Louise Farrenc (1804 – 1875)
Louise Farrenc was born Jeanne Louise Dumont in Paris to an artistic and musical family. Even at an early age she demonstrated talent in both art and music but concentrated on music. By the age of 15 she was studying at the Paris Conservatoire and performing professionally. She married music publisher and scholar Aristide Farrenc in 1821.
In 1842, Louise Farrenc became a professor of piano at the Paris Conservatoire, the first woman to achieve such a prominent position in a music academy. Most of Farrenc’s early compositions are for piano, but she is perhaps most highly regarded today for her chamber music, including two piano quintets and several trios and sonatas. She also composed three symphonies and other orchestral music. Several performances of her Symphony No. 3 in G Minor (Opus. 36) are available on YouTube. Here is one:
After the early death of her musically talented daughter Victorine in 1859, Louise Farrenc stopped actively composing and joined her husband in studies and publication of early harpsichord and piano music.
One of Louise Farrenc’s most famous compositions is her Trio in E Minor for Flute, Cello, and Piano (Opus 45), composed in 1857 and performed here by the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society of Wisconsin.