Louise Béguin-Salomon

{{Short description|French pianist, composer and teacher (1831–1916)}}

{{Infobox classical composer

| name = Louise Béguin-Salomon

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Louise-Frédérique Cohen

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1831|04|09|df=y}}

| birth_place = Marseille, France

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1916|11|12|1831|04|09|df=y}}

| death_place = 17th arrondissement of Paris, France

| occupation = {{hlist|Pianist|composer|teacher}}

}}

Louise Béguin-Salomon (9 April 1831 – 12 November 1916) was a French pianist, composer and teacher of the late Romantic period. A student of Louise Farrenc at the Conservatoire de Paris, Béguin-Salomon became a celebrated pianist in the Parisian concert scene, often programming canonic standards alongside contemporary repertoire. As a composer she authored a wide variety of solo piano works.

Life and career

Louise-Frédérique Cohen (née Salomon) was born on 9 April 1831 in Marseille, France.{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Mendel |first1=Hermann |author-link1=Hermann Mendel |last2=Reissmann |first2=August |year=1883 |encyclopedia=Musikalisches Conversations-Lexikon |title=Béguin-Salomon |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=bfU5AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA29 29] |language=German |publisher=Verlag von Robert Oppenheim |location=Berlin |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=bfU5AAAAIAAJ}} }} She was the daughter of Salomon Rousseau Cohen (1796–1876) and Cesarine Boisset (1796–1880); at some point the family lived in Remilly-Aillicourt.{{cite web |last=Brie |first=Tim de |date=25 July 2008 |title=Beguin, Louise |website=Composers-Classical-Music.com |url=https://composers-classical-music.com/b/BeguinLouiseFrederiqueSalomon.htm |access-date=2 March 2024 }} Admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris on 7 July 1843,{{cite encyclopedia |last=Fétis |first=François-Joseph |author-link=François-Joseph Fétis |year=1866 |edition=2nd |encyclopedia=Biographie universelle des musiciens |volume=1 |title=Aaron—Bohrer |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=QwYVAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA65 64–65] |language=French |publisher=Firmin Didot Frères |location=Paris |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=QwYVAAAAQAAJ}} }} she studied there until 1851. Her instruction there initially included keyboard with Mlle Jousselin, and later with the composer-pianist Louise Farrenc. According to François-Joseph Fétis in his Biographie universelle des musiciens, she was among Farrenc's best students. At the Conservatoire she received a series of prizes: 1st prize in music theory (1846); 2nd prize in piano (1847); 2nd prize in harmony (1850); 1st prize in harmony and accompaniment (1851). She married Charles Alexandre Beguin in Paris on 26 July 1855.

Béguin-Salomon was active as a pianist, teacher and composer. She was a celebrated performer, programming canonnic standards alongside repertoire by living composers. Fétis noted that numerous young composers "owed to her their first successes", he further described her as "one of the best pianists in Paris, one of the artists most beloved by the public." Throughout the 1860s and 70s she frequently performed with the violinist José White Lafitte.{{cite journal |last=Wright |first=Josephine |date=Autumn 1990 |title=Violinist José White in Paris, 1855-1875 |journal=Black Music Research Journal |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=213–232 [226] |jstor=779386 |doi=10.2307/779386 }} Béguin-Salomon received the Officier d'Academie honor in 1887 and died on 12 November 1916 in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, France.

Throughout Béguin-Salomon's lifetime she composed numerous pieces for piano, described by Fétis as often with "amiable and delicate feeling". Her œuvre included La Bal breton: Quadrille brillant et facile (1849), Mazurka de Salon (1875),{{Cite web |title=Mazurka de salon pour piano par Mme Béguin Salomon. Op. 23 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k322486w |access-date=2024-03-05 |website=Gallica |language=EN}} and Petite suite des pièces faciles dans le style classique (1894).{{Cite book |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9073541t |title=Petite suite de pièces faciles dans le style classique : pour le piano , V : Allegretto |date=1894 |publisher=Richault |location=Paris}} In addition, Béguin-Salomon arranged the Andante movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's String Quartet No. 1 for piano in 1853.{{Cite book |url=https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb43254118k |title=Andante du 1er Quatuor... transcrit et arrangé pour piano... |date=1853 |publisher=s.n. |others=Louise Béguin-Salomon |location=Paris}}

List of compositions

Sources:{{cite web |url=https://data.bnf.fr/fr/14831597/louise_beguin-salomon/ |title=Louise Béguin-Salomon |publisher=Bibliothèque nationale de France |access-date=2 March 2024 }}