123 Classical

Tomaso Albinoni

Italian baroque composer who, although famous as an opera composer across Europe during his lifetime, is known today mostly for his instrumental music. He was extremely productive as a composer, having written an enormous amount of works He is also remembered today for a work called "Adagio in G minor" and his "Concerto for Oboe in D Minor". Albinoni was born in Venice, where he lived all his life. His family was wealthy (his father was a paper merchant) so he was financially supported by his inheritance. He studied violin and singing when he was young, but until his father's death he was not able to further study music and become a musician, as under his father's terms he had the obligation to take over the family business. This did not impede him from touring the most fashionable international opera houses. He then became a prolific composer who also ran a successful academy of singing. Part of Albinoni's work was lost in World War II, as a result little is known from his music and life. Also, as most of his operas works and instrumental music were not published during his lifetime, these have been lost in time.

1671 - 1751

Johann Sebastian Bach

German composer, organist, violinist and violist, primarily valued as an organist and a teacher, as his music was appreciated for its pedagogical qualities. In later years, he was regarded as one of the greatest composers of all times. Bach was a prolific composer. Among a great number of masterpieces, the ones which stand out are the "Brandenburg Concerts", "Well Tempered Clavier", "St Mathew Passion", "Goldberg Variations", "Six Cello Suites" and "Concerto for Two Violins". Bach was born into an extensive musical family, with many of his relatives from previous generations being eminent professional musicians. The musical talent spanning over almost 7 generations of the Bach family, has provoked some questioning on whether the talent is passed on from parent to child and has stimulated some research studies on this question. As both Bach's parents died when he was 10, he was then looked after by his eldest brother, Johann Cristoph, an organist who had been a pupil of the influential composer Johann Pachelbel, and gave Bach his first keyboard lessons. From the outset of his career, he was a court organist and member of the orchestra , writing many church cantatas and some of his best compositions for the organ. Bach was a devoutly religious man, his life and creations are deeply rooted in the spirit of the old Lutheran church. According to British conductor John Eliot Gardiner, who delved into Bach's life, "He had normal flaws and failings, which make him very approachable, but he had this unfathomably brilliant mind and a capacity to hear music and then to deliver music that is beyond the capacity of pretty well any musician before or since." And Gardiner continues, "Despite Bach's contradictions, the composer would have been a great guy to hang out with". Bach was also very argumentative with employers who did not appreciate his talent, to such an extent that he once ended up in jail. He married his wife Maria Barbara at 22 years. Following her death, 13 years later, he remarried Anna Magdalena. In total, he had 20 children although only a few of them survived to adulthood. Musically, Bach was a master at invoking different emotions, and as a passionate storyteller he used his music to suggest actions or events. His music has many simple motor-like rhythms and is very harmonious. As the famous cello performer Yo-Yo Ma has said "Bach’s world is unfailingly beautiful sound and graceful melody". However, Bach's greatness was recognised after his death, as during his lifetime he was overshadowed by other composers. In later life, he went increasingly blind and underwent two eye surgeries. Bach died from complications from these surgeries.

1685 - 1750

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Beethoven is widely recognised as one of the greatest composers of all time despite his deteriorating deafness which had began in his late 20's. He left a legendary amount of influential music masterpieces covering many classical music forms. Beethoven's father, a mediocre court singer, was his first music instructor but his teaching methods were characterised by extreme austerity and brutality, which impacted Beethoven for the rest of his life. It is rumoured that young Beethoven was beat by his father for each mistake or even hesitation and that he was deprived of sleep for extra hours of practice. Beethoven's musical talent became obvious at an early age and his father, trying to imitate Mozart's methods for gaining early recognition, organised his son's first public recital with the title "Little Son of 6 Years", receiving however not as much success as he had expected. At school, Beethoven was an average student, struggling with spelling and math. Some biographers believe he was dyslexic. At the age of 10, Beethoven quit school to devote himself in music by becoming a court organist, and at the age of 12 he published his first composition. In his early 20s, Beethoven moved to Vienna, Europe's capital of music and culture at that time, where he established himself as a virtuoso pianist and earned increasing awareness for his compositions. Around his late 20's, Beethoven started going deaf but desperately tried to conceal this until 2-3 years later, when he revealed his condition to a close friend in a heart-wrenching letter. His deafness was further impeded by a severe form of tinnitus which had initially led him to suicidal thoughts but later increased his determination to continue living for and through his art. He also had a general ill health. Despite his musical genius, Beethoven was lonely, short-tempered, absent-minded and suspicious, while he was in a conflict with many people around him. In a letter to his brothers, he had once said "O you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you and I would have ended my life — it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me." Beethoven never married or had children, partly due to his deafness or shyness or his awkward looks, but had fallen in love once with a married woman to whom he had written a beautiful love letter which was never sent. Another time, he had fallen in love with one of his students to whom he had proposed marriage, which was forbidden however by her father. Beethoven's compositions were groundbreaking: his music was longer, larger-scale, louder, "heavier", more exciting, with much more emotional and intellectual depth than any music before. His compositional process was very stochastic: every note, every phrase was the outcome of an intense thinking process. Beethoven died from a liver disease when he was 57, but it has been recently discovered, through a DNA analysis of his hair and teeth, that he suffered from lead poisoning, an illness that left him in misery throughout his life.

1770 - 1827

Georges Bizet

French composer and pianist, whose musical compositions, especially operas, gained acclaim only after his death, which happened early in his life. His masterpiece "Carmen", considered one of the most popular operas ever to be composed, which continues to enthrill the audiences, proves that Bizet had an amazing talent of creating memorable and original melodies. His parents having some musical background, Bizet studied at the Paris Conservatoire from the age of ten, where he became a brilliant pianist and won many prizes. His sight reading skills were spectacular. Liszt had said, ‘I thought there were only two men able to surmount the difficulties ... there are three, and ... the youngest [Bizet] is perhaps the boldest and most brilliant’. He made his living as pianist and by transcribing other people's music works, since as a composer he had achieved little success. Following the production of his work "Carmen", he was accused of plagiarism and many of the press reviews were negative. Bizet was convinced that the opera was a failure. He did not have any idea that today this opera would be considered a masterpiece in its genre. He died at the age of 37. Mostly known for his "Carmen", the rest of his works is ignored. However, Bizet was an inspired melodist, just like Schubert. He created catchy and powerful melodies and his operas were full of colour and realism.

1838 - 1875

Johannes Brahms

German composer and pianist, being most famous for his symphonies and sonatas, his music having some sorrow and darkness and being of great emotional depth. He was considered a conservative romantic composer compared to his contemporaries Liszt and Wagner, who had adopted a more radical approach in classical music. Many people consider him the successor of Beethoven, however, for a long time he did not want to write symphonies because he was afraid that he could not compete Beethoven. He was introduced early to music and by the time he was a teenager, he was already an established musician working on his own to financially support his family. He began composing very young, although his compositions were not acclaimed before the age of 20. He became widely known with his largest choral work "German Requiem", which was premiered when he was 35. When Brahms was 18, he was introduced to gypsy music through the Hungarian violinist Eduard Remeney with whom he toured as an accompanist, playing piano for him. It is this music that inspired him to compose the very famous "Hungarian Dances" ("Hungarian Dance No 5" being the most well known). In his 20s, he met Robert Schumann and the two men developed mutual respect and a strong friendship. When Robert Schumann fell ill with a nervous breakdown, Brahms assisted Robert's wife, the pianist Clara Schumann, to manage the family affairs, also providing mental support to the whole family. According to Brahms' letters to Clara, he had fallen deeply in love with her, despite their age difference (she was 14 years older than him) but his feelings were in intense conflict with his respect for his mentor, Robert Schumann. It is still unclear today what kind of relationship they had, as they both destroyed most of their letters. Brahms never married, possibly due to his lifelong feelings for Clara Schumann but he also had a number of infatuations with young singers, followed by unsuccessful marriage proposals. Brahms was a secretive person, his psychological world remains a mystery even to people who knew him. He also had a double sided personality: while he was loyal and supportive to his friends, he was also distant and did not accept limitations to his freedom. Brahms had an important role in the history of music recording: in 1889, after being approached by a representative of the American inventor, Thomas Edison, with the aim of making the first sound recording of music, he played the first "Hungarian Dance" which was recorded, although the quality was very low. This is the first recording ever of a major composer, although there is some debate as to whether the recorded introduction to the music is Brahms speaking. A "de-noised" version was performed at Stanford University.

1833 - 1897

Frederic Chopin

Polish and French composer and matchless genius, renowned mainly for his piano works which set a new standard through their expressiveness, imaginative character and craftsmanship. His compositions being very significant in number and quality, Chopin had a tremendous impact on other composers, despite the fact that he only gave 30 public concerts during 30 years. Chopin was born to a caring family that financially supported him to pursue his goals despite its financially poor status. He was the typical case of a prodigy child, playing piano and composing tunes by the age of 6. He was also lucky to have an exceptional teacher who helped the boy develop his talents. At the age of 19 , when he completed his musical education, his parents sent him to Vienna, the musical centre of Europe then, and after a few months he moved to Paris where he earned his living by giving concerts and working as a piano teacher. His music was very expressive and emotional and could not be imagined to be played by another instrument than the one it was conceived for, which was generally the piano. He virtually ignored orchestras and all other instruments and concentrated on the piano. In addition, his compositions were very innovative in the realm of piano music. His inventive techniques, including the extensive use of pedals, complex division of beats, range of colour shadings and use of "rubato" and ornamentation, set an unsurpassable standard for piano, although he did not produce any large-scale orchestral compositions. He has thus influenced all piano work written since his time. Chopin was in poor health throughout his life, suffering from chronic tuberculosis which was causing him recurring illnesses. Partly because of this condition, Chopin was the typical case of the suffering romantic and this is reflected in his works. He was also introverted, extremely sensitive, and had a tendency towards melancholy. In his personal life, he had a troubled relationship with the renowned French writer George Sand. Some of his greatest works emerged as a result of his joyfulness in the early days of his nine-year relationship with George Sand. After the end of their relationship, Chopin fell seriously ill, and left Paris for an extended stay in England and Scotland, from which he returned exhausted. He died at the age of 39 due to complications of his long-term illness. Before he died, he had asked his sister that his heart be taken back to Warsaw. His heart is now located at Holy Cross Church in a pillar inscribed with the following quote: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also". His music has remained in history for its expressiveness, emotion, lyricism, and innovative techniques. As Debussy himself observed, “By the very nature of his genius, the music of Chopin escapes any classification.”

