Opera Composers by Name
For/from the list Opera Performances by Composer
Opera Performances for each composer:
Adamo | Adams | Ades | Alfano | Argento | Bartok | Beeson | Beethoven | Bellini | Berg | Berlioz | Bernstein | Bizet | Blomdahl | Boesmans | Boito | Bolcom | Borodin | Britten | Bortz | Catalani | Catan | Cavalli | Chapi | Cherubini | Cilea | Corigliano | Cuomo | Debussy | Delibes | Dello Joio | Donizetti | Dun | Dvorak | Eotvos | Franssens | Gershwin | Giannini | Giordano | Glass | Glinka | Gluck | Gounod | Gretry | Handel | Haydn | Heggie | Henze | Heuberger | Hindemith | Humperdinck | Janacek | Joplin | Kastle | Kern | Korngold | Landi | Lehar | Leoncavallo | Lortzing | Lully | Maazel | Majewski | Martinu | Mascagni | Massenet | Menotti | Messiaen | Meyerbeer | Mills | Montemezzi | Monteverdi | Moore | Moreno Torroba | Mozart | Muhly | Mussorgsky | Nyman | Offenbach | Paisiello | Paliashvili | Pasatieri | Penella | Pergolesi | Ponchielli | Portman | Poulenc | Previn | Prokofiev | Puccini | Purcell | Rameau | Ravel | Rimsky-Korsakov | Rossini | Saariaho | Saint-Saens | Salieri | Sallinen | Sasso | Schubert | Schultze | Schonberg | Shostakovich | Skrzek | Smetana | J.Strauss | R.Strauss | Stravinsky | Susa | Tang | Tchaikovsky | Tchaikowsky | Thomas | Tippett | Turnage | Vega | Verdi | Vivaldi | von Weber | Wagner | Waits | Weill | Zandonai | Zimmermann | and the rest (hopefully empty)
Filmography (Music Department) for each Composer:
Adamo | Adams | Ades | Alfano | Argento | Bartok | Beeson | Beethoven | Bellini | Berg | Berlioz | Bernstein | Bizet | Blomdahl | Boesmans | Boito | Bolcom | Borodin | Britten | Bortz | Catalani | Catan | Cavalli | Chapi | Cherubini | Cilea | Corigliano | Cuomo | Debussy | Delibes | Dello Joio | Donizetti | Dun | Dvorak | Eotvos | Franssens | Gershwin | Giannini | Giordano | Glass | Glinka | Gluck | Gounod | Gretry | Handel | Haydn | Heggie | Henze | Heuberger | Hindemith | Humperdinck | Janacek | Joplin | Kastle | Kern | Korngold | Landi | Lehar | Leoncavallo | Lortzing | Lully | Maazel | Majewski | Martinu | Mascagni | Massenet | Menotti | Messiaen | Meyerbeer | Mills | Montemezzi | Monteverdi | Moore | Moreno Torroba | Mozart | Muhly | Mussorgsky | Nyman | Offenbach | Paisiello | Paliashvili | Pasatieri | Penella | Pergolesi | Ponchielli | Portman | Poulenc | Previn | Prokofiev | Puccini | Purcell | Rameau | Ravel | Rimsky-Korsakov | Rossini | Saariaho | Saint-Saens | Salieri | Sallinen | Sasso | Schubert | Schultze | Schonberg | Shostakovich | Skrzek | Smetana | J.Strauss | R.Strauss | Stravinsky | Susa | Tang | Tchaikovsky | Tchaikowsky | Thomas | Tippett | Turnage | Vega | Verdi | Vivaldi | von Weber | Wagner | Waits | Weill | Zandonai | Zimmermann
Opera Performances for each composer:
Adamo | Adams | Ades | Alfano | Argento | Bartok | Beeson | Beethoven | Bellini | Berg | Berlioz | Bernstein | Bizet | Blomdahl | Boesmans | Boito | Bolcom | Borodin | Britten | Bortz | Catalani | Catan | Cavalli | Chapi | Cherubini | Cilea | Corigliano | Cuomo | Debussy | Delibes | Dello Joio | Donizetti | Dun | Dvorak | Eotvos | Franssens | Gershwin | Giannini | Giordano | Glass | Glinka | Gluck | Gounod | Gretry | Handel | Haydn | Heggie | Henze | Heuberger | Hindemith | Humperdinck | Janacek | Joplin | Kastle | Kern | Korngold | Landi | Lehar | Leoncavallo | Lortzing | Lully | Maazel | Majewski | Martinu | Mascagni | Massenet | Menotti | Messiaen | Meyerbeer | Mills | Montemezzi | Monteverdi | Moore | Moreno Torroba | Mozart | Muhly | Mussorgsky | Nyman | Offenbach | Paisiello | Paliashvili | Pasatieri | Penella | Pergolesi | Ponchielli | Portman | Poulenc | Previn | Prokofiev | Puccini | Purcell | Rameau | Ravel | Rimsky-Korsakov | Rossini | Saariaho | Saint-Saens | Salieri | Sallinen | Sasso | Schubert | Schultze | Schonberg | Shostakovich | Skrzek | Smetana | J.Strauss | R.Strauss | Stravinsky | Susa | Tang | Tchaikovsky | Tchaikowsky | Thomas | Tippett | Turnage | Vega | Verdi | Vivaldi | von Weber | Wagner | Waits | Weill | Zandonai | Zimmermann | and the rest (hopefully empty)
Filmography (Music Department) for each Composer:
Adamo | Adams | Ades | Alfano | Argento | Bartok | Beeson | Beethoven | Bellini | Berg | Berlioz | Bernstein | Bizet | Blomdahl | Boesmans | Boito | Bolcom | Borodin | Britten | Bortz | Catalani | Catan | Cavalli | Chapi | Cherubini | Cilea | Corigliano | Cuomo | Debussy | Delibes | Dello Joio | Donizetti | Dun | Dvorak | Eotvos | Franssens | Gershwin | Giannini | Giordano | Glass | Glinka | Gluck | Gounod | Gretry | Handel | Haydn | Heggie | Henze | Heuberger | Hindemith | Humperdinck | Janacek | Joplin | Kastle | Kern | Korngold | Landi | Lehar | Leoncavallo | Lortzing | Lully | Maazel | Majewski | Martinu | Mascagni | Massenet | Menotti | Messiaen | Meyerbeer | Mills | Montemezzi | Monteverdi | Moore | Moreno Torroba | Mozart | Muhly | Mussorgsky | Nyman | Offenbach | Paisiello | Paliashvili | Pasatieri | Penella | Pergolesi | Ponchielli | Portman | Poulenc | Previn | Prokofiev | Puccini | Purcell | Rameau | Ravel | Rimsky-Korsakov | Rossini | Saariaho | Saint-Saens | Salieri | Sallinen | Sasso | Schubert | Schultze | Schonberg | Shostakovich | Skrzek | Smetana | J.Strauss | R.Strauss | Stravinsky | Susa | Tang | Tchaikovsky | Tchaikowsky | Thomas | Tippett | Turnage | Vega | Verdi | Vivaldi | von Weber | Wagner | Waits | Weill | Zandonai | Zimmermann
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Mark Adamo was born in 1962 in the USA. He is a writer and composer, known for Little Women (2000), Great Performances (1971) and A Midsummer Night's Stream (2021).- Music Department
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John Adams was born on 15 February 1947 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. He is a composer, known for Shutter Island (2010), Run Lola Run (1998) and We Are Who We Are (2020).- Music Department
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Thomas Adès is known for Colette (2018), Mozart in the Jungle (2014) and The Edge of Democracy (2019).- Music Department
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Franco Alfano was born on 8 March 1876 in Naples, Campania, Italy. He was a composer, known for Two Lovers (2008), Cyrano de Bergerac (2008) and My Heart Is Calling (1935). He died on 27 October 1954 in Sanremo, Liguria, Italy.- Composer
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Louis Andriessen was born on 6 June 1939 in Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands. He was a composer, known for The Family (1973), Requiem (1986) and La Commedia (2014). He was married to Monika Germino and Jeanette Yanikian. He died on 1 July 2021 in Weesp, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.- Writer
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Dominick Argento was born on 27 October 1927 in York, Pennsylvania, USA. Dominick was a writer and composer, known for Great Performances (1971), Der Bär (1964) and Postcard from Morocco (2019). Dominick was married to Carolyn Bailey. Dominick died on 20 February 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.- Music Department
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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.- Composer
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Jack Beeson was born on 15 July 1921 in Muncie, Indiana, USA. He was a composer and writer, known for NET Opera Theater (1967) and Live from Lincoln Center (1976). He was married to Nora. He died on 6 June 2010 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.- 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.- 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.- 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'.- 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.- Writer
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Renowned composer ("West Side Story", "Candide", "On The Town"), conductor, arranger, pianist, educator, author, TV/radio host, educated at the Boston Latin School and Harvard University (BA) with Walter Piston. Edward Burlingame Hill and A. Tillman Merritt. He studied piano with Helen Coates, Heinrich Gebhard and Isabelle Vengerova, at the Curtis Institute with Fritz Reiner, and at the Berkshire Music Center with Serge Koussevitzky (and became an assistant to Koussevitzky). He was assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic in 1943-1944, and conductor of the New York Symphony, 1945-1948.
