Important Composers

When it comes to musical theatre, there is hardly anyone with the caliber of contributions as Andrew Lloyd Webber. The British Composer has composed several musicals, film scores, and variations. He currently acts as an impresario with his company 'Really Useful Group'. Andrew Lloyd Webber was born in Kensington, London on 22nd March, 1948. He was naturally influenced by music at a very early age, for his father was a celebrated composer and an organist, while his mother was a violinist and a pianist, thus, he was trained in various instruments and compositions at a very young age. Some sources state that he compiled a suite of six pieces while he was only nine years old. His aunt was also instrumental in pushing him towards a career in theatre. Webber was a Queen's Scholar at the famous Westminster School. He would go on to drop out of the University of Oxford to join the Royal College of Music, where he received formal training in musical theatre. His early influences were the likes of Frederick Loewe and Lionel Bart. His first works were in collaboration with lyricist Tim Rice. Rice and Webber worked together to produce 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and 'Evita', the latter being extremely successful, shot both Webber and Rice to prominence. Webber would then collaborate with his brother Julian to write 'Variations', a classical rock fusion album that was listed as one of the the top 10 selling albums for weeks in the United Kingdom. He broke the record for the longest running musical in London when he wrote 'Cats'. He then went on to write the commercially successful 'Starlight Express' and the highly versatile piece 'Cricket', the latter was yet another collaboration with Tim Rice. Webber also wrote a Requiem Mass for his father, who died in 1982. Perhaps Webber's greatest contribution to theatre was his record breaking musical, 'The Phantom of the Opera'. The musical has been played over a record 10,400 times on Broadway, making it the most performed show in Broadway history, by a margin of over 3000 shows. He worked with Jim Steinman to write 'The Whistle down the Wind'. Webber then went on to win the title of 'the most commercially successful composer in history' by The New York Times. Some of his musicals have also been adapted as films, of which 'The Phantom of the Opera' was most notable. Webber is highly decorated for his contributions to musical theatre. In 1992, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and was also honored with a peerage. He received three academy award nominations, of which he won one for best original song for 'You must love me', featured in Evita. He also has three Grammy Awards to his name, in addition to the Grammy Legend Award which he received in 1990. He is also the recipient of seven Tony awards and seven Olivier awards, thus, he established his name as one of the greatest legends in contemporary musical theatre.

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Czech composer. He was known for instituting native folk music in his compositions. Antonin Leopold Dvorak was born in Nelahozeves, Prague on the 8 September 1841. He was taught to play the violin while he was in primary school by Joseph Spitz. He was then sent to live with his uncle in Zlonice so that he could learn German. Dvorak's teacher, Anton Liehmann, also gave Dvorak lessons on music theory, and on how to play the piano, violin, and the organ. His musical ability was noticed by his teacher, who sent him to study further under Franz Hanke. At the age of 16, he finally made the decision to devote his career to music. He then studied at the organ school at Prague. In addition to giving piano lessons, he also played at various orchestras and symphonies to make ends meet. While playing at orchestras, he was said to 'fall in love' with the music of Richard Wagner. He then went on to write several string compositions and operas. His first opera was called 'Alfred', but it was to be performed later on in his life, much like many other of his first compositions. His first work to be performed publicly was the song Vzpomínáni in 1871. A year later in 1872, Dvorak would have one of his Piano Quintet's performed in Prague, which were soon to be followed by a revised version of his opera "The King and the Charcoal Burner" two years later. In 1874, he was awarded the Austrian State Prize for composition, which bolstered his popularity and fame in all of Austria. The award also helped Dvorak's pitiful financial situation. He won the same prize again in 1877, this time he also received personal recognition from the highly acclaimed Eduard Hanslick. Hanslick, together with Johannes Brahms, helped promote Dvorak's music in renowned music circles. He went on to write the 'Slavanic Dances' and the 'Moravian Duets' together with various string compositions, the result of which was immediate fame. Dvorak's music finally found its way to Germany, the United States, and to England with the performances of 'Stabat Mater'. Thereafter, he was appointed as a conductor at the Royal Philharmonic Society of London, where he would write and conduct many of his own symphonies. In addition to his time in England, Drovak would also conduct many performances in Moscow and St.Petersburg. He also found great success in New York, having written the ninth symphony "From the New World", which awarded him celebrity status all over the world. Dvorak spent the last years of his life at the Prague Conservatory, where he was granted an honorary position as a teacher, and later as a director. Antonin Dvorak died on the 1 May, 1904. He spent the first half of his life in great hardship, but his great determination in music, fueled by his Bohemian Heritage and by personalities like Richard Wagner, assured him his well deserved status as an exemplary musician.

Antonin Dvorak

He is remembered for his contributions to the Baroque genre of classical music, as well as his many operas and instrumental performances. Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was born on the 4 March, 1678 in the capital city of Venice. Some historians believe that his mother dedicated him to priesthood because an earthquake hit the city the very same day he was born. Vivaldi was introduced to music by his own family. Vivaldi's father, who was a professional violinist himself, gave Vivaldi lessons in playing the violin. He would accompany his father to tours and concerts, thus he drew great inspiration from him. Little is known about how Vivaldi began his formal training in composition. Some reports suggest that Vivaldi's father was in fact trained in composition and he passed on his knowledge to his son, while others suggest that Vivaldi was trained by Giovanni Legrenzi, who was then the president of the musical society at Santa Cecilia. Vivaldi was ordained as a priest on 1703. He was, however, exempted from Mass as early as 1704 due to his asthma. He started working at an orphanage called the Devout House of Mercy in 1703. His main obligation was to write concertos and cantatas for the orphanage's orchestra and choir. Soon he also started teaching children how to play the violin. After having distinguished himself at his responsibilities, Vivaldi was be promoted to become the music director of the orphanage in 1716. During aforementioned time, Vivaldi composed several works, including the highly successful L'estro Armonico Opus 3, which gave Vivaldi recognition from all over Europe. In 1713, he wrote his first opera called 'Ottene in Villa' which was performed in Vicenza. The performance got him the impresario position at the Teatro San Angelo, where his next opera, Orlando Finto Pazzo, was performed. Some historians state that Vivaldi was directly involved with a little over 90 operas, as either writer or impresario or both. They also state that his most successful operas were Lo Constanza Trionfante, and Farnace. In 1718, Vivaldi became Maestro di Capella of the court of Prince Phillip of Hesse-Darmstadt. It was then when Vivaldi wrote the highly acclaimed 'Four Seasons'. These were a series of violin concertos, each of which was to depict one of the four seasons. Each concerto was coupled with a sonnet that described the scenes being portrayed in the music. Vivaldi received great recognition for his works. During his life, he was invited to play for Pope Benedict XII. He also received several commissions from European royalty. In the last days of his life, Vivaldi received astounding praise and recognition from Emperor Charles VI. Antonio Vivaldi died on 28 July 1741. The cause of his death was unclear, though most historians state that it was his asthma that took his life. He left behind a remarkable legacy that was visible in his Baroque works, one that would inspire future greats such as Johann Sebastian Bach.

Antonio Vivaldi

In 1933, shortly before his 60th birthday, Arnold Schoenberg, one of the most important composers in history, was forced to flee his native Europe due to the increasing Nazi terror. He came to America, where he taught briefly at Boston's Malkin Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles for reasons of health in October 1934. There he taught privately, as well as at the University of Southern California and the University of California at Los Angeles. The name Schoenberg is inextricably linked in most people's minds with serialism and The Second Viennese School. However, a number of the works he wrote during his "American" period are quite different in flavor. They embrace a return, in varying degrees, to "tonality," for they use within their serial structures triadic elements and tonal implications. The Chamber Symphony No. 2 (1939) integrates the warm, rich harmonies of late Romanticism with transparent textures and a rhythmically lively, almost neo-classic spirit. Additionally, several of these tonal works are based on baroque models. "A longing to return to the older style [of music] was always vigorous in me; and from time to time I had to yield to that urge," Schoenberg wrote in his 1948 essay One Always Returns. These fascinating pieces include Suite for String Orchestra (1934), written in the form of a baroque suite, and the brilliant "recompositions" Concerto for Cello (1933) (based on the harpsichord concerto by Georg Matthias Monn, 1746), and Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra (1933) (after Handel's Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 7). They are "complex, free-wheeling elaborations of 18th-century source materials," Joseph Horowitz has written, "tonal yet reflecting...Schoenberg's 12-tone craftsmanship." Schoenberg's use of tonal materials in these works does not imply, however, that he had repudiated serialism or his revolutionary theoretical ideas; in them he merely transformed the triad's harmonic function and significance. Also composed in America, but perhaps more recognizably Schoenbergian in style are his String Quartet No. 4 (1936), Violin Concerto (1935-36), and Piano Concerto (1942). As Eric Salzman writes, they are "large-scale, thematic, wholly 12-tone structures in which the technique becomes fluent and pliable, focused in a way that parallels the role played by tonality in similar Classical forms."

Arnold Schoenberg

a celebrated Hungarian Pianist and Composer, famous for his work in folk music, and for founding the discipline of comparative musicology, or ethnomusicology. Béla Viktor János Bartók was born in the Banatian town in the Kingdom of Hungary on March 25th 1881. He was exposed to music at a very early age thanks to his mother, who was a pianist. According to Malcolm Gillies, Bartók could play 40 pieces on the piano at the tender age of four, and his mother started training him in formal music at the age of five. At age seven, Bartók's father suddenly passed away and at age eleven, Bartók performed at his first ever public recital where he played his first personal piece called "The Course of the Danube". It was through this recital that he attracted Erkel Laszlo's attention. Laszlo then started teaching Bartók for a short while until 1899, when he started studying piano under Istvan Thoman at the Royal Academy of Music. By 1903, Bartók had written his first orchestral work titled 'Kossuth', which was a thematic performance on the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Bartók was influenced by many great musicians of his time, he met Zoltán Kodály during his time at the Royal Academy of Musi. He also meet Richard Strauss in 1902 and Claude Debussy in 1907. Bartók finally turned his attention towards folk music in 1908 when he wrote his first String Quartet in A Minor. His interest in folk music developed while teaching music at the Royal Academy for Music, where he taught future musicians such as Fritz Reiner, Lili Kraus, Sir Georg Solti and Erno Balogh. He started researching old Magyar folk melodies in 1908 with his lifelong friend Zoltán Kodály. In his research he picked out the musical elements and scales that were common to Magyar and Asian folk music. Bartók achieved great success in his attempts to recreate folk music, in between 1909 and 1939, he wrote five string quartets, two ballets named 'The Wooden Prince' and 'The Miraculous Mandarin' as well as some orchestral compositions including 'Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta' and 'Divertimento for String Orchestra'. Even so, Bartók had little luck when it came to opera music, for he wrote only one piece, "Bluebeard's Castle", which was rejected by the Hungarian Fine Arts Commission. Béla Bartók spent his final years in America as he was unhappy with Nazi Germany's part in World War II. In America, he mostly made advances in ethnomusicology, which were then supported by Columbia University. He died on September 26th 1945 at the age of 64. Doctors cited leukemia as the cause of death. His final string quartet, the String Quartet No.6 written for the Concerto for Orchestra was arguably his most famous work. Together with Franz Liszt, he would go down in history as one of the most influential Hungarian composers of his time.

