Farrenc, Louise, 1804-1875

Louise Farrenc (née Jeanne-Louise Dumont; 31 May 1804 – 15 September 1875) was a French composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher.

Born Jeanne-Louise Dumont in Paris, she was the daughter of Jacques-Edme Dumont, a successful sculptor, and sister to Auguste Dumont, also a sculptor. Louise Farrenc enjoyed a considerable reputation during her own lifetime, as a composer, a performer and a teacher. She began piano studies at an early age with Cecile Soria,[1] a former student of Muzio Clementi. In 1821 she married Aristide Farrenc, a flute student ten years her senior, At first, during the 1820s and 1830s, she composed exclusively for the piano. Throughout her life, chamber music remained of great interest. She wrote works for various combinations of winds and or strings and piano.
In the 1830s Farrenc gained considerable fame as a performer and her reputation was such that in 1842 she was appointed to the permanent position of Professor of Piano at the Paris Conservatory, a position she held for thirty years and one which was among the most prestigious in Europe. Accounts of the time record that she was an excellent instructor, with many of her students graduating with Premier Prix and becoming professional musicians.[2] Despite this, Farrenc was paid less than her male counterparts for nearly a decade.[3] Only after the triumphant premiere of her nonet, at which the famous violinist Joseph Joachim took part, did she demand and receive equal pay. Besides her teaching and performing career, she also produced and edited an influential book, Le Trésor des Pianistes, about early music performance style,[4] and was twice awarded the Prix Chartier of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, in 1861 and 1869.[5]