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Donald Macleod delves into the period Le Beau declines a teaching position in Berlin.

Luise Adolpha Le Beau was a German composer, concert pianist, teacher and music critic. Although her music was performed as far afield as Calcutta and Sydney, and despite the musical luminaries who influenced her career including the conductor Hans von Bülow, her story is one of continual struggle for recognition and respect. Le Beau’s parents were huge supporters of their daughter right from the start, but their frequent moving of home in Germany, including Baden-Baden, Munich and Berlin, tells another story. Le Beau frequently met opposition to her works and to performance opportunities, and would eventually move on with her parents to seek better prospects. Despite these set-backs, Le Beau forged her own path as a composer not only with works for her own instrument, the piano, but also with chamber music, opera, a symphony and many songs. She was determined to succeed, but after her death, without anyone to promote her works on her behalf, Le Beau soon fell into obscurity and was largely forgotten.

Le Beau had found Munich very closed in terms of its artistic circles, and so had moved to Wiesbaden with her parents. To begin with she was received very well, but with a change of personnel in relation to the court conductor, Le Beau soon found herself, yet again, out of favour. Within a few years Le Beau moved with her parents once again, this time to Berlin. Instead of a cosmopolitan city full of opportunity, Le Beau found it conservative and she soon tired of her constant battles for opportunities and recognition. Dr Katy Hamilton joins Donald Macleod to discuss the issues Le Beau faced in both Wiesbaden and Berlin, and also the possible reasons for why Le Beau started to decline opportunities.

Eight Preludes, Op 12 No 8 (Mit Grazie)
Ana-Marija Markovina, piano

Nachstück, Op 26 No 2 (Drei Stücke)
Ulrich Koch, viola
Maria Bergmann, piano

Deutscher Regien, Klavierstück, Op 49
Ana-Marija Markovina, piano

Piano Quartet, Op 28
Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective
Elana Urioste, violin
Rosalind Ventris, viola
Laura van der Heijden, cello
Tom Poster, piano

Drei Lieder, Op 39
Helen Charlston, mezzo-soprano
Michael Pandya, piano

Symphony in F major, Op 41 (Allegro con fuoco)
Â鶹ԼÅÄ Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Geoffrey Patterson, conductor

Produced by Luke Whitlock