Major Composers

1
Major Composers

• Their Works and Bio

2
German Composers

• Beethoven
• Bach
• Wagner
• Brahms
• Handel
• Mendelsohn

3
Johann Sebastian Bach(1685-1750)

• Baroque era one of greatest
• Known for his fugues
• Wrote many cantatas
• Wrote both sacred and secular music
• Greatest Hits
• Ave Maria
• Brandenburg Concerto
• Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
• Jesu, Joy of Mans Desiring

4
George Friederic Handel(1685-1759)

• Late Baroque period
• Master of Italian opera
• Became British citizen and worked for the Royal
  Court
• Created from English Oratorio
• Greatest Hits
• Messiah
• Royal Fireworks
• The Water March

5
Ludwig van Beethoven(1770-1827)

• Born in Bonn, Germany
• Composed symphonies, sonatas, and concertos
• Became deaf early in life from tinnitus
• May have suffered from bipolar disorder
• Was a child prodigy with piano and composing
• Studied with Haydn in Vienna
• Greatest Hits
• Moonlight Sonata
• 5th Symphony
• Fur Elise

6
Beethovens top NAQT Requests

• 5 Symphony No. 9 Choral
• Includes Ode to Joy, a poem by Friedrich
  Schiller in 1785
• 6 Symphony No. 6 Pastoral
• 11 Symphony No. 3 Eroica
• Written for Napoleon, but Beethoven later
  rescinded the honor
• 18 Opera Fidelio
• 24 Sonata, Moonlight Sonata

7
Description of the Works

• No. 9 Choral
• No. 6 Pastoral
• 1808
• About the beauty of the countryside
• 5 movements instead of standard 4
• No. 3 Eroica
• Written in 1802-1803
• Written in a heroic tribute to Napoleon
• This work is cited as having ended the Classical
  period and started the Romantic Period
• Opera Fidelio
• His only opera!
• 2 act opera about how a wife rescues her husband
  from political prison
• Written during Beethovens Middle Period
• 1st opera to be performed over NBC radio network
  (1944)
• Sonata Moonlight Sonata

8
Richard Wagner(1813-1883)

• Master of opera
• Controversial works credited with changing music
  and art
• Greatest Hits
• The Flying Dutchman
• Lohengrin
• Dur Ring des Nibelungen
• Das Rheingold
• Die Walkure
• Siegfried
• Gotterdammerung

9
Felix Mendelsohn(1809-1847)

• Converted Jew
• Influenced by Goethe and Shakespeare
• Classical style influenced by Mozart and others
• Greatest Hits
• Wedding March from A Midsummer Nights Dream
• The Hebrides
• Symphony No. 4 Allegro

10
Johannes Brahms(1833-1897)

• Used genre distinctions loosely
• Major vocal work was German Requiem
• Greatest Hits
• First Symphony
• Hungarian Dance
• Cradle Song

11
Austrian Composers

• Mozart
• Schubert
• Haydn
• Strauss

12
Joseph Haydn(1732-1809)

• Master of string quartet
• Chiefly wrote instrumental music
• Greatest Hits
• The Creation
• The Seasons
• Various Symphonies
• The Bear
• The Queen
• The Miracle

13
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(1756-1791)

• Child prodigy played for the empress at age 6
• Haydn called him Greatest composer ever
• Wrote piano concertos and operas
• Greatest Hits
• Don Giovanni
• The Marriage of Figaro
• A Little Night Music
• The Magic Flute
• Symphony 40

14
Franz Schubert(1797-1828)

• Son of schoolmaster was also teacher
• Prolific composer died at age 31
• Est. German Lied as major art form
• Greatest Hits
• The Erlkonig
• Der Wanderer
• Piano Sonata in A Minor
• Great C Major Symphony
• Winterreise

15
Johann Strauss(1825-1899)

• Called the Waltz King
• Father and brothers were also successful
  musicians
• Eventually wrote some operas
• Greatest Hits
• Blue Danube
• Tales from the Vienna Woods
• Emperor Waltz
• Radestky March

16
Russian Composers

• Tchaikovsky
• Rimsky-Korsakov
• Rachmaninov
• Stravinsky

17
Piotr Ilitch Tchaikovsky(1840-1893)

• Greatest Hits
• Swan Lake
• Sleeping Beauty
• 1812 Overture
• The Nutcracker Suite
• Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
• Russian Sailors Dance
• Waltz of the Flowers

