Born in Paris, July 24, 1803
Died in Paris, May 3, 1856
[ah-DOLF ah-DAHM] / French pronunciation]
Era: Romantic
Born in Camprodón, Gerona, May 29, 1860
Died in Cambo-les-Bains, May 18, 1909
[EE-sak al-BAY-neeth (subtle on the “th” sound 😉) / Spanish pronunciation]
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Short biography
Born in Paris, Nov 30, 1813
Died in Paris, March 29, 1888
- Charles-Valentin Alkan [PRONUNCIATION] was both a composer and one of the leading piano virtuosos of the 19th century.1
- Alkan showed musical talent from a very early age. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at age five (!) and gave his first public concert as a violinist at age seven. By his early teens, Alkan was already making a career as a concert pianist.
- By his 20s, Alkan was a celebrity in Paris and admired by Liszt, Chopin, George Sand, Alexandre Dumas, and many more cultural standouts.
- Despite his early success, Alkan spent much of his life as a hermit, possibly due to a depressive OCD (though it’s impossible to diagnose historical figures properly). These periods away from the public were typically marked by great compositional productivity.
- Alkan became increasingly interested in his Jewish heritage with age, which influenced both his music (through the use of Jewish melodies and Hebrew words) and his hobbies. He translated the entire Old and New Testaments of the Bible into French from Syriac.
- Fun fact – Alkan was one of the first composers to incorporate Jewish themes and references into classical music.2
- Much of Alkan’s compositions were written for piano.
“At a period when the piano was undergoing universal exploitation for new and more dazzling sonorities, Alkan made a positive contribution to virtuoso technique. His music can be exacting beyond the capacity of any but the most powerful players in technique, dynamic demands and stamina. It can also be disarmingly simple. He exploited the extreme ends of the keyboard, often in deliberate contrast with the middle range.”
Grove Music Online
- *A quick note regarding his name – Charles-Valentin’s real surname was Morhange. He took his father’s first name, “Alkan,” as his professional surname. Fun fact – all his siblings also used “Alkan” as their surname for their professional careers as musicians.3
- Alkan’s music has been seriously neglected, even while the composer was still alive. This may be due, in part, to the fact that much of it is incredibly difficult to play. Nonetheless, there’s an opportunity for a rediscovery of the 19th-century figure who influenced so many.
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Biography from the European Institute of Jewish Music (IEJM)
Biography from Hyperion Records
Pieces
Born in Visby, Feb 19, 1841
Died in Göteborg, Jan 11, 1929
- Elfrida Andrée [PRONUNCIATION] was a Swedish organist, composer and conductor.
- Andrée’s teachers included Niels Gade.
- Andrée accomplished an impressive set of firsts:
- she was the first Swedish woman to pass the nation’s professional organist examination (and she successfully lobbied to change the law preventing women from holding the office organist at churches and cathedrals)
- she was the first Swedish woman to compose chamber music and symphonic music
- she was the first Swedish women to conduct a symphony orchestra.4
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Biography from Swedish Musical Heritage
Born in Novgorod, 30 June/July 12, 1861
Died near Terioki, Finland [now Zelenogorsk, Russia], Feb 25, 1906
- Anton Arensky [PRONUNCIATION] was a Russian composer, pianist, and educator best remembered today for his chamber music and songs.
- Arensky received his formal education in composition at St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied under Rimsky-Korsakov. After graduating, Arensky pursued teaching himself at the Moscow Conservatory as a professor of harmony and counterpoint. Among his students were Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, and Glière.
- While in Moscow, Arensky also became close with fellow composer Tchaikovsky, whose musical style played an influential role in Arensky’s own music.
- Unfortunately, Arensky’s music would become overshadowed by his Russian contemporaries following his death.5
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Biography
Born in Bilbao, Jan 27, 1806
Died in Paris, Jan 17, 1826
- Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga (pronunciation) was a precocious Spanish violinist and composer whose life was cut tragically short.
