Meet the Great Composers Johann Sebastian Bach Born

Meet the Great Composers

Johann Sebastian Bach • Born: 1685 in Eisenach, Germany to a large family of musicians. • Died: 1750 • Period of Music: Baroque • Instruments He Played: Organ, harpsichord, clavichord, violin • Major Compositions: – Harpsichord: Little Book for the Keyboard, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Books 1 and 2

– Organ: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor – Orchestra: Brandenburg Concertos - Choral: Christmas Oratorio, St Matthew Passion Interesting Facts: Bach taught many of his 20 children to play musical instruments. He composed the Little Book for the Keyboard for his nine-year-old son, Wilhelm Friedemann. Wilhelm grew up to be a respected performer and composer inhis own right, as did several of Bach’s sons.

• His father played the violin. Other relatives were fiddlers, music copyists, town pipers, and played the oboe or organ. • Bach’s parents died when he was 10 years old. He went to live with his oldest brother, Christoph, who taught him to play the harpsichord and organ. • At the age of 18, he became organist at Arnstadt and began composing.

• When he was 22, Bach moved to Muhlhausen and married Mria Barbara Bach. They had seven children. • In 1717, when he was 32, Bach accepted the post of master of music to Prince Leopold of Anhalt. Cothen. • Bach’s wife, Maria, died in 1720, and in 1721 he married the beautiful Anna Magdalena Wulken, who was a good singer and musician. Bach had 13 more children with her and taught most of his children to play a musical instrument.

• In 1723, Bach accepted the post of music director of St. Thomas’s School in Leipzig. Here he composed many of his famous choral works. • Bach was deeply religious and a devoted family man. His music was signed “S. D. G”(Soli Deo Gloria) which means “to the glory of God. ” he spent many musical evenings with his family, and boasted he could form a vocal and instrumental ensemble just from his family alone.

• Bach became blind in 1749 and died in 1750. • Johann Sebastian Bach is considered to be one of the greatest masters of the Baroque period.

Domenico Scarlatti • • • Born: 1685 in Naples, Italy Died: in 1757 Period of Music: Baroque Instruments He Played: Harpsichord, organ Major Compositions: Keyboard: Sonatas (over 500), 30 Essercizi per Gravicembalo, “The Cat’s Fugue” K. Orchestra: Several concerti grossi Vocal: Cantatas, oratorios and operas

Interesting Facts: • Scarlatti and Handel participated in a keyboard tournament that ended in a tie. Scarlatti’s cat was the inspiration for one of his sonatas. Scarlatti’s cat walked over the keyboard striking notes that Scarlatti used for the subject of the fugue. • His father Alessandro Scarlatti, was an important composer of operas and was credited with developing the form of Italian opera that prevailed in the 18 th century.

• Taught at first by his father, Domenico followed in his father’s footsteps and began to compose opera. • In 1705, his father sent him to Venice to study with Gasparini who was musical director at the Ospedale della pieta, where the composer Antonio Vivaldi also served. While in Venice, Domenico met George Frideric Handel and they became good friends.

• A patron of the arts, Cardinal Ottoboni, arranged a contest between them on the harpsichord and organ. Handel won the organ honors, but Scarlatti was unbeatable on the harpsichord. • Scarlatti established himself in Rome. First he composed chamber music and operas for the miniature opera theatre of Queen Maria Casimira who was exiled from Poland. • In 1715, he became music director of St. Peter’s in Rome.

• In 1720, Scarlatti became court harpsichordist to the King of Portugal and teacher of Princess Maria Barbara in Lisbon. • He returned to Naples in 1725 when his father died. In 1728, he married Maria Catalina Gentili, and together they had five children. • In 1729, Princess Maria Barbara married the Spanish crown prince who became King of Spain. Scarlatti followed her to Spain and spend the rest of his life in Maria Barabara’s service.

• He composed over 500 single-movement sonatas as well as innovative compositions foreshadowing the sonata form.

George Frideric Handel Born: 1685 in Halle, Germany Died: 1759 Period of Music: Baroque Instruments he played: Harpsichord, oboe, organ, violin • Major Compositions: • • – Piano: “The Harmonious Blacksmith” from Keyboard Suite No. 5

– Orchestra: Water Music, Fireworks Music – Vocal: Almira (opera), Messiah (oratorio); Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne (choral piece) Interesting Facts: Handel had composed six sonatas by the time he was 11 years old. Handel’s employer in Germany became King George ! Of England. Handel composed the Messiah in less than one month.

