Beach was a prominent American composer and virtuoso pianist who was the first woman to write a symphony and a mass. The biography documents her personal and professional life using critical reviews, original papers from the Library of Congress, and correspondence with contemporaries such as Holmes and Longfellow. Brown (piano, Tennessee Temple U.) analyzes Beach's chamber music from theoretical and historical perspectives. Includes scores, manuscripts, and a catalog of all published and unpublished works with performance comments. Includes bandw photos. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR