This cache was inspired by a challenge posted by meandmydogs to create a Women in History (WIH) cache. This one is for Amy Beach, a noted female composer originally from Henniker, NH. Many who follow classical music are somewhat familiar with her. I picked Henniker for the location of the cache, putting it along an easy snowmobile, walking and biking trail. This cache is NOT at the posted coordinates. The final location must be calculated from information on the page. The following is taken from several Internet sources including Encyclopedia Brittania and Wikipedia. Instructions for calculations are at the end of the page.
Amy Marcy Beach, née Amy Marcy Cheney, was born September 5, 1867 in Henniker, New Hampshire. She was an American pianist and composer perhaps best known for her Piano Concerto (1900) and her Gaelic Symphony (1894), the first symphony written by an American woman composer.
Amy had already demonstrated precocious musical talent when the family moved to Boston in 1870. She had been composing melodies on the keyboard since age four and began piano lessons at age 6. In October 1883, at the age of 16, she gave her first public recital at Boston Music Hall. In March 1885, at age 17, she played the Chopin Piano Concerto in F Minor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
In December 1885 she married Henry H.A. Beach, an eminent surgeon, Harvard professor, and devoted amateur musician. Because he discouraged her performing in public, instead she undertook a rigorous course of self-instruction in musical theory and composition. In February 1892 the Boston Symphony and Handel and Haydn Society performed her Mass in E-Flat. This was her first major work, and the first by a woman to be performed by those organizations.
Amy soon became the preeminent woman composer in the U.S., eventually composing more than 150 numbered works. These included choral works, church music, chamber works, cantatas, and songs to words of Shakespeare, Robert Burns, and Robert Browning. After the death of her husband in 1910, she was finally able to devote herself to performing. She spent 1911-1914 performing in Europe. When WWI broke out, she had to go back to the U.S. and chose to spend the rest of her life in New York. She would spend her winters touring and summers in a cottage in Massachusetts composing.
Amy died of chronic heart disease on December 27, 1944 in New York. She donated a large part of her money to Peterborough’s MacDowell Colony. Surprisingly, her works were largely forgotten until 1990 when female musicians brought out her works once again and complimented her bravery and gusto at a time when women faced a lot of oppression. She was finally accorded a place on a granite wall called “The shell” that records the names of the most influential musical artists. She was awarded a place in the American classical music hall of fame in 1999.
The final can be located at N43 10.XXX W071 48.YYY, where
XXX = age when Amy began composing + 520
YYY = last 3 digits of the year when Amy played Chopin with the Boston Symphony + 2.
The cache is a small lock & lock.