- His father was an organist, and his older brother was a violinist and guitarist. Together, these two family members groomed Arriaga for a life in music.
- Arriaga began composing at age 11, and in his mid-teens, he went abroad to study at the Paris Conservatory. After only a year or two, Arriaga won prizes in counterpoint and fugue, after which he was offered a role at the institution as a teaching assistant.
- According to a letter written to the composer’s father, Arriaga died from “exhaustion and a pulmonary infection.”
- As a composer, Arriaga’s music straddled the bridge between classical and romantic. You’ll hear influences of Mozart and Haydn as well as Schubert and Beethoven.
The Mozart Connection
- Arriaga’s nickname, “The Spanish Mozart,” was first only ascribed to the composer several decades after his death because he, like Mozart, was a child prodigy who died at a young age.
- Fun fact – Arriaga was born on (what would have been) Mozart’s 50th birthday. Moreover, they shared their first names – Juan Crisostomo and Johannes Chrysostomus.6
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Short biography from Wise Music Classical
Pieces
Born Caen, Jan 29, 1782
Died Paris, May 12, 1871
- Daniel-François Auber [oh-BEAR; PRONUNCIATION] is known for writing opéras comiques (19th C. French operas with sung arias and spoken dialogue).7
Born in Nizhniy Novgorod, Dec 21, 1836/Jan 2, 1837
Died in St Petersburg, 16/May 29, 19108
Balakirev was the acorn from which the mighty oak of Russian music in the second half of the 19th century sprang; the charm of his genius and the wholesome spread of his influence are more than enough to guarantee his immortality.9
- Mily Alekseyevich Balakirev [pronunciation] is known more for the profound influence of those he mentored than his own compositions.
- Balakirev was seen as the leader of the “Mighty Handful,” a group of five Russian nationalist composers that included César Cui, Mussorgsky, Borodin, and Rimsky-Korsakov.
- That being said, Balakirev’s compositions were crucial to the development Russian music for two reasons:
- His treatment of native folk music
- His development of “the Balakirevan east” musical idiom, influences by the composer’s visits to the Caucasus in the 1860s.
- Balakirev’s amanuensis, Vasily Yastrebtsev, wrote, “What an enormous and important role he played in the education of all of us – this energetic young Balakirev, who had just returned from the Caucasus and played for us the Georgian folksongs he had heard there… we had never heard anything like that. We were all literally reborn.”10
- As a composer, Balakirev wrote piano works, orchestral works, and songs. His primary instrument was piano, and his works for the instrument are among his most popular (ex: Islamey).11
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Biography from Naxos
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BEACH, Amy Marcy Cheney
Born in Henniker, NH, Sept 5, 1867
Died in New York, NY, Dec 27, 1944
- Amy Marcy Cheney was a child prodigy: she could sing forty melodies accurately at the age of 1; she taught herself to read at age 3; she could compose and play by ear by age 4.
- Amy Marcy Cheney played her premiere as a piano soloist with orchestra in 1883, and premiered with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1885, playing Chopin’s f minor concerto.
- After her 1885 marriage, at her husband’s request, Amy Beach reduced her public appearances as a pianist, and played only for charity. (A professional career was considered inappropriate for a married woman of her social status.) Beach transferred her main musical efforts to composing.
- At her husband’s request, during her married life Beach frequently published as “Mrs. H.H.A. Beach.”
- Beach’s Symphony in e minor, Op. 32, “Gaelic,” was the first symphony by an American to garner international acclaim. It premiered with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on October 30, 1896.
