Born in Lowestoft, Nov 22, 1913
Died in Aldeburgh, Dec 4, 1976
Short biography from the Britten-Pears Foundation
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BRITTEN, Benjamin
Era: 20th Century
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BUSH, Geoffrey
Born in London, March 23, 1920
Died in London, Feb 24, 1998
- Bush was a lecturer in music at Oxford and London universities, and edited music by Victorian and Elizabethan composers.1
- Bush was largely self-taught as a composer, though he was encouraged (as a schoolboy) by English composer John Ireland.2
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BUSONI, Ferruccio
Born in Empoli, April 1, 1866
Died in Berlin, July 27, 19243
“boo-ZOH-nee” / PRONUNCIATION
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BUTTERWORTH, George
Born in London, July 12, 1885
Died in Pozières, Aug 5, 1916
- Like Vaughan Williams, Butterworth found much of his artistic identity in English folk music, and in the poetry of A.E. Houseman.
- He set to music six poems from Housman’s poem cycle A Shropshire Lad, and also wrote an orchestral rhapsody based upon it.
- Butterworth was a member of the English Folk Song Society, which collected and conserved English folk music. He was also part of the English Folk Dance Society, and was an accomplished Morris dancer.
- Butterworth served in WWI, fought at the Somme, and died in 1916. This is why we have very little of his music.4
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CAGE, John
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CAMPA, Gustavo E.
Born in Mexico City, Sept 8, 1863
Died in Mexico City, Oct 29, 1934
- Campa taught composition at Mexico City Conservatory, and also edited a music journal for a Mexico City music publisher.6
- He was honored by the Mexican government: 7
- In 1884 his Himno sinfónico was played at the opening of the Mexican National Library
- In 1900 he served as a delegate to an international congress in Paris.
- Campa was part of a group of composers who called themselves The Group of Six who wanted to promote “Mexican composers’ aesthetic principles, so as to create a truly national art.”8
Born in Brookville, Pennsylvania, December 12, 1911
Died on October 4, 1989
Biography from American Composers’ Alliance
Pieces
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CANTELOUBE, Joseph
Born in Annonay, Oct 21, 1879
Died in Paris, Nov 4, 1957
- Joseph Canteloube studied composition under Vincent d’Indy, first informally and then at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. Under d’Indy’s influence, Canteloube became a member of a circle of French composers dedicated to preserving regional traditions of folk music and incorporating folksong into classical composition.
- Canteloube is best known for his five volumes of arrangements of Chants d’Auvergne for voice and orchestra, written between 1923–54.9
Pieces
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CAPERS, Valerie
Born in New York City, May 24, 1935
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CARPENTER, John Alden
Born in Park Ridge, IL, Feb 28, 1876
Died in Chicago, April 26, 1951
- Carpenter studied music at Harvard. After graduation, he divided his time between composition and helping run his father’s business firm George Carpenter & Co.
- Fun fact: Carpenter and his wife Rue Witherbotham, an interior designer, created two books of music and pictures for children together: Improving Songs for Anxious Children and When Little Boys Sing.
- Fun fact: He composed a jazz-inflected piece based on a comic strip, Krazy Kat (1921)10
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CARRILLO, Antonio
Born October 29, 1892
Died June 13, 1962
- Antonio Carrillo was a Venezuelan composer and multi-instrumentalist.
- In addition to his work as a composer, Carrillo led a distinguished career as an educator. He founded the Duaca Music School, in addition to serving as director of the Escuela de Música San Felipe Neri and teaching at the Lara State Music School (now the Conservatorio Vicente Emilio Sojo).11
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CARTER, Elliott
Born in New York, NY, Dec 11, 1908
Died in New York, NY, Nov 5, 2012
- Carter was mentored as a young man by Charles Ives.
- He studied with Nadia Boulanger after earning an MA in music at Harvard.
- Carter taught at numerous American colleges and music schools, including Julliard.
- Carter’s music is influenced both by European modernism of Schoenberg, Stravinsky and others, and by American “ultra-modernism” of Cowell and Ives.12
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CARWITHEN, Doreen
Born in Haddenham, Bucks., Nov 15, 1922
Died in Forncett, January 5, 2003
- Carwithen was an RAM-educated composer, pianist, and teacher. She taught composition at the RAM after graduating, and also taught at Furzedown College in London.
- One of Carwithen’s earliest compositional successes was an overture which Adrian Boult premiered at Covent Garden in 1947. The overture was entitled ODTAA, inspired by a novel of the same name (it stood for One Damn Thing After Another).
