The 100 most influential composers
The focus here is both on historical fact and skilled talent in authoring masterpieces. These were composers whose music inspired musicians who came after them. People like Schoenberg, for instance, who was also a significant teacher & promoter.
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Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascualwas a Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor. He is one of the foremost composers of the Post-Romantic era who also had a significant influence on his contemporaries and younger composers. He is best known for his piano works based on Spanish folk music idioms. In 1883 he married Rosina Jordana. He died from his kidney disease on 18 May 1909.Iberia [4 books of 12 works] (1906-8)- Music Department
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Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was born on 8 March 1714 in Weimar, Saxe-Weimar, Holy Roman Empire [now Thuringia, Germany]. Carl Philipp Emanuel was a composer, known for Paris (2008), Después del sueño (1992) and Wuthering Heights (2011). Carl Philipp Emanuel was married to Johanna Dannemann. Carl Philipp Emanuel died on 14 December 1788 in Hamburg, Holy Roman Empire [now Germany].Solfeggieto (1766)- Composer
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Johann Christian Bach is known for Love & Friendship (2016) and Life After (2016).Adriano in Siria- Music Department
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Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685, in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany, into a large and distinguished family of professional musicians. His father, named Johann Ambrosius Bach, was a violinist and trumpeter, employed by the city of Eisenach. His uncles were church organists, court musicians and composers. His mother and father died before Bach was 10. As an orphan, he moved in with his eldest brother, J. C. Bach, an organist and composer, under whose tutelage Bach studied organ music as well as the construction and maintenance of the organ.
Education: At the age of 14, Bach received a scholarship and walked on foot 300 kilometers to the famous St. Michael's school in Luneburg, near Hamburg. There he lived and studied for 2 years from 1699-1701. It was there that he sang a Capella at the boys chorale. Bach's studies included organ, harpsichord, and singing. In addition he took the academic studies in theology, history and geography, and lessons of Latin, Italian, and French. Besides his studies of music by the local Nothern German composers, Bach had important exposure to the music of composers from other European nations; such as the French composers Jean-Baptiste Lully, Marais, and Marchand, the South German composers Johann Pachelbel and Froberger, and the Italians Arcangelo Corelli and Antonio Vivaldi.
Personality and character: Bach was 17 when he made a 4-month pilgrimage, walking on foot about 400 kilometers from Arnstadt to the Northern city of Lubeck. There he studied with 'Dietrich Buxtehude' and became so involved that he overstayed his leave by three months. Buxtehude being probably the best organist of his time became the living link between the founder of Baroque music Heinrich Schütz and the biggest Baroque genius, Bach. Back in Arnstadt, Bach wrote 'Toccata and Fugue in D Minor' (1702), his first masterpiece; which stemmed from his bold organ improvisations. At that time he was in love with his second cousin Maria Barbara; whom he was taking upstairs to the church organ, where her presence was inspirational for his creativity. Bach was punished for the violation of the restrictions on women's presence in the church and he was fired. However, he eventually married Maria Barbara.
Cross-cultural studies: Bach studied the orchestral music of Antonio Vivaldi and gained insight into his compositional language by arranging Vivaldi's concertos for organ. Six French suites were written for keyboard; each suite opens with 'Allemande' and consists of several pieces, including 'Courante', 'Sarabande', 'Menuet', 'Gavotte', 'Air', 'Anglaise', 'Polonaise', 'Bourree', and 'Gigue'. As suggested by their titles, the pieces were representing songs and dances from various cultures. From the music of the Italians Antonio Vivaldi, Arcangelo Corelli, and 'Giuseppe Torelli'; Bach adopted dramatic introductions and endings as well as vivacious rhythmical dynamism and elaborate harmonization. Bach also performed the music of English, French, and Italian composers; motets of the Venetian school, and incorporated their rhythmical patterns and textural structures in the development of his own style.
Teaching: Bach selected and instructed musicians for orchestras and choirs in Weimar and Leipzig. His work as a Cantor included teaching instrumental and vocal lessons to the church musicians and later to the musicians of the court orchestra. Bach was also a teacher of his own children and of his second wife. In 1730, Bach presented his second wife with a musical notebook for studies, known as the 'Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach'. Compositions in the notebook were written in a form of minuete, polonaise, gavotte, march, rondeau, chorale, sonata, prelude, song, and aria; written mainly by Bach, as well as by his sons 'Carl Philip Emanuel Bach', Johann Christoph Bach, and composers 'Francois Couperin', Georg Bohm, and others.
Family: Bach married his second cousin, named Maria Barbara, who was the inspirational force for his early compositions. They had seven children, 4 of whom survived to adulthood. W. F. Bach, J. C. Bach, and C. P. E. Bach became composers. Maria Barbara died in 1720. On December 3, 1721, Bach married Anna Magdalena (bee Wilcke), a talented soprano, who was 17 years his junior. They had thirteen children. Bach fathered a total of 20 children with his two wives. His sons 'Friedemann Bach', Johann Christoph Bach, and 'Carl Philip Emanuel Bach' became important composers in the Rococo style. The descendants of Bach are living in many countries across the world.
