"Block's fastidious research, together with her sympathetic mastery of the issues involved in writing a life, have yielded a lively portrait of this important musician and intriguing personality. The book is especially rich in its exploration of Beach's origins in family, community, and region, and in its ability to put her life experience into the context of America's changing cultural life."--Ruth A. Solie, Smith College

1. A Prodigy's New England Upbringing 2. The Cheneys and the Marcys 3. A Prodigy Despite Her Mother 4. The Making of a Composer: I 5. Two Ways of Looking at a Marriage 6. The Making of a Composer: II 7. Becoming Mistress of Her Craft 8. Reaching Out to the World 9. "One of the Boys" 10. Amy Beach's Boston 11. The Composer at the Keyboard: Beach Plays Beach 12. "A Veritable Autobiography"?: The Piano Concerto 13. The Composer's Workshop 14. Choral Music 15. The Chambered Nautilus 16. Europe and a New Life 17. "Lion of the Hour" 18. My Old New Hampshire House 19. At the MacDowell Colony: "Solitude in Silence" 20. Caring 21. A Fascinating New York Life 22. Beach the Modernist? 23. Reckonings 24. Harvest Time Postlude: The Legacy Appendix: Catalog of Works Music's Ten Commandments as Given for Young Composers

Adrienne Fried BlockCo-Director, Project for the Study of Women in Music, City University of New York Graduate Center

"[A] consistently interesting biography of America's first notable female composer....Fascinating and useful....If interest in Beach's music continues to grow as rapidly as it has in the last few years, there will be time and opportunity to assess it, and Block's study will be a valuable aid in making a sound assessment possible."--The New York Times Book Review |k No