Bela Bartok

Joseph Haydn is one of the epitomes of the classical era, who has cast a hugely influential shadow on chamber music and has been the inspiration for many legends such as Beethoven and Brahms. He is entirely deserves the appellations given to him such as 'Father of Symphony' and 'Father of String Quartet'. His countless symphonies have contributed immensely towards pioneering the Classical style of music. Born on 31 March, 1732, Haydn spent his childhood in Rohrau, Austria with his musical family. At the young age of six his parents sent him to live with a choirmaster in Hainburg so he could begin his musical training. Haydn fluently began playing the violin and harpsichord and gained attention from St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, where he was recruited to join the choir. His years as a musician at the church taught him a lot, however, he still craved to be more original and in 1749, he left his position and began cultivating his career as a freelancer. Haydn kept growing as a musician over the years since he paid much attention to learning the fundamentals, which he is said to have done under the tutelage of Nicola Porpora. He began attracting public attention especially after he made his debut as a composer with 'The Limping Devil', a comic opera. His skills helped him enter the aristocratic arena of music, which was considered as a hallmark in a composer's career; He was employed as music director by Count Morzin and then by the famous Esterhazy family in 1761, who he worked with for the next 30 years. During these years not only was he revered by the royal court but also by the music industry which was ever ready to publish his work. Some of his most important pieces were written on requests from abroad such as 'The Paris Symphonies' and 'The Seven Last Words of Christ'. Soon Haydn became a very popular public figure who always received a very warm welcoming and large audience at his concerts. His demand within Europe also began to reach the skies, for instance, he was given invitations to come to England to compose symphonies. Two of such trips to London proved very successful for Haydn since this is the time when he produced some of his most influential and innovative pieces such as, the 'Rider Quartet', 'Surprise Symphony', 'Military Symphony', 'London Symphony' and the 'Gypsy Rondo' piano trio. In his later years Haydn began to work part-time with the Esterhazy family and put in more time in cultivating his public career that was reaching new heights every day. During this time Haydn composed two of his most magnificent oratorios, 'The Creation' and 'The Seasons' and also instrumental music such as the 'Trumpet Concerto', 'Fifths' and 'Sunrise' quartets. In 1802, the maestro's health declined to the point where it rendered him incapable to compose and on 31 May 1809, he passed away in Vienna. Haydn was often visited by people and honored during his illness as well. It is reported that Joseph Haydn met Beethoven when he was young and was good a friend of Mozart as well. These legends were greatly influenced by Hayden, one of the essential creators of string quartets. He is often remembered and praised as one of the most high-ranking people in Classical music industry and rightfully so.

Franz Joseph Haydn

A nineteenth century virtuoso pianist and composer, Liszt was known to be one of the most technically advanced pianists of all time. Liszt was also known to be benefactor to esteemed musicians, including Camille Saint-Saens, Edvard Grieg, and Richard Wagner. Franz Liszt was born on October 22, 1811 in a village in Doborjan, Kingdom of Hungary. Liszt's father was a respected musician who was well versed in piano, violin, cello and guitar. Liszt's father spent his life in service to Prince Nikolaus II Esterhazy and by nature of his work, he knew many great musicians personally, including Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven. Liszt exhibited an interest in his father's music at the age of six, and by the age of eight, he was studying the piano with his father. At age nine, Liszt performed at a concert in Sopron. The attendees of the concert were so impressed with Liszt's musical ingenuity that they offered to pay for Liszt's musical education abroad. It was said that Liszt's ability to keep absolute tempo at such a young age was a mark of brilliance. Liszt went on to receive piano lessons from Carl Czerny, who had previously been a student of Johann Nepomuk Hummel. He was inspired by the great violin virtuoso Niccolo Paganini, and after attending one of his concerts in 1832, Liszt was determined to become as great a virtuoso on the piano as Paganini was on the violin. He was rivaled by Sigismond Thalberg and Alexander Dreyschock. Thalberg, Dreyshock and Liszt were some of the few pianists that were credited with the "Flying Trapeze" school of piano playing, an age that would solve many of the pressing problems in piano technique at that time, thus raising the standard of piano playing to unprecedented levels. In 1834, Liszt wrote "Harmonies poetiques et religieses" and a set of three "Apparitions", which many regarded to be Liszt's first works as a true virtuoso. Liszt also spent about eight years of his life as a touring virtuoso. It was said that he appeared in concert more than a thousand times while he toured Europe. Liszt's charismatic performances and illustrious persona helped Liszt achieve legendary status. The outstanding level of admiration for his concerts gave way to a phenomenon known as "Lisztomania"; a phenomenon that was comparable to the hysteria that followed Elvis Presley during his golden years. What added to Liszt's standing was that he offered support for various humanitarian causes. It was said that almost all of the proceeds from his concerts after 1857 went entirely to charity. Not only did he promote the music of various artists and composers, he also supported the Hungarian National School of Music, the Beethoven Monument, the Cologne Cathedral and the Gymnasium at Dortmund. He was also an avid donor to many hospitals and schools. Liszt's own compositions include the "Annees de pelerinage", "Album dun voyageur", and "Tre sonetti di Petrarca", among many others. He was also known for transcribing a wide array of music for the piano, this included works of Robert Schumann, and of symphonies of Berlioz and Beethoven. Franz Liszt died on July 31, 1886 in Bayreuth. Today, he is remembered as one of the greatest piano virtuosos of all time.

Franz Liszt

Despite living a paltry thirty one years, Franz Schubert proved himself as an important and prolific composer. His death sparked national interest in his music, which was played by musical legends, including Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann. Franz Schubert was born on January 31, 1797, in Himmelpfortgrund, Vienna. Schubert had his father, Theodor Schubert, to thank for much of his instruction in music. Theodor was schoolmaster in Lichtental, and he enrolled his son to his school when he was six. Around this time, Schubert received his first lessons in the violin from his father. His brother, Ignaz Schubert, also gave him lessons in the piano. Schubert then graduated to taking lessons from Michael Holzer, who was an organist at a church in Lichtental. It was in 1804 when the young Schubert caught Antonio Salieri's attention. Through Salieri's interest, Schubert, aged seven at the time, received a choir scholarship at the Stadkonvikt (the Imperial Seminary). There, Schubert received instruction in composition and overture. He also studied the music of Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg, a Lieder composer whose works would go on to influence Schubert's own compositions. During this time, Schubert also received private instruction from Salieri himself, under whom Schubert studied music theory and composition. Schubert's progress at the Stadkonvikt began to show and he was sometimes permitted to lead its orchestra. Schubert also composed chamber music, Lieder music, and liturgical choral works for the Stadkonvikt. These included the "Salve Regina", the "Kyrie", and a special orchestra for his father's birthday. Schubert composed his first symphony at the age of sixteen in 1813. In 1815, Schubert was said to have composed over twenty thousand bars of music. These included about one hundred and forty Lieder songs, nine Church Works and a Symphony. However, it wasn't until 1817 that Schubert started making true headway into Viennese Music Circles. He was helped by Johann Michael Vogl, who in 1821 premiered Schubert's Lied for Goethe's famous poem titled "Der Erlkonig". The performance was extremely well received and it helped Schubert's struggling financial situation. 1821 was also the year in which Schubert wrote the "Variation on a Waltz by Diabelli" for the collaborative musical publication of the works by Anton Diabelli. It was said that in 1822 Schubert met Ludwig van Beethoven, who, after examining his works, proclaimed in his deathbed "Truly, the spark of divine genius resides in this Schubert!" In 1823, Schubert wrote a number of his most famous works, these included "Fierabras", "Die Schone Mullerin", and "Winterreise". These works were later considered to be some of the best Lieder compositions of all time. His sonata in A minor for the 'arpeggio née' also helped his popularity. His other works, including "Divertissement a la hongroise" and "Rosamunde: String Quartet in A minor" were also received well. Other works that were extremely popular included his variations on "Death and the Maiden", and his piano sonata in G Major. All in all, Schubert composed over six hundred Lieder songs, seven symphonies, and a large collection of chamber and opera music. By 1828, his health severely deteriorated. It was said that he was suffering from a combination of typhoid fever, syphilis, and mercury poisoning.

Franz Schubert

a very famous and talented composer of the 20th century. Born to musician parents, his father, Fyodor was a bass singer and his mother, Anna, was a very skilled pianist. Not wanting their son to follow in their footsteps, they asked him to go into law after having finished his secondary school. Once he was in the university, Vladimir Rimsky-Korsakov, son of a very renowned composer became his mentor after Stravinsky got an invitation to join him. His father died in the year 1902 and that is when Stravinsky decided that he wanted to have a career in music composition. In 1909, three years after his marriage, Stravinsky was asked to perform an orchestration of a couple of works by Chopin for ballet Les Sylphides at Ballets Russes. The invitation was sent by Sergei Diaghilev himself, the founder of the famous Ballets Russes. Performing there led to Stravinsky getting a chance to collaborate with Michel Fokine, a renowned choreographer, in the performance of ballet Firebird. After this Stravinsky became a name known in every household. The 1911 production by Stravinsky of Petrouchka and his performance at the Rite of Spring premiere in Paris in 1913 gave a further boost to his already widespread reputation. Even though Stravinsky frequently visited Paris, his real home was always Russia. However, not long afterwards World War I started and Stravinsky was forced to leave his beloved homeland and move to Switzerland. He often felt homesick during his time there and to deal with that problem he used Russian folklore profusely in the works he produced there. In addition to that an influence of jazz music was also noticed in his works created in Switzerland. He created two of his most famous pieces there, one being Fox and the other being Wedding. The latter however wasn't completed until after he left for France. Igor Stravinsky spent nineteen years in France (1920-1939) and while he was there he created more famous works like Oedipus Rex, an opera-oratorio he created in 1927 and Apollo in 1928. During 1930s his creations that came to life include The Symphony of Psalms, The Violin Concerto, Concerto for Two Pianos, A Game of Cards and Concerto for Chamber Orchestra. In 1939 Catherine, Stravinsky's first wife passed away. He moved the same year to the United States and after one year got married to Vera de Bossett, a well-known painter. It was in the same year, 1940, that the most significant symphonic work of Stravinsky's life, t, got completed. In the year 1941, Stravinsky was performing in Boston and during the performance he rearranged the wording in the national anthem. This got him arrested and caused a setback in his reputation. But despite this incident, his career remained successful and he spent a high profile life. Eventually his works also started to make their mark in Hollywood as he created several soundtracks for different movies at that time. Eventually he grew weaker and his health started to decline and on 6th of April 1971 he passed away in his apartment in Manhattan, New York. Igor Stravinsky composed more than one hundred pieces during his career and these included operas, ballets, concertos, sonatas and symphonies. Having influenced such a vast area of music during his life by creating numerable works of art, Stravinsky made sure that his name be remembered in golden words in the history of music.

Igor Stravinsky

born to Johann Beethoven in Bonn, Germany, in the year 1770. His exact date of birth remains unclear, however, church records indicate that he was baptized on December 17, 1770. Ludwig was one of Johann's three children to survive infancy out of the seven that he fathered. Beethoven's father Johann used to give music lessons as a side job; thus Beethoven's first music teacher was his father, who taught him the basics on the piano. Beethoven also learnt from some family friends, including Tobias Friedrich Pfeiffer. He also took lessons from his local church organist, Gilles van den Eeden. Beethoven soon matured as a child prodigy, he gave his first public performance at the age of seven (his father had posters printed that he was six at the time to help with the publicity). Soon, Beethoven starting taking lessons in composition with Christian Gottlob Neefe, who also helped Beethoven write his first ever composition, "WoO 63". Beethoven then worked as an assistant organist with Neefe, and he composed three piano sonatas titled "Kurfurst". Between 1787 and 1792 Beethoven was directly taking care of his two younger brothers as his mother passed away and his father delved into alcoholism. During this time, he played the violin at several orchestras. Beethoven then studied under the highly famous composer, Joseph Haydn, under whom he polished his counterpoint skills. During these times, Beethoven was receiving stipends from Viennese Royalty, who were carefully observing his maturity. Beethoven then gave his first public performance in Vienna in 1795, by then; he had started garnering popularity as a new piano virtuoso. However, around 1796, Beethoven started to lose his hearing due to tinnitus. His difficulty in hearing certain sounds, coupled with chronic abdominal pain, made for a very difficult personal life. Beethoven also had a difficult romantic life, which was hampered by severe class differences. Beethoven's music is generally divided into three separate periods, the early period, the middle period, and the late period. It was often said that the early period, which was generally accepted to have ended somewhere around 1802, was highly influenced by the music of Wolfgang Mozart. Critics often cite the regular change in key from his first two symphonies and the dynamic final movements from his string quartets (Opus 18) as evidence to their claim. Beethoven also composed his highly famous "Pathetique" sonata during this period. The middle period is accepted to be somewhere around 1803-1814, during which Beethoven composed his only opera (Fidelio), six symphonies, three piano concertos, five string quartets, and several piano sonatas, including the highly famous "Moonlight" sonata. Other honorable mentions from this period include the Waldstein and Appassionata sonatas, and the Kreutzer violin sonata. The late period is accepted to be from 1814 up to his death. During this time, Beethoven composed his Ninth Symphony, which many consider to be the greatest piece of music ever written. Beethoven also composed the Missa Solemnis along with five string quartets and five piano sonatas during this time.