• His father, wanting Handel to have a social position better than his own, determined that he should be a lawyer. He went so far as to forbid any music or musical instruments in their home. Legend says that a small clavier was smuggled into the attic for Handel, complete with muffled strings, so that his father could not hear him as he taught himself to play.

• When he was seven years old, he accompanied his father to Weissenfels where his playing on a chapel organ attracted the attention of the duke. The duke was so impressed by his skill that he insisted that Handel be allowed to study music, because it would be a crime to rob the world of such a great genius.

• Handel soon became a virtuoso on the organ and was widely known for his outstanding skill. • In 1703 he moved to Hamburg and joined an orchestra there, playing second violin, and in 1705 he composed his first opera, Almira. • He wrote Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne which won such favor from the public and the royal family that the queen awarded him an annual salary of several hundred pounds.

• In 1714, Queen Anne died and George Ludwig, Elector of Hanover, became King George I of England. Handel composed the Water Music for a festival on the River Thames. The king liked this music so much that he gave Handel a yearly salary for the rest of his life. • Handel began composing oratorios after he was 53 years old. Known as “Master of the Oratorio, ” no composer before or since Handel has surpassed his ability in writing oratrios.

• Handel became a British citizen and when he died in 1759, he was buried in England’s most sacred place, Westminster Abbey.

Franz Joseph Haydn Born: 1732 in Austria Died: 1809 Period of Musci: Classical Instruments He Played: harpsichord, piano, organ and violin • Major Compositions: • Piano: Piano Sonata in E-flat Major, hob. XVI: 52 • •

• Orchestra: Symphony No. 94 in G Major, Symphony No. 101 in E-flat Major (The Clock) • Sting Quartet: The Joke, The Frog, The Sunrise • Oratorio: The Creation

Interesting Facts • Haydn was called “Papa” Haydn even though he never had any children. He had a good sense of humor and a likable disposition. • Haydn grew up in a musical home, and at the age of five he was sent to study with a relative how lived near Vienna. When Haydn was eight, he became a member of the famous boys choir at Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Here he sang for none years but then had to leave when his voice changed.

• Haydn then supported himself by playing in small ensembles, teaching the harpsichord, playing the organ in churches and accompanying singers. He also studied composition and began composing keyboard works, a mass and string quartets.

• Haydn often used his sense of humor to his advantage. Once the prince decided to stay two months longer than usual at his country home, making the orchestra Haydn played with stay with him. They players were unhappy because they were anxious to leave the coutry and return to their families in vienna. Haydn composed the symphony called The Farewell in honor of that time.

• During The Farewell symphony, one of the players picked up his instrument and left the stage. Other players gradually followed the first. The audience watched in astonishment until there were no players left. Haydn had made his point with the prince, and the next day the players were permitted to leave for home.

• Hayden’s reputation grew and when he was 29 he was hired as the Kapellmeister (director of a choir or orchestra) by a wealthy Hungarian noble family by the name of Esterhazy. The orchestra he conducted became known as one of the finest of that time.

• In 1790, Haydn visited London where he conducted a series of concerts featuring his symphonies. He was enthusiastically received and Oxford University awarded him an honorary doctorate of music. • Haydn is considered the Father of the String Quartet. • Soon after Haydn returned to Austria in 1795 he composed The Emperor’s Hymn, which became the Austrian national anthem, and The Creation, one of his best-known oratorios.

• “Papa Haydn, ” was one of the greatest composers of the Classical period.

Wolfgang Amadeaus Mozart Born 1756 in Salzburg, Austria Died: 1791 Period of Music: Classical Instruments he Played: Harpsichord, violin, organ • Major Compositions: • Piano: Sonata in C major, Variations on “Twinkle, Little Star” • •

• Orchestra: Symphony No. 40 in G Major • Opera: Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro • Interesting Facts: • Mozart played duets with his sister, Nannerl. He married the cousin of the composer Carl Maria von Weber.