- Carwithen composed concert works and a large number of film scores, including the score for the official film of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.
- In 1961, Carwithen became an amanuensis for composer William Alwyn (who had also been one of her teachers at the RAM). They married, and she took the name “Mary Alwyn” as her married name. (Mary was her middle name. Apparently she never liked the name Doreen.) 1314
Born in Vendrell, Dec 29, 1876
Died in Puerto Rico, Oct 22, 1973
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CASSÉUS, Frantz
Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti,15 in 1915
Died in 199316
- Casséus was a Haitian classical guitarist. He was the son of a Haitian civil servant, and was influenced musically by classical music, by Haitian folk music, and by the jazz brought to Haiti by the American forces which occupied the country from 1915-1934.
- Casséus emigrated to the USA in 1946 and settled in New York. He concertized until the 1970s, when a hand injury hampered his ability to play.
- Casséus was also a talented luthier who made and sold guitars to supplement his composing income.
- As a composer, Casséus was interested in creating a synthesis of classical music and Haitian folk music.17
“I believe it is the artist’s function to render articulately and with beauty the soul of the land of his origin and also the world that he experiences…. As you may know, my work is considered an expression of the Haitian spirit. Yet, critics have stated (and this has been my hope) that it transcends regionalism and enters the realm of transnational art.”
Interview with Ira Landgarten, Frets Magazine #17, 198918
Biography written by Marc Ribot, Casséus’ student and interpreter
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CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO, Mario
Born in Florence, April 3, 1895
Died in Beverly Hills, CA, March 16, 1968
- In addition to composing, Castelnuovo-Tedesco was a pianist and a writer on music. He studied at the Istituto Musicale Cherubini in Florence and at the Liceo Musicale of Bologna.
- Castelnuovo-Tedesco left Italy in 1939 before the outbreak of WWII (but not before suffering professionally for his Jewish identity). He settled in the United States, where he wrote music for Hollywood and taught film music at the Los Angeles Conservatory (his students included Henry Mancini, Andre Previn and John Williams).19
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CHADWICK, George Whitefield
Born in Lowell, MA, Nov 13, 1854
Died in Boston, MA, April 4, 1931
- Chadwick was one of the foremost composers of the Second New England School, also known as the Boston Six.
- Other Second New England School composers in this database include Edward MacDowell and Amy Beach.
- In addition to achieving success as a composer in most classical music genres, Chadwick was an influential educator who taught at the the New England Conservatory from 1881 until his death. He became the institution’s director in 1897.
- Chadwick’s many successful composition students included Horatio Parker, Florence Price, and William Grant Still.20
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CHAJES, Julius
Born 1910 in L’vov, Galacia (now part of Poland)
Died in 1985
- Chajes was a piano prodigy who gave his first public recital at the age of 9. He wrote his first piano composition the same year.
- Chajes fled Poland in 1938 after its annexation by the Nazis. He lived in Palestine for two years, teaching at Beit L’viyim music academy in Tel Aviv (and studying the roots of Jewish music), then settled in the United States, becoming an important figure in Jewish liturgical music in Detroit.21
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CHAMINADE, Cécile
Born in Paris, Aug 8, 1857
Died in Monte Carlo, April 13, 1944
- Chaminade studied piano as a child with her mother. Her father opposed her enrollment in the Paris Conservatory, so Chaminade studied privately with Conservatory professors, including Benjamin Godard.
- Chaminade composed about 400 works over the course of her life, and almost all of them were published.
- Though most of Chaminade’s works are piano miniatures or songs (which were more marketable for a woman composer), she also composed larger works: like her Concert Piece for piano and orchestra, and a program symphony entitled Les amazones: Symphonie dramatique, both of which were performed during her lifetime.
- Chaminade performed extensively as a concert pianist. She was especially popular in the United States, where numerous “Chaminade Clubs” popped up to celebrate her music.22
Biography from the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society
Pieces
- 6 Études de concert, Op. 35
- 6 Romances sans paroles, Op. 76
- Capriccio for Violin and Piano in e minor, Op. 18
- Concertino in D Major for Flute, Op. 107
- Concertstück in c-sharp minor, Op. 40
- La lune paresseuse
- Les sylvains, Op. 60
- Pierrette, Op. 41
- Scarf Dance, Op. 37, No. 3
- Sèrènade aux étoiles, Op. 142
- Sérénade espagnole, Op. 150
- Valse carnevalesque, Op. 73
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CHAPLIN, Charles
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CHÁVEZ, Carlos
Born in Mexico City, June 13, 1899
Died in Mexico City, Aug 2, 1978
- Chávez’s musical career spanned more than 50 years. As a composer, Chávez wrote over 200 works, including ballets, symphonies, concertos, a cantata and opera, and many pieces for voice, piano, and chamber ensemble.