- George Whitefield Chadwick and other contemporaries considered Beach part of the Second New England School of composers.12
Biography from the Library of Congress
Pieces
- By the Still Waters, Op. 114
- Four Sketches, Op. 15
- Hermit Thrush, Op. 92
- Invocation, Op. 55
- Les rêves de Columbine, Op. 65 (The Dreams of Columbina)
- Piano Concerto in c-sharp minor, Op. 45
- Piano Quintet in f-sharp minor, Op. 67
- Piano Trio, Op. 150
- Romance for Violin and Piano, Op. 23
- Scottish Legend, Op. 53, No. 1
- Symphony in e minor, Op. 32, “Gaelic”
- Tyrolean Valse-Fantaisie, Op. 116
- Violin Sonata in a minor, Op. 34
Born in Catania, Nov 3, 1801
Died in Puteaux, near Paris, Sept 23, 1835
- If we are to believe a hyperbolic early biography of Bellini, the composer was able to sing an entire aria at the age of 18 months, and at the age of 3 years, he subbed for his grandfather as a church choir conductor.
- Bellini studied music at the Real Collegio di Musica in Naples, where his training as a vocal composer involved writing solfeggi (wordless bel canto vocal exercises). This practice helped him develop a strong sense of idiomatic vocal writing.
- Bellini moved to Milan in 1827 to write for La Scala. He collaborated with La Scala’s resident librettist, Felice Romani, for all but the last of his subsequent operas (even when writing for other opera houses).13
Short biography from the Royal Opera House
Born in La Côte-Saint-André, Isère, Dec 11, 1803
Died in Paris, March 8, 1869
Born in Paris, Oct 25, 1838
Died in Bougival, near Paris, June 3, 1875
[“BEE-zay;” PRONUNCIATION]
Short biography from the English National Opera
Born in Parma, May 15, 1841
Died in Turin, Feb 21, 1919
- Giovanni Bolzoni [“joh-VAH-nee bol-ZOH-nee”] was an Italian composer, composition professor and opera conductor.
- Bolzoni worked under Ponchielli, and received an opera conducting position at Teatro Regia in Turin thanks to a recommendation from Verdi.
- Bolzoni was noted for composing instrumental music when most Italian composers were concentrating on opera.
- As composition professor at Turin Liceo Musicale14, he taught Edgard Varèse.15
Born in Paris, Jan 21, 1858
Died in Sarcelles, Seine-et-Oise, March 18, 1937
- Bonis [“boh-NEES”] attended the Paris Conservatory where she studied harmony with Ernest Guiraud and organ with César Franck. She won the conservatory’s first prize for harmony in 1880.
- Bonis published over 300 compositions over the course of her lifetime, including piano works, chamber works, choral music, organ music and orchestral pieces.
- Bonis frequently published under the gender-neutral pseudonym Mel-Bonis (or Mel. Bonis).16
Composer website, maintained by Christine Géliot, Bonis’s biographer and great-granddaughter. The site is in French but includes an English version (click the flag in the upper right-hand corner)
Note: There are numerous inconsistencies in the dating and opus numbering of her pieces from one publication to another (probably due to the multiplicity of editions of her works, even during her lifetime). In this site, I have chosen to use the dates and opus numbers assigned in Géliot’s catalogue of Bonis’s works.
Born in St Petersburg, 31 Oct/Nov 12, 1833
Died in St Petersburg, 15/Feb 27, 1887
- Borodin [pronounced “boh-roh-DEEN”] was the illegitimate son of a Russian prince, and as such was considered a serf. His father had him freed and educated; he studied medicine and became research chemist and chair of chemistry at Medical-Surgical Academy at St. Petersburg.
- Borodin had minimal formal music training. He composed with encouragement and guidance of Mily Balakirev, who wanted to train Russian musicians to create a distinctly Russian style of classical music, as opposed to the Germanic-dominated composers before them.
- Borodin was part of an influential circle of St. Petersburg Russian Nationalist composers who gathered around Balakirev, sometimes known as Les cinq (Balakirev, Mussorgsky, Cesar Cui, Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin).17
“Balakirev’s circle consisted of Balakirev, Cui, Mussorgsky, Borodin, and me (the French have retained the denomination of “Les Cinq” for us to this day).”