Social activity: Bach replaced his friend Georg Philipp Telemann as the director of the popular orchestra known as Collegium Musicum, which he led from 1729-1750. It was a private secular music society that gave concert performances twice a week at the Zimmerman's Coffeehouse near the Leipzig market square. Bach's exposure to such a secular public environment inspired him to compose numerous purely entertainment pieces for solo keyboard and several violin and harpsichord concertos.
Politics: Being the undisputed musical genius, Bach still suffered from ugly political machinations. Although the Leipzig Council had enough money, they never honored the promised salary of 1000 talers a year; promised to Bach by the Mayor of Leipzig, Gottlieb Lange, at the hiring interview. Bach worked diligently, in spite of being underpaid for 27 years until his death. On top of that local political factions in the Leipzig Council manipulated Bach's educational work as well as his compositions and public performances. They were pressuring him as the Cantor and Composer and interfering his creative efforts by imposing restrictions on his performances because of their ugly political games. Bach prevailed as he composed and played his "Mass in B Minor" to the monarch of Saxony and was appointed the Royal Court Composer of Saxony.
King Frederick the Great invited Bach to Potsdam in 1747. There the king played his own theme for Bach and challenged the composer to improvise on it. Bach used the 'royal theme' and improvised a three-part fugue on the king's piano. Later Bach upgraded the king's theme to a more sophisticated melody, and composed an array of pieces based on the improved 'royal theme', which he titled "Musical Offering" and later presented this composition to the king.
Legacy: Bach wrote over eleven hundred music compositions in all genres. In Leipzig alone he wrote a cantata for every Sunday and feast day of the year, of which 224 cantatas survive. Some of his compositions were written on the same theme at different times in his life, like choral cantatas and organ works on similar themes with significantly reworked arrangements. The complete list of Bach's works, BWV, has 1127 compositions for voice, organ, harpsichord, violin, cello, flute, chamber music for small ensembles, orchestral music, concertos for violin and orchestra, and for keyboard and orchestra. His music became the essential part of the education for every musician. Bach influenced such great composers as Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, Felix Mendelssohn, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Prokofiev and many other prominent musicians.
Bach is by far the most performed and recorded composer in history. His 'Das Wohltemperierte Clavier' (The well-tempered keyboard, or The well-tuned piano, in modern terminology) is the definitive work for all students as well as concert musicians. Bach's 'Orgebuchlein' (The little organ book) is a staple in the repertoire of organists and pianists, and some pieces from it were arranged for ensembles. Bach's many chorales, especially the "Mass in B Minor" are considered the best works in the genre. His last work 'The Art of Fugue' is best known for it's acclaimed performance by Glenn Gould. Bach's music was used in hundreds of films, thousands of stage productions, and continues being played all over the world.
The definitive biography of J. S. Bach was written by the Nobel Prize Laureate Albert Schweitzer.Cello Suites ( BWV 1007-1012)- Mili Balakirew was born on 2 January 1837 in Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He died on 29 May 1910 in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire [now Russia].Islamey
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Born in Hungary in 1881, Bartok began his musical studies on the piano at age five. His mother was his first teacher; after his father died in 1888, the Bartok family moved to Nagyszolos, where Bela continued his piano studies and took up composition. At age eleven, he made his first public appearance, playing his own piano music. Bartok enrolled in the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest. he made several tours of Europe after his graduation in 1902. In 1940 Bartok moved to the United States to get away from the Nazi expansion, and was given a teaching position at Columbia University in New York City. With the exception of some noted musicians - conductor Serge Koussevitzky and violinist Yehudi Menuhin in particular - he was generally misunderstood and ignored by the musical establishment. He contracted leukemia in the early 1940s, and died in the fall of 1945, unaware of the monumental status he would achieve after death.Concerto for Orch. S116 (1943, r1945)- Music Department
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Beethoven was the child of a Flamian musician family and became a member of the electoral orchestra of Bonn in 1783. In 1787 he studied at Mozart's in Vienna and in 1792 he moved all to Vienna becoming a student of Joseph Haydn. The Vienna High Society loved him as a piano player as well as as composer. In 1802 his deafness became serious making Beethoven a real eccentric until his death in 1827.Moonlight sonata for piano- Music Department
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Vincenzo Salvatore Bellini was born on November 2, 1801 in Catania, Sicily, Italy. He was the first of seven children in a musical family. His grandfather gave him first piano lessons at the age of 3, and at the age of 5 young Bellini could play good piano to an audience. His first composition dates from around that age. He was granted a scholarship from the municipal government of Catania to study music at the Conservatory of Naples.
Bellini studied under composer Niccolo Zingarelli and a vocal teacher Girolamo Crescenti. His fellow student soprano Isabella Colbrani eventually became his wife. Bellini's graduation opera "Adelson e Salvini" generated a commission from the Royal court. Impresario Domenico Barbaja secured a commission for Bellini's opera for La Scala in Milan. "Il Pirata" started Bellini's fruitful partnership with the librettist Felice Romani, who complemented Bellini's flowing serpentine vocal lines with meticulously chosen words. Their tandem created 7 Bel canto operas in about six years.