He was music advisor to the Israel Philharmonic from 1948-1949, and a member of the faculty at the Berkshire Music Center from 1948 (though he did take leaves of absence), and head of the conducting department there in 1951. He was Professor of Music at Brandeis University, 1951-1956; and co-conductor of the New York Philharmonic, 1957-1958, and music director there after 1958. He won an Emmy award for his televised Young People's Concerts. He was guest conductor of symphony orchestras in the USA and Europe, and conducted the Israel Philharmonic seven times between 1947 and 1957. He toured the US with Koussevitzky in 1951, and was the first American to conduct at the La Scala Opera House in Milan, in 1953. He was awarded the Sonning Prize in Denmark, and was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
He joined ASCAP in 1944, and his chief musical collaborators included Betty Comden, Adolph Green, John Latouche, and Stephen Sondheim. His song compositions include "New York, New York", "Lonely Town", "Some Other Time", "I Can Cook, Too", "I Get Carried Away", "Lucky to Be Me", "Ohio", "A Quiet Girl", "It's Love", "A Little Bit in Love", "Wrong Note Rag", "Glitter and Be Gay", "El Dorado", "The Best of All Possible Worlds", "Maria", "Tonight", "Something's Coming", "I Feel Pretty", "Cool", "America", and "Gee, Officer Krupke".- 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."- Composer
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Karl-Birger Blomdahl was born on 19 October 1916 in Växjö, Kronobergs län, Sweden. He was a composer and director, known for Altisonans (1966), Sawdust and Tinsel (1953) and Three Dances (1946). He died on 14 June 1968 in Kungsängen, Stockholms län, Sweden.- Composer
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Philippe Boesmans was born on 17 May 1936 in Tongeren, Flanders, Belgium. He was a composer and actor, known for Magnum Begynasium Bruxellense (1978), Ne pas stagner (1973) and Rendez-vous avec un ange (2010). He died on 10 April 2022 in Brussels, Belgium.- Writer
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Arrigo Boito was born on 24 February 1842 in Padua, Lombardy-Venetia, Austrian Empire [now Veneto, Italy]. He was a writer, known for Match Point (2005), Batman Begins (2005) and Faust and the Devil (1949). He died on 10 June 1918 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Music Department
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William Bolcom was born on 26 May 1938 in Seattle, Washington, USA. He is a composer, known for Great Performances (1971), Hester Street (1975) and Illuminata (1998).- 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.- Music Department
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Benjamin Britten was born on 22 November 1913 in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England, UK. He was a composer and writer, known for Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Lobster (2015) and The Machine (2013). He died on 4 December 1976 in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, England, UK.- Composer
Daniel Börtz was born on 8 August 1943 in Osby, Skåne län, Sweden. He is a composer, known for Karl XII (1974), Backanterna (1993) and På tu man hand (1980).- Music Department
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Alfredo Catalani was born on 19 June 1854 in Lucca, Grand Duchy of Tuscany [now Tuscany, Italy]. He is known for Crimson Tide (1995), A Single Man (2009) and Philadelphia (1993). He died on 7 August 1893 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Composer
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Daniel Catán was born on 3 April 1949 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He was a composer and writer, known for Great Performances (1971), El vuelo del águila (1994) and I'm Losing You (1998). He was married to Andrea Puente. He died on 9 April 2011 in Austin, Texas, USA.- Music Department
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Francesco Cavalli is known for Il Giasone (2012), Rimini. Un itinerario tra storia, monumenti e opere d'arte (2005) and La Didone, opera in un prologo e tre atti (2007).- Music Department
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Ruperto Chapí was born on 27 March 1851 in Villena, Alicante, Spain. He was a composer, known for Teatro Apolo (1950), De Madrid al cielo (1952) and La danza del corazón (1953). He was married to Vicenta Selva Alvarez. He died on 25 March 1909 in Madrid, Spain.- 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.- Music Department
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Francesco Cilea was born on 23 July 1866 in Palmi, Calabria, Italy. He is known for Philadelphia (1993), Adriana Lecouvreur (2011) and Man of Straw (1958). He was married to Rosa Lavarello. He died on 20 November 1950 in Varazze, Liguria, Italy.- Additional Crew
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John Corigliano was born on 16 February 1938 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a composer, known for The Red Violin (1998), Altered States (1980) and Revolution (1985).- Composer
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Douglas J. Cuomo was born on 13 February 1958 in Tucson, Arizona, USA. He is a composer, known for Sex and the City (1998), Sex and the City 2 (2010) and Sex and the City (2008).- Music Department
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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.- Music Department
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Léo Delibes was born on 21 February 1836 in Saint-Germain-du-Val, La Flèche, Sarthe, France. He was a composer and writer, known for True Romance (1993), Carlito's Way (1993) and Pig (2021). He was married to Léontine Estelle Denain. He died on 16 January 1891 in Paris, France.- Music Department
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Norman Dello Joio was born on 24 January 1913 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer and writer, known for A Golden Prison: The Louvre (1964), Vanity Fair (1961) and Kamikaze (1960). He was married to Barbara Bolton and Grayce Baumgold. He died on 24 July 2008 in East Hampton, New York, USA.- Music Department
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Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was born November 29, 1797 in Bergamo, Italy. He was born in a windowless cellar into a poor family of a government clerk. At the age of 9 he became a protégé of Johann Simon Mayr, Maestro di Cappella of the Lombard city. Johann Mayr hosted and educated young Donizetti, and later sent the talented boy to study music under the renowned Padre Stanislao Mattei, the head master of the Music School in Bologna. After graduation he enlisted in the Army, and avoided going back to poor life in Bergamo.
