Louise Farrenc, Symphonist

After the first performance of Louise Farrenc’s Second Symphony at the Paris Conservatoire on 3 May 1846, the daily La Presse reported “a major success”, and went on to say that it “deserves to be ranked among the very finest works in this genre; the very great skill involved, the perfect mastery of the instrumentation, and the charm and originality of the ideas were all admired. M^me Farrenc’s talent in this, the most difficult type of composition, will henceforth be one of the glories of the French school.”