1810 - 1849

Arcangelo Corelli

Italian violinist and composer who became the godfather of the Italian baroque instrumental music and influenced his contemporaries and future generations of composers. His music combined elements of both the music one heard in church and the traditional instrumental music one heard in royal courts. Although we do not know many of his works and we are missing much more about his life, Corelli was widely known during his life and his fame and influence had spread across Europe. Born in Fusignano, he studied in Bologna, then a great centre of violin playing. In his 20s he settled in Rome where he worked for former Queen Christina of Sweden and gained the support of a number of patrons, thanks to his wide international reputation. Corelli contributed in music as an exceptional violinist, composer and teacher. As a violinist, he played an important role in bringing into prominence the violin through his extraordinary skills in this instrument and his very popular concert tours throughout Europe. We could say that Corelli's popularity as a violinist during the 18th century was probably as important as Paganini's popularity during the 19th century. According to various reports, Corelli's quality of tone when he was playing the violin was the "most remarkable in Europe". As a composer, Corelli was acclaimed throughout Europe and his music was the most popular instrumental music, despite the fact that his music works were limited in number. His total output was contained in just 6 opus works, the most famous and influential of which was the "Concerto Grosso Op 6". As a teacher, Corelli was an inspiring educator whose style influenced and was preserved by his pupils. It was Antonio Vivaldi, one of Corelli's students that continued his work and later influenced Bach. In a way, the path of all famous Baroque composers lead back to Corelli who was their "iconic point of reference".

1653 - 1713

Claude Debussy

French composer and pianist who was very innovative and influential by developing an original musical harmony and structure on the basis of the ideals of "impressionism"("impressionism" in music is an approach that aims to create moods and sensuous impressions through harmony and colour), although he mostly associated himself with symbolist poets. A few of his most important works are: "Prelude à l’Après-midi D’un Faune", through which he achieved instant recognition at the age of 32, "Clair de Lune", and "La Mer". Born in Paris to a poor family and with his father in prison, he was fortunate enough to be taught by an excellent pianist. Shortly before his death, the musician wrote that it was to his teacher that “he owed the little he knew about the piano”. He entered the Paris Conservatory, where he studied piano and composition and at 24 years old he won the Grand Prix Rome. Debussy's music was to a great extent a reaction against the German music tradition of straightforward music. His music style was unique through a different harmonic language and a polyphony which was creating a mysterious and atmospheric result. He was particularly fond of the spectrum of tones that arise by vibrating a string. He was also influenced by symbolic art and literature, so the combinations of sounds he was using were inspired by this symbolism. Debussy wanted his audience to participate actively, by deciphering the music, and understand its meaning behind the symbolism in the sounds and silences he was using. His sources of inspiration were literature and nature. But being unable to travel, due to his financial difficulties, he was using his imagination for the landscapes he represented in his music. Debussy was a very complex personality, with many crises of depression, also shy and unsociable. Mary Garden, a performer, had this to say about Debussy: “I honestly don’t know if Debussy ever loved anybody really. He loved his music – and perhaps himself. I think he was wrapped up in his genius… He was a very, very strange man.” Debussy lived a life of extremes and passionate intensity, an indulgent life with many love affairs, some of them ending with a scandal, such as his first wife committing suicide because of his infidelity . "I was a happiness addict", he had declared. The greatest love of his life, however, was his daughter. Debussy's music exerted a significant influence on many future composers, especially jazz musicians. According to Stephen Hough of the New York Times, "This [Debussy's music] is not mood music, pretty sounds assembled at a dilettante’s whim. Behind the bells and the water and all the poetic imagery is an abstract musical mind of the utmost intellectual rigour — an architect of genius, despite the small scale of the buildings".

1862 - 1918

Gaetano Donizetti

One of the most important figures in Italian Opera, with 65 completed operas. The speed with which he was working was legendary. Some of his most famous works are "Anna Bolena", "L'elisir d'amore", and "Don Pasquale". Born into a poor family, he enrolled for free in a music school due to his talent and then studied in Bologna. His expressive style planted the seeds for Verdi's accomplishments and generally the flourish of the Italian opera in the second half of the 19th century. He was very involved in the literary part of his operas as well as the selection of the actors and played an important role in the development of the romantic music melodrama. He died from syphilis, an illness to which many people were succumbing at that period. During his life, and for many years after his death, his works were very popular, but by the beginning of the twentieth century they had been almost completely overshadowed by the heavier masterpieces of other composers, such as Wagner, Puccini, and Verdi. Following 1950, his operas regained their initial acclaim and they are now being played quite frequently.

1797 - 1848

Antonin Dvorak

Czech composer, pianist and violinist who frequently employed features of the folk music of Moravia. Among his most widely recognised and performed works is "Symphony No 9" ("The New World"), his "Cello Concerto", and the opera "Rusalka". Dvorak's music was influenced by both Brahms and Wagner. Born in Bohemia (then part of the Austrian Empire and now constituting the Czech Republic), his early talent in music was noticed by his parents, despite the fact that he had many brothers and sisters and the whole family was poverty-stricken, so he was enrolled in the organ school very young. When he graduated, he played as a violinist at the Bohemian theatre orchestra but then quit to start composing. His work was highly appreciated by Brahms who promoted it around Europe and with whom he became very close friends. In his early 30s, he visited the UK and became very popular there. Around that time, he began to be recognised as a significant composer. In his 50's, he moved to New York to improve his financial situation, where became the director of the National Conservatory of America. He wrote many great works while being there, also inspired by the music of natives as well as that of African Americans, but his longing for his native land, led him to base many of his compositions on Czech folk music. After a 3-year stay in New York, he returned to his home country, as a result of not being properly paid. In his personal life, Dvorak had married the younger sister of a woman he had fell in love with but did not reciprocate his feelings. However, he created with her a big family which he loved a lot. Dvorak was a humble man, religious and humanistic with an understanding of human misgivings and failures, a deep patriotism and a love of nature. Despite the international recognition he had achieved, Dvorak lived in relative poverty as a result of unfavourable contracts with various music publishers.

1841 - 1904

Ludovico Einaudi

Italian pianist and composer, having composed the scores of a number of films and television productions, including "The Intouchables", "This is England", "I am still here" and "Acquario". He is today one of the most successful living classical artists, with his concerts immediately selling off and his albums being on top of the classical music charts. He was introduced to music at a very young age, as his mother was playing the piano to him as a child, and then he started composing as a teenager, mainly for folk guitar, and went on to study composition at the Conservatory of Milan. He began his career as a classical composer, with his music being performed at venues such as La Scala Milan and the Lincoln Center. Later, he incorporated in his music other genres such as pop, rock and folk music. A turning point in his career was the release in 1996 of his first collection of solo performances, entitled "Le Onde". Other albums followed, including "I Giorni" which also received wide acclaim, while he continued to compose music for films and started to participate in concerts. In his 2009 album "Nightbook", he incorporated synthesised sounds in his music, slightly changing his style. In 2019, Einaudi announced an ambitious project: a series of albums, inspired by a walk in the Italian Alps in the winter, were released over seven months, one album every month. Although taught by the avant-garde Italian composer Luciano Berio, Einaudi's music style is very different from his teacher's; it is minimalistic and combines repeating cycles of broken chords in the bass, with a simple, pretty melody in the treble. His music which is ambient, contemplative, soothing and minimalistic, has won many hearts around the world. And although it challenges the strict notion of "classical music" and has received some criticism regarding its classification as "classical music", it is undoubtedly based on the same principles and structures as classical music, it is melodic, consonant and most importantly extremely popular.

1955

Edward Elgar

English composer, pianist and violinist who marked with his music the British Victorian era and became one of the representatives of his country's national identity. The young Elgar had the great advantage of growing up in a musical environment, as his father owned a music shop, and learned music almost by himself in his father's shop, with his family not having the financial means to educate him. By the age of sixteen he was a proficient enough player to support himself as a freelance violinist and teacher, but his true ambition was to become a composer. Elgar, coming from a poor family and a small village, had to fight hard for national and international recognition. The Enigma Variations is one of his most well-known works, produced in 1899, through which he marked his breakthrough. This work contains 14 variations, each being a musical self-portrait of Elgar's close friends, with the mystery of a hidden theme incorporated in it. But his most fruitful period was during the first decade of the 20th century, when he produced some of his most important works such as the choral work "The Dream of Gerontius", the "Pomp and Circumstance Marches" and the "Cello Concert". His wife had been the driving force behind his genius, encouraging him at every opportunity and never losing faith on him so when she died, in 1920, he lost much of his inspiration and support. Elgar's productivity was also very much influenced by the death of his close friend, advisor and emotional supporter, Jaeger, and the onset of the World War I, which brought him into deep melancholy. Elgar was a complex personality, with self-doubt and pessimism, in both himself and his music, and frequent crises of depression. His music epitomised the British Victorian culture of his time, and had a hint of patriotism. However, one of its indisputable marks was its strong emotionality. He often conducted his music with tears running down his face, a fact which revealed how moved he was by it.

1857 - 1934

Gabriel Fauré

French composer, organist, pianist and teacher whose musical style influenced many contemporary composers worldwide. During his career, he succeeded to bring together the best of traditional and progressive music and crafted some of the most beautiful works, some of which are his "Requiem", Cinque Melodies", "Dolly Suite" and "Pavana". He was the youngest of 6 children, born to a cultivated but not musical family. From the age of 9 he studied piano and organ with a renowned composer Camille Saint-Saëns. Although composing from a young age, Fauré began to develop originality in his compositions in his 40s, partly due to the fact that he then fell in love with Emma Bardac, a young and talented pianist. Despite Fauré being married, this affair, which lasted several years, had a tremendous impact on his musical style, by inspiring his creativity and originality. His music was then considered too advanced by some, but gained a lot of recognition for its harmonic and melodic innovation and influenced later generations. Fauré's music is characterised by charm and light texture and is enjoyable and easy on the ear. Many of his pieces are musical expressions of poems by writers such as Hugo and Baudelaire. As Nectoux, a French musicologist, said about Fauré's later music, its objective was "to express the most elevated sentiments by the simplest means, so as to reach, in some form, the naked flesh of emotion".