In Paris Bellini received a commission from the Theatre Italien for "Il Puritani", which he composed on the libretto by Count Carlo Pepoli. It became a triumph over his competitor Gaetano Donizetti. Bellini was recognized by the leading cultural figures of his time; Franz Liszt, Mikhail Glinka, Frédéric Chopin, George Sand, Alfred de Musset, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas, among others. Heinrich Heine was fond of Bellini's works; But he predicted that Bellini will die, like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Raphael, at the hight of his genius. Bellini died of peritonitis on September 23, 1835, in Paris, France, and was laid to rest in the cemetery of Pere Lachaise in Paris. In 1876 his remains were moved to the cathedral of his native town of Catania, Italy.
Bellini's opera "Norma" became a hallmark of the Bel canto style. It was premiered on December 26, 1831 at the La Scala, Milan, and initially had a cool reception on its first night. The title role is still considered the most difficult role in all of the soprano repertoire. Its performances by Maria Callas are among the finest. The extremely popular cavatina "Casta diva" was used in soundtracks for many films, such as A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999), The Game of their Lives, The Bridges of Madison County (1995), Atlantic City (1980), and Lorenzo's Oil (1992) among other films.Norma (1831)- Music Department
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Alban Maria Johannes Berg was born on February 9, 1885, in Vienna, Austria. He was the third of four children in the upper-class family of Conrad Berg and his wife Johanna, nee Braun. He was trained for a career in accounting, but his father died in 1900, causing him a depression and the onset of asthma. He started composing music, and moved with his mother to their estate near the Palace of Schonbrunn. Young Berg was stimulated by the cultural milieu in Vienna, where Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, and rising Arnold Schönberg were extending aesthetic boundaries with their music.
Berg became a student of Arnold Schönberg in 1904, having little formal education. His intellect was open and free of any dogma. His artistic freedom was complemented with the twelve-tone (dodecafonic) system, discovered and professed by his teacher. Lessons were free, Berg was the special apprentice, just like Schoenberg was to Mahler. In 1907 his music had first public performance. Berg composed five piano sonatas and 'Seven Early Songs' under the tutelage of Schoenberg. Lessons ended in 1911, when Schoenberg's teacher Mahler died, and Schoenberg moved from Vienna to Berlin. At that time Berg married Helene Nahowski. In 1913 Berg invited his teacher to conduct the performance of his newly composed "Altenberger Lieder". The concert was interrupted by the rioting public. Schoenbrg, who traveled from Berlin for the occasion, was somewhat critical of the music of his pupil. Still the teacher and his apprentice maintained their special ties.
Berg interrupted composition during his military service in WWI. But his creative thinking never stopped. His impressions from the play 'Wozzeck', by Georg Buchner, seen in Vienna in 1914, inspired Berg on making it into an opera. He wrote sketches for several years, until the work was completed in 1921. It's three parts were premiered in Frankfurt in 1924, under the baton of Hermann Scherchen. In 1925 the whole opera was premiered at the Berlin State Opera under Erich Kleiber. In 1927 Berg made a trip to Leningrad, Russia for the successful performance of 'Wozzeck' by the Leningrad Opera. It had several performances at the Mariinsky (former Imperial) Opera House, the best Russian opera company. 'Wozzeck' was in the Marrinsky repertoire after the 'Love for Three Oranges' by Sergei Prokofiev, with both composers in attendance. Both operas were soon banned by the rigid Soviet censorship. In 1930 'Wozzeck' had it's premiere at the Vienna State Opera, a success, and in 1931 it had the American premiere in Philadelphia.
Berg's second opera 'Lulu' was strongly condemned by the Nazi ideologists after it's Symphonic premiere in Berliner Staatsoper under Erich Kleiber in November of 1934. Two months later Erich Kleiber emigrated. Berg's music was banned in Germany and even the favorable critics were officially condemned. Berg interrupted his work on the opera, and composed the Violin Concerto, dedicated to Alma Mahler's daughter. He died of blood poisoning, caused by the insect bite, on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1935. The Nazi control extended to Austria after the "Anschluss" in 1938 and brought the ban on all music from the 'New Viennese School'.Wozzeck Op.7 (1917-22)- Music Department
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Hector Berlioz was born on December 11, 1803, into the family of Dr. Louis Berlioz and Marie-Antoinette-Josephine. Hector was the first of six children, three of whom died. He took music lessons at home from a visiting teacher and played flute and guitar. By age 16 he wrote a song for voice and guitar that was later reused for his "Symphonie Fantastique."
In 1821 Berlioz went to Paris to study medicine. His impressions of the Paris Opera performance of "Iphigenie en Tauride" by Christoph Willibald Gluck turned him on music forever. He spent more days at the Paris Conservatory than at the medical school. In 1823 he started writing articles on music for "Le Corsaire". He abandoned medicine for music and successfully performed his "Messe Solennelle" in 1825. After being "cursed" by his mother for abandoning medicine, his allowance from his father was reduced, and was forced to take such jobs as a choir singer to support himself. In 1828 he heard the 3rd and 5th Symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven and with that impression he read "Faust" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. With such inspiration he started composing "La Damnation de Faust."
