Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867–1944) was a pioneering American composer and pianist, renowned as the first successful female composer of large-scale art music in the United States. Her groundbreaking "Gaelic" Symphony, premiered in 1896 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, marked the debut of the first symphony composed and published by an American woman. Notably, Beach achieved her acclaim without formal European training, establishing herself as one of the foremost American composers of her time. Her prowess as a pianist was equally celebrated, with acclaimed performances of her own compositions in both the United States and Germany.