1845 - 1924

George Gershwin

American composer of jazz, opera and songs for screen and theatre, who became famous for blending classical music with jazz and popular music. Born in Brooklyn, New York, to a family of Russian immigrants, he began learning piano secretly on his own. When he was 11, his parents realised his talent and decided to give him piano lessons with a teacher who later said: "I have a new pupil who will make his mark, if anybody will. The boy is a genius". In his teen years, he dropped out of high school and began playing professionally piano. Still in his teens, he became known as one of the most talented piano players in New York. Since then, he broadened his composition skills with the help of a number of mentors and composers and when he was 18, he published his first solo piano composition as well as his first songs. Gershwin's fame was on the rise. He was composing music for musical, shows, venues and songs and in his early 20s he composed his most serious work, the "Lullaby for a String Quartet". He composed his most popular work "Rhapsody in Blue", when he was 36 in just 3-weeks time. Despite the limited time he had available to compose this work and the fact that the work was almost unfinished at its premiere, it turned out to be an enormous success. Gershwin improvised the music of the piano part while performing. Gershwin's friend Isaac Goldberg, described the composer’s personality: "He was as simple, as unaffected, as modest, and as charming a youth as one could desire to meet". And he continued "He was fond of parties, and the longer they let him sing and play, the better he liked it. Hosts and hostesses have been known to take advantage of his generosity". However, the critics afflicted Gershwin whenever he crossed the border between classical and popular music. Gershwin seemed indifferent to these critics and rarely showed emotions, but it remains a question as to whether he was actually internalising this aggression around him which might have contributed to the development of his serious health condition. At 38, he started having severe headaches and neurological symptoms and was diagnosed with brain tumour. He died in surgery. In his short but prolific career, he composed many popular works and songs for Broadway and Hollywood but also for orchestra, blending jazz, blues and pop with classical music.

1898 - 1937

Philip Glass

American composer and pianist, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the late 20th century. His work is associated with minimalism, being built up by repetitive phrases and shifting layers. He grew up in Baltimore, US, where he was exposed to all music genres at his father's radio repair shop. His father would also often bring home recordings of modern music, asking his children to explain why they weren’t selling, so Glass was stimulated since his early years in exploring music. He then went on to study at the University of Chicago and the Juilliard School. Dissatisfied with the modern music of his time, he moved to Europe, to explore new music terrains, where he studied with the legendary pedagogues and musicians, especially the Indian composer Ravi Shankar who was a turning point for him. He returned to New York in 1967 and formed the "Philip Glass Ensemble"– seven musicians playing keyboards and a variety of woodwinds, amplified and fed through a mixer. He then created a new musical style which was called “minimalism”, although Glass himself never liked this term and preferred to speak of himself as a composer of “music with repetitive structures”. His music was experimental and unconventional for the 60's and 70's and came to have an increasing appeal to younger audiences through its repetitiveness, the use of amplified instruments and the tendency for a loud driving beat. Through his operas, symphonies and collaborations with artists ranging from Woody Allen to David Bowie, Philip Glass has had a great impact upon the musical life of modern times. His operas - “Einstein on the Beach,” “Satyagraha,” “Akhnaten,” and “The Voyage,” among many others – are being played throughout the world’s leading concert places. Film music was also a particular focus of Glass’s compositions By the early 21st century, he had produced scores for some four dozen films, notably the dramas "The Hours", "The Truman Show", "Notes on a Scandal", the documentaries "A Brief History of Time" and "The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life" of Robert S. McNamara.

1937

Charles Gounod

Charles Gounod, French composer famous for his "Ave Maria", based on a work by Bach, and his operas "Faust" and "Romeo and Juliet", focused mostly on operas and religious music. His mother being a pianist, he was immersed into music and composition early in life and then began studies at the Paris Conservatory where he won a prize for one of his compositions. When he was 20, he left Italy to study religious music, for which he was passionate. This passion also led him to consider becoming a priest, something which he later abandoned as a thought, although later in life he returned to his early religious impulses, writing much sacred music. As a person, he was often prey to frequent attacks of severe guilty religious conscience, psychosomatic illnesses, and even nervous breakdowns over his relationships and actions. His opera "Faust" became very successful, however it was controversial as some critics believed it was not his own work, being far more sophisticated than Gounod's prior works. One critic was also challenged for a duel when he stated this belief in public, which he withdrew afterwards. Gounod admired Bach and believed that the "The Well-Tempered Clavier", a collection of music pieces (preludes and fugues) written by Bach, was "the unquestioned textbook of musical composition". He composed the famous "Ave Maria" by putting a second theme over Bach's Prelude No 1 of the "Well-Tempered Clavier", although he did not consider this music a major work of his career as it was basically Bach's composition.

1818 - 1893

Edvard Grieg

Norwegian composer and pianist, best known for becoming one of the leaders of Scandinavian music, with a great influence on future composers. His most widely known works are "Piano Concerto in A Minor" and "Peer Gynt". He was born into a family that encouraged his early musical studies and provided the necessary musical background for him to flourish: his mother was known as the best piano teacher in Norway and many musicians visited the family, one of which had persuaded Edvard Grieg's parents to send him off to Liepzig Conservatory in Germany. He went to study music in Leipzig when he was a teenager. After graduating, he spent his time in Denmark where he married his cousin, Nina. Their daughter, Alexandra, died at the age of one and Edvard wrote after the funeral: "But thank God, if one has something to live for, one does not easily fall apart; and art surely has—more than many other things—this soothing power that allays all sorrow!". The distinctive feature of his music is the reconciliation of classical music with Norwegian folk influences. Grieg once said: "The traditional way of life of the Norwegian people, together with Norwegian legends, history and national history, stamped itself on my creative imagination". He became a great champion of Norwegian music, art and theatre. He described his music in the following terms : "Artists like Bach and Beethoven erected churches and temples and ethereal heights. I want to build 'homes' for people in which they can be happy and contended". The 'homes' Grieg built were few. Many criticised him for his limited number of works. But others, like the influential Liszt, encouraged Grieg to follow his instincts. The support provided by Liszt and the dramatist and theatre director Bjonson, helped Grieg to establish a type of Norwegian national music movement. He died of lung and heart failure, which was the final stage of a poor health from which he was suffering throughout his life due to a tuberculosis infection during his childhood. After he died, Grieg’s music came to be considered old-fashioned, but his influence was particularly apparent on the French composers of the early 20th century.

1843 - 1907

George Frederic Handel

Born in the same year as Bach, Handel was a German composer and organist producing nearly 50 operas and 30 oratorios (large-scale musical compositions on a sacred or semi-sacred subject). The "Messiah", "Sarabande", "Water Music", "Solomon" and "Xerxes" are the most famous of his works. At an early age, although he showed great talent, he was not allowed by his father to study music as it would not provide him the financial means to live. Handel had to sneak a small keyboard at the loft of his house to secretly practice without his father knowing it. As a result of his father's pressure, he agreed to study law but later on he changed path and dedicated himself entirely to music. During the course of his musical career, Handel suffered stress and depressions, yet he remained committed to music by fighting all adversities in his life. Even when he suffered a stroke in his 50s, which impaired the movement of his right hand, he continued composing and restarted playing the organ. Handel was severely overweight, a rarity for the period that he lived, suffering from an "extraordinary appetite". Overeating combined with drinking led to lead poisoning which in turn caused serious health problems. At the end of his life, he experienced debilitating cataracts, and the operations to restore his vision left him completely blind, just as was the case for Bach. Despite this adversity, Handel maintained a keen sense of humour and continued donating money to charitable organisations, for which he was so well known.

1685 - 1759

Joseph Haydn

One of the most productive and renowned composers of his period, also playing violin and keyboard, recognised today as the father of the modern symphony and the string quartet. His music has defined the classical period of music. By one estimate, he composed over 340 hours of music, more than Mozart, Beethoven, Handel or Bach. Two of his most important pieces are "The Creation", composed when he was 56, where he "tested the boundaries of classical music" by escaping existing rules in the classical music world, and "The Seasons". He also wrote the tune for the German and Austrian national anthems. Born to a financially modest family in an Austrian village, his father realised the young boy's early talent and sent him, when he was 6, to live with relatives with musical ties and the ability to provide him musical education. When he was 15, he became a freelancer musician. As his skills increased, he began to acquire public reputation and acquired aristocratic sponsoring. Haydn's most well known student was Beethoven (although Beethoven is believed to have said that "I learned nothing from Haydn") and his music style has influenced the music of his current and subsequent composers, including Mozart, with whom there was a musical esteem and strong friendship. But unlike Mozart, Haydn made a lot of money from his work and lived for a very long time. Haydn was a hard worker and a humble man, but apart from his music, he was also well known for his pranks. In one of his pranks, when he was 16 and had been told that he was to leave the choir, as his voice was beginning to break, he decided to cut the pigtail off from the boy in front of him. His success in music did not match success in his personal life. As he didn't marry the woman he loved, he married her sister and they were never happy together. In 1791, he accepted an invitation to England to conduct new symphonies. London became an influential for him place, where he also became highly appreciated by the public through his public appearances.

1732 - 1809

Franz Liszt

Hungarian pianist and composer, renowned for his influence and innovation in musical form, harmony and structure. His most important works are the "Hungarian Rhapsodies", "Mephisto Waltz", his piano concertos and "Liebestraum". Liszt's talent was recognised early by Salieri, Mozart's proponent, who offered to teach him for free. His father, who played the cello and other musical instruments, passionately taught him music lessons and travelled with him to Vienna and Paris to help him enrich his music education. With the help he received from Salieri and his father, Liszt became a virtuoso pianist and from an early age he started touring around Europe, giving concerts which had a significant impact and aroused great admiration. Liszt became the piano "rock star" of his time. Women adored him to the point of literally attacking him. "We hear about women throwing their clothes onto the stage and taking his cigar butts and placing them in their cleavages," says Stephen Hough, a world-renowned concert pianist. His fame in society had reached unprecedented scale, thanks to his good looks and virtuosity. "Liszt was a very dynamic personality," Hough says. "He was someone who seduced people — not just in a sexual way, but in a dramatic way. He was someone who, like a great speaker, was able to capture an audience". His virtuosity and strength of playing the piano usually destroyed the pianos, so in his concerts he usually required 2 pianos, as the first was likely to be destroyed during his performance. Gerstein, a renowned pianist says “He was possibly the greatest pianist that has ever lived,” and he continues “a composer of revolutionary works that exerted pivotal influence on those that followed – also a great teacher, humanist and possibly the nicest of the great musicians.” One of Liszt's greatest music achievements was the creation of the "symphonic poem", an orchestral music work which illustrated a poem, a story or a painting , much like opera but not sung. Liszt had religious and philosophical aspirations throughout his life. At the end of his life, despite his popularity and scandalous personal life (such as having a relationship with a married woman who bore 3 children by him), Liszt decided to devote himself to religion.

