Four Centuries of Great Music September 14, 2025 Homage to Louise Farrenc

Tomorrow September 15th is the sesquicentennial of the death of composer Louise Farrenc and I wanted to honor her and her music on today’s Four Centuries of Great Music.  

Louise Farrenc was born Jeanne-Louise Dumont on May 31, 1804 in Paris to a very prominent artistic family.  She was the daughter and sister of two of the most prominent sculptors in France at the beginning of the 19th century.  

She began to study piano very early and when she showed  the promise to become a professional was taught by two of the leading pianists of the early 19th century Ignaz Moscheles and Johann Nepomuk Hummel.  She enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire at the age of fifteen as a pianist.  She studied  composition privately with Anton Reicha, the composition teacher Paris Conservatoire because at the time women were not allowed to study composition.  

Unlike other women of the era whose marriages thwarted their careers, Louise married the flutist Aristide Farrenc with whom she give concerts throughout France.  He, however, soon grew tired of the concert life and, with her help, opened a publishing house in Paris, which, as Éditions Farrenc, became one of France's leading music publishers for nearly 40 years

She went on to become one of the most prominent and successful women composers and concert pianists of the 19th century.  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. Farrenc was the only woman to hold the esteemed position and rank at the Paris Conservatory throughout the 19th century.  Farrenc was paid less than her male counterparts for nearly a decade.   Only after the triumphant premiere of her nonet at which the famous violinist Joseph Joachim took part, did she demand and receive equal pay.  As a composer, Farrenc was prolific, writing in many genres, from 3 symphonies to solo piano miniatures.   Her  compositions in the area of chamber music were particularly prolific.  Between 1839 and 1862, she completed a series of sonatas, trios, quintets, a sextet, and a nonet for a variety of instrumental combinations.

Today  we open this homage to Louise Farrenc with her
Trio in E minor, for Flute, Cello, and Piano, op. 45  written in 1862.

It is in four movements marked Allegro; Andante;  Scherzo-Vivace and Finale-Presto.

Its first movement begins with a short series of assertive chords before launching into the minor-key first theme, played in octaves by the flute and cello. Much of this opening part is homophonic – the cello doubles the piano’s bass line while the keyboard’s right-hand line accompanies the flute playing in its upper register – but, eventually, contrapuntal textures emerge. The flute continues with the second theme, which is sweepingly lyrical.  Farrenc has the ability to be powerful without being being ponderous and has the beautiful French lyricism.  As in other of her works her writing for woodwinds in superb.

Songfulness abounds in the lovely second movement, with its surprising harmonic twists and darkly martial central section. 

The third-movement Scherzo’s middle part and coda provide moments for audience and musicians alike to catch their breath between the quicksilver, quarter note runs with which they alternate.  In the Scherzo the writing is virtuosic, especially for the flute. Here the focus is on harmony and propulsion rather than melody and stasis. The trio is absolutely stunning; the melody is deeply autumnal yet carefree and light.

In the first theme of the fourth movement, there’s no real melody with the flute and the piano oscillating above and below chord tones in thirds at a speedy pace. The impressive thing to note isn’t really the theme itself, but the writing; for a piece of medium length Farrenc has treated the flute in about as many ways as possible, rhythmically, melodically, harmonically, all without sounding bookish. The second theme is sprightly and Farrenc paints a lovely melody in broad strokes. Farrenc’s writing is, as a general rule, bright in tone and light in texture, and the Trio ends in a virtuosic blast of E major.

Here is a performance of Louise Farrenc:  Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano, Op. 45
Emily Beynon, flute; Daniel Esser, cello & Sepp Grotenhuis, piano
Flute & Friends
Channel Classics Records

Louise Farrenc:  Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano, Op. 45: I. Allegro deciso
Louise Farrenc:  Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano, Op. 45: II. Andante
Louise Farrenc:  Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano, Op. 45: III.  Scherzo, Vivace
Louise Farrenc:  Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano, Op. 45: IV.  Finale-Presto
Flute & Friends
Channel Classics Records







Next on this episode of Four Centuries of Great Music honoring the musical legacy of Louise Farrenc, which is triggered by the fact that the sesquicentennial of her death is tomorrow September 15th, is her Sextet in C Minor, Op. 40 for  flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano.

Remarkably, the Sextet written in 1851-2, foreshadowing Poulenc’s composition 80 years later, is the first instance of a work that combines the piano with a full wind complement of flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon.

The Sextet, in a dramatic C minor, is a muscular, concertante piece, in which the initially dominant piano is soon overcome by the winds and the equilibrium between the instruments is generally governed with extreme care.

The first movement is marked Allegro and its opening is announced by bold chordal attacks whose dotted rhythm reappears throughout the movement. The piano’s rumbling low-register accompaniment gives an ominous edge to what could be a naïve descending figure on the clarinet and oboe. In the descending second theme the woodwinds are soon interrupted by an impatient piano figure with biting grace notes. Following a transition passage the piece finds itself once again clipping along in dotted time to the accompaniment of rippling scalar and arpeggiated piano passages.  The development explores the two themes beginning by toying with the second theme, transposing it to a major key and splitting the dotted rhythm first theme into two parts.   It has an abbreviated recapitulation and an declamatory close. 

