Cécile Chaminade
Composer
Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944), Parisian by birth, moved to the United States after her husband died. There, her piano and Salon music were particularly successful. Her elegant and refined style, imbued with French charm and gracefulness, won over audiences in England and the United States and earned her the title of the first woman composer to receive the Légion d'honneur in 1913. Ambroise Thomas, a well-known French composer, said: “This is not a woman who composes, but a composer who is a woman”.