1811 - 1886

Gustav Mahler

Austrian Jewish composer and conductor, who became famous for his emotional and subtly orchestrated symphonies. Although his music was largely ignored for 50 years after his death and he was primarily considered an outstanding conductor (and not a composer), Mahler was later regarded as an important forerunner of 20th-century techniques of composition. Born in Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) and into an Austrian Jewish family, he was the second from 14 children. He began singing and composing at the age of 4, and 4 years after he discovered a piano in his grandmother's attic, he was already considered a musical wonder kid. He then joined the Vienna Conservatory, started his career by conducting in provincial opera houses and in his 30s became the musical director of the Vienna Court Opera, a job for which he had to convert from Judaism to Catholicism. Later on, at the beginning of the 20th century, he became director of New York's Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic. Mahler’s work ethic was characterised by perfectionism, something that made him unpopular among the musicians of the orchestras he directed, while he was known for his authoritarianism. As a composer, he composed 10 symphonies of large scale and very emotional character, many times focused on death and life after death. Being a Jew, born in Bohemia and living in Austria, Mahler never felt accepted. He had once said: " I am thrice homeless, as a native of Bohemia in Austria, as an Austrian among Germans, and as a Jew throughout the world. Everywhere an intruder, never welcomed". Many of his works (over 100) have been used in cinema and television, the most famous example being the 4th movement of his Symphony 5 in Visconti's film "Death in Venice". Today, his symphonies are considered as very important, linking the romantic style of the 19th century with the modernism of the 20th.

1868 - 1911

Arturo Marquez

Prominent Mexican contemporary composer of orchestral music who incorporates latin American styles in his works. He was born to a musical family, so he was exposed to several music styles from early age. In his teens, he moved with his family to Los Angeles. He started composing at the age of 16 and then attended the Mexican Music Conservatory in the 1990s. In Mexico he started frequenting the city's dance halls where he discovered the "danzón" which incorporates Mexican style in a classical form of music. He composed 8 "danzónes", inspired by the Cuban dance of the same name, which earned him wide recognition in Mexico and later on around the globe. His music is now being performed worldwide and he has composed numerous works for films and dances.

1950

Pietro Mascagni

Italian operatic composer, one of the principal of melodramatic opera (verism), often with violent plots and characters drawn from everyday life. Mascagni decided to become a composer despite his father's opposition who wanted him to become a judge and studied at the conservatory at Milan, but, unable to submit to the discipline of his master, he left to join a traveling opera company. In 1889, he won the first prize in a competition with "Cavalleria Rusticana", based on a Sicilian melodrama, which overshadowed all of his ensuing works. At the end of his life, Pietro Mascagni said "It is a pity I wrote Cavalleria first, for I was crowned before I became a king". In 1932, he joined Mussolini's Fascist Party, and in 1935 he conducted his new opera, which was to be his last, "Nerone", written to the glory of Mussolini. On August 2, 1945 Mascagni died in general indifference by the public. Yet with "Cavalleria Rusticana" he laid the foundations of verism, and gave to Italian opera some of his most famous arias that the greatest singers will include in their repertoire.

1863 - 1945

Felix Mendelssohn

German composer, pianist and conductor who contributed a lot to the music of the romantic period, and revived other composers' works, such as Bach's and Handel's, although he has not received as much attention as other composers of this period. His best works include the "Italian Symphony", "A Midsummer Night’s Dream", "Scottish Symphony", "Hebrides Overture", "Songs Without Words", and his "Violin Concerto". A very clever and talented child, Mendelssohn excelled not only in music but also painting, poetry and athletics. The fact that he was born into a wealthy and prominent family, having connections with the intellectual elite of Berlin, helped him promote his work from an early age. During childhood, he composed 11 symphonies and around 5 operas. And a few years later, when he was only 16, he composed one of his famous orchestral works, the "Overture to Midsummer Night's Dream". When he was almost 20, he started travelling to Europe and these journeys inspired him a lot in his compositions. When he was 33, he created the Liepzig Conservatory, which still exists today. Mendelssohn's style was conservative. He was not on the same musical page as innovators like Liszt or Berlioz. He even expressed in his letters his disappointment for these composers. In the words of Friedrich Nietzsche, Mendelssohn was the composer of a music that "always points behind". However, although he did not break frontiers and explore new territories in music, he revitalised and brought prominence to the music by Bach and Handel and ultimately brought these composers to our radars. When he was 20, he organised and conducted a performance of Bach's "St. Matthew's Passion" and the success of his performance contributed to the revival of Bach's music in Germany and eventually throughout Europe. In later years, he spent plenty of time in England, where he became very well-known and influential. His stable family environment might have contributed to the fact that he also created a stable and happy family of 5 children, also being a happy and good natured person. He was very attached with his eldest sister Fanny, a very well-known pianist and amateur composer, to such extent that one could not live without the other. When she died, he lost his zest for life and died a few months later from multiple strokes, which was the same cause of death for Fanny, their parents, and their grandfather as well.

1809 - 1847

Ennio Morricone

Italian composer and conductor, considered one of the most influential composers in the 20th century. He has produced more than 100 classical works and has scored more than 500 films (comedies, historical dramas and thrillers), the most famous ones being "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", "A Fistful of Dollars", "Once Upon a Time in America", "The Mission", "The Untouchables", and "Cinema Paradiso". Born in Rome, Morricone followed his father's footsteps, who was a jazz trumpeter, by learning the instrument as a child, also writing short compositions by the time he was 6. Later, he became passionate with composing classical pieces but in order to make a living, he began composing background music for radio drama and films. In his early career, he composed music for "spaghetti" Westerns, directed by Sergio Leone, with whom they were old school classmates and friends. The work that won him most recognition at that time was the creative blend of music and innovative sound effects that he dared for the 1960s western movies: buzzing flies, sign creaking in the wind, or imposing lush strings. His creativity in all these movies was astonishing. With very little budget, Morricone used electric guitars and sound effects to punctuate the action on screen. According to director Edgar Wright, Morricone "could make an average movie into a must-see, a good movie into art, and a great movie into legend". " "The Ecstasy of Gold" from the film "the Good, the Bad and the Ugly" was one of the composer's biggest hits and was later used in concert by the rock bands "Ramones" and "Metallica". Later in life, as western movies became less and less popular, he created some more emotional music. His score for the film "The Mission" was described as so emotional that rather than complementing the film, it overwhelmed it. "I am disturbed when people think about me as a specialist for Westerns," he once said. "They are only a relatively small percentage of the music I've written". Morricone's work was also regarded as influential in the sense that he popularised classical compositions. In 2007, he was awarded an honorary Oscar. He died recently, but his compositions are still part of our lives.

1928 - 2020

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Austrian composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist and violinist and multi-instrumentalist, recognised in his short life (he died at 35) as one of the greatest in the history of western classical music but also as a bold and "difficult" personality. He spent his first years of his life in a comfortable and happy home, much loved by his parents. He and his sister were the only two of the seven children to survive in his family. Mozart was a child prodigy: when he was 4 years old, he was playing short pieces and at 5 years he was composing music. His father had assigned himself the role of the general and musical educator of his children and was dedicated to promoting them, especially his son, by parading them around Europe. The siblings traveled to the courts of Paris, London, The Hague, and Zurich performing as child prodigies. When Mozart's sister had to stay at home as she was approaching the age of marriage, Mozart continued travelling with his father throughout Europe, meeting accomplished musicians and receiving music influences which later determined his music style. Mozart's music combines melodic beauty, vividness and perfection, all coloured by his emotional complexity. Various biographies depict Mozart as a charming and self-infatuated short man, with intense and seductive blue-eyes who gave the impression of "not being entirely present" as if his mind was in another world, imagining music all the time. Mozart was an amazingly creative artist with over 600 music works, acute human insight and complex psychology although arrogant and tactless. It was therefore inevitable that he inspired writers, historians, scholars and film-makers to explore his life. His life tells us about prodigious talent, jealousy and mysterious death, cyclothymic moods linked with manic-depressive tendencies, which could explain not only his depression but also other aspects of his behaviour, including his hectic creativity but also arrogance. According to the rumours, once, when Mozart was improvising in front of an audience he considered insufficiently attentive, he suddenly stopped playing, executed a few cartwheels, dived under the table and abruptly left. This is almost unbelievable but it is indicative of his complex personality. Mozart married Constanze Weber when he was 25, despite his father's objection to this marriage, and the couple had seven children, although only two of them survived their infancy. He died suddenly at 35 years, at the peak of his career. Despite the rumours that he was poisoned by another musician, a new study suggests he might have died from a strep infection.

1756 - 1791

Modest Mussorgsky

Russian composer and pianist, best known for his works "Paintings at an Exhibition" and "Boris Godunov". Born in a wealthy family, he was introduced into music and was taught the piano by his mother who was also a pianist. He was a promising talent, studied piano and composition at St. Petersburg Conservatory and published his first composition at 12. However, his music education was erratic. At his early 20s he was forced to take a clerical job due to the loss of the family real estate so he was composing only part-time, as he was being prepared for a military career. Mussorgsky was a complex and troubled man. Following the death of his mother, he fell into depression and became addicted to alcohol. This addiction led him into having several nervous breakdowns. In his music, Mussorgsky tried to achieve a unique Russian musical identity, in defiance of the popular convention of Western music. He was inspired by Russian folklore music and Russian traditions. He also became part and was influenced by a circle of five important at the time Russian composers, referred to as "The Five". Due to his fragile mental state, Mussorgsky did not compose many works. He died in poverty, from alcoholism. He has been described as a music genius who was however not appreciated in his lifetime, and died from his bad luck and addiction. His friend Rimsky-Korsakov was the most significant reviser of his work which has come into light only recently.

1839 - 1881

Johann Pachelbel

German composer, renowned for organ music and recognised as important composer of church and chamber music. He wrote more than 500 pieces over his lifetime. He was a close friend to the Bach family, godfather to one of Bach's sisters, and music teacher to Bach's older brother who then became Bach's teacher. Born in Nuremberg, he was noticed for his early talent, he studied music at the University of Resenburg and then occupied a post as an organist in Stuttgart and Vienna before returning to his hometown, Nuremberg, to work as the organist of the church St. Sebalduskirche and stay there until his death. Pachelbel was one of the most important composers of the southern German organ tradition and is considered the precursor of Johann Sebastian Bach, who lived a few decades later.

