RomanticLouise Farrenc
Louise Farrenc was born in Paris into a family of sculptors.
Louise Farrenc’s life
The big moments of this life, and what was happening in the world at the same time.
A life at a glance
- 1804👶 Birth
Born in Paris on 31 May into a family of sculptors
- 1810📚 Trainingage 6
Piano lessons, notably with Moscheles and Hummel
- 1816🌍 Meanwhile
Maelzel patents the metronome (1815–16)
- 1821❤️ Private lifeage 17
Marries the flautist Aristide Farrenc; they found a publishing house
- 1839🌍 Meanwhile
Photography is invented (daguerreotype)
- 1840🌍 Meanwhile
Adolphe Sax invents the saxophone (c. 1840)
- 1842🎩 Careerage 38
Professor of piano at the Paris Conservatoire, for 30 years
- 1847🎼 Workage 43
Symphony No. 3 in G minor
- 1848🏛️ Landmarkage 44
Revolutions of 1848 in Europe
- 1849🎼 Workage 45
Triumph of the Nonet Op. 38, with violinist Joachim
- 1850🎩 Careerage 46
Wins pay equal to her male colleagues
- 1861🎼 Workage 57
Launches Le Trésor des pianistes, an anthology of early music
- 1875🕯️ Deathage 71
Dies in Paris on 15 September
- 1875🌍 Meanwhile
The Palais Garnier opera house opens in Paris
Listen to the music
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Louise Farrenc’s music is in the public domain, but Wikimedia Commons does not yet offer a freely licensed recording of these works. The links below lead to scores and searches on Commons; as soon as a free recording is published, it can be added here.
Once upon a time…
Louise Farrenc was born in Paris into a family of sculptors. She grew up at the Sorbonne, surrounded by artists, and became a wonderful pianist.
At that time girls were not allowed to attend the Conservatoire’s composition classes. So Louise took private lessons… and composed symphonies, which almost no woman dared to do!
She became a piano professor at the Paris Conservatoire for thirty years. But she was paid less than the men. After a big success she demanded the same salary… and got it!
With her husband she also published a huge collection of old music so that pianists could rediscover it.
Louise Farrenc’s instruments
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