The Story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart • Mozart was 4 years old when he began studying keyboard with his father, Leopold, a respected court musician. • His father, his only teacher, also taught him mathematics, Latin and German. • Mozart was 6 when his father took him to Vienna where he played for the Austrian Emperor and was introduced to the public as a child prodigy. He dazzled court patrons with his ability to improvise in many styles and sight read as well as any adult.

• During this time he taught himself to play the violin and the organ. • The next year Leopold took his family to Paris where Mozart’s first compositions were published. • When he was eight, he visited London and played for King George III and Queen Charlotte.

• While in London he met Johann Christian Bach, J. S. Bach’s youngest son, who had a great influence on Mozart’s first symphonies. • Mozart composed many keyboard pieces and sonatas for violin and keyboard. • While visiting Rome in 1770, Mozart heard the choir in the Sistine Chapel singing the famous Miserere of Gregoris Allegri. After returning home, he wrote down the entire work from memory. Because of this amazing accomplishment, the Pope mad the 14 -yearold Mozart Knight of the Golden Spur.

• While in Paris in 1778, he composed a set of variations for piano on the folk tune known today as “Twinkle, Little Star. ” • Mozart traveled a great deal and by the time he was 25, he had visited most of the great European cities. • In 1782, when he was 26, Mozart married Constanze Weber, the cousin of the composer Carl Maria von Weber. Though they were very poor, these years spent with Constanze were important.

• It was during this time he composed three of his greatest operas, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, and The Magic Flute. Unlike any other composer in music history, Mozart wrote in every medium of musical composition of his day and excelled in every one!

• Mozart’s travels took him to London where he met Franz Joseph Haydn. They became friends and even played in a string quartet together. Mozart honored Haydn by composing six string quartets and dedicating them to him in 1785. • Mozart’s last years were filled with financial difficulties and health problems. His final work, the Requiem, was not completed when he died in Vienna in 1791. Penniless and in debt, he was buried in a common grave, the exact location of which is unknown.

Ludwig van Beethoven • • • Born: 1770 in Bonn, Germany Died: 1827 Period of Music: Classical/ Romantic Instruments He played: Piano, violin, organ. Major Compositions: Piano: Sonata in C-sharp Minor, (Moonlight); “Fur Elise, ” Sonata in F Minor(Appassionata)

• Orchestra: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Symphony No. 6 in F Major (Pastoral), Symphony No. 9 in D Minor • Choral: Missa Solemnis (Mass in D Major) • Interesting Facts: Beethoven studied with Haydn. He loved nature. He began losing his hearing around 1800 and was totally deaf by 1820.

The Story of Ludwig van Beethoven • Like Mozart and Bach, Ludwig came from a musical family. His father and grandfather were employed as musicians in the court of the elector in Bonn. • Ludwig started lessons in piano, violin and composition with his father when he was 11, he was performing and sight-reading with great expertise, and his talent for improvising was favorable compared to the great child prodigy Mozart.

• Early in his career, Beethoven met some of the famous composers of the time. On a trip to Vienna in 1787 when he was 17, Beethoven met and played for Mozart. • In 1792, Beethoven moved to Vienna where he spent the rest of his life. He loved nature and spent many holidays in the country where he took long walks. He always kept a notebook handy to jot down musical ideas that came to him.

• His love of the countryside inspired him to compose his famous Symphony No. 6, the “Pastoral” symphony. In this symphony one can hear birds singing, a tumbling waterfall and a thunderstorm. • In 1801, Beethoven composed his Sonata quasi una Fantasia (“Moonlight Sonata), Op. 27, No. 2, one of the best loved sonatas. It was dedicated to the young Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, one of Beethoven’s piano students.

• Beethoven is believed to have proposed marriage to the countess who inspired this piece—a marriage that was opposed by her father on the grounds that Beethoven was a man not worthy of his daughter because he was seen as being without rank, money, or permanent employment.

• Around 1800, Beethoven noticed that he was becoming deaf and by 1820 he could no longer hear well enough to conduct an orchestra. He was totally deaf the last seven years of his life, yet continued to compose music. Some of his greatest compositions were written during this period, including Symphony No. 9, completed in 1824.

• Beethoven is considered to be one of the greatest composers of the Classical period. His later music was more characteristic of the Romantic period, and many scholars believe he bridged the gap between the Classical and Romantic periods.