1653 - 1706

Arvo Part

Estonian composer of classical and religious music whose works have been widely appreciated, being also one of the most important composers for film music in Estonia in the 1960s and 1970s. His most important works are "Spiegel im Spiegel", "Te Deum", "Tabula Rasa", and "Symphony 3". Born in Paide, where he also spent his first years, he then moved to Rakvere, where he began to study piano at Rakvere Music School. In the early 60's, the reception of his music in the Soviet Union was ambiguous: on one hand, he was perceived as one of the most original and outstanding composers of his generation, whose works were also performed and acknowledged outside the USSR, but on the other, many of his works were heavily criticised. Since the 1970's, Pärt has adopted the minimalistic style in his music and employs a self-invented compositional technique called "tititnnabuli" (from the latin "bell") that has defined his work until today and influenced a large part of the contemporary composers. This technique, which reminds of the sacred music of Eastern Orthodox church, creates a duality of voices (the course and its inner logic). Pärt's style of music can also be described as music being reduced to the basic and most important, where the rhythm is simple and the melody is slowly progressing in the duality of voices, reflecting also his mentality which is the quest for the truth and beauty in life. His style was described as “holy minimalism” by one reviewer and as "neo-Baroque" by others. By fusing the medieval with the modern, Pärt has established himself as one of the world's most famous and performed living classical composers today.

1935

Astor Piazzolla

An Argentinian composer, bandoneon player, and arranger, considered the father of the "New Tango". His tango is a popularised form of tango with jazz and classical music elements, played by a full orchestra, also with new instruments which were not previously used in the tango , such as the flute, saxophone, electric guitar, electronic instruments, and drums. Born in Argentina in 1921 to poor immigrant Italian parents, Piazzolla spent most of his childhood with his family in New York City. There, he was influenced by the music he was surrounded by: classical from his music education, jazz from nearby clubs, klezmer from jewish weddings and tango from the records his father played. He also received a bandoneon as a gift from his father for his 9th birthday and became a skilful player of this instrument. He created music which incorporated all these elements (jazz, classical music, tango, klezmer, bandoneon). He returned to Argentina in his teens, where traditional tango was the most popular music heard, and played tango in night clubs. After this, he started delving into music by Stravinsky, Bartók, Ravel, and other classical composers, gave up tango temporarily and worked as a modernist classical composer. In the 1950s, he presented his new approach to the tango (New Tango), which although did not gain acceptance in Argentina, became widely accepted in Europe and North America. It is believed that his revolutionary music was the outcome of the political and social turmoil taking place in Argentina in the first half of the 20th century. In the 1970s, following the military coup in Argentina, and as Piazzolla's music was considered a symbol of revolution and disrespect for tradition, he decided to emigrate to Italy, where he created his most famous composition "Libertango". Piazzolla's music legacy has influenced the global music scene: his music was personal, yet universally accepted.

1921 - 1992

Francis Poulenc

French pianist and composer with an important contribution to French music after World War I. His compositions include almost all classical music genres, the most important being the opera "Les dialogues des Carmélites", the "Sextet" for piano, "Organ Concerto" and "Oboe Sonata". He was raised comfortably in a wealthy family and was expected to follow his father into the family pharmaceutical firm, so he was not allowed to study music, although he had started piano lessons with his mother from the age of 5. To a large extent, he was self-taught in music composition as his family did not support his becoming a musician. But following his parents' death in his late teens, he freely followed his passion in music. Poulenc was as famous for his music as for his personal life. He was an unorthodox and unconventional individual. His biographer Roger Nichols talks about Poulenc's contradictions: between heterosexuality and homosexuality, between popularity and profundity, between conservatism and modernity in music. Poulenc was described as a "half monk, half thug". After making an unsuccessful marriage, he fathered an illegitimate child with another woman, raised as his god daughter. Poulenc "adored women but loved men". He was one of the the first openly gay composers but also had relationships with women. Poulenc was also deeply affected by the death of his close friends. In 1936, following the death of his friend Pierre Feroud, he was led to the rediscovery of the Catholic faith and started composing religious music. But even then, his sacred music was quite provocative, with an impudent edge: his "Gloria" caused a scandal in church due to its irreverence. Poulenc was a member of a group of 6 young composers ("Les Six"), supported by poet Jean Cocteau. This group was committed to turning music away from formality and intellectualism to simpler composition and rejected overstated emotion in music. They wrote less somber music, with jazz tunes. But although member of this group, Poulenc wrote music which combined wittiness and seriousness, as according to a critic "behind the loughs, there was melancholy". He is considered one of the greatest melodists of the 20th century, his music combining elements of sensitivity, humour, neoclassicism, childhood nostalgia and virtuosity.

1899 - 1963

Sergei Prokofiev

Russian composer and pianist who wrote a wide range of musical genres and is recognized by most critics as one of the greatest modern composers. Prokofiev's first love was opera. He composed several operas, including "War and Piece", "The Gambler", "The Fiery Angel" and his most successful satirical one "The Love for Three Oranges". Some of his other acclaimed works are "Romeo and Juliet" and "Symphony No 1". Born in Ukraine, he was the only child in the family, was homeschooled and rarely played with the local kids, who according to his parents were “social inferiors”, a stance that that encouraged the snobbery that later characterised Prokofiev’s personality. He displayed an early talent in music, also supported by his mother who was a pianist and followed him to St. Petersburg to continue his musical education at the Conservatory. There, he was considered a musical innovator and was distinguished for his compositions, although some of them were controversial, as well as his energetic and "athletic style" performances. He looked down on the education that he received there, which he found boring, and was viewed as odd and arrogant, often rudely criticising his fellow piano students. According to Prokofiev's friend Nicholas Nabokov, Prokofiev’s rudeness “bordered on sadistic cruelty”. His compositions were difficult to perform and the audience did not appreciate them at the beginning. In a 1913 premiere, the audience reportedly left the hall with exclamations of "the cats on the roof make better music!". In the aftermath of the Russian revolution, he decided to leave Russia as he saw no opportunities for his experimental and innovative music there. He moved to the United States for 2 years, where success was limited and then moved to Paris, where he was enthusiastically received by the audiences and was influenced by the music he was exposed to and other composers he met. In the early 1930s, although he had received recognition and fame in Europe, Prokofiev returned to the Soviet Union, with the hope to take control of the music scene of his country. But there, he was forced, just like Shostakovich, to follow the governmental policies in his compositions, including officially approved lyrics and themes. Soviet culture and aesthetics at that time was a matter of control over writers and artists. Yet, some of Prokofiev's best music was written in the Soviet Union in these years and included mainly music for film and theater. In his personal life, although Prokofiev gave the impression of a family man with warm feelings for his wife, he usually abused her, as revealed by recently published letters, treated her with cruelty and finally left her for another younger woman. His death was overshadowed by Stalin's death. Prokofiev died poor and alone on the same day with Stalin and for 3 days the crowds were gathered in the Red Square to mourn Stalin so that it was impossible to move Prokofiev's body out of the funeral service.

1891 - 1953

Giacomo Puccini

The most important composer of Italian opera after Verdi, he wrote in the "verisimo" style which used characters from everyday life for opera. Some of his works, "La Boheme", "Tosca" and "Madama Butterfly" are among the most performed operas today. Coming from a family of musicians, he took organ lessons and by the age of 14 he was a freelance organist. He then entered the Milan Conservatory. His personal life was full of torments: He had an illicit relationship with the wife of a grocer, who gave birth to his child and whom he married following her husband's death. Later on, Puccini's wife, suspecting her husband of having an affair with a young servant, drove that woman to suicide, creating a scandal. A proud and elegant man on the outside, Puccini was lonely and full of doubts. "I need a friend so much, and I don’t have one [...] Only I understand myself, and this gives me grief", wrote Puccini in 1903. Puccini spent the last 5 years of his life working on "Turandot", his most ambitious opera. But as he suffered from throat cancer, he underwent an operation in Brussels and died of a heart attack before he finished his last creation.

1858 - 1924

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Brilliant Russian composer, conductor and concert pianist who was one of the last great figures of Romanticism. His works had a great impact on the music of the 20th century and he was also one of the most astonishing piano players in the history of music. He is best known for his piano concertos No 2 and No 3, "Symphony No 2" and "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini". Born in Russia to an aristocratic but also musical family, his talent was apparent from very early and he was accepted at the St. Petersburg Conservatory at the age of 9. However, he lost interest in his music studies when he was a teen and a piano instructor at the Moscow Conservatory helped him by taking Rachmaninoff "under his wings" and giving him not only rigid training but also plenty of inspiration to become a pianist with an unparalleled technique and one of the most influential composers in the 20th century. Rachmaninoff was tall, severe, moody, rarely smiled and was a very strict self-critic. He fell into a 3 year clinical depression following the negative criticism of his first piano concerto and then recovered through hypnotherapy and composed "Piano Concerto No 2", described by some as the greatest ever written. He later married his first cousin Natalya, whom she knew since childhood, although such incestuous marriage was forbidden by their religion. Following the Russian Revolution of 1918, he moved with his family to New York City, but since then, he composed a small number of original pieces, one of the reasons being that he needed to support his family, which meant giving up composing in favour of pursuing a career as a touring piano virtuoso. His piano performances were characterised as "cosmic" and "overwhelming". He is known for having one of the largest pairs of hands in classical music (he could stretch over 12 piano keys from the tip of his little finger to the tip of his thumb), this is why some of his compositions are difficult for some pianists. As a composer, Rachmaninoff was never attracted by the modernist musical trends of the early 20th century and was instead very attached to the 19th century romanticism. He had said “Melody is music and the foundation of all music. I do not appreciate composers who abandon melody and harmony for an orgy of noises and dissonances”. But while his music pleased the audiences and most of his compositions were enormously successful, music historians and critics were not impressed and considered his music as old-fashioned with "exacerbated" lyricism. As Virgil Thomson, an American composer, had once said "It is really extraordinary, after all, that a composer so famous should have enjoyed so little the esteem of his fellow composers". Following his death in 1943, his legacy was almost "written-off". But in the most recent years, his star has been rising. The passing of time has helped the world to finally appreciate Rachmaninoff's genius in creating amazing expressive and haunting music.

1873 - 1943

Maurice Ravel

French composer among the most influential of the 20th century, his major orchestral works including "Bolero", "La Valse" and "Daphnis and Chloe". Ravel was born to a father who was a Swiss inventor and a mother of Basque origin, which had a great impact on his music style. At the age of 14 he was admitted at the Paris Conservatory, where he was taking lessons with Gabriel Fauré whom he admired. However, Ravel was very outspoken and his unconventional thinking often brought him into conflict with the conservative administration of the institution, from which he was twice suspended. It is believed that his failure to win the conservatory's main composition prize (the Prix de Rome), in five attempts between 1900 and 1905, causing a press scandal, was due to his conflict with the conservatory. Ravel created rich, tuneful and very engaging music. Influenced by French Baroque, American jazz and Spanish folklore music (due to his Spanish origins), his music is considered playful, full of innocence and clarity. Although he composed fewer works than most of his contemporaries, he was very meticulous in his compositions, paying extreme attention to details. He was especially gifted as an orchestrator to such degree that he was orchestrating other composers' work, including his 1922 version of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition". In his personal life, Ravel remained a complete mystery. “The only love affair I have ever had was with music,” he once said. Ravel admired Debussy and considered him a "genius of great individuality". The two men were friends and had a mutual respect although Debussy was about 20 years older. However, the two men ceased to be on friendly terms in the beginning of the 1900s for various reasons, including personal. The result was the creation of two rival camps, as each composer had his own fans and supporters, which were disputing for details concerning the style and influence of each composer's work. In 1932, his injury in an automobile accident marked his physical decline that resulted in memory loss and an inability to communicate. He died in 1937, following brain surgery. In spite of leaving behind important compositions, Ravel is unfortunately remembered for an orchestration of another composer's work and not so much for his own works.