Rimsky-Korsakov, on Les Cinq, from The Chronicle of My Musical Life (1909)18
- Balakirev and his circle are also called ‘The Mighty Handful’ because of a 1867 press quote from music critic Vladimir Stasov, regarding a concert of music by Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov and others.
“God grant that our Slav guests may never forget today’s concert; God grant that they may forever preserve the memory of how much poetry, feeling, talent, and intelligence are possessed by the small but already mighty handful of Russian musicians.”
Vladimir Stasov19
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Short biography
Born in Crema, Dec 22, 1821
Died in Parma, July 7, 1889
- Giovanni Bottesini [PRONUNCIATION] was a virtuoso double bass player. He studied violin as child, but when his father found that the only scholarships left at Milan Conservatory were for double bass or bassoon, Bottesini learned the double bass in a matter of weeks and won the scholarship.20
- Bottesini was called “The Paganini of the Double Bass.”21
- In addition to being a double bassist, Bottesini was a distinguished composer and conductor of opera. In 1871 he directed the premiere of Aïda at Verdi’s request.22
“How he bewildered us by playing all sorts of melodies in flute-like harmonics, as though he had a hundred nightingales caged in his double-bass!”
Hugh Reginald Haweis, writer on music and contemporary of Bottesini 23
Born in Hamburg, May 7, 1833
Died in Vienna, April 3, 1897
Pieces
- A German Requiem, Op. 45
- Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80
- Cello Sonata No. 1 in e minor, Op. 38
- Clarinet Quintet, Op. 115
- Double Concerto in a minor for Violin, Cello & Orchestra, Op. 102
- Hungarian Dance No. 1 in g minor
- Hungarian Dance No. 15 in B-flat Major
- Hungarian Dance No. 17 in f-sharp minor
- Hungarian Dance No. 2 in d minor
- Hungarian Dance No. 20 in e minor
- Hungarian Dance No. 4 in f-sharp minor
- Hungarian Dance No. 6 in D Major
- Hungarian Dances
- Piano Concerto No. 1 in d minor, Op. 15
- Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 83
- Piano Quintet in f minor, Op. 34
- Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 1
- Serenade No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11
- String Sextet No. 2, Op. 36
- Symphony No. 1 in c minor, Op. 68
- Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73
- Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90
- Symphony No. 4 in e minor, Op. 98
- Tragic Overture, Op. 81
- Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56
- Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77
Born in Cologne, Jan 6, 1838
Died in Friedenau, Berlin, Oct 2, 1920
- Max Bruch’s first music lessons were given by his mother, an accomplished pianist and singer. He first began composing around age nine, and by 14, he was awarded the Frankfurt Mozart Scholarship, enabling Bruch to travel around Germany and study with distinguished composers.
- One of these distinguished mentors was Ferdinand Hiller, a close friend of Felix Mendelssohn. Hiller strongly influenced Bruch’s inclination for conservative musical language – the young composer idolized both Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann.
- As a composer, Bruch ardently embraced Romantic musical language cultivated by his predecessors and rejected more progressive ideas, as seen in the music of Liszt and Wagner.
- Bruch was a folk music enthusiast and drew upon an eclectic range of traditional tunes, including Russian, Swedish, and Scottish (ex: Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46).
- In all his works, Bruch’s compositional superpower was his ability to write stunningly beautiful melodies.
- Fun fact – Bruch strongly disliked the piano and preferred to write for string instruments (most famous, the violin).
- Much to his chagrin, Bruch became a “one-hit-wonder” of sorts during his lifetime due to the colossal success of his first violin concerto.24
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Born in Ansfelden, near Linz, Sept 4, 1824
Died in Vienna, Oct 11, 189625
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CARREÑO, Teresa
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Dec 22, 1853
Died in New York, NY, June 12, 1917
- Teresa Carreño was a pianist, singer (soprano), and composer born to a musical family. In 1862, Carreño’s family moved to New York in response to growing political instability in Venezuela. There, an eight-year-old Carreño made her professional debut, mentored by L. M. Gottschalk.