Berlios fell in love with Irish actress Harriet Smithson and became so inspired that he finished the "Symphonie Fantastique." He premiered the work and met Franz Liszt at the premiere. They became good friends and Liszt transcribed the "Symphonie Fantastique" for piano. In 1830, after being rejected by Harriett Smithson, Berlioz became engaged to pianist Camille Moke. He went to Rome as the Prix de Rome Laureate and met Felix Mendelssohn and the Russian Mikhail Glinka. All three became friends for many years. At that time Berlioz received a letter from his fiancée that she had decided to marry M. Camille Pleyel, a wealthy piano maker in Paris. He decided to return to Paris and kill his fiancée, Mr. Playel and himself, but the long trip cooled him down. He stopped in Nice and composed "Le Roi Lear," inspired by William Shakespeare's play "King Lear".
Back in Paris he became friends with Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Niccolò Paganini, Frédéric Chopin and George Sand. He met writer Ernest Legouve and they became lifelong friends. In 1833 he finally married Harriet Smithson, with Liszt himself as one of his witnesses. Their son was born in 1834. Later he had a mistress, singer Marie Recio, whom he married after the death of Hariet Smithson in 1852.
Berlioz was an influential music critic. He wrote about Giacomo Meyerbeer, Mikhail Glinka, Paganini, Liszt and other musicians. From 1834-38 he completed the opera "Benvenuto Cellini". In 1938 his "Harold en Italie" was performed at the Paris Conservatoire. His friend Paganini was so impressed by that performance that he gave Berlioz 20,000 francs.
In the 1840s Berlioz toured in Europe and strengthened his friendship with Mendelssohn-Bartholdy', Richard Wagner, Giacomo Meyerbeer and Robert Schumann. After extensive concertizing in Belgium and Germany, Berlioz returned to Paris. There his friend Mikhail Glinka, who lived in Paris for over a year, came up with the idea of concerts in Russia. Berlioz's joke "If the Emperor of Russia wants me, then I am up for sale" was taken seriously. Having Mikhail Glinka as a convert, Berlioz was invited to Russia twice, and each tour brought him financial gain beyond his expectation. His deep debts in Paris were all covered many times over after his first concert tour of Russia in 1847. Back in Paris he was having difficulties in funding performances of his massive works and lived on his witty critical publications. His second tour of Russia in 1867 was so much more attractive that Berlioz turned down an offer of $100,000 from American Steinway to perform in New York. In St. Petersburg Berlioz took special pleasure in performing with the first-rate orchestra of the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
His second Russian concert tour was a successful finale to his career and life. Berlioz never performed again. He died on March 8, 1869, and was laid to rest at the Cimetiere de Montmartre with his two wives.Symphonie Fantastique Op.14 (1830)- Music Department
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Georges Bizet was a child prodigy. Entering the Paris Conservatory at the age of nine, he counted among his teachers Antoine Marmontel, François Benoist and Jacques Halévy. At nineteen Bizet won a Prix de Rome. That same year he wrote his first opera, 'Le Docteur Miracle', a one-act comedy. After his studies in Italy he returned to Paris with the intention of writing music for the stage. His 'Les Pêcheurs de perles' (1863), 'La jolie fille de Perth' (1867) and 'Djamileh' however met no more than moderate success. Bizet remained in relative obscurity until 1872, when his incidental music for Daudet's "L'Arlésienne" won him a degree of fame. It was at the suggestion of Camille du Locle, director of the Opéra-Comique, that Bizet composed his opera 'Carmen'. Bizet's librettists, Henri Leilhac and Ludovic Halévy, had based their adaptation on a short novel by Prosper Mérimée. After initial bad reviews, today 'Carmen' is probably the most known opera in the world. The composer's strong dramatic sense, sensuous melodies, vivid orchestration and pulsating rhythms combine into what more than one critic has termed "the perfect opera."Carmen (1873-4)- Music Department
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Aleksandr Borodin was born on November 12, 1833 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was in fact the illegitimate son of the Georgian Prince, Lukas Gedevanishvili, who registered his son under the name of his serf and payed for Borodin's private education in music, languages and sciences.
Young Borodin grew up becoming fluent in German, French and English, besides his native Russian. He later learned Italian and was able to write a technical essay in that language. Borodin studied at the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy from 1850-1856 and graduated with honours as a Medical Doctor. He also earned a doctorate in organic chemistry with his dissertation "On the analogy of arsenic acid with phosphoric acid in chemical and toxicological behaviour." Borodin carried advanced research on aldehydes. In 1872, Borodin discovered the "Aldol-reaction/condensation". He also worked on the chemistry of mineral waters and researched their medicinal properties.
In 1859-63 Borodin lived in Western Europe, where he studied medicine and chemistry and also attended the concerts of Franz Liszt, who became Borodin's friend and admirer of his music. Back in Russia, Borodin continued his music studies as a weekend hobby. He often played piano and flute with his friends, the composers of "The Mighty Handful", which included Mily Balakirev, Cesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Borodin was a frequent traveller because of his scientific research and invitations from various research centres and Universities. His tone poem for symphony orchestra "In the Steppes of Central Asia" was composed on his impressions from travels.