Ludwig van beethoven

a French composer, conductor and pianist. He is often mentioned alongside Claude Debussy as one of the pioneers of impressionist music. Ravel was also known for his extremely difficult piano pieces; which demanded perfect technique and resonating skill from pianists. Maurice Ravel was born on March 7, 1875 in Basque, Ciboure, France. Ravel's father was a Swiss inventor who was rumored to have provided an early design for the internal combustion engine. His father had a keen musical insight, and he would often encourage his wife (Ravel's Mother) to educate her son of her Spanish heritage. At the age of six, Ravel started taking piano lessons with Henry Ghys, and after making rapid progress, he went on to study composition, harmony and counterpoint with Charles-Rene. Soon, at the tender age of fourteen, he gave his first piano recital. Around 1890, Ravel's obvious talents at the piano had him admitted to the Paris Conservatoire. There, most people were of the opinion that he was utterly heedless, even so, Ravel won first prize in a piano student competition at the Conservatoire in 1891. Ravel was expelled from the institution in 1895 as he had failed to win a competitive medal in three years (as was the requirement at the Conservatoire). Ravel however, readmitted himself to the Conservatoire in 1898, this time with an emphasis on composition, and yet again he was expelled in 1900 for the same reason. Even though Ravel was studying under the great Gabriel Faure and the eminent André Gedalge; this was a difficult time for Ravel as music critics were not particularly fond of his work. However, he did produce one masterpiece in 1900 which was a piano piece titled "Jeux d'eau". By 1905, Ravel was silencing his critics head on, he released a series of five piano pieces itled "Miroirs" or "Mirrors". "Mirrors" was highly appreciated due to its vivid expressions and technical intricacies. "Mirrors" was also highly renowned for its fantastic use of harmony. Ravel's other major works from this period include his "Histoires Naturelles", which were a series of humorous animal songs, and his "Rapsodie Espagnole", which was a piano four hands work. "Rapsodie Espagnole" was also scored for a full orchestra due to its outstanding success. He also composed the highly famous opera "L'heure espagnole" during this time, which was renowned for its spectacular orchestration and instrumentation. Another honorable mention from this period is Ravel's masterpiece; "Gaspard de la Nuit". During World War I, Ravel served as a truck driver at the Verdun Front. He also composed a few pieces, amongst which his most popular work was included, his "Le Tombeau de Couperin", which was revered for its astounding harmonic elements. After the war, Ravel wrote a piece for a ballet which was titled "La Valse". He was also named as a member of the French "Legion d'honneur" in 1920, but he refused to attend the ceremony. Ravel's most popular work was written ten years before his death, and it was an orchestral work titled "Bolero". Ravel was quite surprised by the success of the work and he was known to have stated that "it has no music in it". Maurice Ravel died on December 28, 1937. Historians believe that his death could be attributed to the critical injuries that he received in a car accident in 1932, after which his mental health rapidly deteriorated.

Maurice Ravel

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was an outstanding Russian composer, born on the 7 May, 1840 in Votkinsk, Viatka district, Russia. Despite having some serious psychological childhood ailments, Tchaikovsky managed to produce some of the most exquisite and counter-traditional classical music of the time. Tchaikovsky demonstrated keen ability behind the piano at the early age of five. However, at the behest of his parents who wanted him to work in the civil service, he decided not to pursue music until the age of 21. Around 1861, Tchaikovsky started taking up music lessons under the Russian Musical Society label, later joining the St. Petersburg Conservatory, a place he learned much from, and remained in close connections with for the remainder of his esteemed career. After taking up a professorship at the Moscow Conservatory in 1866, Tchaikovsky began work on one of his first and most recognizable compositions. This was called Winter Dreams, or the First Symphony. Although this work did not prove to be his landmark composition, other pieces from this period such as his first opera The Voyevoda (1867-68) were quite widely received. Although the records of this manuscript and full score were erased soon after, it collectively made use of effectively-arranged vocal, brass, percussion and string instruments, and truly managed to move the audiences. Another important piece by Tchaikovsky in the late 1860s was Romeo and Juliet (1870), which was based on Shakespeare's play of the same name. Although having been revised later in 1880, the original play was based on a tri-partite arrangement of symphonic poems, made along parallel lines of the play's story itself. Not long after, Tchaikovsky took hold of serious popularity, with a multitude of compositions taking shape in an array of musical styles. Some of these works, which are still popular in the Western world, are his String Quartet No. 1 (1871), Symphony No. 2 (1872), an opera Vakula the Smith (1874) and his first Piano Concerto (1874-75). In the latter composition, Tchaikovsky made use of impressionable lyrical and chordal progressions, the everlasting effect of which is still warm in the hearts of classical music enthusiasts today. In 1875, Tchaikovsky began work on his first ballet, Swan Lake. The thematic origins of this work were Russian in nature, developing a large fan base in the country itself. The popularity of this remarkable piece spread to international realms in the years to come. In the 1880s, he continued pursuing interests in opera, concertos, symphony and ballets, by composing for works such as 1812 Overture (1882), Concert Fantasia (1884), Cherevichki (1885) and the ballet Sleeping Beauty (1889). Another successful composition from this period was the Fifth Symphony (1888), a classic piece that had the trademark Tchaikovsky label on it. Towards the end of Tchaikovsky's career and life, he worked on some of his most prized compositions, including The Queen of Spades (1890), The Nutcracker (1892) and Piano Concerto No. 3 (1893), the latter completing his piano concerto trilogy in exquisite style. Throughout his career, Tchaikovsky ensured his music attended to a global conceptual theme rather than strictly adhering to Russian principles. Although this often resulted in clashes with the majority of conservative Russians of the time, his remarkable ability to merge various musical styles with perfect harmony, melody, rhythm and repetitive structures shunned aside all odds and categorized his compositions on a whole new level. Pyotr Tchaikovsky died in St. Petersburg, Russia on the 6 November, 1893.

Pyotr Ilyich Thcaikovsky

an English composer, born on 12 October 1872, in Down Ampney, England. Williams belonged to a financially blessed family and went to several music schools, studied with a number of renowned composers and professors and possessed a deep sense of music theory before attempting to compose on a commercial scale. His musical style and interest have often been called 'solely English', with the added elements of folklore and hymns serving the purpose of his earliest developments in classical English compositions. Over the course of a 5 decade long career, Williams has featured works in several genres, especially demonstrating a keen interest in symphonic, chamber, choral and opera music. Some of his earliest contributions to classical music date back to the late 1890s. Around this time, he had met the likes of Hubert Parry and Gustav Holst, who helped gauge and mold a transforming development in William's perception of music. Between 1895 and 1900, Williams worked on several themes and dimensions of his musical interests, contributing a variety of songs, hymns, choral cantatas and concertos. Some of these stage-setting works included Fantasia (1896), a piano and orchestral composition, and numerous choral pieces such as The Garden of Prosperine (1899) and A Cambridge Mass (1899). A couple of vocal arrangements also managed to see some limelight, with the likes of To Daffodils (1985) and Claribel (1896) catching the ears of classical enthusiasts. In 1905, Williams worked on a classic solo piece for piano, called Pezzo Ostinato, a direction he had never intended to take in the first place. However, his interests always lied in mostly vocal pastures, as it was only until 1920 that he pondered over the prospects of contributing another instrumental work. What was perhaps the most important and recognized arrangement of this time came in the form of the English Hymnal (1906). Although he had primarily been responsible for editing tunes in the English Hymnal, he went a step further and wrote original tracks such as Come Down, O' Love Divine and God Be With You Till We Meet Again. His skills and success with arranging hymns and choral melodies led him later to contribute to other song books and compilations, such as Songs of Praise (1925) and The Oxford Book of Carols (1928). In 1909, Ralph Vaughan Williams worked on a song cycle, called On Wenlock Edge. This was a turning point in context of the usual musical style that he had been pursuing thus far. The next year, his orchestral work Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis introduced interesting elements of modal tonalities, antiphonal effects and unrelated triad arrangements. Before the outset of World War I, Williams contributed another important and thematically sound symphonic piece known as Symphony No. 2, or A London Symphony (1914), while continuing composing delicate works with Symphony No. 3, or Pastoral (1922), this time using impressive arrangements of sequential chords as base lines in the entire symphony. Williams also worked on a number of ballets at this time, such as On Christmas Night (1926) and Job: A Masque for Dancing (1930). During the late 1930s and most of the World War II years, however, he focused more on lyrics in compositions such as Serenade to Music (1938) and Symphony No. 5 in D (1943), highlighting key insights of the Second World War in the latter. Close to his death in 1958, Williams composed two more symphonies and an opera called The Pilgrim's Progress (1951). The opera specifically featured the crux of his life-long fascination with English Literature.

Ralph Vaughan Williams

revolutionary Romantic composer, born in Leipzig, Germany on 22 May 1913. His main interests developed at a very early age, when he would enjoy listening to operas, orchestral works and vocal arrangement by composers like Mozart and Carl Weber. With so much to show for at such an early age, many close to him were convinced he was destined for greatness and sheer grandeur. Wagner rose out of criticism and contempt from some of his earlier works and completely transformed the aesthetics of classical Romantic music of the time. His uniqueness stemmed out of an obsession with introducing harmonic elements in his compositions, together with signifying social themes that existed in his earlier days, ultimately attracting a wide array of ethnic populations to his music. Despite having sound knowledge of the theatrical and orchestral workings, Wagner's first few attempts at composing operas failed outstandingly, failing to draw out noticeable audiences. Apart from his works concerning operas, he refrained from contributing much to other musical styles and genres, occasionally fashioning a chamber or orchestral piece. Some of these included Symphony In C major (1832), Siegfried Idyll (1869) and American Centennial March (1876). Wagner's first successful opera was Rienzi (1842), after others such as Die Feen (1833) and Das Liebesverbot (1836) were immaturely received and were not complimented well enough. After the much-deserved flight with Rienzi, Wagner had huge successes with Romantic themed operas such as Der Fliegende Hollander (1843), Tannhauser (1845) and Lohengrin (1850). All three of these pieces featured remarkable changes in thematic contexts, with a larger inclusion of emotion and orchestration in the organization of the operas. Perhaps Richard Wagner's most prized and sought-after composition was Der Ring Des Nibelungen, or the Ring Cycle, a collection of 4 separate operas worked on over a period of 22 years. These operas would loosely focus on themes relating to old Germanic and Greek mythology, with Wagner using his own libretto for all of the parts. The first two of this Ring Cycle were named Das Rheingold (1854) and Die Walkure (1856), featuring perfect blends of poetry and music appearing together as appraisable drama. Before returning to completing the latter half of the Ring Cycle, Wagner took a break from opera and wrote his famous love story Tristan und Isolde (1857-59), fulfilling the purpose of diverging Wagner's interests in classical music and molding it in to a more reformed outlook. In 1876, the last two parts of the four-part opera collection premiered, under the respective labels of Siegfried and Gotterdämmerung. After the commercial success of the Ring Cycle, the only other important contribution Wagner made to opera was Parsifal (1882), bearing some criticism on some themes it unfolds in the acts. Wagner was quite different when it came to composing classical music of the 19th century, in that he would contribute his own libretto and music for most of the compositions. His stage presence and the conceptual framework behind his work were quite unconventional as well, focusing primarily on the elements concerning visual, poetic, musical and dramatic arts. In the forty odd years that Wagner composed music, his ideas and perceptions managed to creep in to not in the hearts and minds of music lovers, but also those primarily interested varied fields such as philosophy, literature and theater. Richard Wagner passed away on the 13 February 1883 in Venice, Italy.