In 1818 Donizetti's first operas were performed in Venice with modest success. In 1822 Donizetti settled in Naples and there had his first big success with two operas: "Zoraida di Granada" (1822) and "La zingara" (1822). He was developing the Bel canto style, writing his hallmark melody lines in a perfect match to Italian lyrics. Donizetti played with variety of genre from the comedy "L'ajo nell'umbarazzo" (1824), to the heroic neo-classical drama "L'esule di Roma" (1828), to the romantic melodrama "Il Paria" (1829).
Donizetti became famous beyond Italy with his opera "Anna Bolena" (1830). The superb quality of his music made him the rival of Vincenzo Bellini and Gioachino Rossini. Donizetti's next operas "L'elisir d'amore" (1832), "Parisina" (1833), "Lucrezia Borgia" (1833), and "Maria Stuarda" (1834) were performed in Rome, Genoa, Florence, and Teatro alla Scala in Milano. Meanwhile he had a teaching position at the Naples Conservatoire and had a good reputation for his warmth, generosity and devotion to his work.
His opera "Lucia di Lammermoor" (1835) straddled the annals of the day more brilliantly than any other opera. Donizetti went to Paris, and soon after was given the position of the Court Composer in Vienna. His later operas were written to French texts, with the inevitable loss of Bel canto smoothness, which was best in his melodies written to Italian lyrics. His last works of "grand-opera" scale integrated ballet numbers in spectacular settings. "Don Pasquale" (1843) was Donizetti's last opera. He died of paralysis on April 8. 1848, in Bergamo, Italy.
Vocally challenging "L'elisir d'amore" (The Elixir of Love 1832) remains a perennial favorite of the Bel canto opera repertoire worldwide. It is a story of a young love-struck Nemorino, who bought a bottle of magic drink from a traveling drug-pusher, who claims it to be a 'love potion'. Nemorino is trying to win the heart of the coquettish Adina, who eventually discovers that Nemorino's love is true and sincere. It was made into the eponymous film in 1992, starring Luciano Pavarotti as Nemorino and Kathleen Battle as Adina.
"Una furtiva lagrima" from the opera "L'elixir d'amore" is among the most famous tenor arias. It's legendary 1904 Victor recording by Enrico Caruso was used in 'Match point' (2005), 'Neokonchennaya pyesa dlya mekhanicheskogo pianino' (1977), and many other films, often uncredited.- Composer
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Dun Tan was born on 18 August 1957 in Si Mao, Hunan Province, China. He is a composer and producer, known for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Hero (2002) and Fallen (1998).- Music Department
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Antonin Dvorak was a son of butcher, but he did not follow his father's trade. While assisting his father part-time, he studied music, and graduated from the Prague Organ School in 1859. He also was an accomplished violinist and violist, and joined the Bohemian Theatre Orchestra, which was under the baton of Bedrich Smetana in 1860s. For financial reasons he quit the orchestra and focused on composing and teaching. He fell in love with one of his students, but she married another guy. Her sister was available, so Dvorak married the sister, Anna, in 1873, and they had nine children.
Dvorak's early compositions were influenced by Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms, and with their promotion his music became performed in European capitals and received international acclaim. His performances in 1880s of Slavonic Dances, the Sixth Symphony and the Stabat Mater were a success in England, and Dvorak received an honorary doctorate from Cambridge. He made a successful concert tour in Russia in 1890, and became a professor at the Prauge Conservatory. In 1892 he received an invitation to America from Jeaunnette Thurber, the founder of he National Conservatory of Music in New York City. Dvorak was the Director of the National Conservatory in New York for three years (1892-95), where he also taught composition and carried on his cross-cultural studies.
Dvorak broadened his experiences through studying the music of the Native Americans and African Americans, many of whom became his students and friends. Dvorak was inspired by the originality of indigenous American music and culture, as well as by the spirituals and by the singing of his African American students. Dvorac incorporated his new ideas, blended with his Bohemian roots, into his well-known Symphony No.9 in E minor "From the New World". He worked on this symphony for most of the spring and summer of 1893, and made it's glorious premiere in Carnegie Hall in December, 1893. In America he also wrote the remarkable Cello Concerto and two string quartets, including the Quartet in F ("The American"). Dvorak was doing very well in New York financially, but his heart was in Prague and he left America for his Czech Motherland. He had a big family with his wife and nine children in Prague. He became the Director of the Prague Conservatory in 1901 and kept the position until his death in 1904.- Composer
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Péter Eötvös was born on 2 January 1944 in Székelyudvarhely, Hungary [now Odorheiu Secuiesc, Romania]. He was a composer and writer, known for Age of Illusions (1965), Nappali sötétség (1963) and Tüske a köröm alatt (1988). He was married to Piroska Molnár, Mária Mezei and Pi-Hsien Chen. He died on 24 March 2024 in Budapest, Hungary.- Music Department
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He was born Jacob Gershowitz, 26 September 1898, in Brooklyn, New York, of Russian-Jewish immigrants. As a boy he could play popular and classical works on his brother Ira's piano by ear. In 1913 he quit school to study music and began composing for Tin Pan Alley; by 1919 he had his first hit "Swanee" and his first Broadway show "La, La, Lucille." In less than three weeks in 1924 he composed "Rhapsody in Blue," originally for Paul Whiteman's relatively small swing band and later orchestrated by Ferde Grofé. "Concerto in F" followed the next year, and his musical success "Oh, Kay!" (which included "Someone to Watch Over Me") the year after that. Success continued: "Funny Face" (1927), the tone poem "American in Paris" (1928), "Girl Crazy" (1929), "Of Thee I Sing" (1931 the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize), and the first true American opera: "Porgy and Bess" (1935). He moved to Hollywood were his songs were performed by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. In 1937 he fell in love with Paulette Goddard, then married to Charlie Chaplin. He was heartbroken that she would not leave her husband for him. When he fell ill, that June, it was written off as stress. A month later he died of a brain tumor, five hours after a failed surgical attempt to remove it. Funerals were hold in both Hollywood and New York.- Composer
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Vittorio Giannini was born on 19 October 1903 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Vittorio was a composer and writer, known for NBC Television Opera Theatre (1949), Steel: Man's Servant (1938) and High Over the Borders (1942). Vittorio died on 28 November 1966 in New York City, New York, USA.- Music Department
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Umberto Giordano was born on 28 August 1867 in Foggia, Puglia, Italy. He was a composer, known for Ghost in the Shell (2017), To Rome with Love (2012) and Philadelphia (1993). He was married to Olga Spatz-Wurms. He died on 12 November 1948 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Composer
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Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Glass worked in his father's radio store and discovered music listening to the offbeat Western classical records customers didn't seem to want. He studied the violin and flute, and obtained early admission to the University of Chicago. After graduating in mathematics and philosophy, he went to New York's Juilliard school, drove a cab, and studied composition with Darius Milhaud and others.
At 23, he moved to Paris to study under the legendary Nadia Boulanger, who taught almost all of the major Western classical composers of the 20th century. While there, he discovered Indian classical music while transcribing the works of Ravi Shankar into Western musical notation for a French filmmaker. A creative turning point, Glass researched non-Western music in India and parts of Africa, and applied the techniques to his own composition.
