Edith Chamberlayne
Edith Amelia Chamberlayne (October 1869 – September 1918) was an English composer active during the 19th century.[1]
Life and work
[edit]Edith Chamberlayne studied at the Royal College of Music with H. C. Banister and a "Professor Prout". Little is known about her life and career, other than that she composed two symphonies, an opera, several overtures, and a variety of chamber works, and that her Scherzo was performed in February 1895 at The Crystal Palace.[1][2][3] She appeared in Arthur Elson's discussion of English composers in his Women's Work in Music, as well as a 1909 article in The Etude.[4][5]
Scholars have speculated that she is the anonymous "E.A.C." who wrote a letter to The Musical World in 1890 advocating for women composers:
It is impossible to find a single woman’s name worthy to take rank with Beethoven, Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Brahms, Wagner, Schubert; we cannot even find one to place beside Balfe or Sir Arthur Sullivan ... If we seek for what may be called the feminine element in music, we have to look for it among the works of men, for the simple reason that women have produced nothing that can be given serious consideration.[6]
Her music, specifically three short pieces for violin and piano, was described by contemporaries as "notable for tenderness and simplicity".[7]
Selected works
[edit]Orchestra
[edit]- Symphony No. 1
- Symphony No. 2
- Overtures
Chamber
[edit]- Scherzo for harp, flute, and strings
- Two Sonatas for Pianoforte, Op. 16
- Organ pieces[8]
- Piano Suite
Opera
[edit]- Unknown opera
Songs
[edit]- "Be Strong, O Heart!" Text by Adelaide Procter[9]
References
[edit]- 1 2 Cohen, Aaron I. (1987). International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. New York: Books & Music USA. ISBN 978-0-9617485-2-4 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Henry Macaulay Fitzgibbon (1914). . – via Wikisource.
- ↑ Brown, James Duff; Stratton, Stephen Samuel (1897). British Musical Biography : A Dictionary of Musical Artists, Authors and Composers, Born in Britain and Its Colonies. Birmingham: S. S. Stratton – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Elson, Arthur (1976). Woman's Work in Music. Portland, Maine: Longwood Press. ISBN 978-0-89341-013-1 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ "Famous Women in Musical History". The Etude. July 1909. Retrieved 14 July 2026.
- ↑ Hamer, Laura (2021). The Cambridge Companion to Women in Music Since 1900. Cambridge Companions to Music. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-47028-5.
- ↑ "Miscellaneous Concerts, Intelligence, &c". The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular. 36 (629): 478–480. 1895. ISSN 0958-8434. JSTOR 3365036.
- ↑ Croger, T[homas] R. (1903). Notes on conductors and conducting. London: W. Reeves – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ "Reviews of New Music and New Editions". Monthly Musical Record. 21 (247). Augener & Co.: 158. 1 July 1891 – via Internet Archive.
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