Richard Wagner

can arguably be called one of the earliest composers advertising classical music under the Romanticism label. Born on 8 June 1810 in Zwickau, Germany, Schumann embraced a very unique and somewhat unconventional approach to playing piano. His interests mostly revolved around composing exquisite piano pieces, while occasionally attempting other orchestral and chamber arrangements in the latter half of his life. In a career that spanned just over two decades, his love and admiration of the oneness demonstrated between poetry and music led him to construct some outstanding compositions. These ranged from mostly piano arrangements, orchestral melodies, and vocal compositions to some interesting solo works. Schumann's first known composition was a piano piece that came out in 1830. Around this time, his childhood obsession with merging literary texts and musical progressions were embraced in two works, namely Variations On The Name Abegg (1830) and Papillons (1829-1831). After practically assessing his tastes in classical music, Schumann attempted another important piano arrangement, called Carnaval (1834), this time building on his earlier concepts in Papillons and using more compositional resources. It seemed like his conceptions of musical theory and literary texts kept developing and becoming more transformed in to advanced fusions, an effort he demonstrated in a 1937 eight-piece piano arrangement, called Fantasiestucke or Fantasy Pieces. A remarkable feature of this incredible composition was the use of the concept concerning dual personalities, played by Schumann himself. Other works from the same year include Symphonic Studies and Davidsbundlertanze, or Dances of the League of David. These were deep-rooted works, built on the same foundation of literature-music unity Schumann had ensconced in his earlier works. Up until 1840, he worked on other piano pieces such as Kinderszenen (1838), Kreisleriana (1838) and Faschingsschwank Aus Wien (1839), or Carnival Prank from Vienna, having a humorous reference to Napoleon's invasion of Vienna in the latter. Although Robert Schumann had been focused on primarily making piano pieces, he shifted interests in 1840, a year in which he wrote close to 168 songs. Some of his most impressionable works were Liederkreis, Frauenliebe und -leben, Dichterliebe and Die beiden Grenadiere, the latter demonstrating his ballad writing skills. He also took to composing symphonies around the same time, with the likes of No. 1 in B flat (1841) and No. 4 in D minor (1841) receiving indelible receptions. After impressing critics with a Mozart-class Piano Concerto in A Minor in 1845, he attempted an ill-received opera known as Genoveva (1848), one that lacked dramatic quality and musical synchronization. The last few compositions included a violin concerto, a few piano pieces and some vocal arrangements, but musical contributions to a poem titled Manfred in 1852 was arguably the most recognizable works in his last few years. Schumann's idealist vision of the beauty within music and poetry made him an outcast within the social scene, yet still remained a potent theme in most of his compositions that managed to gain wide audiences. His passion for lyrics and the true genius visible in the piano melodies conquered the hearts of many, and are still regularly heard in the classical realms of musical existence. Schumann remarkably put the said moments in his life in to beautifully-orchestrated pieces of sheer musical exquisiteness. After battling mental disorders for the better part of his life, Robert Schumann passed away in a mental asylum on July 29, 1856 in Endenich, Germany

Robert Shcumann

a legendary composer, music teacher and pianist, and is often referred to be the founder of 'ragtime' music. He was a strong proponent of jazz, and became increasingly interested in making music in the classical genre with a very distinguished rhythmic vibe, something that had never been done before. His musical career spanned close to two decades, often producing some of the most nourished and unique tracks in ragtime. Being well-acquainted with a number of different instruments such as the cornet, guitar, piano, banjo and the mandolin, Joplin was also equally fond of including his penetrable vocals in to his music. In a career that can arguably be labelled as short for his age, Joplin surprisingly managed to become one of the most respected classical musicians of all time. Having been born in a family of former slave farmers, it was hard for young Joplin to imagine becoming a celebrated musician. However, it was not long before he picked up on the piano and became rather proficient at it, after attending lessons from a German-Jewish professor Julius Weiss. A music professor of respected status, Weiss was so impressed by Joplin's skill behind the piano that he agreed to provide lessons free of charge until Joplin turned 16. Now on the cusp of making some of his own compositions, Joplin started off teaching the guitar and playing piano with a vocal quartet. Close to the early 1890s, Joplin increasingly envisaged the prospects of becoming a full-time troubadour, and as a result travelled around the United States performing for several low-scale bands. A stark peculiarity that often defines much of Joplin's music years is his constant struggle with racism in America at the time. One of the first few encounters with racism and exclusion of colored people was at the Chicago World Fair, where he was not allowed to perform. Joplin, however, managed to play a few of his first compositions on the side lines, and thus gave birth to a whole new genre of music called Ragtime, that grew most popular amongst the black community there onwards. This theme of racial seclusion was always a troubling factor for Joplin, and one that he embraced in his music as a dominant voice of concern. Joplin's first exposure to publications and the wider music world came around the time he moved to Sedalia, Missouri in 1894. In this period, he managed to impress two businessmen in a local music club after performing some of his originals. This was the beginning of a successful run of top charting ragtime publications, starting off with the first two of Joplin's songs called Please Say You Will, and A Picture of her Face. However, what Joplin is most popularly known for is his all-time success with the song Maple Leaf Rag, an 1899 piece originally for piano. The song featured some of the most riveting features of ragtime music, with jumpy bass lines, offbeat melodies and an unusually arranged rhythmic pattern. So widespread was the reception of this classic ragtime piece that it became a model for future songs in the genre. However, this was hardly the end of such a bestowed musician, who later went on to produce some truly magnificent works close to 1904, such as The Entertainer, March Majestic and The Ragtime Dance.

Scott Joplin

Foster grew up on the urban edge of the Western frontier. Although formally untutored in music, he had a natural musical bent and began to write songs as a young boy. He absorbed musical influences from the popular, sentimental songs sung by his sisters; from black church services he attended with the family's servant Olivia Pise; from popular minstrel show songs; and from songs sung by black labourers at the Pittsburgh warehouse where he worked for a time. In 1842 he published his song "Open Thy Lattice, Love." In 1846 he went to Cincinnati as a bookkeeper, returning to Pittsburgh in 1850 to marry Jane McDowell, a physician's daughter. In 1848 he sold his song "Oh! Susanna" for $100; together with his "Old Uncle Ned" it brought the publisher about $10,000. In 1849 Foster entered into a contract with Firth, Pond & Co., the New York publishers to whom he had previously given the rights for "Nelly Was a Lady." He was commissioned to write songs for Edwin P. Christy's minstrel show. The most famous, "Old Folks at Home" (1851), also called "Swanee River," appeared originally under Christy's name; Foster's name appeared on the song after 1879. In 1852 he made his only visit to the South. Although he stated that his ambition was to become "the best Ethiopian [i.e., Negro minstrel] song writer," he vacillated between composing minstrel songs (for which he is largely remembered) and songs in the sentimental "respectable" style then popular. He was never a sharp entrepreneur for his talents, and in 1857, in financial difficulties, he sold all rights to his future songs to his publishers for about $1,900. The profits from his songs went largely to performers and publishers. In 1860, already struggling with sinking morale and alcoholism, he moved to New York City. His songs after that date are largely sentimental songs such as "Poor Drooping Maiden." His wife left him in 1861, except for a brief reconciliation in 1862. He spent the rest of his life in debt. He left about 200 songs, for most of which he wrote the words as well as the music. They include "Camptown Races," "Nelly Bly," "My Old Kentucky Home," "Massa's in de Cold, Cold Ground," "Old Dog Tray," "Old Black Joe," "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair," and "Beautiful Dreamer."

Stephen Foster

born in 1756 in the Austrian town of Salzburg. The youngest of seven siblings, Mozart displayed tremendous skill behind the keyboards and piano from an unconventionally early age of 4. His father and elder sister were Mozart's teachers, often including him in their musical sessions. However, what ultimately set Mozart apart from all the other classical composers of his time was his incredible ability and quickness with learning new instruments and composing new pieces, all before the age of 10. So grand were Mozart's capabilities with instruments like the piano and violin that his father quit his passion for composing and began concentrating entirely on molding Mozart's talents, and bringing them up on a more professional platform. Belonging to a family of music, Wolfgang Mozart would often travel around Europe with his siblings and father in his early years. These trips took him to places like the courts of Munich, London, Paris and other royal abodes of the time. Along the way, Mozart met composers and famous music icons like Josef Mysliveček and Giovanni Martini, that later paid off with a fellowship in the well-renowned Accademia Filarmonica. It is worth noting that all this time, he had been composing new pieces quite often, given however much he knew of music then. Some of the operas composed by Mozart around the 1770s include Mitridate, re di Ponto (1770) and Ascanio in Alba (1771), amongst others like Lucio Silla (1772). This phase of compositions ended with what is often referred to as one of Mozart's most popular works, the individually performed choral music composition Exsultate, jubilate (1773). In the coming years, Mozart extensively travelled in France and Italy, writing opera works such as La finta giardiniera (1775) and the "Paris" Symphony (1778), the latter being one of his earliest symphonies which was inherently made for a large orchestral performance. Close to the making of the opera, Idomeneo (1980), an Italian piece that is often referred to embody instrumental techniques and arrangements from French classical music, Mozart became enthralled by German composers like Johann Bach and George Handel. He spent the next few years developing arrangements, considered to have been an effort to build on the works and arrangements used by these great composers. This was displayed quite profoundly in works like The Magic Flute and Symphony No. 41, where the use of the Baroque Style of compositions is apparent. After a brief stint away from opera, Mozart began collaborations with Lorenzo Da Ponte and was to produce two works that not just had an everlasting impact on the classical music enthusiasts then, but have managed to remain popular to this day. These included The Marriage of Figaro (1986) and Don Giovvani (1987). Surprisingly enough, his last year was one of immense importance, as he wrote and composed on an extensive scale. Some of the most recognized works of 1791 include the Piano Concerto, the Clarinet Concerto and Ave Verum Corpus, performances that are still heard to this day. Despite passing away at an early age of 34, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a living embodiment of classical opera music and has remained one to this day. He was often described as a hard-working man, who could not help but possess an incredibly humble and affectionate personality. Even though Europe at the time had mostly embraced the popular Baroque Music, Mozart explored and experimented with various other genres such as symphony, opera, chamber and string quartet music and constantly implored to diversify the themes music was written in back in the late 18th century.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Claude Debussy was a highly prominent French Composer who was greatly involved with impressionist music. He was an important figure of the French Period of Symbolism. Achille-Claude Debussy was born on August 22, 1862 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France. At the age of five, Debussy's family moved to Cannes in fear of the Franco-Prussian War. At the age of seven, he began taking piano lessons under an Italian Violinist. By age ten, Debussy's piano skills matured so much that he was granted admission to the legendary Paris Conservatoire. He then enjoyed the honor of being taught by greats such as Ernest Guiraud, Émile Durand, Albert Lavignac, Antoine François Marmontel, and César Franck. In 1884, Debussy's Cantata named "L'enfant Prodigue" or "The Prodigal Son" was premiered in Paris. The one-act opera was so moving that it won her Prix de Rome, a prestigious government arts scholarship that would have Debussy study for four years at the French Academy in Rome at the Villa Medici. Although Debussy was unhappy with the food and the environment there, he found reason to stay due to Franz Liszt's presence. Liszt often played the piano at the academy, while Debussy listened in admiration. Debussy then wrote four works for the Academie des Beaux-Arts in response to the Prix de Rome, these works included Zuleima, Printemps, Fanataisie and La demoiselle elue. It was said that La demoiselle elue was heavily influenced by the works of Richard Wagner. Debussy was reported to be stunned by Wagner's sensational harmonies and perfect technique. He also wrote Ariettes oubliees, and Fetes galantes around this time. In 1890, Debussy wrote the Suite Bergamasque, a suite which included one of Debussy's most popular pieces which he called the Clair de Lune. The suite held true to baroque customs in the beginning, and it seemed to develop its own twist starting from the third movement, the Clair de Lune. Debussy was also one of the first to master the incorporation of the chromatic scales in the Phrygian modes in his works, as is exemplified by his 1893 String Quartet in G Minor. In 1894 Debussy wrote one of his most famous operas titled Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, translated as "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun". Debussy's later works included the "Trois Nocturnes" in 1899, which was an orchestral composition of three movements. He then wrote the "La Mer" in 1905, it was a special piece in the sense that it was not well received at first, but with the passage of time it became one of Debussy's most celebrated pieces. In 1901 and in 1904, Debussy wrote the "Pour le Piano" and the "Images pour piano" respectively, each of them were poetic piano pieces that were rich with harmony. In 1907, he wrote "Iberia",which was a large scale orchestral composition. Besides being a prolific and skilled composer, Debussy also taught many students throughout the duration of his life. Claude Debussy died on March 25, 1918 of rectal cancer in Paris, France.

