95 articles
Alexander Borodin (Александр Порфирьевич Бородин)
Alexander Borodin (Александр Порфирьевич Бородин, 1833–1887), Russian composer-chemist of the Mighty Handful (The Five); wrote Prince Igor with the Polovtsian Dances, the Bogatyr Second Symphony, In the Steppes of Central Asia, and two string quartets while professor of chemistry in St. Petersburg.
Alexander Scriabin (Александр Николаевич Скрябин)
Alexander Scriabin (Александр Николаевич Скрябин, 1871-1915), Russian composer and pianist; ten piano sonatas, Poem of Ecstasy, Prometheus with color keyboard, mystic chord, unfinished Mysterium.
Alfrēds Kalniņš
Alfrēds Kalniņš (1879–1951) was a Latvian composer, organist, and conductor, composer of Baņuta, the first performed Latvian national opera, and the most prominent Latvian master of solo song.
Alma Mahler
Alma Mahler (1879-1964), born Alma Schindler, Viennese composer of songs and wife of Gustav Mahler, Walter Gropius, and Franz Werfel; known for her 17 published lieder, her memoirs shaping the Alma Problem, and later reassessment as a composer.
Anton Bruckner
Anton Bruckner (1824-1896), Austrian composer and organist from Ansfelden, wrote nine numbered symphonies plus masses and a Te Deum; famous for lifelong revisions creating multiple competing versions and the Haas/Nowak edition problem.
Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvořák was a Czech composer of the 19th century who directed the National Conservatory in New York and wrote over 400 works, including the "New World" Symphony.
Aram Khachaturian (Արամ Խաչատրյան)
Aram Khachaturian (Արամ Խաչատրյան, 1903–1978), Soviet Armenian composer of the ballets Gayane and Spartacus and the Sabre Dance; studied with Myaskovsky in Moscow, denounced in 1948, UNESCO Memory of the World honoree.
Artem Vedel
Artem Vedel (Артем Ведель, 1767–1808) was a Ukrainian composer, choral conductor, tenor singer, violinist, and teacher in Kyiv, a chief representative of the Cossack baroque style.
Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842–1900), British composer and conductor, leading Victorian musician; with W. S. Gilbert wrote fourteen Savoy comic operas including The Mikado and The Pirates of Penzance, plus oratorios, hymn tunes such as Onward Christian Soldiers, and the grand opera Ivanhoe.
Bedřich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884), Czech composer regarded as founder of Czech national music; creator of The Bartered Bride and the Má vlast cycle, composed while deaf; first conductor of the Provisional Theatre.
Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921), French composer, virtuoso pianist and Madeleine organist; co-founded the Société nationale de musique (1871), wrote Samson et Dalila, the Organ Symphony, and Carnival of the Animals.
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826), German composer, conductor, and pianist born in Eutin; his Der Freischütz (Berlin, 1821) founded German Romantic opera, and his clarinet works for Heinrich Baermann remain repertoire staples.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788), C.P.E. Bach, second surviving son of Johann Sebastian Bach, was a German composer of the Empfindsamer Stil, keyboard virtuoso, author of the Versuch treatise, and composer of 52 concertos.
César Franck
César Franck (César-Auguste; 1822–1890), Belgian-born French composer, organist at Sainte-Clotilde and Paris Conservatoire organ professor from 1872; famed for cyclic form, Les Béatitudes, Violin Sonata, and the Symphony in D minor.
Chevalier de Saint-Georges
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745–1799), Guadeloupe-born French composer, virtuoso violinist, conductor of the Concert des Amateurs, and champion fencer; led the orchestra that commissioned Haydn's Paris symphonies; often mislabeled "Black Mozart".
Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy (Achille-Claude Debussy, 1862-1918), French composer and pianist born at Saint-Germain-en-Laye; creator of Pelléas et Mélisande, La mer, and the Préludes, known for non-functional harmony, parallel chords, and free form.
Death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (5 December 1791, Vienna): the composer's fatal 15-day febrile illness at age 35; registered as miliary fever, debated as streptococcal nephritis, chronic kidney disease, or rheumatic fever; Salieri poisoning myth unfounded.
Denys Sichynsky
Denys Sichynsky (Денис Січинський; 1865–1909) was a Ukrainian composer, choral conductor, and teacher, regarded as the first professionally trained Ukrainian composer in Galicia and known for the anthem-like song "Ne pora" and the opera Roksoliana.
Dmitri Shostakovich (Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович)
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович), 1906–1975, Soviet composer and pianist of 15 symphonies and 15 string quartets; denounced by Pravda in 1936, restored by the Fifth Symphony, honored and criticized alternately, subject of the Testimony controversy.
Dmitry Bortniansky
Dmitry Bortniansky (1751–1825) was a Ukrainian-born Classical composer who directed the Imperial Court Singing Chapel in Saint Petersburg and wrote over 100 a cappella choral works.
Domenico Cimarosa
Domenico Cimarosa (1749–1801) was an Italian composer, the leading writer of opera buffa in the late eighteenth century; his masterpiece is Il matrimonio segreto (1792).
Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (Anna Amalia von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, 1739–1807), regent of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach 1758–1775, founder of the Weimar Court of the Muses, patron of Goethe and Wieland, and composer of Erwin und Elmire (1776); namesake of the Duchess Anna Amalia Library.
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Grieg (Edvard Hagerup Grieg, 1843–1907) was a Norwegian Romantic composer, regarded as Norway's most important, best known for the Piano Concerto in A minor and Peer Gynt incidental music.
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward Elgar (1857–1934), English composer of the 'Enigma' Variations, two symphonies, Violin and Cello Concertos, and The Dream of Gerontius; self-taught, knighted 1904, LSO principal conductor 1911–12.
Edward MacDowell
Edward Alexander MacDowell (1860–1908), American Romantic composer and pianist, first American composer with international recognition; Piano Concerto no. 2 in D minor, Woodland Sketches ('To a Wild Rose'), Indian Suite; namesake and inspiration of the MacDowell Colony artists' retreat.
Emmanuel Chabrier
Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894), French composer and pianist, Ministry of the Interior civil servant until 1880, known for España (1883), L'Étoile, Pièces pittoresques, and Bourrée fantasque; forerunner of Debussy and Ravel.
Erik Satie
Erik Satie (1866-1925), French composer and pianist of the Parisian avant-garde; wrote the Gymnopédies (1888) and Gnossiennes, Parade (1917) with Picasso, and furniture music; influenced Debussy, Ravel, Les Six, and Cage.
Fanny Mendelssohn
Fanny Mendelssohn, also Fanny Hensel (1805-1847), German Romantic composer and pianist, Felix Mendelssohn's older sister; over 450 works, Sonntagsmusiken salon director, six opus numbers published late in life.
Felix Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn (Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, 1809–1847), German Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and conductor of the Gewandhaus Leipzig; revived Bach's St Matthew Passion in 1829, wrote the Violin Concerto and Elijah, and was banned by the Nazis.
Ferenc Erkel
Ferenc Erkel (Hungarian name order: Erkel Ferenc; 1810–1893) was a Hungarian composer, conductor, and pianist who composed Hungary's national anthem and founded Hungarian national opera.