- In 1866, the family moved to Paris where the young composer continued to compose and perform international tours.
- As a young adult, Carreño would return to the States, eventually making New York her home.
- Carreño was among the first female pianists to tour the United States, serving as a role model for new generations of American women who entered musical life as professional performers and composers.
- As a composer, Carreño wrote ~ 80 works, most of them written earlier on in her career to be performed herself in concert.26
- Fun fact – As an international piano sensation, Carreño acquired the nickname, “Valkyrie of the piano.”
- Additional fun fact – In 1863, when Carreño was still a child, she performed for Abraham Lincoln at the White House. Decades later, in 1916, she returned to the White House to perform for Woodrow Wilson.
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13 Facts about Carreño via Interlude
Born in Lucca, June 19, 1854
Died in Milan, Aug 7, 1893
- Catalani is best known for his Italian operas, which came right before the ascendance of the verismo style.28 His most famous opera, La Wally, contains the famous soprano aria, “Ebben? Ne andrò lontano”29
- Toscanini was a friend of Catalani and admired his work so much that he named one of his daughters Wally after Catalani’s La Wally.30
Born in Havana, July 31, 1847
Died in Havana, April 29, 1905
- Cervantes was a Cuban conductor, composer, and pianist, and a student of Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Gottschalk, who integrated Creole and Latin American musical styles into his concert music, was a model for Cervantes, who sought to integrate Cuban music into his classical compositions.
- In contrast to the style of most 20th-century Cuban composers, Cervantes’s music draws on Spanish-Cuban music, not Afro-Cuban music.
- Cervantes also studied at the Paris Conservatory, where his teachers included Charles-Valentin Alkan.
- Cervantes concertized in the United States, conducted opera in Cuba, and spent most of his later career in Mexico.31
Born in Ambert, Puy-de-Dôme, Jan 18, 1841
Died in Paris, Sept 13, 1894
- Chabrier was a law-trained civil servant in the French Department of the Interior,32 but he also composed and played the piano (virtuosically). He did not turn to music full-time until the 1880s, by which time he had attained some recognition for his compositions.33
- Chabrier was friendly with “Parnassian” French poets in the 1860s, including Verlaine. Many of his works are art song settings of their poetry.34
- Chabrier was also friends with Impressionist painter Edouard Manet and posed for several paintings. Chabrier left behind an impressive collection of Impressionist paintings at his death. 35
- Chabrier was interested in staying abreast of avant-garde movements in music and was an early French proponent of Wagner. But though he composed serious operas influenced by Wagner, like Gwendoline, Chabrier also loved to write witty or ironic music, like an entertaining four-hand piano piece on themes from Tristan und Isolde (Souvenirs de Munich) and funny songs like “Villanelle des petits canards” (“Villanelle of the Little Ducks,” a song about ducks taking a country stroll)36
- Fun fact – Chabrier has been dubbed “the first musical Impressionist,” whose work would influence those well-known for the genre like Debussy and Ravel.37
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Born in Paris, Jan 20, 1855
Died in Limay, near Mantes, Yvelines, June 10, 189934
Born Fryderyck Franciszek Chopin
Born in Żelazowa Wola, near Warsaw, March 1, 1810
Died in Paris, Oct 17, 1849
Biographical timeline from the Fryderyk Chopin Institute
Pieces
- Ballade No. 2 in F Major, Op. 38
- Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op. 60
- Berceuse in D-flat Major, Op. 57
- Études, Op.25
- Les Sylphides
- Nocturnes, Op. 55
- Piano Concerto No. 1 in e minor, Op. 11
- Piano Concerto No. 2 in f minor, Op. 21
- Polonaise in A Major, Op. 40, No. 1, “Military”
- Polonaise in A-flat Major, Op. 53, “Heroic”
- Polonaises, Op. 26
- Waltz in a minor, Op. 34, No. 2
- Waltz in A-flat Major, Op. 34, No. 1, “Grande valse brillante”
- Waltz in D-flat Major Op. 64, No.1 “The Minute Waltz”
Born in Holborn, London, England, Aug 15, 1875
Died in Croydon, London, England, Sept 1, 1912
- Coleridge-Taylor was an English composer of African heritage. He studied with Stanford at the RCM.