Claude Debussy

Claudio Monteverdi was an Italian composer and a Roman catholic priest. He is often credited with bridging the gap between the music of the Renaissance and the music of the Baroque period. Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi was born on a date unknown to historians, although it is known that he was baptized on May 15, 1567 in the Italian District of Lombardy. While he was only a child, he would occasionally visit Marc'Antonio Ingegneri, who was the maestro di cappella at Monteverdi's hometown cathedral, the "Cathedral of Cremona". Ingegneri gave Monteverdi his first lessons in music and composition; he also urged Monteverdi to take part in the cathedral choir. In 1582, Monteverdi published his first work, a collection of motets titled Sacrae cantiunculae. He followed that up with a sacred madrigal titled the Madrigali Spirituali in 1584, a collection of three voice canzonettes in 1584, and a five part madrigal in 1587. He then graduated to music director for the court of Mantua after playing the violin for them. By 1602, he was court conductor for the court of Vincenzo I of Gonzaga in Mantua. In 1613, he moved to St. Marks Basilica and worked there as a conductor, he was credited for 'rescuing' the standard of music there, since it was completely devoid of creativity before Monteverdi's arrival. By 1632, Monteverdi became a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. Monteverdi's early works consisted of his madrigal books. Monteverdi wrote nine Madrigal books in total. Of those nine, the Fifth Book of Madrigal, the "Quinto Libro", was known for exemplifying the evolution of late Renaissance music to early Baroque music. Monteverdi's eighth madrigal book, which he finished in 1638, was his largest. The eighth madrigal book was also known to have works written over a thirty year time period. Interestingly, Monteverdi chose to divide his book into sections of "War and Love". Monteverdi wrote plenty of operas, around eighteen in number, however, he is known for two in particular. One of them was titled "Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria" (translated as "The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland"). Il Ritorno focused on the story of the King of Ithaca, and it was based on the victory of patience over treachery, and hence the ultimate victory of good over evil. The opera was so successful that it was performed over ten times in the Venice Carnival of 1639-1640. The other opera was called "L'incoronazione di Poppea" (translated as "The Coronation of Poppea"), and it was based on the Roman Emperor Nero. This opera was so grand that when it was performed in the Venice Carnival in 1642-1643, it was in a setting that housed 900 people, yet the stage was larger than the auditorium. Monteverdi's most famous church music was a collection of scores called the "Vesper Psalms" of 1610. He also wrote a mass of thanksgiving in 1631. Claudio Monteverdi passed away of November 29, 1643 in Venice. His music has received recent interest in the 1960's, and many of his works were rediscovered and performed since then.

Claudio Monteverdi

On April 29, 1899, Edward Kennedy Ellington was born in Washington, D.C., to James Edward and Daisy Ellington. With his father, a Methodist, and his mother, a Baptist, Ellington's upbringing had strong religious influences. An artistic child, Ellington passed up an art scholarship to study at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, in order to devote his time to his first love: music, specifically the piano. By the age of fourteen, Ellington had written his first two pieces, "Soda Fountain Rag" and "What You Gonna Do When the Bed Breaks Down?" During this time Ellington gained his nickname, "Duke," after a friend recommended that Ellington should have some sort of title. He divided his studies between music and commercial art, and by 1918 established a reputation as a bandleader and agent. In 1923 he went to New York City and soon became a successful bandleader. In 1927 he secured an important engagement at the Cotton Club in Harlem, a section of New York City, and remained there (aside from occasional tours) until 1932. Ellington's band made its first European trip in 1932. After World War II (1939-45), the band toured Europe regularly, with short trips to South America, the Far East, and Australia. One peak period for the band was from 1939 to 1942, when many critics considered its performances superior to any other jazz ensemble (group). As a composer Ellington was responsible for numerous works that achieved popular success, some written with his band members and with his co-arranger Billy Strayhorn. The Duke's most significant music was written specifically for his own band and soloists. Always sensitive to the nuances (small variations) of tone of his soloists (single performers), Ellington wrote features for individual sidemen and used his knowledge of their characteristic sounds when composing other works. His arrangements achieved a remarkable blend of individual and ensemble contributions. However, because most of his works were written for his own band, interpretations by others have rarely been satisfactory. With Creole Rhapsody (1931) and Reminiscing in Tempo (1935) Ellington was the first jazz composer to break the three-minute time limitation of the 78-rpm record. After the 1940s he concentrated more on longer works, including several suites (arrangements of music) built around a central theme, frequently an aspect of African American life. Always a fine orchestral pianist, with a style influenced by the Harlem stylists of the 1920s, Ellington remained in the background on most of his early recordings. After the 1950s he emerged as a highly imaginative piano soloist.

Duke Ellington

one of the most influential virtuoso pianists of the Romantic Era. Chopin distinguished himself in the solo piano, although he occasionally wrote chamber music and instrumental ballades. Frederic Chopin was born in the Duchy of Warsaw; on the 1st March 1810 (some reports also indicate that he was born on 22nd February 1810). Chopin first received instruction on the piano from his mother, and at the age of six, he started receiving formal instruction on the piano from Czech Pianist Wojciech Zywny. Chopin was extraordinarily talented on the piano, and he was soon labeled a child prodigy. At the age of seven, he gave his first public concert and by 1821, he wrote a polonaise in A-flat major, which is now widely regarded as his earliest surviving work. Chopin continued his education with Zywny till 1821. He was also enrolled in the Warsaw Lyceum, and it was there that he studied composition and music theory with the Silesian Composer Józef Elsner. In May 1825, Chopin performed and improvised on one of Ignaz Moscheles's compositions; it was a performance so successful that he was asked to repeat it in the presence of the Emperor of Russia (Alexandar I), who presented the young Chopin with a diamond ring at the end of the repeat performance. From 1827 to 1830, Chopin traveled Europe extensively and he attended many performances by Niccolo Paganini, Felix Mendelssohn and Friedrich Zelter. He also played in Vienna, where he premiered two of his pieces. In 1831, Chopin, on a visit to Paris, met many esteemed musicians, including Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz, Ferdinand Hiller, and Alfred de Vigny. He also received favorable reviews from the music critic and composer Robert Schumann, who in response to Chopin's "Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung" exclaimed "Hats off gentleman! (Chopin is) a genius". By 1832, Chopin had achieved celebrity status, as well as the honor and respect of his contemporaries and critics. Chopin also dedicated his "Etudes Op. 10" to Franz Liszt. Today, over two hundred and thirty works of Chopin have been recorded and stored. Some compositions, mostly from his performances as a child prodigy, have been lost. Chopin was heavily influenced by Muzio Clementi and he based his own piano technique on Clementi's technique. Other influences included Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Joseph Haydn. Chopin is also credited with inventing "instrumental ballades", a name he gave to four large scale piano pieces that were characterized by several dramatic elements. Franz Liszt also used this name for some of his compositions. Chopin's music consisted of a variety of Etudes, Ballades, Mazurkas, Nocturnes, Polonaises, Preludes, Rondos, Scherzos and Sonatas. Much of his work was also published after his death, these included Waltzes and Variations. He was credited for introducing the element of nationalism to music with his Mazurkas and Polonaises. Chopin was also known for his wondrous improvisational ability. Perhaps his most known works were his two Piano Concertos that he wrote in early 1830. Before his death, Chopin compiled notes on a piano tuition method that he called "Projet de Methode". In his last years, Chopin suffered from either Tuberculosis or Cystic Fibrosis. Frederic Chopin died on October 17, 1849 in Paris. His funeral was attended by over three thousand people, and according to historians, scores more would have attended had his family not restricted it.

Frederic Chopin

George Handel was born on February 22, 1685, in Hally, Duchy of Magdeburg. Handel's father always intended for his son to study civil law. However, Handel was so inclined towards music that his father had to forbid him from using musical instruments to 'save' his education. However, the rebellious Handel would find his way to a clavichord in an unpopulated room in his house while everyone would be sleeping. With the passage of time, the young Handel matured into a skillful harpsichord and pipe organ player. Finally, on a visit to the residence of Duke Johann Adolf I, the young Handel found himself playing the organ. The Duke was so impressed by Handel's impromptu performance that he urged Handel's reluctant father to send the child to take lessons in music. Handel then went on to study with Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, who was a prestigious church organist at the time. Zachow gave Handel lessons in harmony, counterpoint, and composition. Handel's rapid progress at his lessons meant that he would ultimately be invited to play for Frederick I of Prussia in 1698, at the tender age of thirteen. Despite initially agreeing to his father's wishes to pursue a career in law, Handel accepted an offer to play the organ for his local church. He then went on to become a violinist and harpsichordist in the Hamburg Orchestra, "Oper am Gansemarkt". Handel then went on to compose sacred music for the Roman Clergy in Italy, which resulted in the remarkable work "Dixit Dominus" in 1707. During this period, Handel also composed two oratorios, titled "La resurrezione" and "II trionnfo del tempo". His first scale all-Italian opera was also published in 1707, and it was titled "Rodrigo". Another 1707 opera, "Agripinna", was reported to be so successful that it ran for a consecutive twenty seven nights. Handel was a highly prolific musician. There are more than forty two operas, one hundred and twenty cantatas, and twenty nine oratorios to his name. He also composed a wide array of chamber music, odes, serenatas, and organ concerti. Perhaps Handel's most famous composition was the oratorio titled "Messiah". The oratorio went on to become one of the most well known choral works of all time. Other highly famous works from Handel's repertoire include his keyboard suite "The Harmonious Blacksmith", his "Organ Concerto Op.4" and "Organ Concerto Op.7". Handel is also credited with fifteen other keyboard suites. In addition, Handel's "Ode for St. Cecelia's day" and "Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne" are also noteworthy compositions. Handel was also known for his ability to create sensational music with the least of means, it was reported that Beethoven once said of Handel, "Go to him to learn how to achieve great effects, by such simple means". Handel is also credited with writing "Zadok the Priest" for the coronation ceremony of King George II. The anthem was so popular with the English Royalty that it was immortalized in the sense that it was played in every English coronation ever since. George Frideric Handel died on April 14, 1759 in London. His funeral was given full state honors.