Back in the United States, Glass spent the late 1960s and early 1970s driving a taxi cab in New York and creating a major collection of new music. In 1976, his landmark opera "Einstein on the Beach" was staged by Robert Wilson to a baffling variety of reviews. His compositions were so avant-garde that he had to form the Philip Glass Ensemble to give them a venue for performance. Although called a minimalist by the Western classical mainstream, he denies this categorization. His major works include opera, theater pieces, dance, and song.
His work in film, beginning with Koyaanisqatsi (1982), gave filmmakers such as Godfrey Reggio and Errol Morris a new venue of expression through the documentary form. His many recordings have also widened his audience. He was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera to compose "The Voyage" for the Columbus quinquacentennial in 1992. In 1996, he composed original music for the Atlanta Olympic Games, which, perhaps, made Glass almost mainstream. Glass remains one of the most important American composers. His music is distinctive, haunting, and evocative. Either performed by itself or in collaboration with other media, his compositions move the listener to unexplored places. More recently, a major reexamination of Glass's oeuvre has led him to be labeled the Last Romantic by the musical press.- Music Department
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Mikhail Glinka, the author of the first Russian Opera who suffered from abuse in his early childhood and barely survived the Napoleon's invasion of 1812, had lived most of his adult life outside of Russia and fused Spanish, Italian, French, and other influences in his own music.
He was born Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka on June 1, 1804 into a wealthy noble family, in Novospasskoe, Smolensk region, Russia. His early childhood development was disturbed by his emotionally unstable grandmother, who was manipulating his parents, until she died, when Glinka was 6 years old. In 1812 the invasion of Napoleon's Armies shook Russia, but the Glinka family and their estate survived. His loving mother hired help to mitigate the traumatizing memories.
Music was the best therapy for Glinka. He had a professional German teacher of music and a French instructor in languages living with the family and giving him lessons everyday. Glinka enjoyed the performances of a hired orchestra in their home. He wrote that orchestral music was a "special and happy impression". At age 12 he went to the Boarding School for Nobility in St. Petersburg. He took piano, violin, and voice lessons from the Italian, German, and Austrian celebrities of that time. His first love with a singer inspired him on writing his first compositions: Waltz for piano and Variations on the theme of Mozart for piano.
Glinka wrote most of his music while in Western Europe, where he lived and wandered for 23 years, absorbing the culture of the most artistically advanced European nations. He studied composition with Siegfrid Dehn in Berlin for 3 years and lived in Rome for 4 years. There he met Hector Berlioz and Giacomo Meyerbeer and the three composers remained good friends for many years. Glinka received critical acclaim from Hector Berlioz, who published an article about him in Paris. Such a publicity was well received and Glinka later promoted Hector Berlioz to the Russian Royalty and aristocracy, and helped him to sign and to accomplish a lucrative concert tour in Russia.
Glinka was inspired by the operas of Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini, and Christoph Willibald Gluck. In 1845 he moved to Spain for 3 years and seriously studied Spanish culture, falling in love with flamenco. "Spain could cure the wounds of my heart", wrote Glinka to his mother. There he wrote two symphonic "Spanish Ouvertures". His music was performed in European capitals and was praised by Hector Berlioz. Such composers as Felix Mendelssohn and Giacomo Meyerbeer came to meet Glinka after his concerts. His personal favorites were Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, and Frédéric Chopin.
"A Life for the Tsar" (the feat of Ivan Susanin), became the first Russian opera, based on eclectic mix of music from Russian, Ukrainian, and Polish folk-tunes and other European influences. Premiered in 1836 in the presence of the Tsar, the opera became a model for some Russian composers. From 1837-1839 Glinka was the Emperor's Kapellmeister of the Imperial Choral Capella in St. Petersburg. In 1840 he again left Russia for Europe. He worked for six years writing his second opera "Ruslan and Ludmila", based on the eponymous poem of Alexander Pushkin. His other compositions include the orchestral "Kamarinskaya", quartets, piano pieces, choral and church works, and over 80 romantic songs.
During the 1850s Mikhail Glinka was at the peak of his popularity outside of Russia. From 1852-1855 he lived in Paris and Berlin and also performed his music in other European capitals. In December of 1856 Glinka had a gala-concert of his music performed in Berlin. It was a great success, and excited Glinka gave an all-night party for his friends and guests. He was exhausted after a long party and caught a cold that led to his death on February 15, 1857, in Berlin. Mikhail Glinka was buried in Berlin, but a few months later his body was taken to St. Petersburg and was laid to rest in Necropolis of the Masters of Arts at St. Aleksandr Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg, Russia.- Music Department
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Young Gluck was a singer in a church choir and thus decided to study music in Prague although his parents wanted him to work in the forest. Having to earn his own money he worked as a part-time musician and finished his studies in Milan where he wrote his first Italian style opera. Impressing the audience he was invited to London where he had first contact with the music of George Frideric Handel. In 1752, he finally accepted a job at a theatre in Vienna, but continued composing operas and ballets for clients in Paris.- Music Department
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Charles Gounod was born on 17 June 1818 in Paris, France. He was a composer, known for Chronicle (2012), The American (2010) and 28 Days Later (2002). He was married to Anna Zimmermann. He died on 18 October 1893 in Saint-Cloud, Seine-et-Oise [now Hauts-de-Seine], France.- Music Department
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André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry was born on 8 February 1741 in Liège, Belgium. André-Ernest-Modeste was a composer, known for Valmont (1989), Love & Friendship (2016) and The Novel of Werther (1938). André-Ernest-Modeste died on 24 September 1813 in Montmorency, France.- Music Department
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Born February 23 1685 in Halle, Germany, he was christened "Georg Friederich Händel" but always signed his name "Georg Friedrich Händel". His father intended for him to go into law, but Händel studied music clandestinely and was eventually allowed to study under an organist. He achieved some success early on, and toured Italy in 1706. He briefly worked in Hannover before departing for London in 1711. While in England Händel composed a number of anthems, operas, and church music, and in 1723 he became a British citizen. He premiered "Messiah" in Ireland as a charity aid, and this quickly became his most famous work. He died early in the morning on 14 April 1759, and was buried in Westminster Abbey under a monument that reads: "George Frederic Handel". 3,000 people attended his funeral.- Music Department
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Haydn had a hard childhood: at six years old he had to work as a boy singer in a choir and after his voice broke he had to earn his money by playing dance music and serving as a butler. Becoming famous for his compositions Haydn was employed as "Kapellmeister" by Fuerst Esterhazy in Eisenstadt in 1761. For thirty years he served him and composed his pieces for the pleasure of the aristocrats; his musicians used to call him "Papa Haydn" as he was caring for them and was socially engaged. After the death of Esterhazy Haydn moved to Vienna leaving it only twice for London where he composed his "London symphonies".- Composer
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Hans Werner Henze was born on 1 July 1926 in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He was a composer and writer, known for The Exorcist (1973), Love Unto Death (1984) and Der junge Lord (1969). He died on 27 October 2012 in Dresden, Germany.- Composer
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Richard Heuberger was born on 18 June 1850 in Graz, Austria. He was a composer, known for The Emperor Waltz (1948), Opernball (1939) and Opera Ball (1931). He was married to Louise Herr, Johanna Herr and Auguste Auge. He died on 28 October 1914 in Vienna, Austria.- Music Department