Borodin started the work on his first symphony in 1862, under the tutelage of Mily Balakirev and completed the work by 1869, when it was premiered under the baton of Mily Balakirev. In 1869, Borodin started on his Symphony No.2 which was premiered in 1877, but Borodin made upgrades to its orchestration for the triumphal performance in 1879 under the direction of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. His lengthy work on each one of his symphonies was caused by Borodin's preoccupation with his second opera "Prince Igor", which became his most important work. Borodin was working on this masterpiece from 1869 to his death in 1877. It contains the famous choral "Polovetsian Dances" which was borrowed for the popular song "Stranger in Paradise" and was also used in many films.
In 1877, Borodin went to Weimar where Franz Liszt worked as a Muskmaster. Though Borodin's European trips were made for the business of his scientific research, Franz Liszt, being a personal friend of Borodin, made arrangements for his Symphony No. 1 to be performed for the first time outside Russia. In Italy, Borodin became engaged and lived with Ekaterina Protopopova, whom he married upon their return to St. Petersburg, Russia. Borodin composed many romantic songs for voice and piano accompaniment, dedicated to his beloved wife, Ekaterina. Some of those romances were composed to the poems by Nikolai A. Nekrasov. Borodin's romances became a staple in the repertoire of many classical vocalists.
Borodin's strong and lyrical String Quartet No.2 in D Major stands out in that genre. It is an intellectual conversation between the four musical instruments, each having a special character, and each shows its development through their delicious harmonic interplay. The popular "Nocturne" movement from this quartet is arguably one of the most lyrical melodies in all music.
Borodin's contribution to science and culture could be even more significant. He left a number of unfinished works, the Symphony No. 3 and a five-part opera on stories from Russian fairy tales. He died on February 27, 1887 during a party in St. Petersburg and was laid to rest at the St. Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg, Russia.Polovtsian Dances [from the opera Prince Igor] (1888)- Music Department
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German Romantic composer Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg in 1833 and died in Vienna, Austria in 1897. A perfectionist, he often compared himself unfavorably to composers such as Beethoven and ended up destroying many compositions without their ever being heard. While basically conservative, he showed musical growth throughout his four symphonies and occasionally borrowed wilder folk themes, such as in his Hungarian Dances, and he explored a vast range of human emotion in his Violin Concerto.
Although he never married, much of his later life involved a seemingly unending devotion to Clara Schumann, widow of composer Robert Schumann - both of whom were long-time friends to Brahms.21 Hungarian Dances [pf 4 hands] (published in 4 books, 1852-69)- Music Department
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Anton Bruckner was born on 4 September 1824 in Ansfelden, Upper Austria, Austrian Empire [now Austria]. He was a composer, known for Tell No One (2006), Bronson (2008) and Thirteen Days (2000). He died on 11 October 1896 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria].Christus factus est (1884)- Writer
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Ferruccio Busoni was born on 1 April 1866 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. He was a writer and composer, known for Warrior (2011), Amour (2012) and Ida (2013). He was married to Gerda Sjöstrand. He died on 27 July 1924 in Berlin, Germany.Piano Concerto in C [w/male chorus] Op. 39 (1903-4)- Composer
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Dietrich Buxtehude is known for Mur murs (1981), Devotion & Contemplation: Membra Jesu nostri (2021) and I santi taumaturghi (1994).Membra Jesu Nostri- Music Department
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William Byrd was born in 1543 in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England, UK. He was a composer, known for Primal Fear (1996), Ophelia (2018) and Abandon (2002). He died on 4 July 1623 in Stondon Massey, Essex, England, UK.Ave Verum Corpus [motet For 4 Vv] (p1605)- Giacomo Carissimi was born in 1604 in Marino, Lazio, Italy. He died on 12 January 1674 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.Vittoria, vittoria, mio core
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Emmanuel Chabrier was born on 18 January 1841 in Ambert, Puy-de-Dôme, France. He was a writer, known for Hawaii Calls (1938), Television Theater (1953) and Detective (1985). He was married to Marie Alice Dejean. He died on 13 September 1894 in Paris, France.1 10 Pièces Pittoresques (1881)
2 Une Education Manquee
3 La Sulamite
4 Le Roi Malgré lui (1887) : Danse Eslave + Fête Polonaise
5 España [rhapsody For Orch.] (1883)
6 Bourrée Fantasque (1891)
7 Joyeuse Marche (1888)
8 L'Étoile, opéra comique
9 Gwendoline (1885)- Music Department
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Luigi Cherubini was born on 8 September 1760 in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany [now Tuscany, Italy]. He is known for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), Novye priklyucheniya yanki pri dvore korolya Artura (1989) and Le souper (1992). He was married to Anne Cécile Tourette. He died on 15 March 1842 in Paris, France.1 Medée (1797)
2 Requiem Mass #2 in D minor [3 vv & orch.] (1836)
3 Mass in A major
4 Messe solemnelle in G
5 Requiem Mass #1 in C minor [4 vv & orch.] (1816)
6 Symphonie in D major
7 Quartet #1
8 Overture to Anacréon [opera-ballet] (1803)
9 Ouverture - Les Deux Journées (1800)
10 Demophoon- Music Department
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Frédéric François Chopin was born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, on March 1, 1810, in Zelazowa Wola, Masovia region, Duchy of Warsaw, Poland. His father, named Mikolaj (Nicolas) Chopin, was a Frenchman who came to Poland from Lorraine, and eventually became professor at Warsaw Lyceum. His mother, named Tekla Justina Krzyzanovska, was a relative of Polish Countess Ludwika Skarbkowa, owner of the Zelazowa Wola estate.
