Beath, Betty (1932–)

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Beath, Betty (1932–)

Australian composer. Name variations: Elizabeth Margaret Beath Cox. Born Elizabeth Margaret Eardley, Nov 19, 1932, in Gooburrum district near Bundaberg, Queensland; studied at Sydney Conservatorium of Music (1950); m. John Beath (patrol officer), 1953; m. David Cox (writer and artist), 1970.

Writer of chamber, choral, and instrumental music as well as music for theater, collaborated with 2nd husband on a 40-minute opera for children, The Strange Adventures of Marco Polo (1972), and another opera, The Raja Who Married an Angel; based her next work, Songs from the Beasts' Choir, on poems by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold, which premiered at Carnegie Hall; developed a program about women composers which came to be a regular feature on Australian radio (1984).

See also Women in World History.

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