Cecile Chaminade: The Only Female Composer

Pianist and composer, Cecile Chaminade is the only female composer represented in the Flute Music by French Composers collection, and is one the early emerging female composers of this era, though not very well known. Born in Paris in 1857, “Chaminade received her earliest instruction from her mother, a pianist and singer” (Citron). With both parents amateur musicians, Chaminade was showed early talent, with her earliest compositions date to the mid-1860s. Her father did not want her to attend the Paris Conservatory, but settled on allowing her to study privately with faculty members including: Félix Le Couppey, A.-F. Marmontel, M.-G.-A. Savard and Benjamin Godard. (Citron) Chaminade began composing earnestly in the early 1880’s and composed a vast body of work, creating approximately 400 compositions, with nearly all getting published. She composed a wide variety of works including opéra‐comique, ballet, orchestra suites, many songs, and salon style piano pieces. Internationally, Chaminade began to gain great traction, especially in England and the United States [both her compositions and her performances], with “Chaminade clubs” forming in the United States. “From 1892 she performed regularly in England and became a welcome guest of Queen Victoria and others.” (Citron) …show more content…
Her style was thought to be strictly “salon style” music, which Ross indicates often came “…with implications of the sentimental and the second rate” (Ross, 91), but says later that “Ironically, the composer most celebrated for her [Chaminade] ‘musique du salon’ was no salon composer” (Ross, 100), because of her success, internationally and domestic, but may have been thought of that way due to her gender and propensity to write and perform for