Maria Teresa Carreño Garcia de Sena (Dec. 22, 1853 - June 12, 1917) was a Venezuelan pianist, singer, conductor, and composer. Born in to a musical family, she became known around he world as a virtuoso pianist, often referred to as the "Valkyrie of the piano".

Carreño showed great talent as a child, and took lessons early on with her father. When she was only nine years old her family moved to New York City, and Carreño started giving public and private concerts shortly after. After meeting Louis Morea Gottschalk, a composer who promoted her playing, Carreño would play all over the east coast, and even performed at the White House. In 1866 her family left for Paris, where she began voice lessons with Rossini, and became acquainted with several composers, including Gounod and Liszt. She would go on to give piano recitals and soloing with orchestras across Europe, the US, and Venezuela, and established herself as a formidable musician.

This isn't the first time we have featured Carreño; we have previously looked in to her work La Fausse Note  (which you can read about here). The work we are currently diving in to is another one of her charming piano works that is appropriate for this time of year, Le Printemps. This salon work is a fun waltz in D flat major, published around 1868. It starts off with a bold entrance before opening up to the fun, light-hearted waltz that it is. There's lots of chromatic work in the right hand, along with pleasing melodies and themes---none terribly profound or deep, which is not the intent of a salon work. It is instead meant to be a crowd pleaser, and this one certainly is with it's fun lines in the right hand, and its jovial mood.

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

Clara Rodriguez