18
Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov(1844-1908)

• Born to very old parents
• Joined the navy early in life
• Wrote operas and symphonies
• Taught at Conservatory where he taught and edited
  works of many others

• Greatest Hits
• Flight of the Bumblebee (From opera Tsar Sultan)
• Dance of the Tumblers (From opera Snowmaiden)
• Scheherazade (symphonic suite)

19
Sergei Rachmaninov(1873-1943)

• Began as a pianist and composer
• Also conducted at Bolshoy
• Left Russia during Revolution
• Became American citizen
• Greatest Hits
• Piano Concertos 1-4
• Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini 18th variation

20
Igor Stravinsky(1882-1971)

• Became a French and, eventually, an American
  citizen
• Studied under Rimsky Korsakov
• Wrote many religious and commemorative works
• Neoclassicism
• Greatest Hits
• The Firebird
• The Nightingale
• The Rite of Spring

21
The Italian Masters

• Vivaldi
• Rossini
• Verdi
• Puccini

22
Antonio Vivaldi(1678-1741)

• Son of professional violinist was ordained
  Catholic priest
• finest works were violin concertos also
  excelled in opera
• First to use ritornello form as fast-slow-fast
  form
• Greatest Hits
• The Four Seasons
• Spring
• Summer
• Autumn
• Winter

23
Gioacchino Rossini(1792-1868)

• Father was horn player and mother a singer
• Career began at 18
• Opera composer
• Greatest Hits
• The Barber of Seville
• William Tell Overture
• (Lone Ranger theme)

24
Giuseppe Verdi(1813-1901)

• From a family of small landowners and taverners
• Struggled early wrote masterful operas
• Greatest Hits
• Aida
• La traviata
• Il trovatore
• Rigoletto

25
Giacomo Puccini(1858-1924)

• Began as organist at 14 in local churches
• Mastered the opera seen as Verdis only
  successor
• Not as successful as musical composer
• Greatest Hits
• Turandot
• La Boheme
• Madame Butterfly

26
Other Notable Composers from Around the World
27
Claude DeBussy(1862-1918)

• Best known French composer
• Composed cantatas as well as works for string,
  piano, and opera
• Introduced a fluid rhythm and colour new to
  Western music
• Greatest Hits
• Clair de Lune

28
George Bizet(1838-1875)

• French composer
• Brilliant piano player
• Mainly composed operas
• Greatest Hits
• Carmen

29
Frederic Chopin(1810-1849)

• Born in Warsaw, Poland and moved to Paris
• Great piano player composed exclusively for
  piano
• Wrote simple melodies of moderate difficulty
• Greatest Hits
• Minute Waltz

30
Franz Listz(1811-1886)

• Greatest pianist of his time
• Wrote some of the most difficult piano music ever
• Invented symphonic poem orchestra works based
  on literary or pictorial ideas
• Greatest Hits
• Hungarian Rhapsody
• B Minor Sonata

31
Antonin Dvorak(1841-1904)

• Close friend of Brahms
• Stayed true to his Czech heritage
• A cello player
• Was better at musical composition that opera
• Greatest Hits
• Ninth Symphony (From New World)
• Cello concerto

32
George Gershwin(1898-1937)

• Essentially self taught
• Wrote musicals and songs at first
• Brother, Ira, wrote lyrics
• Was better at musical composition that opera
• Greatest Hits
• Rhapsody in Blue
• Strike up the Band
• Porgy and Bess

33
Aaron Copland(1900-1990)

• Considered Americas premier composer
• Work ranged from ballet to choral from orchestra
  to movie scores
• Greatest Hits
• Piano Concerto
• Piano Variation
• Of Mice and Men (movie score)
• Bill the Kid
• Rodeo

34
John Phillip Sousa(1854-1932)

• The March king
• Served in Marines directed the Armed Forces band
• Re-enlisted in WWI as a 60 year old navy
  lieutenant
• Greatest Hits
• Stars and Stripes Forever

35
John Williams

• Famous composer for American movies
• Greatest Hits
• Star Wars
• Jaws
• Jurassic Park
• Saving Private Ryan
• Indiana Jones
• Superman
• ET
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind