Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) was active as a composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher. She was a woman in a man’s world. Clara Schumann had previously been the only woman to be praised for her compositions and performances; although her father and husband had prevented her from having a real career in music, she had to start performing when her husband was ill and unable to provide for the extended family he had founded. It was generally considered that to earn money from music was a masculine pursuit. Farrenc not only achieved the near impossible of getting her music published, but was awarded a piano professorship at the Paris Conservatoire
Farrenc studied composition with Reicha; her husband Aristide Farrenc was a flutist, musicologist and music publisher. At first, during the 1820s and 1830s, she composed exclusively for the piano. Several of these pieces drew high praise from critics, including Robert Schumann. In the 1830s, she tried her hand at larger compositions for both chamber ensemble and orchestra. It was during the 1840s that much of her chamber music was written. While the great bulk of Farrenc’s compositions were for the piano alone, her chamber music is generally regarded as her best work – it remained of great interest throughout her life. She wrote works for various combinations of winds and / or strings and piano. These include two piano quintets Opp.30 & 31, a sextet for piano and winds Op. 40 (which later akso appeared in an arrangement for piano quintet), two piano trios Opp.33 & 34, the nonet for winds and strings Op. 38, a trio for clarinet (or violin), cello and piano Op. 44, a trio for flute (or violin), cello and piano Op. 45, and several instrumental sonatas. She also wrote three symphonies.
Farrenc’s reputation was such that in 1842 she was appointed to the permanent position of Professor of Piano at the Paris Conservatory, a position she held for thirty years and one which was among the most prestigious in Europe. Although she was later forgotten as a composer (only to be rediscovered in our time), one can say that Farrenc, compared to other women as Clara Schumann and Fanny Henselt, at least had a very successful career in music - something rare for a 19th c. woman.
Farrenc's two piano quintets (with double bass, like the quintet by Schubert) are firmly rooted in the classical tradition of Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn. They are delightful, brilliantly scored works, full of instrumental virtuosity and melodic invention. The first quintet in a minor is the more solemn of the two. It is here played by the Ensemble Louise Farrenc: Katya Apekisheva Klavier, Mayumi Kanagawa Violine, Klaus Christa Viola, Mathias Johansen Violoncello, and Dominik Wagner Kontrabass. The movements are: Allegro, Adagio non troppo, Scherzo: Presto, and Finale: Allegro.
Women Composers Index