George Frederic Handel

an American Pianist and Composer who composed in the Modern period. He is mostly famous for his Broadway productions and orchestral compositions. George Gershwin was born on September 26, 1898 in Brooklyn, America to a family with Russian and Lithuanian heritage. He and his elder brother, Ira, spent time at the Yiddish Theatre District, often appearing as extras for Yiddish Theatre Productions. At the age of ten, Gershwin attended the violin recital of his friend Maxie Rosenzweig; it was a performance that changed young Gershwin's life forever. Influenced by his friend's recital, Gershwin started playing Ira's piano. When Gershwin was twelve years old, his parents arranged for lessons from Charles Hambitzer, who was a pianist for the Beethoven Symphony Opera at that time. After Hambitzer's death in 1918, Gershwin continued his musical education with American Composer Rubin Goldmark, and avant-garde composer Henry Cowell. At the age of fifteen, Gershwin started working as a song plugger for a publishing firm known as Jerome H. Remick and Company. As a song plugger, he was expected to preview sheet music for customers on the piano. This position helped Gershwin encounter new musical ideas and it therefore enhanced his creativity. The result of this was that in 1916, Gershwin released his first song which was titled "When You Want Em, You Can't Get Em. When You've Got Em, You Don't Want Em". Gershwin went on to release "Rialto Ripples" in 1917 and "Swanee" in 1919, the latter composition would go on to became a major national hit. Around this time, Gershwin met with music director William Daly. The duo would be credited for many of Broadway's musicals from the early 1920's, including "For Goodness' Sake", "Our Nell", and "Piccadilly to Broadway". Gershwin was also credited collaborating with his brother Ira. In 1924, the two brothers directed the stage musical comedy titled "Lady be Good". They followed their success with "Oh Kay!" in 1926, "Funny Face" in 1927, and "Strike Up the Band" in 1930. Other projects from the brothers included "Show Girl" in 1929, "I Got Rhythm" in 1930, and "Of Thee I Sing" in 1931. "Of Thee I Sing" was so well received that it would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Perhaps Gershwin is best known for his orchestral composition "Rhapsody in Blue", which he wrote in 1924. The classical composition was known for its jazz influence and adventurous musical texture. Gershwin's also wrote "An American in Paris" in 1928; a work that would soon become part of the standard repertoire in Europe. A close contender for Gershwin's most famous work was his 1935 opera "Porgy and Bess". Today, the opera is considered to be one of the most important American folk operas of all time. Gershwin also worked for some Hollywood Studios. He is credited with the score for the 1936 movie "Shall We Dance". Earlier, he also wrote the score for "Delicious", and even though Fox Film Corporation rejected most of his score, Gershwin was praised for the part of the score that was selected for the movie. George Gershwin died on July 11, 1937 while he was only thirty eight years old. He died during an unsuccessful attempt to remove a brain tumor during surgery. Gershwin was posthumously nominated for an Academy Award for his composition for the film "Shall we Dance".

George Gershwin

Georges Bizet was a French Composer of the Romantic Era. An 1857 Prix De Rome winner, Bizet's music was greatly appreciated after his death. Georges Bizet was born on October 25, 1838 in Paris. Bizet's father was an amateur musician, who had one published song to his name, while Bizet's mother was an esteemed pianist. Bizet's maternal aunt was no less than a musical genius; she had been teaching at the Conservatoire de Paris at the tender age of thirteen. When Bizet was a child, he was given piano lessons by his mother, who would later on also train him in music theory. Bizet also used to eavesdropped on his father's music lessons and would display a natural talent in singing and memorization. Bizet's parents were convinced that their child was good enough to excel at the Conservatoire de Paris while he was only nine. Bizet was interviewed by the horn virtuoso Joseph Miefred, who helped the young Bizet enroll at the institute despite the minimum age requirement (a child had to be ten years old to be enrolled at the Conservatoire, however, in Bizet's case an exception was made). Inside six months of enrollment, Bizet was already turning heads. He won the first prize in solfege, a feat which had greatly impressed the French Pianist Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann. After the win, Bizet was largely trained by Zimmermann, who gave Bizet various lessons in fugue and counterpoint. He also studied under the French Pianist Antoine Marmontel, and under his tuition, Bizet won the second prize for piano in 1851, and the first prize in piano in 1852. Compositions from Bizet's time at the conservatory included two sopranos, his songs "Petite Marguerite" and "La Rose et L'abeille". He also transcribed two of Charles Gounod's works for the piano, these included "La none sanglante" and his Symphony in D Major. At the age of seventeen, Bizet also wrote his own full scale Symphony in C Major. Bizet competed for the prestigious Prix de Rome in both 1856 and in 1857. The award was not given in 1856 due to unsatisfactory entrees, however, in 1857, Bizet would win the award. He chose to submit his cantata for Amedee Burion's "Clovis et Clotilde". Bizet spent the next five years of his life reaping the benefits of the grants that he received due to the award. Of these five years, he spent the first two in Rome, the third in Italy, and the final two in Paris. Despite his brilliant composing skills, Bizet had relatively little success during his life. It was said that his compositions were largely ignored because of the main opera theatres preferring the classical repertoire to that of the works of the romantic era. Nonetheless, Bizet's works would garner massive popularity towards the end of his life, and especially after his death. Two of his opera's, "Les pecheurs de perles" and "La jolie fille de Perth" were slow in gaining appreciation; however, they would go on to become extremely popular. There were obvious exceptions to this rule, for example, his opera "Djamileh" had an extremely successful premiere. His last opera, "Carmen", had major production difficulties and it left Bizet confused about its future. However, it would prove to be extremely successful after his death.

Georges Bizet

Giacomo Puccini was a highly successful Italian composer of the late romantic era. It has been said that he shares the position of the most important Italian composer of all time with Giuseppe Verdi. He was also known for the development of the verismo style. Giocomo Puccini was born on December 22, 1858 in Lucca, Tuscany. Puccini's great-great grandfather was maestro di capella (leader of the orchestra) of the great Cattadrale di San Martino. This position was to be succeeded by Puccini's ancestral bloodline from his great-great grandfather to his very own father, however, the young Puccini himself was only six years old at the time of his father's death, and he could not succeed as the maestro di capella. As a child however, Puccini was allowed to perform as part of the Cattadrale's choir. He was also given several music lessons under the supervision of his uncle Fortunato Magi. At the age of twenty two, Puccini earned a diploma from School of Music, after which he would go to study at the Milan Conservatory on Scholarship. His first full scale work was arguably the Mass that he wrote in 1880. In 1883, he wrote the "Capriccio Sinfonica", which was intended as his graduation piece for the Milan Conservatory. The "Capriccio Sinfonica" gathered plenty of attention and acclaim, and soon, Puccini embarked upon his magnificent opera career. In 1884, his opera collaboration with Fernando Fontana titled "Le Villi" was premiered at the Teatro Dal Verme. The success of "Le Villi" prompted publishers to commission the young Puccini to write another opera titled "Edgar", which was released in 1889. "Edgar" reviews were generally cynical, and they labeled the libretto of the work as weak. As a consequence, Puccini's next opera, "Manon Lescaut", had four separate librettists. "Manon Lescaut" is also now thought of as Puccini's first truly successful opera, and it was with this opera that critics labeled Puccini as the next contender to the great Giuseppe Verdi. In 1896, his next work, "La Boheme" was premiered in Turin. The opera quickly transgressed national boundaries and was soon being performed all over Europe and North America. Today, it is one of the most performed operas of all time. Puccini then ventured into the verismo tradition with his next masterpiece, "Tosca". In 1903, Puccini and his family were part of a car accident that almost killed them. Puccini's car went off the road, and everyone in the car was flung out, except for Puccini. He was found pinned underneath the wreckage of the car. After he was pulled out, doctors found major fractures in his right leg and chest. The accident hindered the composer's career, but not for long. In February 1904, "Madama Butterfly" was premiered. However, it had to be revised a total of five times. In 1910, Puccini wrote the "La Fanciulla del West", which was later considered to be his second most successful opera after "La Boheme". Puccini's career heavily suffered from alleged extra-marital commitments and non-participation in politics. His indifference to World War I and its fallout meant that several of his contracts and commissions were cancelled. Giocomo Puccini died on November 29, 1924, due to complications from throat cancer. He is remembered as the most performed Italian Composer of all time.

Giacomo Puccini

Sergei Prokofiev received his first piano instruction from his mother, who also encouraged composing. After studies with Gliere, he passed the entrance examination at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. There he studied with Rimsky-Korsakov and Liadov. He formed a lasting relationship with Sergei Diaghilev, who arranged his first performance outside Russia (Rome, 1915). The opera The Love of the Three Oranges and the Third Piano Concerto were premiered in Chicago in 1921. In Paris, where Prokofiev settled, Diaghilev produced his ballets during the years 1921-32. After returning to Russia, he composed Peter and the Wolf, the opera War and Peace, and the ballets Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella.

Sergei Prokofiev

was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Composers." The open, slowly changing harmonies in much of his music are typical of what many people consider to be the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. He is best known for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately accessible style often referred to as "populist" and which the composer labeled his "vernacular" style.[3] Works in this vein include the ballets Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo, his Fanfare for the Common Man and Third Symphony. In addition to his ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres including chamber music, vocal works, opera and film scores.

Aaron Copland

an English composer, conductor and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British classical music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. His best-known works include the opera Peter Grimes (1945), the War Requiem (1962) and the orchestral showpiece The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1945). Born in Suffolk, the son of a dentist, Britten showed talent from an early age. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London and privately with the composer Frank Bridge. Britten first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy was Born in 1934. With the premiere of Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to international fame. Over the next 28 years, he wrote 14 more operas, establishing himself as one of the leading 20th-century composers in the genre. In addition to large-scale operas for Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden, he wrote "chamber operas" for small forces, suitable for performance in venues of modest size. Among the best known of these is The Turn of the Screw (1954). Recurring themes in his operas include the struggle of an outsider against a hostile society and the corruption of innocence. Britten's other works range from orchestral to choral, solo vocal, chamber and instrumental as well as film music. He took a great interest in writing music for children and amateur performers, including the opera Noye's Fludde, a Missa Brevis, and the song collection Friday Afternoons. He often composed with particular performers in mind. His most frequent and important muse was his personal and professional partner, the tenor Peter Pears; others included Kathleen Ferrier, Jennifer Vyvyan, Janet Baker, Dennis Brain, Julian Bream, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Mstislav Rostropovich. Britten was a celebrated pianist and conductor, performing many of his own works in concert and on record. He also performed and recorded works by others, such as Bach's Brandenburg concertos, Mozart symphonies, and song cycles by Schubert and Schumann. Together with Pears and the librettist and producer Eric Crozier, Britten founded the annual Aldeburgh Festival in 1948, and he was responsible for the creation of Snape Maltings concert hall in 1967. In his last year, he was the first composer to be given a life peerage.

Benjamin Britten

Charles Ives was one of the first internationally renowned American Composers. He was known for his experimentation with musical techniques such as tone clusters, quarter tones and polytonality. Charles Edward Ives was born on October 20, 1874 in Danbury, Connecticut. His father served as a bandleader in the U.S. Army during the American Civil War. Ives drew much of his early musical influence from his father, who taught him music theory and techniques in polytonal harmonization. Through his father's training, Ives became a church organist at age fourteen, and he wrote 'Variations on America' for his Church, which many distinguished Organists found extremely difficult to play. Ives was a multi-talented individual, he was admitted to Yale University in 1894, he was a member of the prestigious Delta Kappa Epsilon, the Wolf's Head Society, and he was the chairman of the Ivy Committee. He also played on the varsity football team and his coach remarked that had he not spent so much time playing music, he would have become a champion sprinter. In 1918, he published a book called "Life Insurance with Relation to Inheritance Tax", which was extremely well received by peers and experts. Ives trained in music during his time at Yale University. He published his Symphony No.2 around 1900. It was known for its musical quotations of American Folk Themes, and of its highly adventurous eleven note chord at the end of the movement. In 1906, Ives composed the piece titled "Central Park in the Dark". The work was seen as highly radical; it again quoted many sounds from other works, this time from Manhattan's "Hello! Ma Baby" and "Washington Post March". Many music critics noted that Ives pronounced his unique musical style in his work "The Unanswered Question". He was also known for aligning his composition to his emotions, he regarded a motif in "The Unanswered Question" as a description of "The Perennial Question of Existence". Some music critics noted the piece "Three Places in New England" to be Ives greatest work, as it was also one of the first American pieces to be played outside of America. He also completed "A Symphony: New England Holidays" in 1913. It aimed to induce a grown man's recollection of his childhood holidays. Clayton Wilson Henderson was known to have said that the New England Holidays exhibited "multi-tonality in the reharmonization of borrowed music".

