in Scotland in 1765 at the age of about 15. While there, Fergusson narrowly escaped expulsion, made important connections and honed his writing skills. When his father passed away in 1768 he moved back home to help support his mother.
He got involved in the bohemian scene in Edinburgh and began contributing poems to a small weekly periodical. He wrote poems both in English and “Scots.”
Scottish bard Robert Burns cites Fergusson as a major influence on his own work, inspiring him to write in both English and “Scots” as well. Burns even paid for a new headstone for Fergusson’s burial plot.
Fergusson achieved his legacy in a very short time – he died in 1775 at the age of 24. He was involuntarily sent to a mental hospital after a fall left him with a concussion. He lasted just a few weeks at the asylum. (Perhaps his sudden and suspicious death helped bring attention to his work?)
And today is the birthday of Amy Beach, American composer and pianist.
Although Amy was something of a child prodigy, her parents tried not to indulge her too much in her desire to perform, believing that seceding to her demands would spoil her. They did allow her to receive proper training as she matured, and her career as an exacting pianist began when she was just 16 with a performance at the Boston Music Hall.
In 1885 at age 18, Amy married 42-year-old Dr. H.H.A. Beach. It was his second marriage. Dr. Beach was apparently encouraging toward Mary in her music, but ultimately the union stunted the growth of her performance career. At the time, it was frowned upon for married women to perform musically unless for charity’s sake. Amy Beach then turned her attention toward composing.
Beach’s composing ability was largely self-taught. Dr. Beach disapproved of her having a private tutor, and so Mrs. Beach read as many books as she could on the subject. Her first score came in 1892 with a public performance of her Mass in E-flat Major. It was a hit with critics who compared Beach to Bach.
Beach’s Gaelic Symphony was her next piece. It was the first symphony composed and published by an American woman. The Boston Symphony gave a performance of the piece in 1896. The symphony gained her a reputation as an unofficial “one of the boys” of the unofficial Second New England School and the sixth member of the Boston Six. Four years later, Beach performed as the pianist in her own Piano Concerto with the Boston Symphony.
The success of her compositions saw Amy performing more. Beach performed her own compositions in Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago to delighted audiences.
With the death of Dr. Beach in 1910 and her mother several months later, Amy sank into a depression. She headed for Europe hoping to distract herself.
While in Europe, she recovered from her melancholia and began to play and compose again. She was a favorite in Germany and wrote numerous compositions there. However, she wouldn’t have access to them until 1929 when her suitcase which had been confiscated at her departure in 1914 (the start of WWI), was finally released to her.
Returning to America, Beach published more of her compositions and received a decent income off the sales of her work. Later in life she then turned toward mentorship, hoping to help other female musicians, composers, and conductors make their way through the changing music scene.
Amy Beach passed away in 1944 at the age of 77.
A Burlesque Elegy
Robert Fergusson
Wishing you a good morning, a better day, and a lovely evening!