- As a conductor, he led nearly every major orchestra in the US, Latin America, and Europe.
- Chávez’s coming of age coincided with the end of the Mexican Revolution in 1921, after which a new cultural nationalism emerged with particular emphasis on the pre-Conquest era indigenous Indian cultures. This cultural shift greatly impacted Chávez’s music, fusing native Mexican music and instruments with modernist techniques.
- Chávez was an invaluable advocate for increased access to the arts in Mexico. As founder and head of the Orquesta Sinfónica de México (OSM), Chávez organized concerts for workers and children and even took the orchestra out to Mexican provinces, bringing music to many audiences experiencing classical music for the first time.25
“As a composer, Chávez is often linked in the United States to his good friend and contemporary, iconic American musician Aaron Copland. Both composers worked to create a distinct musical sound world that spoke to their home countries at a time when Europe was seen as the only serious and legitimate contributor to classical music.”
L. A. Phil26
Learn More
Short biography via Wise Music Classical
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CHEN Gang and HE Zhanhao
Chen Gang was born on March 10, 1935, in Shanghai, China
He Zhanhao was born on August 29, 1933, in Hajiasham, Zhuji, Zhejiang Province
Chen and He are best known for co-composing The Butterfly Lovers Concerto.
Note: Theses composers’ names are written in the Chinese style, with surname first and given name second.
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CLARKE, Rebecca
Born in Harrow, near London, Aug 27, 1886
Died in New York, Oct 13, 1979
- Rebecca Clarke was an English violist and composer.
- Clarke studied both violin and composition at the Royal Academy of Music, but was unable to complete either course of study because her father withdrew financial support.
- Clarke embarked on a career as a violist to support herself, and became one of the first women employed in a professional British orchestra (the Queen’s Hall orchestra, directed by Henry Wood).
- In 1919, Clarke’s Viola Sonata was a runner-up at a competition in the Berkshire Chamber Music Festival, sponsored by American arts patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. Judges and press struggled to believe that the work’s composer was a woman; some judges believed the work was by Ravel, and a writer for the Daily Telegraph proposed that the name “Rebecca Clarke” was actually a pseudonym for Ernest Bloch.
“I take this opportunity to emphasize that I do indeed exist … and that my Viola Sonata is my own unaided work!”
Rebecca Clarke, program notes (1977) to her Viola Sonata27
- Clarke was an active viola soloist and chamber player in London in the 1920s, and a member of the all-women piano quartet, the English Ensemble.
- Clarke’s compositional output slowed after the 1940s, partly due to discouragement from lack of recognition.28
Read more at RebeccaClarke.org
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CLIFFORD, Hubert
Born in Bairnsdale, Victoria, May 31, 1904
Died in Singapore, Sept 4, 1959
- Clifford was born in Australia, and moved to London to study with Ralph Vaughan Williams.
- Clifford taught music at a boys’ school, composed extensively for the BBC and has many film scores to his credit.29
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COLE, Ulric
Born in New York, Sept 9, 1905
Died in Bridgeport, CT, May 21, 1992
Full name: Frances Ulric Cole (The composer’s parents were named Emilie Cole and Gustave Ulric.)30
- Cole studied at Julliard; additionally, her composition teachers included Nadia Boulanger, and her piano teachers included Josef Lhévinne.31
- Cole also had a career outside of music, as an editor: she was on the editorial staff of Time Magazine from 1945-1952.32
- Along with Amy Beach and Marion Bauer, Ulric Cole was among the founding members of the Society of American Women Composers.33
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COLOMBIER, Michel
Born in Lyon, May 23, 1939
Died in Santa Monica, Nov 14, 2004
- Colombier was a French film composer who wrote scores for French films and Hollywood films. Some of his credits include Man on Fire (2004) and The Golden Child (1986).32
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COPLAND, Aaron
Born in Brooklyn, NY, 14 Nov 1900
Died in North Tarrytown, NY, 2 Dec 1990
- The child of Lithuanian immigrants and Aaron Copland was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY.