1857 - 1937

Max Richter

German-British composer considered as one of the most important post-minimalist musicians and an indisputable figure of neo-classical music. Born in 1966 in Hamelin, Germany, this prolific composer succeeds in reaching a wide public through his music, by approaching various musical fields, as evidenced by his numerous works for soloists but also his compositions for the stage and the screen. For Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island", Richter remixes the song "Bitter Earth" under the title "On the Nature of Daylight". Richter also carries out projects for ballet and opera and generally stage creations. One of his most famous works is the recomposition of the Four Seasons. Richter acquired his musical foundations in classical music. He started piano and composition at the University of Edinburgh, then at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Following his studies, he co-founded with other colleagues at the University of Edinburgh, the "Piano Circus Ensemble", with which he spent the next 10 years performing minimalistic works of composers such as Arvö Pärt, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Julia Wolfe and others. During the 1990s, he explored horizons beyond classical music, notably folk music and punk. His style is based on the meeting between his classical music education, electronic music, punk and psychedelic music. In his music, he takes repetitive musical figures to which he adds an expressive and emotional aspect (post-minimalism) and uses musical sources from the past (neo-classicism) as well as electronic tools, computers and synthesisers.

1966

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

A Russian composer who has been inspired by the Russian folklore and has had great impact on music of the 19th century, but whose music, apart from some rare pieces who have become very popular, remains to a great extent unknown today. His work includes mainly operas and generally music which meant to tell a story. His most famous music composition is "The Flight of the Bumblebee", which is part of his opera "The Tale of Tsar Saltan". He was also a member of "The Five", a group of five prominent 19th century Russian composers who played an important role in the development of nationalistic style of classical music. Born to a musical family, his talent was recognised early, however his passion for music was not strong enough, so he went to the naval academy to study. While he was a naval officer, travelling around the world, his love for opera gradually brought him closer to music and composition and he began to create his own compositions. He decided to become a composer, after having met Balakirev, the leader of a group of young composers. At the beginning of his musical career, he was considered a talented but not so focused composer but after a while he started composing operas and orchestrating the works of other composers. He composed his first symphony, and the operas "Sadko" and "The Maid of Psov" while working in the navy. At the age of 27, he became a professor of composition and orchestration at the Conservatory of St. Petersburg, where he realised his own shortcomings, so he dedicated himself in enriching his musical education and further improving his skill. In his decades at the conservatory, Korsakov taught many composers who would later become internationally famous, such as Sergei Prokofiev and Igor Stravinsky. Korsakov's legacy goes far beyond his compositions and his teaching career: his orchestrations of other composers' works are significant, although he has been criticised of "overcorrecting" these works.

1844 - 1908

Gioachino Rossini

One of the most acclaimed composers of operas, especially comic ones, his most important works being "The Barber of Seville", "William Tell, "The Thieving Magpie". Born in Italy to a trumpeter father and a singer mother, Rossini spent his early childhood in the theatres. He studied at Bologna's Philharmonic School and composed his first opera at the age of 14. In the first half of his life, he was very productive by composing nearly 40 operas until the age of 38. Rossini was very popular at his time. He produced memorable music with inventive, colourful and nicely flowing melodies, which were very attractive to the public. He had earned the nickname "The Italian Mozart". Even Beethoven, with a completely different music style, praised him. He also had the reputation of composing very quickly, and this allowed him to always be on the spotlight as he was producing operas very frequently. As Philip Gossett, an American musicologist has said: "No composer in the first half of the 19th century enjoyed the measure of prestige, wealth, popular acclaim or artistic influence that belonged to Rossini". However, he was often criticised for his works being prepared in such short times and therefore being a little "sloppy". According to the legend, he had once said "Give me a laundry list and I will set it to music". Although Rossini was known for his jovial personality, he suffered from depression which deteriorated in his 40s, so he retired from the music scene quite early.

1792 - 1868

Camille Saint Saëns

Gifted pianist, organist and composer as well as poet and writer of essays and plays. St. Saëns was generally not a pioneer in music, but wrote some beautiful scores such as the "Piano Concerto No. 2", "Symphony No. 3", the symphonic poem "Danse Macabre", the opera "Samson et Dalila", and probably his most widely performed work, "The Carnival of The Animals". Probably the most remarkable child prodigy in the history of music, the young Saint Saëns could read, write and play piano by the age of 2. At 7, he was giving his first concerts as a pianist and an organist. When he was 10, he made his public debut by playing one of Beethoven's 32 sonatas from memory. By his early 20s, he had gained the admiration of Liszt, Rossini and Gounod for his composition skills. His music style was traditional and he embodied the classical period of music, despite living in the era of Romantic music creativity. But although his music style was traditional, his compositions were original. Music was not the only field where St. Saëns excelled as a composer, pianist and organist. He was also an author of musical, scientific and historical topics, a literature critic and a multilingual and seemed to be an expert in mathematics, astronomy and philosophy. He also travelled and wrote about his travelling before spending his last years in Algeria. Saint-Saëns could sightread scores of tremendous complexity perfectly at first sight. The legend has that Wagner was stupefied when Saint-Saëns played through several of his epic operatic music at the piano as though they were the easiest task on earth. His marriage was a complete failure and marked the saddest chapter of his life. His 2 children died with 6 weeks difference the one from the other and the marriage ended a few years later, after St. Saëns blamed his wife for this drama. Despite his many talents and brilliant mind, and the fact that he inspired and influenced many music students and French composers, his many creations did not gain much popularity, with the exception of a few works, notably "The Carnival of Animals" and "Symphony 3".

1833 - 1921

Erik Satie

French composer and pianist who was barely known at the time of his death, beyond the limits of Paris. He later became known through his three pieces "Gymnopedies" (1888). He is recognised today as the founder of modernism in music, which strongly influenced the direction of 20th-century French music. However, his "eccentric" music ideas were not appreciated until a few years before his death. As a child, Satie showed an interest in music and began taking piano lessons from a local church organist named Vinot but while he progressed during this period, he did not show any exceptional talent. In 1879, he enrolled in the Paris Conservatory but was expelled after 2.5 years for being a lazy student whose compositions were uninspiring. His novel music ideas for a simpler classical music were not appreciated by his teachers at the Conservatory. He then joined the military but he found the life there unbearable and started searching for reasons to be dismissed from the army. He deliberately caught severe bronchitis by moving about bare-chested in the cold winter air and after a period he was discharged from the military. Following the military, he started a bohemian life and became associated with a number of religious and philosophical organisations, also beginning his career as a pianist and continuing to compose (writing most of his pieces in cafés). His belief as to the way classical music should be used was coined in the term "furniture music", meaning pieces that could be played as part of our everyday life without any need to concentrate on them. His idea was that of "New Simplicity", meaning repetitive and steady rhythms, reminiscent of ancient cult dances. As biographer Rovi Staff says, "his melodies are melancholic and hesitant, his moods exotic or humorous, and his compositions as a whole, or their several constituent episodes, short". He became famous at the age of 45, when Maurice Ravel and his good friend Claude Debussy played his works. His music being simple and clear, it influenced other contemporary artists such as Francis Poulenc, Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy. He helped create the famous group of French composers "Les Six" which was inspired by his artistic ideal of simplicity in the extreme and was against the heavy German romanticism of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.

1866 - 1925

Franz Schubert

Austrian composer, pianist, violinist and teacher who produced a spectacular number of musical masterpieces (mostly songs and short piano pieces) despite his early death at 31. His work rate was unprecedented: only in 1815, he wrote 140 pieces (including 8 in just 1 day). Described by Liszt as “the most poetic of composers”, Schubert composed some of the most memorable music pieces, such as the "4 Impromptus, Op.90, D899", "Piano Trio No.2 in E Flat Major, Op.100, D929", "Piano Sonata No.21 in B Flat Major, D960", and "Winterreise 911". He was the son of a Viennese school master who taught his son the basics in music and cultivated his love of music. His talent was then spotted by the composer Salieri (the wrongly presumed Mozart's murderer) who encouraged his family to enrol him in a boarding music school and taught him musical theory. Initially Schubert became a teacher and by the time he was 20, he started composing. Around that time, his music started becoming famous in Vienna. Concert parties called Schubertiaden flourished around the city. Beethoven is said to have looked into some of the younger man’s works and exclaimed, “Truly, the spark of divine genius resides in this Schubert!" However, it was only after Schubert's death that his musical genius received the wide international recognition that it deserved. Schubert was an introvert and shy person and suffered from mood swings. In his mid 20s, he contracted syphilis and became seriously ill. Despite this, he stayed committed to his music and continued to produce impressive work, in both quantity and quality. However, especially during the last years of his life, as he was staring death in the face, his music bears some melancholy. "Cheerful music? I don't know any cheerful music!" he wrote once. And another time he wrote, "I am the most unhappy and miserable person in this world… my health will never improve, and in such despair, things will only become worse instead of better…”. Schubert left behind him legendary melodies and beautiful harmonies. As the famous pianist Andràs Schiff confirms "There are really those goose bumps with Schubert". For Schiff, Schubert's music is a mystery: death and life, lovely and gloomy moods are so closely intertwined. His music is actually like songs without words. And although Schubert's compositions do not have the technical development and virtuosic style of other composers' music, his emotional expression through his music is extremely developed. Today, he is one of the most frequently performed composers of the early 19th century.