- Coleridge-Tayor toured America several times, where he met Theodore Roosevelt and toured with the Coleridge-Taylor Choral Society, an African American choir formed in his honor. He also toured with Harry T. Burleigh, African-American singer and arranger of spirituals.
- Coleridge-Taylor composed choral and orchestral music, directed Handel Society of London, and was Professor of Composition at Guidhall School of Music and Trinity College of Music.35
Pieces
- 24 Negro Melodies, Op. 59/1
- Ballade in a minor, Op. 33
- Clarinet Quintet in f-sharp minor, Op. 10
- Four Characteristic Waltzes, Op. 22
- Four Novellettes, Op. 52
- Gipsy Suite, Op. 20
- Impromptu No. 2 in B Major
- Othello, Op. 79
- Piano Quintet in g minor
- Romance in G for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 39 (1899)
- Romance of the Prairie Lilies
- The Bamboula, Op. 59, No. 8
- Valse-Suite, Op. 71
- Violin Concerto in g minor, Op. 80
Born in Vilnius, 6/Jan 18, 1835
Died in Petrograd [St Petersburg], March 26, 1918
- Cui was a military engineer as well as a composer and music critic.36
- He was a member of “The Five” or “The Mighty Handful” (Cui, Balakirev, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov)38 a group of mostly-amateur composers based in St. Petersburg, mentored by Balakirev, seeking to create a uniquely Russian composition style.39
Born in Vienna, Feb 21, 1791
Died in Vienna, July 15, 1857
Pronounced “chair-nee”
- Austrian pianist and composer Carol Czerny is most famous for his contribution to piano pedagogy (and the fact that he became Beethoven‘s pupil at ten years old).
- Czerny premiered several of Beethoven’s well-known piano works, including Piano Concerto No. 1 and the “Emperor” piano concerto.
- Fun fact – Allegedly, Czerny could perform all of Beethoven’s piano music from memory.
- Early in his career, Czerny consciously decided to pursue the stability of teaching and composition over the life of a touring performer. His technical exercises are still a staple of piano students today.
- Despite writing around 1,000 compositions in nearly every genre, Czerny’s works are largely forgotten today.
- He organized his works into four categories: 1. studies and exercises; 2. easy pieces for students; 3. brilliant pieces for concerts; and 4. serious music.
- As an educator, Czerny taught numerous significant pianists of the next generation, including Franz Liszt.40
- Contemporaries of Czerny include Schubert (a fellow Beethoven Stan), Rossini, and Weber.
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Born in Jaunpiebalga, Nov 3, 1875
Died in Riga, Aug 31, 1910
- Dārziņš studied with Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He was a music critic as well as a composer, and he is especially well-regarded for his songs and choral works.
- Dārziņš died tragically at the age of 35 when he was run over by a train.
- Dārziņš is considered the founder of Latvian music criticism.41
Short biography from Musica Baltica
Born in New Orleans, c1827–9
Died in Paris, France, 1901
His name is sometimes given as Edmund Dédé.
- Edmond Dédé was the son of free Creole parents in New Orleans. His first music teacher was his father, a militia bandmaster.
- Dédé traveled to Paris to attend the Paris Conservatory, where he enrolled in 1857. He saved money for the journey by working in New Orleans as a cigar maker. At the conservatory, he studied with Fromental Halévy, and was friends with fellow student Charles Gounod.
