Biography Classical Composers

Many classic composers faced unique challenges and obstacles on their paths to success, and these biographies highlight diverse experiences and perspectives to which children can easily relate.

Many classic composers faced unique challenges and obstacles on their paths to success, and these biographies highlight diverse experiences and perspectives to which children can easily relate.

Many classic composers faced unique challenges and obstacles on their paths to success, and these biographies highlight diverse experiences and perspectives to which children can easily relate.

Many classic composers faced unique challenges and obstacles on their paths to success, and these biographies highlight diverse experiences and perspectives to which children can easily relate.

Her compositions, blending traditional Western styles with African American influences, include symphonies, chamber works, and the acclaimed Symphony No. 1. Price's legacy continues to inspire diversity in classical music.

Many classic composers faced unique challenges and obstacles on their paths to success, and these biographies highlight diverse experiences and perspectives to which children can easily relate

George Frideric Handel (1685–1759), a German-born Baroque composer, achieved international acclaim for his operas, oratorios, and instrumental compositions. Notable works include Messiah and Water Music. Handel's profound impact on English Baroque music and his ability to evoke emotion through grand and dramatic compositions solidify his legacy as a musical giant.

Renowned for her exceptional piano skills, she also composed notable works. Clara, married to composer Robert Schumann, had a successful solo career and is recognized for her significant contributions to 19th-century music.

From Gregorian Chant to Henryk Gorecki, the first living classical composer to get into the pop album charts, here is the fascinating story of over a thousand years of Western classical music and the composers who have sought to express in music the deepest of human feelings and emotions. Also available: The History of Opera.

In clear and entertaining prose, Plotkin explores a thousand years of music, introduces listeners to more than 100 great works, and profiles in depth many significant composers, including Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, Dvoxak, and Mahler. He describes all the musical instruments in the orchestra, defines major musical terms, and makes music theory comprehensible for the uninitiated. There are also conversations with important musicians who offer fascinating insights about their art.

The lives and music of the great composers of classical music unfold in this entertaining account, introduced by singer and presenter Aled Jones. In 1200 years, classical music grew from the chanting of medieval monks through the symphonies of Beethoven and the grand operas of Wagner to the huge orchestral sound-world of the 21st century, with its electronics and its film music.

In The Indispensable Composers, Tommasini offers his own personal guide to the canon - and what greatness really means in classical music. What does it mean to be canonical now? Who gets to say? And do we have enough perspective on the 20th century to even begin assessing it? To make his case, Tommasini draws on elements of biography, the anxiety of influence, the composer's relationships with colleagues, and shifting attitudes toward a composer's work over time.

John Mauceri brings a lifetime of experience to bear in an unprecedented, hugely informative, consistently entertaining exploration of his profession, rich with anecdotes from decades of working alongside the greatest names of the music world. With candor and humor, Mauceri makes clear that conducting is itself a composition: of legacy and tradition, techniques handed down from master to apprentice - and more than a trace of ineffable magic.

Join Donald Macleod, presenter of BBC Radio 3’s Composer of the Week, as he brings Beethoven vividly to life: from his childhood in Bonn to how he won over the aristocratic music circles of Vienna, from the creation of his timeless works to the tragic loss of his hearing - and everything in between.

In a book that inspired the Amazon original series starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Malcolm McDowell, oboist Blair Tindall recounts her decades-long professional career as a classical musician, from the recitals and Broadway orchestra performances to the secret life of musicians who survive hand to mouth in the backbiting New York classical music scene, trading sexual favors for plum jobs and assignments in orchestras across the city.

Wide-ranging yet intimate, The Lives of Isaac Stern is a portrait of an artist and statesman who began as an American dreamer and left a lasting inheritance to his art, profession, and the world.

Probably the most naturally gifted musician the world has ever known, Mozart began his career early as a child prodigy. By the age of five, he was already proficient in the violin, the harpsichord, and piano keyboard. He had also begun composing music that had integrity. Ludwig van Beethoven is a crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in classical music. Beethoven displayed his musical talents at an early age. Listen to the full biographies of these two musicians, from the beginning to the end!

Brilliant, short-lived, incredibly prolific—Schubert is one of the most intriguing figures in music history. While his music attracts a wide audience, much of his private life remains shrouded in mystery, and significant portions of his work have been overlooked. In this major new biography, Lorraine Byrne Bodley takes a detailed look into Schubert's life, from his early years at the Stadtkonvikt to the harrowing battle with syphilis that led to his death at the age of thirty-one.

At thirteen years old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a child prodigy who had captured the hearts of northern Europe, but his father Leopold was now determined to conquer Italy. Together, they made three visits there the last when Mozart was seventeen, all vividly recounted here by acclaimed conductor Jane Glover. Father and son travelled from the theatres and concert salons of Milan to the church-filled streets of Rome to Naples, poorer and more dangerous than the prosperous north, and to Venice, the carnivelesque birthplace of public opera.

Two-and-a-half centuries after his death, the complex life of composer Johann Sebastian Bach continues to fascinate. Bach's colorful life was anchored in his belief that "music has been ordered by God's Spirit"?so much so that he began each composition by scrawling Jesu, juva (Jesus, help me) at the top of a blank page and concluded each with S.D.G. (short for Soli Deo Gloria, to God alone be the glory). Through the eyes of noted music and culture writer Rick Marschall, the intensely personal yet boldly public faith that earned Bach the nickname "The Fifth Evangelist" takes on fresh meaning.