Rebecca Clarke was an English composer and performer who lived during the early twentieth century. She began her music studies early, being forced along with her siblings to perform on demand for their father. She received her first formal education from the Royal Academy of Music, but her father forced her to withdraw after he received word that one of her teachers proposed marriage.

After withdrawing from the Royal Academy of Music, Rebecca went on to become Charles Stanford’s first female student at the Royal College of Music. He encouraged her to switch her instrument from violin to viola, with which she would later tour internationally.

Though Rebecca was thrown out of her home in her twenties, she did not despair. Instead, she used the opportunity to focus more on her musical studies and performance schedule. Some of her notable accomplishments include becoming the first female to play with the Queen’s Hall Orchestra as well as founding her own female ensemble – the English Ensemble piano quartet.