Luise Farrenc

Luise Farrenc
(b Paris, 31 May 1804; d Paris, 15 Sept 1875). Composer, pianist, teacher and scholar, wife of (1) Aristide Farrenc.

A descendant of a long line of royal artists (including several women painters) and a sister of the laureate sculptor Auguste Dumont, she showed artistic and musical talent of a high order at a very early age. By mid-adolescence she had developed into a pianist of professional calibre as well as an exceptional theory student and promising composer. At 15 she began training in composition and orchestration with Reicha at the Paris Conservatoire; her marriage in 1821 and subsequent travels interrupted her studies, but she resumed intensive work with Reicha a few years later.