From 1816-1822 Chopin studied piano under professional musician Wojcech Zywny. He wrote his first piano compositions at the age of 7. In 1820, then ten-year-old Chopin moved with his parents to Warsaw. There he gained a reputation as a "second Mozart" for his piano playing. From 1823-1826 Chopin studied at the Warsaw Lyceum. In 1824 he was influenced by the Jewish folklore and composed Mazurka in A minor, called "The Jewish" by Chopin himself. From 1826-1830 he studied at the Warsaw Conservatory under pianist Wilhelm Wurfel and composer Josef Elsner. In 1829 Chopin attended a performance of Niccolò Paganini in Warsaw. In the same year Chopin gave solo concerts in Vienna and premiered his Piano Concerto No.1 in F minor. In 1830 he premiered his Piano Concerto No.2 in E minor at the National Theatre in Warsaw. He visited Vienna again in November of same year and played his two piano concertos with great success. After Vienna he continued his concert tour to Munich and Stuttgart. There he learned of the invasion of the Russian Army in Poland, and composed the Etude in C minor, called Revolutionary. Chopin chose the status of a political exile and finally emigrated to Paris, France.
From 1830-1849 Chopin established himself as composer and piano player in Paris. There he changed his name into Frédéric François Chopin. In Paris he met Franz Liszt, who initiated a friendship, and they played together in several concerts, but later became rivals. Chopin formed personal friendship with composer and critic Hector Berlioz. His other personal friends were Felix Mendelssohn and Vincenzo Bellini. In 1835 he made a trip to Dresden and Karlsbad, where he visited with his relatives and accompanied them to Poland. He became seriously ill with bronchial asthma on his way back to Paris. In 1836 he proposed to a seventeen-year-old Polish girl, named Maria Wodzinska, and she accepted. Their engagement lasted for several months, but was called off in 1837 by her mother after a certain manipulative influence by George Sand.
In October of 1836, in Paris Chopin met George Sand at a party hosted by Marie d'Agoult, mistress of Franz Liszt. Initially Chopin commented on Sand: "What an antipathetic woman". In June of 1837 Sand wrote in a letter to her friend about her agenda to abandon another affair in order to start a relationship with Chopin. George Sand was strongly attracted to Chopin, she destroyed his engagement to Maria Wodzinska, and dominated his life for nine years. Chopin and Sand had a turbulent relationship. In 1839, during their first winter vacation together on Mallorca, Sand took along her children from her previous marriage. At Mallorca Chopin did not have a decent piano to practice, while he was composing his 'Raindrop' prelude. Sand witnessed the completion of Chopin's greatest masterpiece, the cycle of 24 Preludes. He had to struggle with a poor rental piano and became unhappy and fell ill, but received little help from local doctors. Later Chopin enjoyed a better environment at Sand's estate in Nohant. There his creativity flourished during the summers of 1839 until 1843. At that time Chopin composed many important works. However, Chopin and Sand were not a good match, and eventually their differences prevailed. Sand was a pipe smoker and a flamboyant party goer. Chopin suffered from bronchial asthma and tuberculosis and needed a quiet solitude for his music. In George Sand's violent quarrel with her daughter Solange, Chopin defended the daughter. Sand left Chopin.