Following the riotous first movement, the second  movement marked Andante sostenuto is an idyll of charm and ease.   The bassoon’s low-key accompaniment relaxes the listener into this movement’s calm meter. The piano’s absence in the introduction makes its solo statement of the theme all the sweeter. With this singing piano melody, Farrenc is at her closest to the sentimental parlor music so popular in the Paris of her time. The many solo passages for piano in this movement achieve an intimate atmosphere while the transparency of the orchestration makes for lightness and grace.

The piano’s babbling accompaniment figure and the right hand’s offbeat fragments set the agitated third movement  marked Allegro vivace in motion,  The flute and clarinet follow suit with their dialogue. Momentum does not slacken in the second theme with its constantly moving semiquaver accompaniment. The third movements development section is brief as with in the classical style. The movement then races to a close in the fiery spirit. 

Here is a performance of 
Louise Farrenc: Sextet in C Minor, Op. 40: I. Allegro
Louise Farrenc:  Sextet in C Minor, Op. 40: II. Andante sostenuto
Louise Farrenc:  Sextet in C Minor, Op. 40: III. Allegro vivace
Stuttgart Wind Quintet & Gitti Pirner, piano
Farrenc: Sextet in C Minor, Op. 40 - Single
SWR Classi Archive


Symphonic composition was not a thing in France in the early 19th century.  So Farrenc’s “symphonic contemporaries” were Mendelssohn and Schumann.   Beethoven and Schubert died while she was a student but their works were still very influential in her work.  The great efflorescence of symphony composition of the later nineteenth century by composers such as Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, Franck, Dvořák, and others, was yet to come.

Farrenc composed her third symphony in 1847, and the record shows that she heard it performed at least in 1849 by the Société des concerts du Conservatoire.  She was lucky at that, for there were few opportunities in the Paris at the time for anyone’s symphonic music to be performed.  

Farrenc did not stray far from the usual models in her third and last symphony:  a first movement marked Adagio - Allegro is a variant of sonata form, with a lyrical second movement marked Adagio cantabile, scherzo marked vivice for the third, and an energetic finale marked Allegro.   She did eschew the temptation to fill the orchestra with the growing, heavy orchestration of the times, conservatively using only the standard woodwind octet, two horns, timpani, and strings (no trumpets!).  She thus scored for lighter resources than did usually her German contemporaries.

The first movement is a substantial one, opening with a soft, slow introduction that very quickly leads to the intense allegro.  It’s an intense, darkly dancing affair.  Busy, jittering strings gradually crescendo with the timpani into to the leaping first theme.  There are more than a few themes in the movement to divert, but of interest is the composer’s adroit mastery of featured woodwind color, her use of rhythmic displacements and syncopations that would do justice to a Schumann or a Brahms, and a bold harmonic imagination typical of the early Romantic period.  The extended development methodically works its way through all the material, but not in the typical fragmented way that palpably creates instability.  There is a recapitulation followed by a brief coda.  It must be said that the coda does rather surprisingly seem to come out of nowhere, but it nevertheless serves well, emphatically bringing the movement to a close.

The second movement is a lovely aria, led by the solo clarinet, sustained by soft horns and “throbbing” timpani.  All have their opportunities with the material, with the bucolic atmosphere interspersed from time to time with more powerful, dynamic contrasts.   It can be argued that the spirit of Beethoven’s slow movements seems to be a bit of an influence in this movement .  

The third movement scherzo begins almost demonically in its rhythmic intensity, and maintains that drive even in the contrasting moves to major tonalities.  Nevertheless, throughout Farrenc shows her complete command of the light, gossamer textures of the well-known scherzos of Berlioz and Mendelssohn.  The usual contrasting middle section is a showcase for sostenuto woodwind colors, perhaps evidence of her experience in composing chamber music.

While last symphonic movements traditionally can frequently be somewhat lighter in nature, and end in the major, rather than minor, key—not so here.  Farrenc chose to imbue this movement with dramatic heft.  It is as if she dared any misogynous  critics to drag out the old bromide, “it sounds too feminine.”   So, no typical frisky little rondo and a happy ending in the major key.  Rather, she uses the typical sonata form of a first movement, with a multiplicity of intense themes, intermixed with sizzling scales and dramatic pauses.   To this add, adventuresome forays into rather distant keys, her imaginative woodwind scoring, solid counterpoint in the development, and an economical, but intense drive to the passionate end.  It’s temping to credit the whole to her experience as a performer and her musical life in Paris, surrounded by blood and thunder operas.

Louise Farrenc:  Symphony No. 3 in G Minor, Op. 36: I. Adagio - Allegro
Louise Farrenc:  Symphony No. 3 in G Minor, Op. 36: II. Adagio cantabile
Louise Farrenc:  Symphony No. 3 in G Minor, Op. 36: III. Scherzo - Vivace
Louise Farrenc:  Symphony No. 3 in G Minor, Op. 36: IV. Finale - Allegro

Her is a performance of Louise Farrenc:  Symphony No. 3 in G Minor, Op. 36
Orchestre national de Metz Grand Est conducted by David Reiland
Compositrices: New Light on French Romantic Women Composers


Palazzetto Gru Zane




The Grandes variations sur l’air Le premier Pas was composed in 1824.  The front page of the manuscript we find that this set of variations was composed for piano with orchestral accompaniment.  However a version published in 1825 was for solo piano with the orchestral accompaniment integrated into the piano score.


Louise Farrenc: Grandes variations sur l'air "Le premier pas", Op. 4 (Version for Piano)
Maria Stratigou, piano
Farrenc: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 2 - Theme & Variations, Pt. 1
HNH Intermational Records