Frederic Francois Chopin Born 1810 in Warsaw, Poland Died: 1849 Period of Music: Romantic’ Instrument He Played: Piano Major compositions: Piano: “Raindrop” Prelude, Polonaise Militaire, Minute Waltz • Orchestra: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21 • • •

The Story of Chopin • His father, a teacher, was French and his mother was Polish. Frederic grew up in a cultured, educated family. When he was six years old he began studying piano and he played a concerto in public at the age of eight. • Frederic developed a passionate love for Poland even though he lived most of his adult life in Paris, France.

• When he left Poland, he took with him a goblet filled with the soil of his beloved native land. • In 1817, when Chopin was seven, his first work, Polanaise in G Minor, was published. He attended the Warsaw Conservatory of Music. In 1829, he began a concert tour to London by way of Vienna, Munich and Paris. He was so successful in Paris that he did not go to London.

• At this time, the Russians invaded Warsaw, making it difficult for Chopin to return to Poland. Chopin remained in Paris the rest of his life where he became friends with Franz Liszt and other famous musicians living in Paris at that time. • Chopin preferred to perform for small gatherings of friends and society people in private homes. In 1839, Robert Schumann wrote a glowing review of some of Chopin’s piano works saying, “Hats off, gentleman! A new genius!”

• Chopin met a woman, the French writer George Sand, and fell in love with her (she was the talk of Paris because although she was a woman, she dressed as a man). She did much to inspire Chopin. It was at this time that Chopin composed some of his most famous compositions such as “Raindrop Prelude, the Polanaise Militaire, and the Minute Waltz. ” Later he ended his relationship with George Sand in 1848 left for London.

• In need of money, he gave concerts in Glasgow, Manchester, Edinburgh, and London. • He was exhausted when he returned to Paris and died there in October of 1849. The soil from Poland that he had kept with him was sprinkled over his grave.

• Chopin helped make the piano a successful solo instrument. Most of his delicate, poetic compositions were written for solo piano. His beautiful melodies sang with his feeling of love, sadness and longing.

Robert Schumann • • • Born: 1810 in Zwickau, Germany Died: 1856 Period of Music: Romantic Instrument He Played: Piano Major Compositions: Piano: Album for the Young, Scenes from Childhood, Carnaval, Papillons (Butterflies).

• Orchestra: Piano Concerto in A Minor • Vocal: Widmung (Dedication) and many other songs

The Story of Robert Schumann • Robert’s father, an editor and book dealer, encouraged him to be interested in books as well as music. When he was six years old, Robert began piano lessons. After graduating from grammar school in Zwickau, he went on to study law at the University of Leipzig and Heidelberg University.

• Schumann was more interested in music than in law and eventually gave law up completely. • In 1828, he went to Leipzig where he studied piano with Friedrich Wieck and began to compose. In 1832, he permanently injured his hand working with a device that he developed to strengthen the fourth finger of his right hand.

• Schumann then devoted himself to composition and literary work. • He was impatient with composers who didn’t have the spirit to break out of the old ways. He called them “Philistines, ” and formed the “David” Club to fight against the poor music being written.

• He started a magazine, New Journal for Music, in which he wrote articles and reviewed music and concerts. He spoke out in support of Hector Berlioz, Johannes Brahms, Frederic Chopin and Franz Schubert. He became well known as a critic, editor and a great spokesperson for Romantic music.

• In 1840, Schumann married Clara Wieck, an outstanding pianist and daughter of his former piano teacher. His marriage was the turning point in his artistic career, and his wife was a great inspiration. During the early years of his marriage he began to write songs. Many were touching songs expressing his great love for Clara. They had eight children.

• In 1843, he was named teacher of piano, composition and score-reading at the new Leipzig Conservatory. In 1844, Schumann accompanied Clara on a successful concert tour of Russia where she performed many of his compositions. • In 1850, they moved to Dusseldorf where Schumann became town musical director.

• By 1854, his mental health had failed and he tried to drown himself in the Rhine River. He was rescued and taken to a private asylum where he died two years later. • His well-known works include Album for the Young, Scenes from Childhood, Carnaval, Papillons, and Fantasy Pieces. He composed four symphonies, a piano concerto, chamber music, one opera and many songs.