In February of 1848 Chopin gave his last concerts in Paris. He went to England and Scotland in November of 1848, and fell ill there. He gave his last concerts in London while being severely ill. He returned to Paris, but was unable to teach or perform for several months during 1849. Shortly before he died, sensing the end was near, Chopin had requested that Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart be sung at his funeral service at the Church of the Madeleine. He also requested that his heart be removed and brought in an urn to Warsaw, Poland. Chopin died on October 17, 1849, but could not be buried for two weeks, because the church did not allow female singers for the Mozart's Requiem. At last, the church relented and the funeral was held on October 30, 1849. A crowd of four thousand attended the ceremony. Composer Berlioz, artist Delacroix, poet Adam Mickiewicz, singer Viardot, were present among many others from cultural circles - but notably absent was George Sand. Chopin's heart was dispatched in an urn to Warsaw, and his body was laid to rest in the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, France.62 mazurkas (1820-49)
Concerto #1 in E minor Op.11 (1830)
24 Preludes Op. 28 (1836-9)
Scherzi (4);
12 Etudes Op. 25 (1832-6)
Concerto #2 in F minor Op. 21 (1829-30)
12 Etudes Op.10 (1829-32)
Cello sonata in G minor
Andante Spianato in G & Grande Polonaise in E flat Op. 22 (1830-1, 1834)
Nocturne #7 & #8 Op. 27 (1835)
Nocturnes #1 & #2 Op.9 (1830-1)
Nocturne #15 & #16 Op.55 (1843)- Music Department
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Aaron Copland is an Academy Award-winning composer (The Heiress (1949)), author, conductor, lecturer and educator. He was educated at public schools and was a music student of his sister and later Leopold Wolfson, Victor Wittgenstein, Clarence Adler, Rubin Goldmark and Nadia Boulanger. In 1925, he received the first Guggenheim fellowship awarded to a composer. He was a lecturer for ten years at the New School for Social Research, a guest lecturer at Harvard University between 1935 and 1944, and Dean of the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood from 1946. With Roger Sessions, he organized the Copland-Sessions concert series for young American composers, and he founded the American Festival of Contemporary Music, Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, New York. He was a conductor in the United States and abroad. As a guest conductor for the Boston Symphony, he toured with Charles Münch throughout the Far East in 1960. His memberships included the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was awarded the Edward MacDowell Medal, and the US Medal of Freedom.- Music Department
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- Soundtrack
Arcangelo Corelli was born February 17, 1653, in Fusignano, Italy. He studied violin with Bassani at the Music school in Bologna. In Rome he studied composition under Matteo Simeoni, the singer of the pope's chapel. Corelli established himself as composer and violinist in the 1670s. In 1672 he made a sensational debut in Paris, then successfully toured Euripean capitals. In 1678-1680 Corelli was in the service of Queen Christina of Sweden, who had taken up residence in Rome after her abdication. In 1681 Corelli was the court musician for the Prince of Bavaria.
Back in Rome Corelli composed and dedicated music to his aristocratic patrons, such as, Queen Christina, Cardinal Pamphili, Francesco II the Prince of Modena, Cardinal Ottoboni, who was Pope Alexander VIII from 1689-1691. Corelli gained recognition for the nice tone of his playing and for his elegant presentation. He was very attractive, well-mannered, and known for his talent for creating a special ambiance. Corelli was well received in the highest circles of the aristocracy. He was the permanent leader of the famous Monday concerts at the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni, where he also resided for the most part of his life.
His rivalry and partnership with George Frideric Handel was legendary. Corelli was a great musician, but not a virtuoso. As it may be seen from his writings he never wrote or played above D on the highest string. Once Corelli refused to play the melody to the high A in the Handel's oratorio. Then Handel himself played the melody to the highest A, making Corelli very upset. Handel made a visit of respect to the great Corelli, as they both resided at the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni in 1708-1710. Handel also continued the tradition of Corelli's Concerti Grossi.
Corelli developed Concerto Grosso into a form of secular entertainment for the aristocracy. He used the idea of a musical competition between two groups of musicians during the Concerto. A smaller group has only two violins and a cello, while the larger group is the full orchestra. At the beginning of concerto each group presents their beautiful theme with arrangements. During the course of the concerto both groups develop musical interaction and their melody lines become intertwined until they reach mutual culmination in the climax of the grand finale.
Many of Corelli's Concerti Grossi were based on the beautiful flowing melodies from his own violin sonatas. Corelli composed violin sonatas for his solo performances before his high patrons. Corelli's dynamic markings in all of his written music show his use of traditional terrace method of forte and piano dynamics. While unmarked, crescendo and diminuendo were left to be played intuitively between the extremes of piano and forte. Corelli also liberated the accompanying parts from restrictions of the counterpoint rules.
Corelli was a highly reputable teacher of music and composition. Besides giving music lessons to his aristocratic patrons, he taught such composers as Francesco Geminiani and Pietro Locatelli. His strong influence was recognized by Antonio Vivaldi who became Corelli's successor at the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni. Johann Sebastian Bach studied Corelli's compositions. A remarkable tribute to Corelli was made by Sergei Rachmaninoff in his concerto for piano and orchestra titled 'Rhapsody on a theme of Corelli' (aka.. Corelli Variations, Opus 42, 1931), which is best known for it's performances by Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Arcangelo Corelli died on January 8, 1713, in Rome and was laid to rest in the Pantheon of Rome.
Corelli's Concerti Grossi may be heard in film soundtracks as well as in numerous recordings of the Baroque music and in live concert performances.- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Francois Couperin (Couperin le Grand) was born on November 10, 1668, in Paris, France. His father, named Charles Couperin, was the organist at the church of St. Gervais in Paris. In 1679, when Couperin's father died, he was already deputizing him as an organist, and on his 18th birthday Couperin officially inherited his father's previous position as the organist at St. Gervais.
Couperin composed a collection of 'Pieces d'orgue' (1690). That composition was acclaimed by his teacher Jacques Thomelin, who played for the King at the Chapelle Royale. Thomelin recommended Couperin to the Court and helped him to become established as a Royal Court organist in 1693, with the title 'Organiste du Roi'. From 1700-1717 Couperin was also the Royal Harpsichordist at Versailles. Couperin was composing music and directing the orchestra at Sunday concerts for the King. In 1724 he wrote a collection of exquisite trio sonatas 'La Parnasse ou L'apotheose de Corelli', acknowledging his debt to Arcangelo Corelli.