Charles Ives

Dmitri Shostakovich, born and raised in St. Petersburg, studied at its fabled Conservatory in the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolutions of 1917. His teachers there included Leonid Nikolayev (piano) and Maximilian Steinberg (composition). With the premiere of his graduation piece, the First Symphony, in 1926, Shostakovich's exceptional career was launched. He quickly established himself at the forefront of young Soviet composers. Shostakovich was fortunate in attracting some of the most gifted performers of the era — Yevgeny Mravinsky, David Oistrakh, and Mstislav Rostropovich among them — as ardent champions of his music. In his last years, he turned increasingly from large-scale "public" works to music of confessional intimacy, concentrating on the genre of string quartet and vocal music. A highly politicized figure during his lifetime and since — because of a high-profile career carved out in the conditions of Communist dictatorship coupled with the immense emotive power of his music — by the time of his widely-celebrated centennial in 2006 Shostakovich was hailed by common consensus as one of the greatest twentieth-century composers. A substantial body of his large and varied musical output has established itself firmly in the standard repertory.

Dmitri Shostakovic

Sir Edward William Elgar was an English Violinist and Composer. His musical prowess helped him succeed Sir Walter Parratt as Master of the King's Music in 1924. Edward Elgar was born in a small village just outside of Worcester, England on June 2, 1857. His father, William Elgar, was an esteemed violinist; he was also an organist at St. George's Roman Catholic Church. Hence, the young Elgar received plenty of instruction in music during his early years. At the age of fifteen, Elgar received lessons in violin from the Hungarian Musician Adolf Pollitzer. He wanted to continue his musical studies at the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany; however, his father could not afford to send him. Thus, Elgar spent his time playing and teaching the violin at his father's music shop. He slowly made his way into Worcester's leading music circles, as his emphatic performances at the Birmingham Festivals were understandably hard to miss. Elgar continued working for the Birmingham Festivals, and soon he started writing music for them. In 1892, he wrote "The Black Knight" and in 1896, he wrote "King Olaf". His 1897 work, "Three Bavarian Dances", helped him earn a spot at the Three Choirs Festival. Elgar's first magnificent success came in 1899 when he wrote "The Enigma Variations". The fourteen variation orchestra, first conducted by the famous German Conductor Hans Richter, attracted unbelievable audiences at London Theatres. The work helped Elgar achieve widespread fame and nobility. Soon, the variations were premiered all over Europe, and Elgar's name was mentioned in parallel to English Music. In 1900, Elgar wrote the music for Cardinal John Henry's Poem "The Dream of Gerontius", which, like the Enigma Variations, found its way into Europe. By 1902, his work travelled beyond Europe to reach the theatres of New York. Elgar then wrote the "Pomp and Circumstance Marches", which was first performed in 1901 at a London Promenade Concert. Henry J. Wood, the conductor of the performance noted that it was "the one and only time in the history of the Promenade Concerts that an orchestral item was accorded a double encore". The work was also revised in the future to accommodate lyrics, it became so popular that it was considered an unofficial national anthem in Britain, and it would be used as a theme for all high school graduations in the United States. He was knighted by King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace in 1904. From 1905 to 1908, he held the position of Peyton Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham. At 1905 he wrote "Introduction and Allegro for Strings", and in 1906 he wrote an oratorio titled "The Kingdom". In 1908, Elgar wrote his First Symphony. The symphony reintroduced Elgar to intercontinental fame. He soon followed his First Symphony with a Violin Concerto in 1910, which was equally well received. In June 1911, Elgar was appointed to England's highly prestigious Order of Merit. He then wrote a choral ode titled "The Music Makers" in 1912 and a symphonic study titled "Falstaff" in 1913. At the outbreak of World War I, Elgar wrote several patriotic songs. His song "Land of Hope and Glory" was his most famous war-time composition. Edward Elgar died on February 23, 1934 due to complications from colorectal cancer. He is remembered in English history as one of the greatest English domposers to have ever lived. Many of his works are featured in the international classical music repertoire.

Edward Elgar

Gioachino Rossini was born in a family of musicians in Pesaro on February 29, 1792. His father, Giuseppe, was an inspector in slaughterhouse while his mother, Anna, was a notable singer. He had already begun his musical career in his early childhood. By the age of six, he was already playing the triangle in his father's musical group. At the age of 14 he entered Bologna's Philharmonic School and composed his first opera seria—Demetrio e Polibio. At 15, he could already play number of instrument and had made some public appearances to earn reasonable fortune. In 1799, Rossini's father was sent to prison for one year on supporting French revolution. His mother then took him to Bologna where she earned her fortunes by singing for various theaters. There he played harpsichord under Giuseppe Prinetti directions for the next three years, who was a musician as well as owned a business of selling beer. Later he started working for blacksmith named Angelo Tessie, under whose coaching he learnt to play piano and made his first public appearance. In 1805, at the theatre of the Commune in Ferdinando Paer's Camilla, he made his first official public appearance as a singer. In 1806, he became cello student and was admitted to counterpoint class of Padre Stanislao Mattei and learned to play cello with ease but the academic asperity of Mattei's views on counterpoint served only to drive the young composer's views toward a freer school of composition. He produced his first opera, La cambiale di matrimonio, when he was only 18 years old. In 1813, the young composer gained international fame for producing Tancredi and L'italiana. He established himself as graven image of Italian opera. He continued to write operas for Venice and Milan during the next few years but never received the response he expected. In 1815, he retired to his home in Bologna and started working for Domenico Barbaia to compose one opera per year for 200 ducats per month. The Barber of Seville was Rossini's greatest accomplishment. Rossini's Barber is one of the greatest masterpieces of comedy within music. He produced 20 operas between 1815 and 1823. In 1822, he went to Vienna and performed many operas in German. In the same year, he then married the famous singer Isabella Colbran, who starred in many of his operas. When he stopped receiving appreciation from the local audiences he stop writing for his native country and moved to England where he was royally welcomed and received good fortunes for his performances. He then worked for the Theater Italian as musical director and wrote his last two operas Le Comte Ory and Guillaume Tell. In 1845, after Isabella death, Rossini married Olympe Pélissier. In 1846, he modified some of his old operas for the newly appointed Pope, Pius IX. Sadly his health continued to decline and he was later diagnosed with cancer in 1868. He then went through two surgeries and was expected to return to his full health but he could never fully regain his health. He died on November 13, 1868 in Passy and was buried in Paris. Thousands of mourners attended his funeral. Later at Olympe's request, his remains were relocated to Florence. Some of the major and most accomplished work of Gioachino Rossini includes William Tell, Thieving Magpie, The Barber of Seville, The Italian Girl in Algiers and The lady of the lake.

Giaochino Rossini

one of the leading opera composers of all time. He was born in Le Roncole, a small village in Italy on 10 October 1813. When he entered the field of opera many were of the view that the era of opera had ended after "The Italian Mozart" i.e. Gioachino Rossini, the man who took opera to a whole new level, however Verdi, through his melodic invention and musical expression took opera to the heights Rossini never achieved. Verdi's era started after the glorious eras of Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and Beethoven. He had his own style different from the people who passed before him. He added a melodramatic touch to the opera. His romantic and sublime composition of music soon made him popular among the people as well as directors of stage plays. Verdi's parents moved from their home village to Busseto when he was very young. In Busseto, Verdi's music skills were greatly aided by the school's library. Verdi was talented and showed it at very early age of seven by playing organ at the church. In Busseto, Verdi started taking his composition lessons. He soon became assistant church organist at the tender age of 15. He then moved to Milan to learn more about composition and visited many opera music parties and festivals learning from each one of them. He also took numerous lessons to refine his skills in music composition and opera. In Milan he made up his mind to follow a career in music composition. He didn't start composing at early age rather he gave music performances on special occasions. He first appeared publically in 1830 at the house of Antonio Barezzi who later became his father in law. Margherita and Verdi were married on 4th May 1836 and had two daughters. However tragically both daughters died very young and soon after their death Margherita also passed away. This left Verdi deserted. Verdi was working on his first opera when his daughters died. He released it in 1839 and soon it became popular and Verdi was recognized by the world of music. While working on his second opera his wife died whom he loved very much. He was totally devastated and his second opera turned out to be a horrible mess. He was so heartbroken that he decided never to compose music again. However he wrote Nabucco on request of a friend and it was an instant hit making Verdi popular. His major works are "Un ballo in maschera", "I Lombardi", "Ernani", "La forza del destino", "Les vêpres siciliennes", "Don Carlos" and the most important one he wrote was "Macbeth". Verdi composed a total of 14 operas in his lifetime. Verdi wrote his last opera, "La battaglia di Legnano" in 1849 while he was living in Paris. Giuseppe Verdi died due to a heart stroke while he was living in a hotel in Milan in January 1901. He grew weaker day by day and died a week after the stroke on 27th January 1901. A great tribute was given to the legendary composer at his funeral by playing music of the composers from all around Italy on orchestras and pianos. It was the largest public assembly in the history of Italy.

Giuseppe Verdi

Gustav Mahler was born on 7th July 1860 in the village of Kalischt (now part of Czech Republic). He was leading music composer and director of his time. The reason for his fame and popularity was the post-romantic music he composed in his active years in music. However his music was not much appreciated and accepted by the music community while he was alive. Gustav's style was mainly depicted the symphonies and vocal music he wrote over the years. Gustav finished his first symphony in 1888 but it wasn't a big success and people didn't quite understand his work. However he wasn't disappointed by the reaction of the audience and created another symphony which was a combination of two forms of music composition. He was not lucky this time either as the people responded to this symphony with the same incomprehension. Gustav belonged to a humble Jewish family. His talents in music were recognized at a very early age and he was tutored by a pianist when he was merely six years old. His parents remained supportive of him throughout his learning process and arranged whatever they could to help him learn. He then learned piano, harmony and compositions from a number of tutors in the time span of three years and later joined Vienna University where he studied music along with history and philosophy. This is where he made his first attempt to compose music and participated in a competition but failed to win. He then learned to conduct and soon made a name in the profession. He took several jobs meanwhile including the job at Hamburg Opera where he stayed for around six years and the directorship at Vienna Opera which was the most honored musical position in Austria. He remained at the opera for nearly 10 years working 9 months a year. He brought great reforms and lifted the opera to much greater heights bringing worldwide attention to Vienna. But in the meantime he made some enemies as well and suffered. He surprisingly resigned from the prestigious musical position in 1907 and joined New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Gustav, although a great conductor, was forced to resign from his position at the Philharmonic due to his dictorial ways. Soon after this incident he parted his ways with opera as well and resigned. He then took a job at the New York's Metropolitan as the principal conductor. In the meantime unfortunately his daughter died at the age of four and soon he found that he had a faulty heart valve as well. His problems kept on stacking as his marriage didn't quite work out and he had problems with his wife, Alma Schindler. Even with all these personal life problems he was a great success in his profession and his work never suffered and he reached great fame and popularity because of his conducting skills. Gustav Mahler wrote many songs and composed many vocal works in his lifetime but his symphonies were the main reason of his fame. He composed a total of 10 symphonies in his lifetime. The 10th and last was left unfinished due to his tragic death due to a blood infection. He died on May 18, 1911 aged 50 and was buried in Vienna alongside the grave of his daughter as per his will. His wife lived for a long time after his death and made a considerable effort to publish material about Gustav's life and keep his name alive but historians consider them as untrue which is why perception about Gustav Mahler is often negative.

