The best known woman composer of her time period and the first in the United States, Amy Beach (1867-1944) did not just create small pieces, but large orchestral works, and other complex compositions were part of her repertoire. She was the first American woman to write a symphony, and this was especially important because she received all her training in the United States.

Born Amy Marcy Cheney on September 5, 1867, in Henniker, New Hampshire, Beach was the only child of Charles Abbor Cheney and Clara Imogene (Marcy) Cheney. Her father was a mathematician and businessman who worked in paper manufacturing business that his father owned, who later had his own paper importing business. Her mother was a musician, a singer, and pianist.

Beach exhibited talent from an early age. She began singing tunes on pitch and with accuracy when she was a year old and she had also taught...