After falling into obscurity, the music of Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) was rediscovered in the 1970s and 80s, and has recently surged in popularity.
A trailblazing French composer, virtuoso pianist, and teacher, Farrenc was the only female tenured professor in the 19th century at the Paris Conservatory. (She was only permitted to teach female students). Her father was a master craftsman, the fourth generation in a line of painters and sculptors who were employed by French Royalty. A piano prodigy, Louise Farrenc’s teachers included Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Anton Reicha. Although, at the time, women were forbidden to enroll in traditional composition classes at the Paris Conservatory, she studied privately with Reicha at the age of 15.
Living during the Romantic Period, a time when many composers were writing tone poems and other programmatic works, Louise Farrenc remained a traditionalist. Her music was rooted in the absolute values of form and structure. We hear this in her two concert overtures, composed in 1834. The works attracted the attention of Hector Berlioz, who praised their orchestration.
The Overture No. 2, in E-flat Major, Op. 24 begins with a slow introduction. Beginning in tragic minor, a series of fanfares serves as musical “announcements.” The Allegro section arrives with a change to light, fleeting frivolity. This music may remind you of the early symphonic music of Schubert. An adventurous development section forms the Overture’s middle section. A coda section filled with harmonic surprises brings the Overture to a jubilant conclusion.
Recordings
- Farrenc: Overture No. 2, Op. 24, Johannes Goritzki, North German Radio Symphony, Hannover Amazon