Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (Sept. 5, 1867 - December 27, 1944) was an American composer and pianist.  Extremely gifted from a young age, Beach's talents seemed to run in the family, with various members playing instruments or singing, and showing great aptitude for music.

Beach was exceptionally talented, having learned 40 songs around the age of one, and at two she was able to sing counter melodies. She taught herself to read at three, and composed some piano waltzes at age four. She began formal lessons with her mother at six, and was soon giving public recitals and performing her own music.  In 1875, her family moved from New Hampshire to Chelsea, Massachusetts, and instead of enrolling their talented daughter in a European conservatory, they chose to keep her training local. She studied piano along with harmony and counterpoint, but her thirst for knowledge was formidable; she did additional work on her own time outside of her studies.

Her large compositional output included  concertos, chamber works, symphonies and works for piano, including Bal Masqué. This work is a light-hearted  and cheerful waltz, that will no doubt charm any audience. She uses a few melodies that you can hear in other works, such as "Wouldn't That be Queer" (which was later used in another work!) and "Pierrot and Pierrette" from Children's Carnival. 

The waltz is not a lengthy piece (only three and a half minutes) and is straightforward, starting in G major, with a grand entrance.  The middle section gives the left hand the melody, and transitions to E-flat major and then goes back to G before ending as grandly as it started.

Here's a recording of this fun work for you to enjoy!

Amy Beach, Piano Music Vol. 1
Kirsten Johnson