During my DMus studies I am conducting research on women composers from the late 19th century, namely USA-born Amy Beach and Swedish Valborg Aulin.
It explores the unique piano styles and performance challenges in four pieces by two women composers from the late-Romantic era. Both were accomplished pianists and composers, living on opposite sides of the world: Aulin in Sweden and Beach in the U.S. They were shaped by the music of their time, but each developed her own distinct style. Aulin had formal training, while Beach was largely self-taught, yet both created beautiful piano works that deserve more attention today.
It explores the unique piano styles and performance challenges in four pieces by two women composers from the late-Romantic era. Both were accomplished pianists and composers, living on opposite sides of the world: Aulin in Sweden and Beach in the U.S. They were shaped by the music of their time, but each developed her own distinct style. Aulin had formal training, while Beach was largely self-taught, yet both created beautiful piano works that deserve more attention today.
My focus during the research is on their early solo piano pieces from 1885 to 1898. For Beach, I look at her Ballade (1894) in D flat major, Op. 6, and 4 Piano Sketches (1892), Op. 15; for Aulin, her Piano Sonata (1885) in F major, Op. 14, and 3 Fantastic Pieces for Piano (1898), Op. 30. Both composers show the influence of Schubert, Chopin, Grieg, and Tchaikovsky, with Beach also impacted by Liszt and Brahms, while Aulin was inspired by Schumann and her Danish mentor, Niels W. Gade (student of Mendelssohn), as well as her Paris teachers like Godard, Massenet, and Guiraud.
During my final year, I will be performing a recital consisting of those works, some of which will be the Malta premiere of works by these women composers.