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Paul Hindemith was born on 16 November 1895 in Hanau, Hesse, Germany. He was a composer and writer, known for Dr. M (1990), Notes of Love (1998) and Im Kampf mit dem Berge - 1. Teil: In Sturm und Eis - Eine Alpensymphonie in Bildern (1921). He was married to Gertrud Rottenberg. He died on 28 December 1963 in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany.- Music Department
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Engelbert Humperdinck was born on 1 September 1854 in Siegburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He was a composer and writer, known for Hannibal Rising (2007), Lore (2012) and Hänsel und Gretel (2015). He was married to Hedwig Taxer. He died on 27 September 1921 in Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.- Music Department
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Leos Janácek was born on 3 July 1854 in Hukvaldy/Hochwald, Moravia, Austrian Empire [now Czech Republic]. He was a writer, known for The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), Cunning Little Vixen and NET Opera Theater (1967). He was married to Zdenka Schulzova. He died on 12 August 1928 in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic].- Music Department
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Scott Joplin was a black American composer and pianist known as the "King of Ragtime" at the turn of the 20th century. Studying piano with teachers near his childhood home, Joplin traveled through the Midwest from the mid-1880s, performing at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Settling in Sedalia, MO, in 1895, he studied music at the George R. Smith College for Negroes and hoped for a career as a concert pianist and classical composer. His first published songs brought him fame, and in 1900 he moved to St. Louis to work more closely with the music publisher John Stark. Joplin published his first extended work, a ballet suite using the rhythmic devices of ragtime, with his own choreographic directions, in 1902. His first opera, "A Guest of Honor" (1903), was lost by the copyright office. Moving to New York City in 1907, Joplin wrote an instruction book, "The School Of Ragtime", outlining his complex bass patterns, sporadic syncopation, stop-time breaks and harmonic ideas that were being widely imitated and popularized. Joplin's contract with Stark ended in 1909, and though he made piano rolls in his final years, most of his efforts involved "Treemonisha", which synthesized his musical ideas into conventional, three-act opera. He also wrote the libretto, about a mythical black leader, and choreographed it. "Treemonisha" had only one semipublic performance during Joplin's lifetime; he became obsessed with its succeeding, suffered a nervous breakdown and collapse in 1911, and was institutionalized in 1916. His reputation as a composer rests on his classic rags for piano, including "Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Entertainer", published from 1899 through 1909, and "Treemonisha", published at his own expense in 1911. It was well received when produced by an Atlanta, GA, troupe on Broadway in 1972, and interest in Joplin and ragtime was stimulated in the 1970s by the use of his music in the Academy Award-winning score to the film The Sting (1973).- Director
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Leonard Kastle was born on 11 February 1929 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and writer, known for The Honeymoon Killers (1970), NBC Television Opera Theatre (1949) and The Making of Wedding at Cana. He died on 18 May 2011 in Westerlo, New York, USA.- Music Department
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Jerome David Kern was born in 1885. He began his stage career grafting American songs (for which he wrote the music) into imported European operettas. His breakthrough came with the song "They Didn't Believe Me", written (with lyrics by Edward Laska) for a show called "The Girl from Utah". It established him as a major American composer in 1914. Married to a Englishwoman, Kern became an Anglophile, and teamed up with British writers Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse to write the so-called "Princess Theatre musicals"--shows like "Very Good, Eddie" and "Leave It To Jane", which were unusual not so much for their silly storylines but for the fact that the characters were everyday people rather than the exotic characters of operetta, and also for the fact that these shows had few sets and small casts. He later wrote shows like "Sally" and "Sunny", both loaded with song hits, star casts and spectacular sets but silly plots. Finally, looking for an entirely different type of musical, Kern decided to adapt Edna Ferber's novel "Show Boat" to the musical stage. Although Oscar Hammerstein II agreed to do the adaptation and lyrics, nearly everyone (including Ferber) thought Kern and Hammerstein had lost their minds. "Show Boat"'s storyline featured interracial marriage, wife desertion, alcoholism and gambling, and the most realistic characters ever seen in a musical up to then, not to mention the song "Ol' Man River" and an opening chorus of black dockworkers singing about their work. Most of the songs were integrated so well into the story that they could not possibly have been sung in another show or taken out of "Show Boat" without damaging the plot. And "Show Boat" featured a song, "Mis'ry's Comin' Round", which was so utterly tragic that Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. ordered it cut--and it remained cut, existing only as background music, until the 1994 revival. In spite of all this, "Show Boat" became a huge hit and has remained one of the musical theater's greatest classics and most often revived shows--the only musical pre-1943 to be revived over and over. Kern, however, did not experiment any further--his other hit shows, "Music In The Air", "Roberta" and "The Cat and the Fiddle", contain classic songs that are still sung, but the shows are almost never revived. After a heart attack in 1939, Kern wrote songs exclusively for movie musicals. Two of his movie musicals, Swing Time (1936) with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and Cover Girl (1944) with Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly, have become famous for their songs and dances. Kern died of a stroke at the age of 60, in 1945.- Music Department
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Erich Wolfgang Korngold was the son of a well-known music critic. A child prodigy, he accompanied his father in playing four-handed piano arrangements by the age of five. By the age of eleven he drew his first plaudits from enthusiastic Viennese audiences (including the emperor Franz Josef) with his ballet-pantomime "Der Schneeman" (The Snow Man). Two years later, he wrote a piano sonata which was performed by Artur Schnabel. Korngold composed his first orchestral piece at 14 and attracted the attention of Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler and many other prominent composers and conductors. In 1920, he conducted the Hamburg Opera performing his seminal work "Die tote Stadt" which became a huge international success. Thus embarked upon a promising career as a serious composer, Korngold was invited to the United States by Max Reinhardt to score A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) -- and decided to stay. He was certainly grateful for the chance to escape Adolf Hitler's annexation of Austria. In 1943, Korngold became an American citizen.
Korngold was the first composer of international renown to be signed by Hollywood despite having no prior experience with film music. His approach to the medium was predominantly theatrical and operatic (he once described Tosca as "the best film score ever written"). A master of technique, credited with "inventing" the syntax of orchestral film music, he composed at the piano with projectionists running reels at his behest. Often, he worked in conjunction with the orchestra of Hugo Friedhofer who became his closest collaborator. Under contract to Warner Brothers from 1935 to 1947, Korngold picked up Academy Awards for Anthony Adverse (1936) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). His stirring and string-laden scores were ideally suited for such high-octane Errol Flynn swashbucklers as Captain Blood (1935) and The Sea Hawk (1940). In the final analysis, other notable film composers, including even the great Max Steiner, admitted to being influenced by Korngold's work. His 1937 violin concerto which used various elements from his film music became one of the most prolifically performed classical concerts of the 20th century.