- Dédé was a violinst and conductor as well as a composer. He conducted the L’Alcazar Orchestre for some 20 years.
- Edmond Dédé’s son, Eugène Arcade Dédé, also became a respected composer.42
Born in St Germain du Val, Feb 21, 1836
Died in Paris, Jan 16, 1891
- Delibes composed operetta, opera and ballets. His best-known works include the opera Lakmé and the ballet Coppélia.
- Delibes worked as a church organist, rehearsal accompanist and opera chorus master before devoting himself full time to composition in 1871.
- In 1881 Delibes became a composition professor at the Paris Conservatory, which is surprising because he himself claimed to have no mastery of counterpoint.43
Born in Bergamo, Nov 1797
Died in Bergamo, April 8, 1848
Born in Lemberg [now L’viv], Oct 16, 1821
Died in Baden, near Vienna, July 27, 1883
Also known as Albert Ferenc Doppler
Doppler was a flutist and composer who was born in Poland and made his career in Hungary.44
Pieces
Born in Žáky, Oct 16, 1818
Died in Venice, April 1, 1869
- Dreyschock was a virtuoso pianist who debuted at 8 years of age and undertook many solo concert tours throughout Europe during his career. He also taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
- Dreyschock specialized in performing his own compositions.
“The man has no left hand! Here are two right hands!”
J.B. Cramer, upon hearing Dreyschock play in Paris 45
Born in Nelahozeves, near Kralupy, Sept 8, 1841
Died in Prague, May 1, 1904
Pieces
- Cello Concerto in b minor, Op. 104
- Cypresses (Echo of Songs), B. 152
- Festival March, Op. 54
- Humoresques, Op. 101
- Leave Me Alone, Op. 82 No. 1
- Legends, Op. 59
- My Homeland, Op. 62
- Nocturne for Strings in B Major, Op. 40
- Othello Overture, Op. 93
- Piano Trio No. 3 in f minor, Op. 65
- Polonaise in E-flat Major
- Prague Waltzes
- Rondo for Cello and Orchestra (or Piano) in g minor, Op. 94
- Rusalka, Op. 114
- Rusalka: “Song to the Moon”
- Rusalka: Polonaise
- Serenade for Strings in E Major, Opus 22
- Silent Woods, Op. 68, No. 5
- Slavonic Dances, Op. 46
- Slavonic Dances, Op. 72
- Stabat Mater, Op. 58
- String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96, “American”
- String Quartet No. 14 in A-flat Major, Op. 105
- Symphonic Variations, Op. 78
- Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 10
- Symphony No. 7 in d minor, Op. 70
- Symphony No. 9 in e minor, Op. 95, “From the New World”
- Terzetto in C Major, Op. 74
- The Golden Spinning Wheel, Op. 109
- The Water Goblin, Op. 107
- Waltzes, Op. 54
Born in Gyula, county of Békés, Nov 7, 1810
Died in Budapest, June 15, 1893
- Erkel was a virtuoso pianist and opera conductor based in Budapest.
- Erkel was interested in developing a Hungarian style of composition and took inspiration from Hungarian folk music.
- Erkel is the most prominent figure in the development of 19th C. Hungarian opera.
- Erkel founded something of a musical dynasty: his sons Elek, László, and Sándor all became professional musicians as well.46
Born in Paris, May 31, 1804
Died in Paris, Sept 15, 1875
Born Jeanne-Louise Dumont
- Farrenc was a concert pianist who achieved a professional level of technique in her teens. She also studied composition at the Paris Conservatory.