- Interestingly, Copland’s formal compositional training didn’t take place at a specific institution but rather with private teachers. He first studied under Rubin Goldmark, followed by Nadia Boulanger at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau.
- During his time in Paris, Copland became enamored with the music of Stravinsky and Milhaud; unsurprisingly, much of his early music reflects stylistic trends associated with the two composers, such as rhythmic unpredictability and the fusion of classical and popular styles.
- As a composer, Copland sought to compose music that was both uniquely American and would appeal to a wide audience.
- In the composer’s New York Times obituary, the author wrote that “Copland’s greatest gift was his ability to be both serious and popular.”34
Learn more:
Short biography/timeline from CopelandHouse.org
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COULTHARD, Jean
Born in Vancouver, Feb 10, 1908
Died in Vancouver, March 9, 2000
- Jean Coulthard (pronounced “Jeen Coal-thard,” despite its French appearance) was the first composer from Western Canada to receive wide recognition.
- From 1928-1930, Coulthard studied at the Royal College of Music under Vaughan Williams and continued composition studies through the next decade or so under such notable names as Copland, Milhaud, Schoenberg, Bartók, and Bernard Wagenaar, among others.
- Coulthard’s unique musical voice was influenced by the vast array of influences she studied under and is characterized by a dichotomy of lyrical romanticism and brooding introspection.
- She was also a respected educator and taught composition at the University of British Columbia for nearly 30 years.35
Learn More:
Biography from The Canadian Encyclopedia
Short biography from Naxos
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COWELL, Henry
Born in Menlo Park, CA, March 11, 1897
Died in Shady, NY, Dec 10, 1965
- Cowell rose from an impoverished childhood to become a leading composer of “ultramodernist” music, using experimental techniques like prepared pianos and tone clusters. He also supported other avant garde composers, especially as a writer/editor of New Music Quarterly.
- Composers who benefitted from his support include Edgard Varése and Charles Ives, who was also Cowell’s friend and mentor. His students included John Cage and Lou Harrison.
- His wife, and frequent writing collaborator, was folk song scholar Sidney Robertson Cowell.36
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D’INDY, Vincent
Born in Paris, Mar 27, 1851
Died in Paris, Dec 2, 193137
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DALLAPICCOLA, Luigi
Born in Pisino d’Istria [now Pazin, Istra, Croatia], Feb 3, 1904
Died in Florence, Feb 19, 197538
Pieces
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DAUNAIS, Lionel
Born in Montréal on December 30, 1901
Died in Montréal on July 18, 1982
- Daunais was a Canadian baritone, composer, and stage director.
- As a director, Daunais specialized in operetta. He directed operetta in Montréal and on CBC TV.39
“There is a droll spirit in your music, and if someone points it out to you, don’t blush. It’s a rare gift!”
Francis Poulenc to Lionel Daunais40
Biography and Selected Works List from The Canadian Encyclopedia
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DAVIES, Peter Maxwell
Born in Salford, Greater Manchester, 8 Sept 1934
Died in Orkney, 14 March 201640
Pieces
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DAWSON, William Levi
Born in Anniston, AL, Sept 23, 1899
Died in Montgomery, AL, May 2, 1990
- When he was a young teenager (13-15) Dawson enrolled in the Tuskegee Institute. He went on to study music at Horner Institute of Fine Arts, Kansas City, and the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago.41
- A biographical tribute from Tuskegee University reports that he ran away from home in order to attend Tuskegee, and that he worked his way through college doing manual labor.42
- Dawson was a bassist and trombonist who played both jazz and classical music. He played bass with artists like Louis Armstrong, and he played trombone in the Chicago Civic Orchestra.43
- Dawson taught at Tuskegee from 1931-1956. He conducted the Tuskegee Choir, which achieved international acclaim under his leadership.44
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DEBUSSY, Claude
Born in St Germain-en-Laye, Aug 22, 1862
Died in Paris, March 25, 1918
Pieces
- Beau soir
- Clair de lune
- Danse (Styrian Tarantella)
- Deux Arabesques
- Estampes
- Fantaisie for piano and orchestra
- Images for Orchestra: No. 3, Springtime Rounds (Rondes de printemps)
- Jeux (“poème dansé”)
- La Boite a Joujoux (The Toy Box)
- La Mer
- Nocturnes
- Petite Suite
- Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
- Préludes (Book 1)
- Rêverie
- Sarabande
- The Engulfed Cathedral
- The Girl with the Flaxen Hair
- The Prodigal Son
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DELIUS, Frederick
Born in Bradford, Jan 29, 1862
Died in Grez-sur-Loing, June 10, 1934
- Frederick Delius was an English composer of German heritage.