Korngold would have longed to resume his career as a serious composer. However, after the war ended, he found that the world of serious music had passed him by. In 1949, he returned to Vienna with his wife but found the city in ruins and much changed. A year later, disillusioned, he moved back to his home in the Toluca Lake district in North Hollywood. During the final ten years of his life he composed almost exclusively for concert halls. In 1956, he suffered a stroke which left him partially paralysed and he died a year later at the age of 60 from a heart attack.- Music Department
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Stefano Landi was born on 26 February 1587 in Rome, Papal State [now Lazio, Italy]. Stefano is known for Ava (2017), Aires 06 (2006) and Il Sant' Alessio (2007). Stefano died on 28 October 1639 in Rome, Papal State [now Lazio, Italy].- Music Department
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Franz Lehár was born on 30 April 1870 in Komárom, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]. He was a composer and actor, known for The Rocketeer (1991), U-571 (2000) and Schindler's List (1993). He was married to Sophie Paschkis. He died on 24 October 1948 in Bad Ischl, Upper Austria, Austria.- Music Department
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Ruggero Leoncavallo was born on 23 April 1857 in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies [now Naples, Campania, Italy]. He was a writer and composer, known for Moonraker (1979), The Untouchables (1987) and To Rome with Love (2012). He was married to Berthe Rambaud. He died on 9 August 1919 in Montecatini Terme, Tuscany, Italy.- Composer
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Albert Lortzing was born on 23 October 1801 in Berlin, Prussia, Holy Roman Empire [now Germany]. He was a composer and writer, known for Zar und Zimmermann (1956), Zar und Zimmermann (1970) and Zar und Zimmermann: Singschule (1908). He was married to Rosina Regina Ahles. He died on 21 January 1851 in Berlin, Prussia [now Germany].- Music Department
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Jean-Baptiste Lully was born on 28 November 1632 in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany [now Tuscany, Italy]. He was a composer, known for The Brothers Grimm (2005), Quills (2000) and The BFG (2016). He died on 22 March 1687 in Paris, France.- Music Department
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Lorin Maazel was born on 6 March 1930 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Seine [now Hauts-de-Seine], France. He was a composer and actor, known for Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), Detroit Rock City (1999) and August Rush (2007). He was married to Dietlinde Turban, Israela Margalit and Miriam Sandbank. He died on 13 July 2014 in Castleton, Virginia, USA.- Writer
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Lech Majewski was born on 30 August 1953 in Katowice, Slaskie, Poland. He is a writer and director, known for The Mill and the Cross (2011), Valley of the Gods (2019) and Wojaczek (1999).- Music Department
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Bohuslav Martinu was born on 8 December 1890 in Politschka, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Policka, Czech Republic]. He was a composer and writer, known for Giorgino (1994), Our History (1984) and Invasion of the Blood Farmers (1972). He was married to Charlotte Léonie Victorine Quennehen. He died on 28 August 1959 in Liestal, near Basel, Switzerland.- Music Department
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Pietro Mascagni was born on 7 December 1863 in Livorno, Tuscany, Italy. He was a composer and writer, known for Raging Bull (1980), Funny Games (2007) and Death to Smoochy (2002). He was married to Lina Carbognani. He died on 2 August 1945 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Music Department
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Jules Massenet was born on 12 May 1842 in Saint-Etienne, Loire, Rhône-Alpes, France. He is known for Marathon Man (1976), Tau (2018) and Transamerica (2005). He was married to Louise-Constance de Gressy. He died on 13 August 1912 in Paris, France.- Writer
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Gian Carlo Menotti was born on 7 July 1911 in Cadegliano-Viconago, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and composer, known for The Medium (1951), Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951) and Great Performances (1971). He was married to Samuel Barber. He died on 1 February 2007 in Monte Carlo, Monaco.- Music Department
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Olivier Messiaen was born on 10 December 1908 in Avignon, Vaucluse, France. He was a composer and writer, known for The Revenant (2015), The Favourite (2018) and The Dinner (2017). He was married to Yvonne Loriod and Claire Delbos. He died on 27 April 1992 in Paris, France.- Music Department
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Giacomo Meyerbeer was born on 5 September 1791 in Tasdorf, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. He is known for Maytime (1937), Song of Surrender (1949) and Vento di primavera (1958). He died on 2 May 1864 in Paris, France.- Jonathan Mills is known for The Eternity Man (2008).
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Italo Montemezzi was born on 31 May 1875 in Vigasio, Verona, Italy. Italo is known for NBC Television Opera Theatre (1949). Italo died on 15 May 1952 in Vigasio, Verona, Italy.- Music Department
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Claudio Monteverdi was born on 15 May 1567 in Cremona, Duchy of Milan [now Lombardy, Italy]. He was a composer and writer, known for A Star Is Born (2018), Liberal Arts (2012) and Mouchette (1967). He died on 29 November 1643 in Venice, Republic of Venice [now Veneto, Italy].- Composer
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Douglas Moore was born on 10 August 1893 in Cutchogue, Long Island, New York, USA. He was a composer, known for Live from Lincoln Center (1976), Youth Gets a Break (1941) and Arias and Arabesques (1962). He died on 25 July 1969 in Greenport, long Island, New York, USA.- Music Department
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Federico Moreno Torroba was born on 3 March 1891 in Madrid, Spain. He was a composer and writer, known for Labor Day (2013), Maravilla (1957) and La canción de Aixa (1939). He died on 12 September 1982 in Madrid, Spain.- Music Department
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart grew up in Salzburg under the regulation of his strict father Leopold who also was a famous composer of his time. His abilities in music were obvious even when Mozart was still young so that in 1762 at the age of six, his father took him with his elder sister on a concert tour to Munich and Vienna and a second one from 1763-66 through the south of Germany, Paris and London. Mozart was celebrated as a wonder child everywhere because of his excellent piano playing and his improvisations.
In 1769 he became the concertmaster of the Archbishop and was knighted by the Pope in Rome. Working in Salzburg he nevertheless travelled around Europe to meet other composers and orchestras. But in 1781 after a dispute with the Archbishop he left Salzburg and went to Vienna where he married Constanze Weber from Mannheim. In Vienna he also started his friendship with Joseph Haydn and a time of many work pieces. In the last year of his life, for example, he wrote one of his masterpieces, "Die Zauberflöte". Although some of his operas were successful he could not make money from this and died in poverty at the age of 36, having even on his last day worked on a "Requiem". He was buried in a communal grave which could not be precisely identified years later.- Composer
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Nico Muhly was born on 26 August 1981 in Randolph, Vermont, USA. He is a composer, known for The Reader (2008), The Manchurian Candidate (2004) and Notes on a Scandal (2006).- Music Department
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In 1856 Moussorgsky joined the Russian army where he met the piano player and composer 'Balakirev' who taught him composition. As he could not finish his studies in music, Moussorgsky did not know all stylistic means of composition perfectly and thus had to follow his instinct in his works becoming the pathmaker of the musical impressionism as well as expressionism: He was the first to compose realistic pictures, e.g. "Pictures at an Exhibition". Having no success during his lifetime Moussorgsky spent all of his fortune ending up a poor man addicted to alcohol.- Composer
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Michael Nyman studied piano, harpsichord and music history with Alan Bush at the Royal Academy of Music, and musicology with Thurston Dart at King's College, London. Between 1968 and 1978 he worked as a music critic and in 1977 he founded the Campiello Band, later renamed the Michael Nyman Band. Many of his filmscores were composed for the films of Peter Greenaway. He has also written several operas, ballet music and a large number of chamber and concert pieces.- Music Department
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Jacques Offenbach, the son of a synagogue cantor, was born in Cologne, Germany, June 20, 1819. So strong were his musical talents that the Paris Conservatory waived the rule forbidding foreigners and enrolled him. At the completion of his studies he began playing the cello in the orchestra of the prestigious Opera-Comique. In 1850 he was appointed musical director of the Comedie Frangaise, another of France's principal theaters; he continued in this position for five years. During this period he began writing comic operas. When he realized that he would be unable to get them performed by established production organizations, he decided to open a theater of his own -- Bouffes Parisiens--in 1855. There he wrote and presented twenty-five musical satires, farces, and comic operas within a three-year period. In response to this work, he became the idol of Parisian theater-goers. In the years that followed he remained the master of French comic opera, enjoying great popularity and irregular financial success. He travelled to America in 1876 on a performance tour. His desire to write musical work of a more serious nature led him to consider the opera project which eventually resulted in The Tales of Hoffmann. Although the work was almost complete at his death, he never lived to see the opera performed. He died in Paris on October 4, 1880, four months before the opera's premiere. Although The Tales of Hoffmann is undeniably Offenbach's greatest work, his delightful lighter efforts are still produced periodically throughout the world. Among the most popular of these are Orpheus in the Underworld, La belle Helehne, La Grand Duchesse de Gerolstein, and La Perichole.- Music Department
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Giovanni Paisiello was born on 9 May 1740 in Taranto, Kingdom of Naples [now Puglia, Italy]. He is known for Casanova (2005), Barry Lyndon (1975) and Boned (2015). He died on 5 June 1816 in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies [now Campania, Italy].- Writer
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Zakaria Paliashvili was born on 16 August 1871 in Kutaisi, Russian Empire [now Republic of Georgia]. He was a writer and composer, known for Abesalom da Eteri (1967) and Eteris simgera (1956). He was married to Julia Mikhailovna Utkina. He died on 6 October 1933 in Tiflis, Georgian SSR, TSFSR, USSR [now Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia].- Music Department
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Aside from his work with film scores, Thomas Pasatieri is well known in the classical world as a composer and conductor. He was quite prolific from a young age, studying with Nadia Boulanger. He attended the Juilliard School, where he was the first to graduate with a doctorate. He has since taught at Juilliard, the Manhattan School of Music and the Cincinnati Conservatory. Preferring to write for the voice, Pasatieri has written 17 operas and over 400 songs.- Writer
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Manuel Penella was born on 31 July 1880 in Valencia, Spain. He was a writer and composer, known for [Rec]² (2009), The Adventurous Captain (1939) and Tiger Love (1924). He died on 24 January 1939 in Mexico.- Music Department
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Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was born on 4 January 1710 in Jesi, Papal State [now Marche, Italy]. He is known for Chocolat (2000), Sucker Punch (2011) and Mirror (1975). He died on 16 March 1736 in Pozzuoli, Kingdom of Naples [now Campania, Italy].- Music Department
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Amilcare Ponchielli was born on 31 August 1834 in Paderno Fasolaro, Lombardy-Venetia, Austrian Empire [now Paderno Ponchielli, Lombardy, Italy]. He is known for No Reservations (2007), Fantasia (1940) and Kill the Irishman (2011). He was married to Teresina Brambilla. He died on 16 January 1886 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Composer
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Rachel Portman, Composer
British composer Rachel Portman became the first female composer to win an Academy Award, which she received for the score of Emma. She was also the first female composer to win a Primetime Emmy Award, which she received for the film, Bessie. She has received two further Academy Nominations for The Cider House Rules and Chocolat, which also earned her a Golden Globe Nomination. Rachel was given an OBE in 2010 and is an honorary fellow of Worcester College, Oxford. She's also a Fellow of the Royal College of Music. Rachel has written stage and concert commissions including a musical of Little House on the Prairie, and an opera of Saint Exupery's, The Little Prince for Houston Grand Opera. For the BBC Proms, she wrote The Water Diviner, a dramatic choral symphony. She also wrote 'Endangered' performed at the World Environment Day Concert, at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing. Other works include Earth Song for the BBC Singers, a solo piano album Ask The River and most recently for Joyce Di Donato, The First Morning of the World as part of her Eden programme.- Music Department
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Francis Poulenc was born on 7 January 1899 in Paris, France. He was a composer and writer, known for Call Me by Your Name (2017), The Great Beauty (2013) and The Metropolitan Opera HD Live (2006). He died on 30 January 1963 in Paris, France.- Music Department
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German-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor André George Previn (born Andreas Ludwig Priwin, in Berlin) was for eight decades a hugely influential and prolific figure in jazz, as well as classical and film music. Being Jewish, Previn's family was forced to leave Hitler's Germany in 1939. Hollywood naturally beckoned, since André's grand uncle (Charles Previn) was already well established as musical director at Universal (1936-42). Child prodigy André recorded his first piano jazz album at the age of sixteen while continuing studies at Beverly Hills High School.
He joined MGM at age 17 in 1946 (initially as an uncredited music supervisor/arranger), later as orchestra conductor and still later as a composer of film scores. He remained under contract at the studio until 1960. During his tenure in Hollywood, he was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, winning four (all for Best Adapted Score: Gigi (1958), Porgy and Bess (1959), Irma la Douce (1963), and My Fair Lady (1964)). In the 1950s, he recorded several acclaimed jazz albums with drummer Shelly Manne and pianist Russ Freeman, featuring excellent tracks like "Who's on First" and "Strike Out the Band". He began conducting with the St. Louis Symphony in 1961 while still working primarily as a jazz and studio musician. Much of his recorded work consisted of show tunes adapted for jazz. Gradually, his interest in classical music won out.
By the late 1960s, Previn had settled in England and in 1968 was made principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, a position he occupied for eleven years. His popularity led to cameo TV appearances (including a famous sketch for the 1971 Christmas special of the The Morecambe & Wise Show (1968), in which he appeared as "Mr. Andrew Preview") and television advertising (Vauxhall, Ferguson TX portable television etc.). From 1985 to 1989, he was musical director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic as well as with the Royal Philharmonic (1985-88, subsequently also principal conductor, from 1988-91).
In 1993, he was appointed conductor laureate of the London Symphony and three years later was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to music. He won 10 Grammy Awards (including two for jazz and two for film music) and was nominated for six Emmys. Previn latterly returned to recording jazz albums with, among others, Ella Fitzgerald (1983), Joe Pass & Ray Brown (1989), and Kiri Te Kanawa (1992). Two excellent tribute albums released, respectively in 1998 and 2000 for Deutsche Grammophon, were 'We Got Rhythm: A Gershwin Songbook' and 'We Got it Good: An Ellington Songbook'.
Married (and divorced) five times, his ex-wives included Dory Previn and Mia Farrow. Previn died in New York on February 28, 2019, aged 89.- Music Department
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Prokofiev was a multi-talented man and an innovative composer. He learned piano from his mother and chess from his father. He always had a chess set on his piano, and was able to play against the chess champions of his time. He studied music with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, graduated with highest marks from the St. Petersburg Conservatory (1914), and was rewarded with a grand piano. He emigrated from Russia after the revolution, and made successful concert tours in Europe and the U.S. In 1918 in New York he met Spanish singer Carolina Codina (Lina Llubera), they married in Paris, in 1923, and had two sons.
Prokofiev's radiant optimism and his childlike personality shines in his popular orchestral suite "Peter and the Wolf" and in the "Classical Symphony". His humorous irony and wit is popping up in piano pieces named "Sarcasms", also in his five piano concertos, ballets and film scores, all written in his instantly identifiable musical language. He wrote film scores for The Czar Wants to Sleep (1934), Alexander Nevsky (1938), Cinderella (1961), and the two-part Ivan the Terrible, Part I (1944), directed by Sergei Eisenstein.