- Farrenc served as Professor of Piano and the Paris Conservatory from 1842-1873. She was the only woman to hold a permanent, high-ranking position at the Conservatory in the nineteenth century.47
- Fun fact – Farrenc fought for equal pay to that of her male colleagues at the conservatory… and won!48
- Farrenc was a pioneering scholar of early performance practice. Her scholarly magnum opus is Le trésor des pianistes, an anthology and treatise on early keyboard music and historically accurate performance techniques. Until his death in 1865, Farrenc’s husband, flutist and scholar Aristide Farrenc, collaborated on this project. It was published by the Paris music publishing firm Aristide had founded.
- Farrenc’s daughter Victorine Farrenc was a piano prodigy who died in 1859 at the age of 33 after a debilitating illness. This loss was so devastating that Louise Farrenc ceased to compose.49
- As a composer, the bulk of Farrenc’s works were written for her own instrument, the piano, and are known for their technical difficulty without being overly flashy. Farrenc had a “down-to-earth” musical personality and avoided overt sentimentality.
“Louise Farrenc is a major musical personality hiding in plain sight.”
Jessica Duchen, BBC Music Magazine50
Historical Context
- The year that Farrenc was born (1804)…
- Napoleon crowned himself Emperor
- Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony had been written but had yet to receive its premiere.51
- Haiti declared its independence
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Pieces
- Nonet in E-flat Major, Op. 38
- Overture No. 1, Op. 23
- Overture No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 24
- Piano Quintet No. 1 in a minor, Op. 30
- Piano Quintet No. 2 in E Major, Op. 31
- Piano Trio No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 33
- Piano Trio No. 2 in D, Op. 34
- Symphony No. 1 in c minor, Op. 32
- Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 35
- Symphony No. 3 in g minor, Op. 36
- Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 44
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FAURÉ, Gabriel
Born in Pamiers, Ariège, May 12, 1845
Died in Paris, Nov 4, 1924
- Gabriel Fauré (pronunciation), while often overshadowed, undeniably transformed French music through his influence, his teaching, his leadership, and his compositions.51
- As a composer, Fauré was the most advanced composer in French music of his time and anticipated Impressionism, among many other significant stylistic trends. His musical language is deeply personal and immediately identifiable.
- The bulk of Fauré’s music consisted of piano music, songs, and chamber music (works that could be performed by his friends and colleagues in Paris salons). He is regarded by many as the greatest master of French art song.
- Growing up, Fauré anticipated training for a career as a church musician. The arrival of a new piano teacher at Fauré’s school in Paris, Camille Saint-Saëns, played a pivotal role in the teenaged Fauré’s decision to start composing. Saint-Saëns would go on to become an important mentor for the young composer.
- Fun fact – Fauré was ambidextrous. His piano compositions share a common characteristic in that both hands are of equal importance and “in many passages alternate and complement each other for the presentation of a theme or the execution of a run.”52
- Among his many professional posts was educator at the Paris Conservatoire, where he taught many burgeoning young composers such as Nadia Boulanger, Arthur Honegger, George Enescu, and Maurice Ravel.53
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Biography via Deutsche Grammophon
Pieces
- Après un rêve (After a Dream), Op. 7 No. 1
- Ballade in F-sharp Major, Op. 19
- Berceuse for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 16
- Dolly Suite, Op. 56
- Élégie, Op. 24
- Fantaisie for Flute and Orchestra, Op. 79
- Masques et Bergamasques, Op. 112
- Pavane, Op. 50
- Requiem, Op. 48
- Sicilienne, Op. 78 (from Pelléas et Mélisande)
- Violin Concerto in d minor, Op. 14
Born in Dublin, c. July 26, 1782, baptized 5 Sept
Died in Moscow, Jan 23, 1837
- John Field was apprenticed to Muzio Clementi from a young age. Clementi taught Field piano and helped him set up a teaching and performing career, and in exchange Field demonstrated the prowess of the pianos Clementi built and sold by playing them for customers.
- Known in his lifetime as a virtuoso pianist throughout Europe (and particularly successful in Russia), Field invented the genre of nocturne, as well as the lyrical style of piano composition we tend to associate with Chopin (who learned it from Field!)54