Louise Farrenc Essentials

French composer, pianist and accidental activist Louise Farrenc wrote exquisite chamber music and three dazzling symphonies—as well as campaigning for (and eventually winning) the same remuneration as her male colleagues at the Paris Conservatory, where she taught for 30 years. Born Jeanne Louise Dumont in Paris in 1804, Farrenc grew up among artists and her talent at the piano was encouraged. She studied with some of the most notable pianists of the day, such as Ignaz Moscheles, Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Anton Reicha. At 17, she married flautist Aristide Farrenc who supported his wife's concert career; after marriage, Louise continued to perform as a soloist and as a duo with her husband. Together, the couple established Éditions Farrenc, a publishing house through which Louise's many compositions were reproduced. These included two overtures, two piano quintets, four piano trios, two violin sonatas and one for cello, the Sextet for Piano & Winds, and the Nonet in E flat major for string quartet and wind quintet. She died in 1875, whereby her work, broadly admired by contemporaries, was virtually forgotten until a 21st-century revival.