- Delius’s father wanted him to follow his footsteps in the wool trade; this went so badly that Delius left England for Florida, to work at an orange plantation. In Florida, he found a teacher and began to study music in earnest.
- After Florida, Delius studied music in Leipzig and befriended Edvard Grieg; in 1888 he moved to Paris and eventually associated with Fauré and Ravel.
- Delius’s compositions were mostly successful outside of his homeland of England, until Sir Thomas Beecham got to know him and championed his music.
- In later life Delius was very ill and produced compositions by dictating them to Eric Fenby, a British musician who admired Delius’ music and wanted to help him.
- His music is known for rhapsodic qualities, harmonic originality and “secular spirituality” (his Grove article uses this phrase).44
Pieces
- A Song before Sunrise
- Air and Dance, for strings
- Aquarelles (Watercolors)
- Caprice and Elegy for Cello and Small Orchestra (arr. Fenby)
- Florida Suite
- Intermezzo from Fennimore and Gerda
- North Country Sketches: “Winter Landscape”
- On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
- Prelude to Irmelin
- Summer Night on the River
- Three Small Tone Poems
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DETT, R. Nathaniel
Born in Drummondsville, ON, Oct 11, 1882
Died in Battle Creek, MI, Oct 2, 1943
- Robert Nathaniel Dett was born in Drummondville, Ontario, Canada (now part of Niagara Falls, Ontario). His ancestors were among the freedom-seekers who had escaped to Canada via the Underground Railroad. (In fact, Drummondville was a community founded by freedom-seekers.)45
- Dett’s formal musical education was substantial, to say the least.
- Dett attended Oberlin Conservatory, where he was the first person of African Descent to graduate from the institution with a double major in piano performance and composition in 1908.
- He would later be awarded honorary doctorates from both Oberlin and Howard University. Dett was the first Black alumnus to receive an honorary doctorate from Oberlin.
- Dett received his Master’s Degree from Eastman School of Music over 20 years after graduating from Oberlin. And in 1929, he studied with Nadia Boulanger at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France.46
- Dett was a choral conductor who taught for almost two decades at the Hampton Institute, now Hampton University, a historically Black university.
- Under his leadership, the Hampton Singers rose to artistic prominence, touring internationally and singing for President Herbert Hoover.47
- As a composer, Dett published around 100 works, primarily pieces for piano, voice, and choir. He is best remembered for his arrangements of folksongs and spirituals.48
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DIAMOND, David
Born in Rochester, NY, July 9, 1915
Died in Rochester, NY, June 13, 200549
Composer’s website (The Estate of David Diamond)
Pieces
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DIEPENBROCK, Alphons
Born in Amsterdam, Sept 2, 1862
Died in Amsterdam, April 5, 1921
- Dutch composer Alphons Diepenbrock was a skilled musician from an early age, particularly proficient in piano, organ, and violin. Though he longed for a career as a composer and conductor, his family convinced him to study classical languages instead.
- Diepenbrock began his professional career as a classics teacher while studying composition on the side. Fun fact – he received no formal training in composition and instead taught himself through extensive study of composers he admired, such as Wagner.
- Around 1895, Diepenbrock decided to devote himself to music, though he still supported himself by teaching Latin and Greek and cultural writing articles. He finally gained notoriety as a composer around the turn of the century, gaining the recognition (and consequent friendship) of Gustav Mahler.
- As a composer, Diepenbrock’s musical voice incorporated 16th-century polyphony and Wagnerian chromaticism. After extensive study of Debussy’s works in the last decade of his life, his musical style shifted to include impressionism.
- “Diepenbrock’s music is passionate and sensitive, without falling into the excesses of late Romanticism.”
- Diepenbrock was largely inspired by poetry; consequently, the bulk of his compositional oeuvre is vocal music.50
Learn More
Biography from the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society
Short biography from the Kennedy Center
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DODS, Marcus
Born in Edinburgh on Apr 19, 1918
Died in Henley-on-Thames, Apr 30, 1984
- Marcus Dods was a conductor of opera, concert works and film scores. He served as conductor of Sadler’s Wells Opera in London, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the London Concert Orchestra.51
- Marcus Dods conducted the scores of films including Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979) and The Dark Crystal (1982),52 and TV programs, including David Attenborough’s Life on Earth.53