All of his music, that he created while outside of the Soviet Union, was sometimes criticized as cosmopolitan and anti-Soviet. Prokofiev divorced his wife in 1948. His ninth sonata, dedicated to Svyatoslav Richter, was welcomed warmly, but another official critic on his music and life started in 1948. He died in 1953, the same day of Joseph Stalin.- Music Department
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Italian composer, one of the greatest exponents of operatic realism, who virtually brought the history of Italian opera to an end. His mature operas include "La Bohème" (1896), "Tosca" (1900), "Madama Butterfly" (1904), and "Turandot" left incomplete.- Music Department
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Purcell grew up in a musical family. As a boy he attended the Chapel Royal church choir. His talent earned him training as an organist. In 1677, the 18-year-old became "composer for the violins" at the English court. Two years later he took up the position of organist at Westminster Abbey. Purcell thus took over the post from John Blow, one of his organist teachers, which he held until his death. In 1682 he became organist of the Chapel Royal and a year later, royal instrument manager. During this time he primarily composed sacred music and works for celebratory occasions, including the celebratory compositions "I was glad" and "My heart is inditing" from 1685.
Two years later the music for the tragedy "Tyrannick Love" by John Dryden was created. In 1689, Purcell's first opera, Dido and Aeneas, was performed. The following year he created songs for Shakespeare's "The Tempest" based on an adaptation by John Dryden and for his comedy title "Amphitryon". In 1691 and the following year the baroque operas "King Arthur" and "The Fairy Queen" were written. Purcell composed the titles "Te Deum" and "Jubilate" on the occasion of St. Cecilia's Day in 1694. They are both considered masterpieces. In the same year he wrote an anthem, a choral piece with sacred text, for the memorial service on the occasion of the death of Queen Mary II of England. This piece in particular shows the lasting impact of Purcell's musical work up to modern times: it was electronically edited by Wendy Carlos for the theme music of Stanley Kubrick's film "A Clockwork Orange".
Purcell was only 36 years old, but he was very productive in his musical life. His work includes around 40 masterpieces, stage works, plays, odes, songs, cantatas, chamber music, church choir and piano works. With his three- to five-part sonatas and fantasies for string instruments, he continued the older English consort music, which gained recognition for its artistic polyphony, highly cromatic and dissonant harmony of the modern style. His other semi-operas also include the titles "The prophetess, or the history of Dioclesian" (1690) and "The Indian Queen" (1695).
Henry Purcell died in London on November 21, 1695.- Music Department
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Jean-Philippe Rameau was born on 25 September 1683 in Dijon, France. He was a composer, known for Casanova (2005), Babylon A.D. (2008) and The Handmaiden (2016). He died on 12 September 1764 in Paris, France.- Music Department
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Maurice Ravel was born on 7 March 1875 in Ciboure, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France. He was a composer, known for Rashomon (1950), Basic (2003) and Stalker (1979). He died on 28 December 1937 in Paris, France.- Music Department
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Rimsky-Korsakov was a navy officer but soon discovered his love for music. Since 1861 he belonged to the group of Balakirew but later he returned to the traditional way of composing. He combined uniquely the Russian folk songs with the music of the Orthodox Church. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the first Russian symphony and Igor Strawinsky was one of his students.- Music Department
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As a son of a horn player and a singer Rossini was taught instruments early in his life. When he was older he went to the conservatory of Bologna for lessons. His first opera was such a big success that a lot of people wanted him to write more pieces. But nevertheless in 1816 his masterpiece "The Barber of Seville" failed although later it received the attention it deserved. In 1823 Rossini became the director of the Italian Opera in Paris, but when he stopped working he left for Italy only to return in 1853 and stay in Paris until his death in 1868.- Composer
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Kaija Saariaho was one of the group of Finnish modernists who received their early training under Paavo Heininen at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki (Magnus Lindeberg was another), where she was one of the founder members of the group Korvat auki ("Ears Open"), which met to discuss new music and occasionally put on concerts of both their own works and new music that deserved an airing in Finland. She went on the study with Brian Ferneyhough in Freiburg im Breisgau, also attending the summer courses at Darmstadt. A decisive move - in both professional and personal terms - came in 182, when she first went to Paris to study computer music at IRCAM : Paris is now her home.
It was there that she became more deeply acquainted with the "spectral" approach to composition of Gérard Grisey and Tristan Murail, with considerable effect on her own scores, which increasingly focused on music and sound, examining its constituent elements in microscopic detail, this spectral analysis suggesting larger harmonic patterns. Over the last decade, though - spurred by the opera "L'Amour de loin" ("Love from Afar"), which occupied her thoughts for years before she sat down to its actual composition in 1997 - her style has lightened, admitting a lyrical element, even adopting a degree of classicality.
Saarioho's music has often been written for close friend - musicians like Esa-Pekka Salonen and the cellist Anssi Karttunen have been associated with it more or less since the outset.- Music Department
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Composer chiefly remembered for his symphonic poems -the first of that genre to be written by a Frenchman- and for his opera 'Samson et Dalila'. Notable for his pioneering efforts on behalf of French music, he was also a gifted pianist and organist, and a writer of criticism, poetry, essays, and plays. Of his concerti and symphonies, in which he adapted the virtuosity of Franz Liszt's style to French traditions of harmony and form, his 'Third Symphony' is most often performed.- Music Department
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Antonio Salieri was born in 1750 into a prosperous Italian family of merchants. He studied harpsichord and violin from an early age, and after the death of his parents, continued his music studies in Venice. His talent was noticed by Viennise composer Florian Grassman, who invited him to Vienna, where Salieri remained for the rest of his life. Salieri was only 24 when Emperor Joseph II appointed him the court composer in 1774. The same year he met his wife, Therese von Helfersdorfer, and they went on having eight children.
Salieri held the post of Imperial Royal Kapellmeister from 1788-1824 and also was elected the president of the society of musical artists in Vienna. He wrote 43 Italian-style operas, ballet music, orchestral music including a Birthday Symphony, 2 piano concertos, cantatas, arias, and sacred music. His operas were successful in Paris and Vienna and earned him European recognition as a composer and conductor. Salieri's elevated social standing in Vienna was equal to his celebrity status as a musical artist. He was a teacher of many composers, including Ludwig van Beethoven, Carl Czerny, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Franz Schubert, and Franz Liszt. Salieri also taught the Mozart's son Franz Xaver. Salieri promoted and conducted Mozart's symphony in G minor in 1791.
There is too little factual evidence of any treacherous activity against Mozart. There are also no facts in support of the charges of poisoning. In 1771 Mozart lost a job to Salieri, who was preferred by the Princess of Wurtemberg for having a good reputation as a teacher. A year later Mozart once again failed to be hired as the Princess's music teacher. Also Mozart blamed Salieri for the failure of his opera premiere. Mozart's father, Leopold, wrote,-"Salieri and his tribe will move heaven and earth to put it down". Poet Alexander Pushkin dramatized the subject in his play "Mozart and Salieri" (1830). There was also the eponymous opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov that initiated a trend of exaggerating a rivalry that was actually provoked by Mozart's whining. Respectfully, Milos Forman expressed the fictional nature of his 'Amadeus (1984)' ; based on the play by Peter Shaffer. Stigmatization of Salieri's image in the public's perception rests upon the inevitable realization that artists are not created equal.- Composer
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Aulis Sallinen was born on 9 April 1935 in Salmi, Finland [now Salmi, Russia]. He is a composer and writer, known for Tropic of Ice - Jään kääntöpiiri (1987), Promenons-nous dans les bois (2000) and Sources of Finnish Music (1978).