Arrangement: Ika Peyron Gavotte et Chansonette, Opus 1

The Swedish composer Ika (Fredrika) Peyron (1845-1922) began her musical life as a pianist. In 1865 she married a merchant who became a Member of Parliament, and lived in Stockholm with him and their three sons. She studied piano, harmony, and counterpoint, and wanted to compose, but found little encouragement because she was a woman. During the 1870s attitudes towards music written by women had changed (as evidenced by the carer of Amanda Maier), and Ika Peyron devoted her time to writing and performing her music in the Stockholm salons.

She wrote songs, music for violin, and mostly music for piano. Altogether we know of forty pieces.

This charming Gavotte et Chansonette, her Opus 1, works very nicely for strings. A PDF of this arrangement (as well as the piano original) is available on this page of the IMSLP. You can also find the music here.

You can listen to a computer-generated recording here.

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