1797 - 1828

Robert Schumann

Schumann is regarded as one of the most important composers of the romantic period but also equally important music commentator, journalist and essayist. His most famous works are his "Piano Concerto", "Carnaval", "Symphony No3" and "Dichterliebe"(a Poet's love). Brought up in a literary family (his father was a novelist), his early passion was to become a poet. He was 10 when he began his piano lessons, and then his enthusiasm for music came to match his love for literature, but he was discouraged by his family to follow a music career and was urged to study law. He finally enrolled in the university as a law student to receive his father's inheritance, as this was set as a condition in the will, but soon became a piano student of Friedrich Wieck (whose daughter Clara, a virtuoso pianist, he eventually married) and opted out of law. He fought with his teacher over his training and his relationship with Clara and as a result he started suffering from recurring depression episodes. As a result of a weakness in his right hand (most probably due to his improper piano practicing), he had to abandon his dream of becoming a virtuoso pianist so he became a music critic and developed on to a very competent composer. He also co-founded one of the most important for that period musical publications and wrote many articles himself. His life and work were influenced by 2 opposite forces: his love for Clara and his mental disorder. His marriage with Clara, which happened following a lawsuit they both filed against her father who opposed to this marriage, became a source of inspiration for him. He was however suffering from bipolar disorder and delusional ideas of being poisoned or threatened with metallic items. After a suicide attempt, he was admitted in a mental asylum, where he was diagnosed with psychotic melancholia and died shortly afterwards.

1810 - 1856

Dimitri Shostakovich

One of Russia's most acclaimed but also most debated composers, with many inventive works such as the legendary "Symphony 7", "Piano Concerto No 2", "The Gadfly", "Symphony 5" and the "JazzSuites". As a kid, Shostakovich did not manifest some early talent and had a normal childhood. He learned to play the piano from his pianist mother and eventually became an awarded pianist. Born in pre-revolutionary Russia, he lived through the 1917 revolution and the aftermath and began composing in the mid 1920s. His music often brought him in conflict with the Soviet communistic regime as he often defied the governmental rules of how music should sound like; he was often denounced by the Soviet regime and his music censored. It was like Shostakovich walking on a stretched rope, risking his life and freedom through his compositions. Throughout his life, Soviet censors were looking for the meaning behind his music to understand whether he was pro-Soviet or anti-Soviet. We may never know the answer to this question. But if we believe the memoirs of Shostakovich, published under the title "Testimony" by his friend musicologist Solomon Volkov, Shostakovich was an anti-Soviet, and what he was unable to express through words, he expressed through his music, sometimes lyrical but other times mocking and ironic. One of Shostakovich's most important compositions is Symphony 7 or "Leningrad Symphony", which was the masterpiece which gave him international recognition not only for its musical qualities but also for its immense historical value, as it was literally composed while Leningrad was under siege by the Germans. Shostakovich was among the civilians and helped to put out fires during bombardments while composing his seventh symphony. Through its sounds, the symphony dramatises and immortalises the German invasion and creates images for allied resistance and final victory. It therefore became a symbol of resistance to fascism and totalitarianism and is a testament of the death of 27 million Soviet people during World War II. Shostakovich was usually very nervous, always fidgeting and twitching his face nervously. He was also shy, as he hated having to talk to people he did not know. In his personal life, following the death of his first wife, Nina, with whom he fathered 2 children, he married two more times. His music is a kind of a melting pot, as he was mixing not only classical music with other music styles, such as jazz, but also elements of different music periods, as well as instruments you might not expect in the orchestra, such as the use of four saxophones, guitar and accordion. His compositions included not only complex works but also many film scores and popular culture music. It is for this reason that Shostakovich's music has received a lot of criticism for its lack of depth and quality. But in the last 20 years, there has been a growing wave of enthusiasm and recognition for his music. One thing is sure about Shostakovich's music: it told stories, although we are not always sure what these stories are.

1906 - 1975

Jean Sibelius

Finnish composer, whose music and genius have played an important role in shaping the Finnish identity and in influencing future generations of musicians. His most important works are "Symphony No 5", "Kullervo", "Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 47", "Finlandia" and "Karelia Suite". Born to a cultivated middle class in Finland, he showed early promise as a composer and violinist and although his initial intentions were to study law, he finally devoted himself to music. At the conservatory, his "first choice" was to become a soloist violinist but following a loss of confidence, he abandoned the idea and focused on his "second choice" of becoming a composer. In his 20s, he went to study in Vienna where he got the first ideas of his symphony "Kullervo" which established him as a major composer in Finland. His works during the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century had nationalistic character and elevated him to a national hero in Finland, when the country was still under the control of Russia and was searching for a new national identity of its own. In his music, he successfully captured Finnish legends, history and nature for which he had a great admiration. He therefore became an important influential figure in the independence of Finland in 1917 and in the development of its musical but also broader culture. He adored nature, he was a romantic nature lover and incorporated many of its elements in his compositions. In an interview in 1948, Sibelius offered the following advice to young musicians: "Never write a superfluous note; every note must live". He applied this principle in his own works, which are still shining in the music world and are among the most influential of the kind. In his final years, he was recognised as one of the greatest composers of his age, with his music being played everywhere. He died at 91, almost 50 years after being diagnosed and treated with throat cancer.

1865 - 1957

Richard Strauss

German composer, pianist, violinist and conductor of symphonic poems (piece of orchestral music which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape) and operas and some pieces for solo instruments with orchestra. He is best known for the symphonic poem "Also Sprach Zaratustra" ("Thus Spoke Zarathustra") which was used as the musical score in the 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey". His father being a musician, Richard Strauss was taught music since the age of 4 and by the age of 6 he had already composed his first pieces while by the age of 18 he had composed around 140 works. In his early 20s, he became musical director of the german town Meininged and then of the Munich Court Opera. Strauss dedicated himself to symphonic poem compositions, also inspired by other composers, such as Richter and Wagner, and his experiences from his travelling. As his fame expanded, after the composition of "Don Juan", "Death and Transfiguration" and "Macbeth" , his international recognition came with "Thus Spoke Zarathustra". During World War I, his compositions shed light on the real value of his music and following the war, he founded the Salzburg Festival to alleviate the social pain, associated with the war outcome, by enriching the cultural scene of the country. During the nazi regime, his image was used by the nazi propaganda for its benefit, thus damaging his reputation. He was appointed, without his consent, to the State Music Bureau and was commissioned to write the Olympic Hymn for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Today, he is one of the most-performed opera composers in the world although he frequently depreciated himself. He once said "I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer". The famous pianist Glenn Gould described Strauss as "the greatest musical figure who has lived in the century."

1864 - 1949

Igor Stravinsky

Russian born composer whose work and musical thought created a new perspective in music and influenced many future composers. His compositions, most importantly the "Rite of Spring", the "Firebird" and "Petrushka", " were the first early examples of modernism in music. Although born into a family with musical, literary and theatrical background, which left a mark on him and influenced his thinking, he did not show as early music talent. He studied Law and Philosophy and it is during his academic studies that he realized he had an inclination for composing. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov helped him develop his aptitude by becoming his mentor and using his networks to get his students' work performed. As a result, Stravinsky's fame started growing. His premiere of the "Firebird" in 1910 established him as one of the most talented young composers. A few years later, just before World War I, he composed the "Rite of Spring" whose premiere was probably the most scandalous performance in the musical history, by provoking a public outcry. The music was so provocative and daring and the choreography so original and unusual that the music could barely be heard from the loudness of the crowd's cheers, yells and arguments. In 1905, Stravinsky married his first cousin, Katya, despite the Church's opposition to marriage between first cousins. After the outbreak of World War I, he lived with his family in Switzerland. In 1920, he moved to France where he met another woman, Vera, and led a double life, dividing his time between the two women. Later in his life, following the death of his wife and daughter from tuberculosis, he moved to the US in 1939, where he married Vera. During his absence from the Soviet Union, the Russian Revolution broke all ties between him and Russia so Stravinsky tried to fill this gap by incorporating Russian folklore elements in his music. Following his death in 1971, the New York Philharmonic musical director Pierre Boulez said: "Something radically new, even foreign to Western tradition, had to be found for music to survive and to enter our contemporary era. The glory of Stravinsky was to have belonged to this extremely gifted generation and to be one of the most creative of them all".

1882 - 1971

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

The most popular and first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. He established himself with the "Piano Concerto No 1" but his collective body of work constitutes a great number of pieces, some of which are among the most popular theatrical music pieces in the classical repertoire, such as the famous "Swan Lake", the "Nutcracker" and the "Sleeping Beauty". Grown up in a middle class family with many children, he was sent to a boarding school at 9, which was a desperate moment for him. Although he displayed an early passion for music, none of his teachers detected an early talent. Later, his parents wanted him to work in the civil service and Tchaikovsky honoured his parents' wishes by working in the Ministry of Justice for 4 years during which, however, he became increasingly captivated with music at his free time. He then decided to give up his promising career as a civil servant to dedicate himself to music. When he was 21, he started taking music lessons at the Russian Musical Society, and a few months later he enrolled in the conservatory, at a quiet late age considering his enormous success as a composer later in his life. He would eventually develop into one of the most important composers of the 20th century, to a great extent because of the influence of two pianists, the brothers Rubinstein (Anton and Nikolai) who however often criticised his music. Nikolai Rubinstein helped a lot to promote Tchaikovsky's music and conducted the premieres of almost every orchestral composition that Tchaikovsky had written. A refined, gracious and caring man, as described by his friends, Tchaikovsky suffered from depression throughout his life, following his mother's death when he was 14, but also the death of his very close friend Nikolai Rubinstein. His life tells us the tragedy of hiding ourselves. He tried for years to repress his homosexuality, which was socially unacceptable at that time, so he married a young music student, but the marriage was a catastrophe, with Tchaikovsky abandoning his wife 2 months after the wedding. His guilt had brought him into despair and he had attempted to commit suicide a few times. In a letter to his younger brother Modest, also homosexual, Tchaikovsky confided: "I find that our conditions are for both of us the greatest and most insurmountable obstacle to happiness". At the latest stage of his relatively short life, the spreading of the rumour of his homosexuality beyond Russian borders, affected in a negative way the acceptance of his music in Europe and America. Contrary to the past when his music had been received with wide acclaim, it was judged to be overly sentimental, full of imperfections and even "pathological", following the scandal of his homosexuality. He died at the age of 53, officially from cholera, but there is evidence that he actually committed suicide.

