Amy Beach Portrait

By Jone Johnson Lewis, About.com Guide

Amy Beach was a childhood prodigy as a pianist. After she married at 18, she focused mainly on composing, though she performed her own work occasionally, including with the Boston Symphony. Publishing as Mrs. H. H. A. Beach, she toured Europe after her husband's death, and then returned to America to live in New York and continue her career. She achieved unusual success for a woman in her time.