by Jarrett Hoffman
IN THIS EDITION:
•Today: Organist Oziah Wales at the Covenant at noon
•Announcements: JJ Hudson (pictured) appointed interim artistic director at CIM Opera Theater
•Almanac: one of the lesser-known woman in composition from the Romantic era, Luise Adolpha Le Beau
HAPPENING TODAY:
At 12 pm, for the price of a freewill offering, check out a recital by organist Oziah Wales, who will play music by Dudley Buck, John Ireland, and Sigfrid Karg-Elert on the Church of the Covenant’s Tuesday Noon Organ Plus series. Click here for the livestream.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
CIM Opera Theater program has a new face, as JJ Hudson — who guest directed CIM’s recent production of Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites — has been appointed interim artistic director beginning in fall 2023. He replaces Dean Southern, who has moved to another position within the school: Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs and Dean of the Institute.
“I jumped at the opportunity because of the excellent experience I had there,” Hudson said in an announcement from CIM. “People make the magic in this world, and we were able to make magic together at CIM because everybody was so invested. I’m extremely excited.” Read the article here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
One of the lesser-known women in composition from the Romantic era is Luise Adolpha Le Beau, who was born on this date in 1850 in Rastatt, in what is now Germany.
She began her career as a pianist, studying for a summer with Clara Schumann and then with Josef Rheinberger at the Royal Music School in Munich, where school regulations required that she be tutored separately from the male students. Speaking of gender-based restrictions, later on she was nominated for a high-level teaching position only to have that opportunity vanish because it was not allowed to be given to women.
Her studies in Munich proved to be a productive time for her, including a notable tour performing her own trios and a period of time working as a music critic (she stopped after her editor repeatedly modified and shortened her articles). And as for writing, in her later life she also penned an autobiography titled Lebenserinnerungen einer Komponistin (“Memoirs of a Female Composer”).
Over the years, her musical recognition spread wide and far, with performances in Sydney and Istanbul. In an oeuvre of over 100 works, her most notable pieces occupy a range of genres, from her prize-winning Op. 17 Cello Sonata to the Op. 28 Piano Quartet (which was premiered at the Gewandhaus), the Op. 54 String Quintet, a work for chorus and orchestra titled Ruth – Biblical Scenes, the Op. 37 Piano Concerto, the Op. 41 Symphony, the tone poem Hohenbaden, and the opera Hadumoth.
In addition to Munich, Le Beau also spent significant periods of her life in Wiesbaden, Berlin, and Baden-Baden — where a music library is now graced with her name, and where a memorial plaque in her honor can be found at the building where she lived and passed away.
Click here to listen to her Cello Sonata as performed by cellist Katharina Deserno and pianist Nenad Lecic. And here for the Piano Concerto, performed by the Kammersymphonie Berlin, conductor Jürgen Bruns, and pianist Katia Tchemberdji.