Born in Paris in 1804 as Jeanne-Louise Dumont, Louise Farrenc was the daughter of Jacques-Edme Dumont and the sister of Auguste Dumont, both Prix de Rome-winning sculptors. Louise was musically inclined, and when she was six, she started studying piano and music theory with Cecile Soria, a former pupil of pianist and composer Muzio Clementi. It quickly became apparent that she had potential as a professional pianist, and she took additional lessons with piano masters Ignaz Moscheles and Johann Nepomuk Hummel. In 1819, Louise Farrenc broke a significant gender barrier when she began studying composition with Anton Reicha at the Paris Conservatoire (it is not clear if she audited his classes or was officially accepted, as the course was only open to men). In 1821, she married Aristide Farrenc, a flute student ten years her senior. The pair began giving concerts around France, but the duo opened a publishing house in Paris when Aristide grew tired of touring. For almost 40 years, Éditions Farrenc was one of France’s leading music publishers.

During the 1830s, Louise Farrenc became increasingly well known as a pianist, and during this period also began writing chamber and orchestral music. In 1834, she composed two overtures—single-movement works that usually precede an opera. Although Farrenc’s overtures were stand-alone works, they have a drama all their own. First performed in Paris in 1835, the Overture No. 1 in E Minor begins with an elegant yet majestic introduction that almost recalls the mature Classical symphonies of Mozart, Haydn, or early Beethoven. Upon the entry of the main theme, the mood quickly becomes restless and slightly unsettled. The clarinet injects a moment of lyricism with its contrasting melody, and Farrenc deftly and skillfully develops these ideas throughout the rest of the overture.

Her music was well-received, but the sexism she encountered throughout her career was blatant. “Well written and orchestrated with a talent rare among women,” declared Hector Berlioz, whose Symphonie fantastique had made a big splash in Paris just a few years earlier. “With Mme. Farrenc. the inspiration and the art of composing are of masculine proportions,” said one of her biggest fans, the conductor François-Joseph Fétis.  Farrenc fought against this inequality. When she was appointed to the position of Professor of Piano at the Paris Conservatoire but paid less than her male colleagues, she fought back, finally achieving parity after the success of her Nonet (1849), a work championed by the famous violinist Joseph Joachim. The world largely forgot her music over the decades, but the 21st century has renewed interest in her works. As conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin told the New York Times in October 2021, “[Her] symphonies and the overtures should hold a similar place as Schumann and Mendelssohn. I believe she is completely deserving of that.”