95 articles
Florence Price
Florence Beatrice Smith Price (1887-1953), American composer and first African-American woman to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra: Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Frederick Stock, June 15, 1933; over 300 works blending Afro-Romantic style with spirituals and juba rhythms; manuscripts rediscovered in 2009.
Francis Xavier Witt
Francis Xavier Witt (Franz Xaver Witt, 1834–1888) was a Bavarian Catholic priest and composer who founded the Allgemeiner Deutscher Cäcilien-Verein in 1868 and wrote 33 masses.
Francisco Tárrega
Francisco Tárrega (Francesc Tàrrega i Eixea, 1852-1909), Spanish guitarist and composer, father of the modern classical guitar school; wrote Recuerdos de la Alhambra, Capricho árabe, about 80 works and 120 transcriptions.
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt (Liszt Ferenc, 1811-1886), Hungarian pianist and composer, the nineteenth century's most celebrated piano virtuoso, inventor of the symphonic poem, Weimar Kapellmeister 1848-1861, champion of Wagner, and first president of the Budapest Academy of Music.
Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert (1797–1828), Austrian composer of the Lied and over 600 songs plus symphonies, sonatas, and chamber music; Viennese Biedermeier figure known in life mainly for songs, later ranked with Beethoven.
Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart
Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (1791–1844), also called Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Jr., was the composer's youngest son, a pianist and composer active in Lemberg and Vienna, with two piano concertos and about 125 works.
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin (Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin), Polish composer and pianist (1810–1849), wrote almost exclusively for piano: mazurkas, polonaises, nocturnes, études, preludes, ballades, and two concertos. Born near Warsaw, he settled in Paris in 1831 and never returned to Poland.
Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924), French composer, organist, and director of the Paris Conservatoire 1905–1920; master of the mélodie and chamber music, composer of the Requiem, La bonne chanson, and Pénélope, teacher of Ravel and Nadia Boulanger.
Gaetano Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848), Bergamo-born Italian opera composer of the bel canto trio with Rossini and Bellini; about 70 operas including Lucia di Lammermoor, L'elisir d'amore, and Don Pasquale, bridging Rossini and Verdi.
George Enescu
George Enescu, also spelled Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, and teacher, regarded as the most important Romanian musician, known for the Romanian Rhapsodies.
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), Italian opera composer of La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot; last great heir to Verdi, verismo leading exponent, closely tied to the Met.
Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Rossini was an Italian composer who wrote about 39 operas between 1810 and 1823. His works set the musical procedures for 19th-century Italian opera.
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901), leading Italian opera composer of the 19th century, wrote 28 operas including Rigoletto, La traviata, Aida, and Otello; his music became tied to the Risorgimento and Casa Ricordi's publishing business.
Gustav Holst
Gustav Holst (Gustavus Theodore von Holst, 1874-1934), British composer from Cheltenham, taught at St Paul's Girls' School and Morley College; his astrological seven-movement suite The Planets (1914-16) overshadows his Sanskrit-texted, folk-influenced output.
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (1860–1911), Austrian composer and conductor of ten symphonies and major song cycles; Vienna Court Opera director 1897–1907, New York Philharmonic conductor, posthumous mid-1960s revival led by Leonard Bernstein.
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz (Louis-Hector Berlioz, 1803-1869), French Romantic composer, critic, and conductor of Symphonie fantastique, Roméo et Juliette, La Damnation de Faust, and Les Troyens; Prix de Rome 1830, author of the 1843 orchestration treatise.
Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz (1860–1909), Spanish pianist and composer of the Spanish Modern Nationalist School, born in Camprodon, died in Cambo-les-Bains. Known for Iberia, Suite española, and operas for patron Money-Coutts.
Jāzeps Vītols
Jāzeps Vītols (1863–1948) was a Latvian composer, choir conductor, and founder of Latvian national music who taught Prokofiev in St Petersburg and led the Latvian Conservatory in Riga.
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius (Johan Julius Christian Sibelius, 1865-1957), Finnish composer of seven symphonies, Finlandia, and Tapiola; national icon of Finland's independence era who fell silent for his last 30 years.
Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach, the "London Bach" (1735-1782), youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach, was a galant-style Classical composer who worked in Milan and London, founded the Bach-Abel Concerts, and taught the young Mozart.
Johann Strauss I
Johann Strauss I (1804-1849), Viennese composer and violinist, co-developer of the Viennese waltz with Lanner, founder of the Strauss dynasty, composer of the Radetzky March, father of the Waltz King.
Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II (1825–1899), the Austrian "Waltz King" and son of Johann Strauss I, wrote about 500 works including the Blue Danube Waltz and Die Fledermaus, and shaped the Viennese waltz and operetta.
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897), Hamburg-born German composer, pianist, and conductor active in Vienna; wrote four symphonies, Ein deutsches Requiem, and about 200 songs, no opera; champion of classical forms against the Liszt-Wagner New German School.
John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), "The March King," American composer and conductor; 17th Director of the U.S. Marine Band 1880-1892, then led the civilian Sousa Band on 15,000+ concerts; wrote "The Stars and Stripes Forever" and roughly 100-137 marches.
Josef Slavík
Josef Slavík (1806–1833) was a Czech violin virtuoso and composer, nicknamed the "Czech Paganini", for whom Schubert wrote his Fantasie in C and whom Chopin predicted would surpass Paganini.
Josef Suk
Josef Suk (1874–1935) was a Czech composer, violinist, and teacher, the pupil and son-in-law of Antonín Dvořák, known for the Asrael Symphony and Serenade for Strings.
Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn, also known as Franz Joseph Haydn, was an Austrian composer who served the Esterházy court. He wrote over 100 symphonies and the oratorio The Creation.
Julius Fučík (composer)
Julius Fučík (1872–1916), Czech composer and Austro-Hungarian military bandmaster, the "Bohemian Sousa"; wrote Entry of the Gladiators, Op. 68, now circus music, and Florentiner March, Op. 214.
Komitas (Կոմիտաս)
Komitas (Կոմիտաս), born Soghomon Soghomonyan (1869–1935), Armenian priest, composer, and pioneer ethnomusicologist; founder of the Armenian national school, collector of thousands of folk songs, composer of the 1914 Patarag liturgy.
Leopold Mozart
Leopold Mozart (Johann Georg Leopold Mozart, 1719–1787), Augsburg-born Salzburg court violinist, deputy Kapellmeister, composer, and author of the 1756 Violinschule; father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus and Nannerl Mozart.