1840 - 1893

Giuseppe Verdi

Italian composer of many successful operas in the 19th century, known for his skill to combine beautiful melody with the theatrical effect. Verdi's masterpieces, such as "La Traviata", "Falstaff" and "Aida", still dominate the operatic repertoire and Verdi is still the most performed operatic composer around the world. Born in the difficult times of the Napoleonic wars in Italy or France (as international boundaries were shifting at that time), his musical talent was realized early. He was enrolled in a musical school in a nearby town and then, when he was 20, he went to Milano where he studied opera and concert music with private tutors as he was not admitted to the conservatory due to his older age. In his youth, he suffered from crippling family dramas. He married early, at the age of 20, but his wife died of encephalitis very young and their children also died in infancy. Verdi was devastated by the loss of his family and struggled to find the strength to continue composing. Helped by his friends, he stood on his feet and during the following 16 years he composed a great number of operas. Later, he eventually remarried with a renowned soprano. During his middle years, Verdi became a national idol and a prominent figure in the Italian politics. His music and personality deeply influenced the Italian culture and history. He composed the operas that are considered today as the greatest of all time ("Aida", "La Traviata", "Nabucco") and which became powerful tools used by proponents of the Italian unification. Many of his opera performances were used by the supporters of Victor Emmanuel to shout "Viva Verdi" as a code name for a secret unification message (the name "Verdi" was used as an acronym for "Vittorio Emmanuele Re D'Italia"). In 1861, Victor Emmanuel became the king of Italy and during the next 4 years Verdi entered politics and became elected in the Italian parliament. He eventually returned to composing a few years before his death. Verdi's operas are full of emotion and their characters are quite complex personalities. To someone who was failing to grasp this complexity, he once wrote: "In the subjects proposed by you … I do not find all the variety that my crazy brain desires". Verdi refused to follow any previous music rules and, instead, he created his own style by trusting his inspiration. He left behind him legendary music that still excites the audiences.

1813 - 1901

Heitor Villa-Lobos

Brazilian composer, cellist and classical guitarist, described as “the single most significant creative figure in 20th century Brazilian art music” and "the most celebrated South American musician". His music has been influenced by both Western classical and Brazilian folk music and he composed a great number of works during his life, many of which fused in a unique way Western classical music with native music. His most important works are the innovative series of pieces called "Choros" and the "Bachianas Brasileiras". Born in Rio de Janeiro, he began cello lessons when he was six and as a teenager, he enjoyed playing guitar with the street musicians of Rio. He had little formal classical music training as his father, who was an amateur musician, arranged regular musical nights at their home and Heitor learned music by watching these visitors and absorbing their techniques, melodies and rhythms. As Villa-Lobos was growing up, Brazil was turmoiled by a revolutionary wave, with the country abolishing slavery and overthrowing the Empire of Brazil. During these times, traditional Brazilian music was taking the place of European classical music and Villa Lobos was greatly influenced by these changes. His music became a window to the Brazilian experience in the early decades of the 20th century. By extensively traveling around Brazil, he discovered the folk and tribal music of his country and fell in love with it, so his music became a reflection of the cultural and musical diversity of his country. But classical composers, like Bach, were also very important for Villa-Lobos. So his work integrated music from different sources: the Brazilian tribes he had visited in the Amazon, the street bands he played in as a teenager, the classical European musical traditions that he learned as a cello player, and the musical modernism he discovered in Paris. His music creations were unique and Villa Lobos strived to bring this music to the world. In Paris, where he stayed for almost 7 years, his music became a huge success. His exuberant personality also helped him befriend some of the most famous musicians , such as the pianist Arthur Rubinstein, who also promoted his music around the world. Villa Lobos also became very involved with the public music education, once again by traveling throughout Brazil to offer his services as a teacher and school coordinator. One of his most important contributions is the creation of the Brazilian Academy of Music. He left an important legacy behind him: his innovative music and his significant contribution to music education.

1887 - 1959

Antonio Vivaldi

Vivaldi is recognised as one of the greatest and most prolific composers of the Baroque period, his most famous composition being the innovative "Four Seasons". The conception of "Four Seasons" was revolutionary for those years, as he expressed in his music elements of nature such as birds singing, storms, flowing creeks. In his music, Vivaldi also brightened the rhythmic structure and looked for innovative contrasts and melodies. Vivaldi was born and lived in Venice but became very popular throughout Europe. At an early age he was taught the violin by his father who was a barber, before becoming a professional violinist. Although Vivaldi was suffering from health problems since he was a child, most probably asthma, he continued playing the violin and composing. Vivaldi became very successful in early life, but this did not last until the end. Later in his life, he became out of mode, overshadowed by the younger musicians, and finally died impoverished due to lack of financial support. His works remained in obscurity for hundreds of years until the 1920s when his private collections of original scores came into light and his name became widely known.

1678 - 1741

Richard Wagner

One of the world's most influential and probably controversial composers. He is well known primarily for his enormous operas (story, words and music) as well as his anti-semitic writings which made him the favourite composer of Hitler. It is said that his works were being played at concentration camps. Among his major works are "The Flying Dutchman", "Tannhäuser", "Lohengrin", "Tristan und Isolde", "Parsifal" and his great tetralogy "The Ring of the Nibelung". His opera "Tristan and Isolde" is sometimes described as marking the start of modern music. His music abilities were not appreciated when he was at school but he was very ambitious and had an extreme confidence in himself, so he succeeded to become a composer by the age of 16. He was then exiled in Zurich and Luzern for many years as a result of his active involvement in the "May Uprising" of 1849 , a leftist revolutionary movement against the King. Whilst in exile, he started developing anti semitic ideas, considering for example that Jewish people were responsible for the decadence of the contemporary art and music. He also demonstrated a fervent dislike of the French composers and their operas, in this way triggering conflict and bitterness. However his creativity and originality have influenced not only music but also drama, visual arts and the theatre of the 20th century. Wagner was very innovative in his music. His first symphony was performed when he was 20. The "Ring Cycle" composed in the 1850s, was an innovative cycle of 4 operas with a total duration of 18 hours, combining literature, visual elements and music, and established Wagner as a composer ahead of his time. He also invented many of the theatrical conventions that we use today such as the dimming of the lights in the audience to increase the focus and the fact that the orchestra sits below the stage in a theatre "pit" to improve the sound. Wagner's life was characterised by tumultuous love affairs, political exiles and continuous escapes from his creditors. He suffered from a "borderline personality disorder", according to some of his biographers. His writings in music and politics and his anti semitic tendencies have become the subject of controversies and intense criticism. Despite all this, his work has been an inspiration for future music composers but also for theatre and dramas.

1813 - 1883

John Williams

One of the most well-known composers of the 20th and 21st century, nominated for the Oscars 50 times (the most Oscar-nominated man alive) and winning the prize 5 times. He has also been nominated for 6 Emmy Awards, winning 3 times. Born in New York, he started taking piano lessons since very young, then enrolled into the military after school and after three years he returned to New York City, where he worked as a jazz pianist and studied at the Juilliard School. His dream being to become a concert pianist, he confessed in an interview: "there were [Piano] players like John Browning and Van Cliburn around the place, who were also students of Rosina's [Rosina Lhevinne, his famed teacher], and I thought to myself, 'If that's the competition, I think I'd better be a composer". He then moved to Los Angeles to work in the film and television industry where he started off as a movie studio musician. His composing career took off in the 1970s with his first Oscar nomination for the music in the film "Valley of the Dolls"(1967) and his first Oscar win for the film "Fiddler On the Roof" (1971). He has created some of the most iconic and memorable theme tunes of all times by scoring more than 100 films, including "Schindler’s List", "Star Wars" films, "Harry Potter" films, "Jurassic Park", "Indiana Jones", "Saving Private Ryan", "Catch Me If You Can", "E.T.", "Jaws", "Superman-The Movie". He also brought back into vogue symphonic film scores, after synthesisers had become a norm. Apart from film music, he composed music for television, including some of the NBC network's news programs, concert pieces for symphony orchestras and music themes for several Olympic games. In contrast to modern composers who use computer to create their music, John Williams uses pencil and paper and sits at a piano. A courtly, soft voiced and modest man, he has said: "I don't make a particular distinction between 'high art' and 'low art'. Music is there for everybody. It's a river we can all put our cups into and drink it and be sustained by it". His music is "lingering in people's memories" according to an expression he has used and will be staying with us and enjoying us for a long time.

1932

Hans Zimmer

German composer who has written music for over 100 films and is considered one of the most talented and influential contemporary composers. Born in West Germany, he began playing piano when he was 3, and when he was 6, he decided he wanted to become a composer. The death of his father at that age might have contributed to this decision as music was his refuge. He moved to London as a teenager, where his complete dedication to music interfered with his performance at school. When he finally finished school, he began his music career by writing jingles for commercials and playing in rock bands. He then started his early part part of his career by collaborating with composer Stanley Myers, who became his mentor by teaching him about film music. At the beginning, he played keyboards and synthesisers. A turning point came when he was asked to write music for the film "Rain Man, which was then nominated for Best Original Score and won the Oscar for the Best Picture. Then came the music for "Lion King". In the 2000s, Zimmer composed scores for Hollywood Blockbuster films, including "The Gladiator" , "The Pirates of the Caribbean", the "Da Vinci Code", "Mission Impossible, "Inception", "Sherlock Holmes", and "Interstellar". His music artfully combines traditional orchestral music with electronics. His remarkable work has been nominated in total by 4 Grammy Awards, 3 BRIT Awards, 2 Golden Globes and 1 Academy Award.

Your gateway to classical music

Tomaso Albinoni

1671 - 1751

Tomaso Albinoni

Johann Sebastian Bach

1685 - 1750

Johann Sebastian Bach

Ludwig Van Beethoven

1770 - 1827

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Georges Bizet

1838 - 1875

Georges Bizet

Johannes Brahms

1833 - 1897

Johannes Brahms

Frederic Chopin

1810 - 1849

Frederic Chopin

Arcangelo Corelli

1653 - 1713

Arcangelo Corelli

Claude Debussy

1862 - 1918

Claude Debussy

Gaetano Donizetti

1797 - 1848

Gaetano Donizetti

Antonin Dvorak

1841 - 1904

Antonin Dvorak

Ludovico Einaudi

1955

Ludovico Einaudi

Edward Elgar

1857 - 1934

Edward Elgar

Gabriel Fauré

1845 - 1924

Gabriel Fauré

George Gershwin

1898 - 1937

George Gershwin

Philip Glass

1937

Philip Glass

Charles Gounod

1818 - 1893

Charles Gounod

Edvard Grieg

1843 - 1907

Edvard Grieg

George Frederic Handel

1685 - 1759

George Frederic Handel

Joseph Haydn

1732 - 1809

Joseph Haydn

Franz Liszt

1811 - 1886

Franz Liszt

Gustav Mahler

1868 - 1911

Gustav Mahler

Arturo Marquez

1950

Arturo Marquez

Pietro Mascagni

1863 - 1945

Pietro Mascagni

Felix Mendelssohn

1809 - 1847

Felix Mendelssohn

Ennio Morricone

1928 - 2020

Ennio Morricone

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1756 - 1791

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Modest Mussorgsky