Louise Farrenc, née Dumont, was a French composer and pianist born in Paris in 1804. She came from a long line of royal artists, including women painters and a laureate sculptor. Her own artistic and musical talents emerged early in her life, and by the age of 15, she was a pianist of professional calibre and a student of composition under Reicha at the Paris Conservatoire. Her studies were interrupted by her marriage and subsequent travels, but her husband, himself a composer, scholar and flautist, issued some of her early pieces through his own publishing house. Schumann was impressed by her Air Russe, and her 30 Études became required study material at the Conservatoire. In 1842, Louise Farrenc had taken up the post of Professor of Piano at the Paris Conservatoire, and continued to teach until her retirement in 1873. She was unique among women musicians in the 19th century in holding such a senior post. Many of her pupils went on to be distinguished pianists, including her own daughter whose career was cut short in 1859. After her daughter’s and later her husband’s death, Farrenc published a collection of early keyboard music, including a study of performance style. She died in 1875.

Louise Farrenc wrote two overtures and three symphonies, performed in Paris, Copenhagen, Brussels and Geneva. Her greatest contribution is her tasteful and attractive chamber music, which shows fine craftsmanship. She made her name with her two piano quintets, and the two piano trios of 1844 were also very popular. Between 1848 and 1858, she produced a number of pieces of chamber music, including the Nonetto Op.38 of 1849, and a sextet for wind and piano. The Nonetto caught the imagination of the Parisian public at its first performance in 1850, when the violin part was played by that rising star, Joachim. Farrenc received the Chartier Prize for chamber music in 1861 and 1869. Louise Farrenc is more than a competent minor composer. She worked at a time when women rarely achieved recognition except as performers and at a time when only theatre and salon music were popular.
Her compositions and her contribution to musical scholarship laid foundations for the revival in French music of the 1870s. This edition was researched and edited by C.M.M. and F.H. Nex originally for Phylloscopous Publications in 1994.