Cécile Chaminade was born in Paris on August 8, 1857. Music study took
place in Paris with Marsick and Godard among others. In 1875 she
launched her career as concert pianist by touring Europe in programs
that often included her own compositions. At her American debut, on
November 7, 1908, she appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia
Orchestra in a performance of her own _Concerstueck_. She wrote many
other ambitious works including a symphony, two orchestral suites, and
ballets. She died in Monte Carlo on April 18, 1944.
Though Chaminade staked her future as composer on her larger, serious
works for orchestra and the ballet stage, she is today remembered almost
exclusively for her slight morsels of the salon variety. Most of these
originated as compositions for the piano; her piano music numbers about
two hundred works including arabesques, etudes, impromptus,
valse-caprices, and so forth. _Automne_, a sentimental melody, and
_Sérénade espagnole_, in a pseudo-Spanish style, come from her piano
music: _Automne_ from the _Concert Etudes_, op. 35. It has been
transcribed for popular orchestra by Melachrino. _Sérénade espagnole_
has been adapted for violin and piano by Fritz Kreisler. Chaminade’s
most popular piece, _Scarf Dance_, comes from a ballet, _Callirhoë_,
produced in Marseilles in 1888. It is often heard in its original
orchestral version and in various transcriptions for solo piano, and
solo instrument and piano.