June 2000 - Nr. 6
Once Prominent Composer Celebrated in Baden-Baden
TWIG - Baden-Baden is hosting a series of cultural events this year to celebrate the 150th birthday of composer Luisa Adolpha Le Beau. A gifted pianist who rose to prominence in Munich in the 1870s, Le Beau was often cited at the time as "one of the most famous German women composers." She withdrew from the international music scene in mid-life, but continued to compose until her death in Baden-Baden in 1927. Le Beau was modest about her accomplishments throughout her life. "If my works are worthy enough to survive me," she wrote in her 1910 autobiography, "then they will."
Born in Rastatt on April 25, 1850, Le Beau struggled to establish her musical reputation against considerable odds. She learned to play the piano from her father, a Rastatt official, and with her parents’ support, she began studying with composer Joseph Rheinberger in Munich in 1874. But unlike Clara Schumann, who participated in her training, she had no family connections in the music world, and she lost much of her stature after she broke with Rheinberger to follow her own aesthetic inclinations. She spent her last 24 years composing and teaching piano in Baden-Baden, where her students fondly renamed her "La Belle."
Le Beau’s work is enjoying a revival today in part through the efforts of pianist Maria Bergmann, who discovered some of her scores in the basement of a former student and made them accessible to the public. During Baden-Baden’s anniversary celebration, musicians will perform a wide range of Le Beau compositions, including orchestral pieces, chamber music, operatic works, and oratorios.
