Luise Adolpha Le Beau (1850-1927) was a German composer, pianist, and critic. She made her piano début as a teenager with the Baden court orchestra and studied briefly with Clara Schumann before moving to Munich to study with Joseph Rheinberger. As a performer and composer, she won numerous prizes, received consistently favorable reviews, and went on extensive concert tours.
After moving to Wiesbaden and then Berlin, Le Beau settled in Baden-Baden in 1893, where she worked as a music critic and played chamber music professionally. Her first opera, Hadumoth was well-received in 1894, and a concert of her works was given in 1925 to celebrate her 75th birthday. Le Beau’s memoirs were published in 1910 as Lebenserinnerungen einer Komponistin.
Le Beau’s extensive compositional output includes two operas, an oratorio, numerous choral works, lieder, orchestral works, a piano concerto, instrumental chamber music, and approximately 30 solo piano works.
Resources
Sources
Olson, Judith E. “Le Beau, Luise Adolpha.” Grove Music Online. 15 Nov. 2005.
Works Featured on Expanding the Music Theory Canon
Elegie
Excerpt
Pages: Intervals, Predominant
“Allegro con fuoco” from Violin Sonata, Op. 10
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Pages: Secondary Function, Period