Cécile Chaminade

Cécile Louise Stéphanie Chaminade (8 August 1857 – 13 April 1944) was a French composer and pianist. In 1913, she was awarded the Légion d’Honneur, a first for a female composer. Biography Born in Batignolles (a village then outside Paris), Chaminade was raised in a musical family. She received her first piano lessons from her mother. Her father forbade it because he believed it was improper for a girl of Chaminade’s class. and music composition with Marie Gabriel Augustin Savard and Benjamin Godard. Chaminade experimented in composition as a young child, composing pieces for her cats, dogs and dolls. In 1869, she performed some of her music for Georges Bizet, who was impressed with her talents. . In her early years, she gave recitals throughout France, Switzerland, Belgium and Holland. In 1892, she debuted in England, where her work was popular. She visited England again in 1907 and performed at the Aeolian Hall in London, and in Bath. Queen Victoria was known to enjoy Chaminade’s music and in 1901 at her funeral, the Prélude for Organ, Op. 78, by Chaminade was played. Chaminade married a music publisher from Marseille, Louis-Mathieu Carbonel, in 1901. In 1908, she performed conce