d
violin. Nina Eschborn has composed a number of pieces for the harp,
besides songs and duets. Fanny Christ and Ida Zaubiter have become noted
as zither players, and have written many compositions for that
instrument.

CHAPTER VIII.

FRANCE

Famous among women composers of all nations is Cecile-Louise-Stephanie
Chaminade. She was born at Paris in 1861, of a family that was well
endowed with musical taste. In childhood, she made the piano her
favourite companion, and while other girls were devoted to their dolls,
she would try to express in tones the simple emotions that moved her.
There are some gifted mortals who can think in music, whose joys and
sorrows translate themselves naturally into melody. Cecile Chaminade was
one of these.

[Illustration: CECILE-LOUISE-STEPHANIE CHAMINADE]

So earnestly did she devote her childish days to music that before the
age of eight she was already able to show some attempts of her own at
composition. These juvenile works, which consisted of sacred pieces,
were of such interest to the composer Bizet that when he heard them he
advised her parents to give her a complete musical training, and
predicted a brilliant future for her. In spite of their fondness for the
art, the parents had no inclination to see their child upon the thorny
and toilsome path of a musical career. Meanwhile the young girl devoted
herself to the piano with utmost ardour, and continued her efforts at
composing. When at last some of her pieces were judged worthy of
performance in the church at Vesinet, her parents were persuaded to let
her follow her inclinations. Her father insisted, however, that her
general education should not be sacrificed, and the result was several
years of hard work.

Her teachers were LeCouppey in piano, Savard in harmony, counterpoint,
and fugue, Marsick in violin, and Benjamin Godard in composition. Under
these she made rapid progress, and, in fact, the latter part of her
education consisted in playing chamber music with Marsick and Delsarte.
Her own debut as pianist took place when she was eighteen, and gave a
chance for the performance of a few of her compositions. These were so
effective that they occasioned the often-quoted remark of Ambroise
Thomas,--"This is not a woman who composes, but a composer who happens
to be a woman."

Her career has been one of constant progress and constant triumph. Her
talents as a pianist have won public hearings for her in London,
Berl