Born in Hertfordshire to Irish parents in 1907, Elizabeth Maconchy began composing at the age of six and studied composition with Ralph Vaughan Williams at the Royal College of Music. She was drawn to the music of Bartók and Janáček, an interest which took her to Prague, where she completed her studies with K.B. Jirák. She rose to prominence following the triumphant Proms premiere of her orchestral suite, The Land, in 1931, and her music was subsequently performed across Europe, in the USA and in Australia. After the Second World War, she continued to compose, and in 1959, was appointed as the first woman Chairman of the Composers’ Guild of Great Britain. She is perhaps best-known for her 13 string quartets, composed between 1933-83, but her three operas, The Sofa (1957), Ariadne (1970-71) and The Departure (1961), all share a forensic attention to detail. Maconchy was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1992, in recognition of her services to music. She had two daughters, one of whom is the composer, Nicola LeFanu. She died in 1994.