Franz Liszt Born: 1811 in Raiding, Hungary Died: 1886 Period of Music: Romantic Major compositions: Piano: Hungarian Rhapsody, Liebestraume, Six Consolations, Sonata in B Minor • Orchestra: Faust Symphony, A Symphony to Dante’s Divina Commedia, Les Preludes • Vocal: Don Sanche (operetta) • • •

• His father, Adam Liszt, was a steward who took care of the properties of Prince Nicolaus Esterhazy and had known Haydn personally. • Adam wanted his son to learn music and began teaching Franz when he was six years old. He progressed so quickly that he performed a public concert when he was nine. Liszt’s family moved to Vienna so that he could have better teachers.

• He began studying piano with Carl Czerny and composition with Antonio Salieri. Czerny was so pleased with his pupil that after 12 lessons, he taught him at no charge. • Liszt gave recitals in Vienna when he was 11 and Beethoven was in the audience for one of these. A story has been told that Beethoven went up and kissed the young Liszt on the forehead after this recital and told him that his playing would bring happiness to many people.

• Liszt’s father took him to Paris to study at the conservatory but he was denied entrance because of the rule forbidding foreigners. Even so, Liszt continued to study composition privately. His operetta, Don Sanche, was produced during this time. Liszt attended a concert by the great violinist, Paganni, and was greatly influenced by his flawless playing. He was determined to become the Paganini of the piano.

• Liszt became friends with Frederic Chopin. Though Chopin was impressed with Liszt’s playing, his most important influence was to encourage Liszt to become a serious composer. Liszt would eventually compose over 1, 000 works for the piano. • From 1839 -1848, Liszt gave concerts in the great European cities and was recognized as the greatest pianist of his day.

• Liszt’s concerts were always a production. When he came on stage he wore gloves which he removed slowly and dramatically while the audience waited in breathless anticipation. Once he played a concerts so well that some of the orchestra members stopped playing to listen to him. • In 1849, Liszt became music director at the Weimar court. He helped many composers by performing their works and contributing to those who needed financial help.

• Among the composers that he helped make famous were Edvard Greig, Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky, and Richard Wagner. • In 1866, the Pope conferred on Liszt the title of lay priest. From 1869 until he died, Liszt divided his time between Rome, Weimar and Budapest. He is considered one of the greatest composers of the Romantic Period.

Johannes Brahms • • Born: 1833 in Hamburg, Germany Died: 1897 Period of Music: Romantic Instrument he played: piano

The Story of Johannes Brahms • Six years after the death of Beethoven, Johannes Brahms was born. His father a musician, began teaching Johannes piano when he was five. Hoping Brahms would be good enough to support the family. “Hannes” as his family called him, startled his father before the first lesson by naming each note without looking at the keyboard. He also amazed him by inventing his own system of musical notation, not knowing that one had already been invented!

• His father insisted that he play in some taverns and inns as soon as he was able, but this came to an end when at 10 years he gave his first public concert. Eduard Marxsen, Hamburg’s best known teacher and composer, heard him and agreed to teach the boy. • Brahms was a dedicated student and progressed rapidly. When he was 14 he had his piano debut, playing pieces by Bach and Beethoven as well as his own variations on a folk song.

• The adolescent Brahms was a budding genius, but he was shy and withdrawn. • When Brahms was 20 he was invited by Eduard Remenyi, a spirited Hungarian violinist, to be his piano accompanist on a concert tour. Through Remenyi, Brahms met another violinist, Joseph Joachim, who was so impressed with Brahms he arranged for him to meet Franz Liszt.

• At first Liszt was impressed with Brahms, but when Liszt played some of his own compositions and Brahms fell asleep, Liszt was not so pleased. • Joachim also sent with Brahms a letter of introduction to Robert and Clara Schumann. The three immediately had a mutual respect and formed a deep friendship that lasted the rest of their lives.

• Brahms was uninterested in the aggressive, flashy personalities and music of Liszt and Wagner but felt that in Schumann he had found a kindred soul. • Brahms spent a number of years conducting, playing and composing, all the time becoming better known throughout Europe. His later life was spent mainly in Vienna.

• Brahms worked slowly and carefully on his compositions, laboring over them to make sure they were the best they could be. His greatest choral masterpiece, A German Requiem, established his fame. In this work Brahms used words selected from the German Bible rather than Latin from the Roman Liturgy.