Gustav Mahler

Louis-Hector Berlioz was a French composer: an ardent and brilliance of French romanticism. He was born on December 11, 1803 in war stricken country, France. The child entranced with music, developed deep empathy towards music and literature. He learnt to play guitar and flute as a child and became a self taught composer. He was captivated by Gluck's operas and decided to become composer after completing his medicine degree at 17. Despite His father's reluctance Berlioz applied and then was accepted as a pupil in Paris Conservatoire. Later, in 1830, he won Prix de Rome. Hector Berlioz organized a concert in 1832 in Rome featuring in his own symphony. Harriet Smithson, an Irish actress was present in the same concert. Later they both met and fell in love and soon got married on October 3, 1833. For the next decade Berlioz organized many concerts while creating succession of visionary masterpieces of musical composition. The 1830s saw Berlioz produce some of the very ingenious work in musical composition such as Harold en Italie (1834) and Requiem (1837). But Benvenuto Cellini (1836) was a big fail. In 1839, the violinist Paganini gave Berlioz 20,000 francs to write choral symphony Roméo et Juliette, which took him almost a year to complete. In 1840 in honor of 10th anniversary of July Revolution, Berlioz created a Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale. During 1840s Berlioz did several musical concerts tours to Prague, Vienna, Brussels and London. His dedication to music began affecting his personal life as his relationship with his wife started deteriorating. As he was working on different composition he found a new income source. He started working as a conductor in Germany, England and Russia. During this period he created La Damnation de Faust which was a complete fiasco and became a financial sinkhole after its premiere in 1846. Luckily, touring money came to the rescue. In 1850s the composition of L'Enfance du Christ triumph brought Berlioz back on his feet which elected him as a member of Institut de France. This helped him in earning member's stipends. It also assisted him in modicum of monetary security. As the time went by Berlioz was able to devote himself to his career. He finished the unfinished master piece of Roman poet and in 1862 he produced Les Troyens based on Virgil's Aeneid. He again returned to William Shakespeare, creating the opera Béatrice et Bénédict which made a successful debut in Germany in 1862. In 1868, after completing many European tours, the lonesome, divorced Berlioz returned to Paris. His second wife died in 1862. His only child named Luis also passed away some years later in 1867. Although his health was in continuous declination, Berlioz kept on producing his work in Vienna (1866), and then later travelled to Petersburg and Moscow (1867-1868). Back in Paris in 1868, he was a walking ghost and as the time slowly walked its paces paralysis gradually overcame his life. Although, Hector Berlioz's compositional style has sometimes been considered idiosyncratic, extensive melodies of erratic length, yet his striking and innovative expression of music accounts for feeling of attraction that produces listener towards itself. Though the innovation of his work may have worked against him during his life, yet the appreciation of his music continued to grow after his death.

Hector Berlioz

ohann Sebastian Bach, one of the legends of the Baroque period, was born on the March 21, 1685 in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany. Orphaned at the tender age of 10, he inherited music from his father who is said to have taught him the violin and the harpsichord. Till he was 15, Bach was under the care of his elder brother in Ohrdruf, who cultivated his interest in and exposure to music further more. Not only is Bach known for his magnificent compositions, but at an earlier age he was also praised for his talents as a singer which helped him gain a position at a monastery in Luneburg. As he grew older his voice transformed, although he continued to grow as an instrumentalist. The early 18th century can be earmarked as the beginning of Bach's career. The uniqueness found in his work began to emerge early on in his career; In 1707, he took the position of an organist at a church in Muhlhausen but soon left since his musical style and the brilliant complexity of his compositions was neither appreciated nor accepted. His first cantata Actus Tragicus was composed during his time there and the famous Toccata was composed around a year later in Duke Ernst's court in Weimar. His time in Weimar was only the first of his experiences with royalty, after gaining permission to leave Weimar in 1717 he went to accompany Prince Leopold of Cothen. Due to the prevalent Calvinist beliefs in Cothen, his work in this period can be characterized as rather secular in nature; his compositions for multiple and solo instruments, concertos and cantatas such as Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht or 'Time, which day and year doth make', were all intended for the court rather than the church. His time in Cothen is also attributed for one of his most famed works, the Brandenburg Concertos; a compilation of six concertos for a chamber orchestra, dedicated to Margrave, the Duke of Brandenburg. In 1723, Bach was accepted for the position of teacher and organist at St. Thomas church in Leipzig. As opposed to his time in Cothen, this period was dedicated on works that were more inclined towards religion. Bach not only inherited interest in music from his family but also their religion, which had a great impact on a majority of Bach's works. He is renowned for his vast collection of church music, pieces dedicated to the interpretation of the Bible or better known as his 'Passions', Lutheran chorales and cantatas. Several of these were composed while he was in Leipzig, such as Die Elenden sollen essen or 'The miserable shall eat', 'Passion According to St. Matthew' and O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort or 'O eternity, you word of thunder'. Becoming increasingly discontent with his job at the church, he continued the latter portion of his career taking up various positions such as directorship of the Collegium Musicum and Dresden court. He also made several trips to Berlin where he was warmly welcomed by King Fredrick II of Prussia and for whom the 'Musical Offering' was composed. Johann Sebastian Bach died in Leipzig on July 28, 1750, in his lifetime and several years after his death he was mostly known as a gifted organist rather than revered as a composer. The excellence of his compositions was realized much later by composers such as Mozart and Beethoven. The intricacies and extremely confounding combinations of his work still posses the power to baffle many, his legacy is a permanent triumph for classical music and its disciples.

Johann Sebastian Bach

The German composer and pianist is known for his attachment to the traditional structure he witnessed in the music of earlier legends, yet is also famed for his innovation. Brahms put together combinations that were streaked with bold and unforeseen structural approaches, while subtly honoring the techniques of the earlier Baroque period. Brahms mostly worked on keyboard and choral compositions, concerti, symphonies and chamber music. Born on 7 May 1833 in Hamburg, due to the influence of his father, Brahms was launched in to the musical tradition rather early. By age of 7 he was a fluent pianist and many sources rather famously report that at the age of 11 he either played or improvised his own piano sonata. It is safe to say that as a young teenager Brahms had cultivated his skills by working at locals inns, restaurants and brothels and had become a proficient musician. His early 20s marked the beginning of his recognition when he went on a concert tour in 1853 as an accompanist and met some influential musicians, who eventually introduced him to Robert Schumann. Brahms and Schumann's relationship is considered a milestone of his career and personal life. Schumann's trust in Brahms' talent led him to openly applaud the young virtuoso which greatly increased his fame in the music world; Together they both composed the F-A-E sonata-'Free but lonely'. After his close companion Schumann passed away in 1856, Brahms took up several posts in Hamburg and Detmold. He was the conductor of the ladies choir in Hamburg and a court musician in the latter. During this time, he still continued to produce several works such as his string sextet in B-flat major and piano concerto No. 1 in D-Minor. In the early 60s Brahms started spending an increasing amount of time in Vienna and eventually moved there and took up the position of director at a choral group, named Singakademie. His years in Vienna can be marked out as the years of success and popularity in his career. The most remarkable moment of his career that proved him to be one of the most sought out musicians in Europe was in 1868, when he finished his work on The German Requiem. This Biblical composition not only portrayed Brahms' mastery over the techniques of Beethoven and the symphony, but also his versatility and skill to flawlessly combine mixed chorus, solo voices and a complete orchestra. The positive response to this piece is often presumed to have given him the confidence and inspiration to finish many other works such as his cantata named Rinaldo, his first symphony and three others in subsequent years. These four symphonies have been branded within the scores of symphonic literature and are undoubtedly part of his many contributions to classical music. Johannes Brahms' last formal position was in 1875 as the principal conductor for the Society of Friends of Music, after which he mostly continued his own work until he passed away on April 3 1897 in Vienna. One of his most famous solo pieces was the Violin Concerto in D major, since it highlighted Brahms' flair and skill as a soloist. Moreover, it is another example of the versatility of his work since it is still broadly incorporated in the contemporary musical scene such as in the film "There Will Be Blood (2007)". Brahms was a true perfectionist which is an odd to the quality of his work and is why his work is considered as a legend from the Romantic era.

Johannes Brahms

an American composer, conductor and pianist. For much of his career, he served as a music director for the prestigious New York Philharmonic. He was also highly successful as a composer, having written the scores for Peter Pan, West Side Story, and Wonderful Town. Leonard Bernstein was born on August 25, 1918 as Louis Bernstein in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Due to the insistence of his parents, Louis had his name changed to Leonard at the age of fifteen. Bernstein was introduced to the world of classical music by his brother, who often took him to listen to different orchestras, thus, the young Bernstein started taking piano lessons at the onset of his teenage years. Bernstein then started studying music with Edward Burlingame Hill and Walter Piston at the Harvard University in 1935. He then started attending the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia upon graduation from Harvard, where he studied conducting in great detail from the legendary Fritz Reiner. It was said that Reiner was so happy with Bernstein that the only 'A' grade he awarded in his career was to Bernstein. In 1940, Bernstein attended the Boston Symphony Orchestra Summer Institute upon the recommendation of Aaron Copland. However, it was be in 1943 that the young Bernstein rocketed to fame. While he was serving as an Assistant Conductor to the New York Philharmonic, Bernstein had to conduct the orchestra without any rehearsal or former notice after the main guest conductor, Bruno Walter, called in sick. The program, which was internationally broadcasted, included the works of Franz Schubert, Richard Wagner and Miklos Rozsa, and it shot Bernstein to prominence. The result of this was that in 1945, Bernstein was appointed the Music Director of the New York City Symphony Orchestra. He also embarked upon an international conducting career; for he conducted as far as London and even Tel Aviv. Between 1951 and 1958, Bernstein mostly served as a guest conductor for many orchestras. He is credited with conducting the premieres of Charles Ives's Symphony No.2, the American Premiere of Tanglewood, and the world premiere of Olivier Messiaen's "Turrangalila-Symphonie". In 1957, Bernstein was made music director of the legendary New York Philharmonic, with which he went on to tour to Europe and the Soviet Union. Bernstein continued as music director for the New York Philharmonic till 1969, after which he served the philharmonic as a laureate conductor. Bernstein also put together a series of television shows which were known as the "Young People's Concerts for CBS", which was a fifty three episode educational series. The episodes were so successful that they were even premiered in foreign languages. Bernstein was also highly renowned for his compositions. His 1957 musical "West Side Story" was a Broadway classic which ran for more than seven hundred performances at the famous Winter Garden Theatre at its first running. It also ran at the famous London West End Theatres for a total of one thousand and thirty nine performances. His other broadway productions included an adaptation of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, and Joseph A. Fields's Wonderful Town, among others.

Leonard Bernstein

a Russian pianist, composer, and conductor of the late Romantic period, some of whose works are among the most popular in the romantic repertoire. Born into a musical family, Rachmaninoff took up the piano at age four. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1892 and had composed several piano and orchestral pieces by this time. In 1897, following the critical reaction to his Symphony No. 1, Rachmaninoff entered a four-year depression and composed little until successful therapy allowed him to complete his enthusiastically received Piano Concerto No. 2 in 1901. After the Russian Revolution, Rachmaninoff and his family left Russia and resided in the United States, first in New York City. Demanding piano concert tour schedules caused his output as composer to slow tremendously; between 1918 and 1943, he completed just six compositions, including Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Symphony No. 3, and Symphonic Dances. In 1942, Rachmaninoff moved to Beverly Hills, California. One month before his death from advanced melanoma, Rachmaninoff acquired American citizenship.

Sergei Rachmaninoff