Couperin played mainly keyboard instruments, organ, harpsichord, and early pianoforte, of which he was the unrivaled virtuoso of his time. His compositions were published in elegantly engraved editions in 1713 and later, with careful annotations for players. His most important publication was 'L'art de touché le clavecin' (The art of touching the keyboard, 1716), where Couperin standardized notation for the use of ornaments and dotted rhythms, and elucidated the fingering system, including the use of thumbs in virtuoso passages. This book was thoroughly studied by Johann Sebastian Bach, who adopted the fingering system.
Francois Couperin composed and published over 230 pieces for keyboard. Johannes Brahms was influenced by and performed Couperin's keyboard music in public. Later Richard Strauss orchestrated several of Couperin's keyboard pieces in a form of tone poems. He was highly regarded by Claude Debussy and also by Maurice Ravel, who memorialized his favorite composer in the suite for solo piano 'Le Tombeau de Couperin' (1914-1917).
Couperin family was enjoying the dominant position in the French musical life of the Baroque era. Francois Couperin was the most important musician in the family and was distinguished with the title of 'Le Grad', or Couperin the Great. He died on September 12, 1733, in Paris, an was laid to rest in the Curch of Saint Joseph.- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Claude Debussy was born in St. Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, France. His father was a salesman and kept a china shop. His mother was a seamstress. Some traumatizing events in his childhood caused him a depression and he never spoke about his early years. Later he could not compose without having his favorite porcelain frog.
Debussy's piano teacher, Mme. Maute, had been a student of Frédéric Chopin. She sent Debussy to the Paris Conservatory, where he studied from 1872-84 with César Franck, Ernest Guiraud and others. He lived at the castle of Nadezhda von Meck and taught her children. She was a wealthy patroness of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and eventually Debussy played all pieces by Tchaikovsky in addition to other classical repertoire. She also took Debussy on trips to Venice, Vienna and Moscow. In Vienna he heard "Tristan und Isolde" by Richard Wagner and later admitted that it had influenced him for a number of years.
Debussy won the Prix de Rome twice--in 1883 and 1884--and the money covered his studies at the Villa de Medici in Rome for the next four years. In Rome he met Franz Liszt and Giuseppe Verdi and heard more of Wagner's music, which made a strong impression on him. In 1888 and 1889 he went to listen to yet more of Wagner's music at the Bayreuth Festspiehaus. There he was very impressed by "Parsifal" and other of Wagner's works. He used the Wagnerian chromaticism for upgrades to his own tonal harmony in "Cinq poems de Baudelaire" (1889).
Debussy became influenced by the impressionist poets and artists in the circle of Stéphane Mallarmé. In 1890 he wrote his most famous music collection for piano, "Suite bergamasque", containing "Clair de Lune". His "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" (1892) continued the most productive 20-year period in his life. He composed orchestral "Nocturnes", "La Mer", "Images" (1899-1909), and the intricate ballet "Jeux" (1912) for "Ballets Russes" of Sergei Diaghilev. He was fascinated with Maurice Maeterlinck's play "Pelleas et Melisande", which inspired him to compose the eponymous symbolist opera which was praised by Paul Dukas and Maurice Ravel.
In 1908 Debussy married singer Emma Bardac after they had a daughter, Claude-Emma. Debussy called her Chou-Chou and composed for her the collection of piano pieces "Children's Corner Suite" (1909). His piano masterpiece "Preludes" were composed in 1910-1913. The twelve preludes of the first book are alluding to Frédéric Chopin, with more provocative harmonies, especially the "La Cathedrale Engloutie". In the second book of twelve preludes Debussy explored avant-garde, with deliciously dissonant harmonies and mysterious images.
The beginning of WW I and the onset of cancer depressed Debussy. He left unfinished opera, ballets and two pieces after stories by Edgar Allan Poe that later were completed by his assistants. He died on March 25, 1918, in Paris.1 Pelléas et Mélisande (1893-5, 1902)
2 Martyre De Saint Sebastien, Le
3 Complete Preludes, Books 1 and 2 by Claude Debussy
4 12 Etudes (1915)
5 L'enfant prodigue
6 Images [orch. suite arr.] (1905-12)
7 Quatuor in G minor Op.10 (1893)
8 Suite Bergamasque;
9 La Mer (the Sea): Three Symphonic Sketches (Dover Miniature Scores) by Claude Debussy
10 3 Nocturnes [#1 & #2 for orch.; #3 for orch. & chorus] (1899)
11 Jeux (1912-3)
12 Children's Corner [suite of 6 pieces]
13 En Blanc et Noir : Music for piano duet
14 Boite A Joujoux
15 Sonata for Cello & Piano in D minor (1915)
16 Apres-Midi D'un Faune, L'
17 Danse Sacrée et Danse Profane [harp & string orch.] (1904)