• He wrote two piano concertos, a concerto for violin and cello, piano solos and duets, 11 chorale preludes for organ, and nearly 200 songs, including the familiar “Brahms Lullably. ” • Brahms was one of the greatest composers of the Romantic period.

Claude Debussy • Born: 1862 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France about 11 miles form Paris. • Died: 1918 • Period of Music: Impressionistic • Instruments he played: Piano

• Debussy was a serious and thoughtful child, often watching other children play more than playing himself. His godparents encouraged him to paint and play music. • Debussy went to Paris Conservatory when he was 11 and won prizes for sight-singing, piano and composition. Once there, he created music with one goal in mind: to please his own ears. He rebelled against traditional harmony, an his improvisations were actually thought to be “dangerous. ”

• When he was 22, he won the Grand Prix de Rome, a competition for composers. This coveted award allowed him to stay at the Villa Medici in Rome for three years with all expenses paid. During this time he worked on his new musical ideas and got to meet Franz Liszt and the great opera composer, Giuseppe Verdi. However, he became impatient with life in this palace and longed to return to more familiar surroundings. After two years he returned home to Paris to compose, teach and perform piano.

• In 1894, Debussy composed Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and impressionistic tone poem for orchestra. The work was inspired by a poem written by Stephane Mallarme’. One day in 1894, Mallarme’ knocked on Debussy’s door and asked to hear the new orchestral piece. After listening to it, the poet sat silent for a long time, then expressed his pleasure at Debussy’s work, saying that the music captured the emotion of his poem much more that a painting could.

• During the next few years, he composed some of his most beautiful and significant works. For orchestra, he wrote Images, La. Mer and Nocturnes. La Mer (The Sea), consisting of three movements about the sea, is probably Debussy’s best known orchestral work. For piano, he wrote two volumes of Preludes, Suite Bergamasque which contains the beautiful “Claire de Lune” (Moonlight) and Children’s Corner Suite which was inspired by Debussy’s daughter Chou.

• The later suite contains the famous ragtimeinspired “Golliwog’s Cakewalk. ” • Debussy’s extraordinary mastery of fluid lines and intricate harmonies allowed him to paint beautiful pictures in sound. His genius is equally evident in his piano works, in which he strived to emulate the qualities and sonorities of the orchestra.

• In his final years, Debussy was ill with cancer and had financial problems. He was distraught about the First World War and he died during a bombardment of Paris in 1918

Scott Joplin • Born: 1868 in Texarkana, Texas in The United States • Dies: 1917 • Period of Music: Contemporary • Instruments he played: Piano, guitar, bugle

The Story of Scott Joplin • Scott’s father was an ex-slave from North Carolina, who played the violin. His mother was from Kentucky and played the banjo. Joplin had three brothers and two sisters, all of whom sang and played the guitar. Joplin played the guitar and bugle and began playing the piano when he was seven years old. He became a fine improviser. A local German music teacher who heard him play offered to give him free piano lessons.

• When he was 14, Joplin left home and began to move into the world of minstrel shows, vaudeville and dance halls. The people loved his music. He traveled throughout Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas. When Joplin was 17, he settled in St. Louis and played piano at a local emporium. This was when a type of music called ragtime was becoming very popular.

• In 1884, Joplin moved to Sedalia, Missouri and began to compose marches, songs and waltzes. In 1899, he met publisher John Stark who introduced Joplin’s music to the public. One afternoon Stark walked into the Maple Leaf Club of Sedalia and heard Joplin playing the Maple Leaf Rag. He liked it so much that he bought it, published it and made a fortune on this one piece.

• With the success of this piece, Joplin was able to establish himself as piano teacher and spend more time composing. After teaching and composing in St. Louis, Joplin eventually moved to New York City and continued to publish rags. • In 1908, he wrote School of Ragtime, a valuable guide to understanding the basic elements of good ragtime style.

• Joplin composed a black folk opera, Treemonisha, but it was not successful in his day. This opera has since been performed successfully in the United States. • Joplin had written about 50 piano rags, two operas and a few songs, waltzes and marches before he died on April 1, 1917, the same day the United States entered the First World War. He was working on a ragtime symphony when he died.

• Joplin’s name is known all over the world as the greatest of all ragtime composers.

Maurice Ravel • Born: 1875 in Ciboure, France a fishing village on the coast close to the Pyrenees mountains. • Died: 1937 • Period of Music: • Instruments he played: Piano

• His father was a Swiss-born civil engineer, and his mother, Marie, a native of France. Shortly after birth his family moved to Paris. • From his father Maurice inherited a gift for music and an aptitude for mechanical things. He began to take piano lessons when he was seven years old. Two years later he was studying harmony. He was just 14 when he entered the Paris Conservatory. His main teachers were Faure and Gedalge.

• Like Debussy, Ravel was influenced by impressionism and by Russian music, but he did not imitate them. Ravel’s style differs from Debussy’s in several respects. His rhythms and forms are more clearly organized and his harmonies are firmly rooted in tonality. He was a perfectionist, and some may say his music was too well ordered and formal, but they usually admit he achieved originality, grace and intense beauty in his music.

• Ravel was not a slave to any one style of composition and once said that a composer should create what he feels and how he feels it without regard to style. He believed great music came from the heart. • One of ravel’s most important works was the ballet Daphonis et Chloe’. To write in quiet and not be interrupted, he went to the home of some friends who were away. The house, on the banks of the river, was often flooded by heavy spring rains. Ravel was concentrating so intensely that he did notice water was seeping through the floor where he was working. Neighbors helped him escape.

• When World War I began, Ravel was anxious to enlist and serve his beloved France. His frail health kept him form enlisting in the air corps, so he served in the ambulance corps But even this proved to be taxing, and his service was cut short when he was hospitalized in 1916. After the war, he traveled around Europe conducting and performing his music, and in 1928 he made an American tour.

• 1928 was also the year he composed one of his most famous orchestral dance pieces, Bolero. • In the last few years of his life, Ravel’s health continued to decline and on December 19 th, 1937, he underwent brain surgery. It was unsuccessful, and he died nine days later.

• Ravel’s total number of compositions is small compared to many other composers, but many of his works have acquired a dominant place in the standard orchestra repertoire and are performed widely today. He wrote a froup of five pieces for piano duet which he called Ma Mere l’Oye (Mother Goose Suite).

Bela Bartok • • Born: 1881 in Hungary Died: 1945 Period of Music: Contemporary Instruments played: Piano

• Bela Bartok was born in Hungary in 1881 and, showing his musical talent at an early age, he began studying piano with his mother when he was five years old. His father, director of an agricultural college, was an amateur musician. When Bartok was eight, his father died and his mother had to earn a living teaching. This profession required her to move around the countryside where young Bela had the opportunity to hear a lot of authentic Hungarian folk music.

• When he was 10 years old Bartok played his first recital, which included the first movement of Beethoven’s Sonata in C Major, Op. 53 (“Waldstein”). The recital was such a success that his mother decided that the family should settle in Pressburg where Bartok started regular piano lessons.

• There Bartok met Ernst von Dohnanyi who became a good friend advisor. Dohnanyi recommended to Bartok that he enter the Budapest Academy of Music to study piano and composition. While he was there, he became good friends with Zoltan Kodaly, a composer and educator who was also interested in Hungarian folk music.

• In the years that followed, they did a great deal of research together and wrote books about Hungarian folk music. • In 1907, Bartok was appointed professor of piano at the Budapest Academy of Music, where he was known as a brilliant pianist. In 1909, Bartok married Marta Ziegler, one of his students, who had inspired several of his compositions. He made concert tours of the United States and Russia in which he included some of his own compositions.

• Between 1926 and 1937, he wrote six volumes of piano pieces entitled Mikrokosnos which means “little world. ” These 153 pieces were written for his son Peter. Many contemporary techniques of composition are contained in these pieces and they range in difficulty form easy to complex.

• Because they did not want to live under the rule of Nazi Germany, Bartok and his wife came to the United States in 1940. To support themselves, they made concert tours playing two-piano recitals. But Bartok’s great love of his country never lessened and he continued his folksong research at Columbia University in New York City. He continued to compose and during the last three years of his life he completed some of his most outstanding works including Concerto for Orchestra, a sonata for solo violin, and Piano Concerto No. 3

• Bartok composed many different types of music and most of it reflects the great influence of his folksong studies. Bartok used the sounds and rhythms of folk songs in all of his writing.