Multimedia Audio Collection Deluxe/Multimedia Audio Collection Deluxe.iso/pianist/bio0.txt

Text File | 1993-03-22 | 62.3 KB | 984 lines

@001 Albeniz, Isaac\Albeniz, Isaac born May 29, 1860 died May 18, 1909
     Albeniz was a Spanish composer and piano virtuoso known as one of
Spain's most important musical figures vital in creating a national idiom
and indigenous school of piano music.
     Albeniz gave one of his first performances at the age of four and so
startled the audience with his brilliance that some kind of trickery was
suspected. At the tender age of thirteen he left home, traveling to far away
placed such as South America, Cuba and the USA, occasionally stowing-
away. He managed to support himself by giving concerts. His travels
eventually brought him back to Europe where in 1880 he had the
opportunity to study and learn from Liszt. In 1883 he settled in Barcelona
and married and subsequently had three children. Ten years later he moved
to Paris and was influenced by the French composers Paul Dukas and
Vincent d'Indy. His most important work is considered to be Iberia, a set of
twelve piano pieced inspired by the music and dance rhythms of Spain. He
also composed several operas, most notably Pepita Jimenez.
     After his death from Bright's Disease, the French government awarded
Albeniz the Grand Cross of the Legion d'honneur.


@002 Bach, Johann Sebastian\Johann Sebastian Bach, one of the giants of
the Baroque age, was born in Eisenach, Germany in 1685 to a family which
produced no less than sixty professional musicians in seven generations.
    He began his professional career in 1700 when he became a chorister
at the Church of St. Michael at Lueneburg. In 1703, he was hired by Prince
Johann Ernst of Weimar to be a violinist in the court orchestra. However,
he moved to Arnstadt later that year to became church organist. In 1705,
Bach secured a leave of absence to study with Swedish organist Detrich
Buxtehude in Luebeck. Buxtehude's organ music became one of Bach's
greatest influences. After marrying his second cousin, Maria Barbara Bach
in 1707, Johann went to Muelhausen to be organist at the the church of St.
Blasius. He returned to Weimar the next year and took up employment in
the court of Duke Wilhelm Ernst as an organist and violinist. By 1714, he
was concertmaster of the court orchestra. In 1717, Bach moved to Anhalt-
K_then where he was appointed chapelmaster and director of chamber
music for the court of Prince Leopold. This appointment gave Bach the
opportunity to write secular works for ensembles and solo instruments.
During his six-year employment under Prince Leopold, he also wrote books
to teach his wife and children the clavier. In 1720, Maria Barbara died, and
in the following year he married a young singer named Anna Magdalena
Wilcke. In 1723, Bach received his last posting, in Leipzig as musical
director and choirmaster of St. Thomas' church. Bach died in 1750.
    Bach's music is typified by its technical facility as well as its
expressiveness. Although his work constitutes the ultimate use of
counterpoint and contains some of the most intricate harmonies found in
Baroque music, it never sounds mechanical; in fact, it conveys the
humanity of a truly great composer.

@003 Balakirev, Mily\Balakirev, Mily born Jan2, 1837 died May 29, 1910
     Balikirev was a leading Russian nationalist composer known for setting
the course for Russian lyrical song during the second half of the nineteenth
century.
     Balikirev received his first musical training from his mother and proved
to be a precocious student, being able to reproduce tunes at the piano by the
age of four. By the age of fourteen he was made conductor of an orchestra
of the nobleman Aleksandr Oulibishev who became his patron. He was
encouraged by Mikhail Glimka when Balakirev moved to St. Petersburg in
1855. He later formed a famous group of musicians known as the "five"
which included Aleksander Borodin, Cesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky and
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. He was also one of the founders of the Free
Music School in St. Petersburg and was director of the Court Chapel.
     Balikirev wrote many works based on Russian folk themes and collected
and arranged many Russian folk songs. Among his most famous works is
the incredibly difficult piano fantasy Islamy, the overture Russia and the
symphonic poem Tamara.
     Unfortunately Balikirev's life was troubled by fits of depression,
extreme poverty, encephalitis, headaches and constant disorders of the
stomach and nerves. Known to be a strong advocate for musical
nationalism , and having a somewhat fierce and tactless character, he
gained many enemies particularly in German academic circles. Eventually
he received some triumph in 1867 when he succeeded Anton Rubinstein as
the conductor of the Russian Musical Society symphony concerts and
director of the Free School.

@004 Beethoven, Ludwig van \Beethoven was born in the Austrian city of
Bonn in 1770. He was surrounded at an early age by music, as both his
father and grandfather were local musicians. However, he soon found that
Bonn was too small a pond for a great musician like himself. At the age of
22, Beethoven made a move to Vienna, the European centre for music. He
put himself under the tutelage of several prominent teachers, including
the famous Haydn and the infamous Salieri. He also hoped to create a name
for hiself as both a concert pianist and a composer. Very quickly he gained
the success that he sought in locating the aristocratic patrons who would
support his musical career. It should be noted that Beethoven was the
first composer to attempt and succeed freelance composing.
    This heyday of Beethoven's seemed threatened, however, in 1799,
when he discovered that he was going deaf. By 1802, he had accepted his
growing deafness, but was not defeated by it. In fact, he was quoted as
saying, "I will seize fate by the throat; it shall never overcome me!" And it
certainly didn't. With the fervor that is so evident in his compositions,
Beethoven gave up his promising career as a concert pianist and threw
himself into the role of composer.
    Beethoven turned out to be a prolific composer. He wrote 32 piano
sonatas whose numbers included the famous Moonlight and the powerful
Pathetique. He also wrote 18 string quartets and nine symphonies. Few
music lovers can forget the four immortal opening notes of the Fifth
Symphony. When asked about the inspiration for these powerful chords,
Beethoven described them as, "how destiny knocks on the door."
    Beethoven's deafness became complete in 1819, but instead of
slowing the great composer, it seemed to aid his creative powers,
developing, perhaps inspiring his style. About his deafness, he once
confidently declared, "You will see me again, when I am really great; not
only greater as an artist but as a man you will find me better, more
perfect." Often his anger expressed itself in the form of pulsating rhythms
and powerful themes. At other times, his passionate humanity was
embodied in his flowing melodies.
    Beethoven enjoyed popularity even in his own day, an unusual luxury
for those composers who we later come to know as "great". The day of his
death in 1827 was such a tumultuous one that schools closed for the day,
and the military was called out to control the bereaved Austrian public.
The Austrian people realized that they had lost one of the greatest
musicians of all time. Fortunately, the legacy of his life's work remains
behind as a reminder of that revolutionary composer, Ludwig van
Beethoven.

@005 Boccherini, Luigi\A contemporary of Luigi Boccherini once said: "If
God chose to speak to man he would employ the music of Haydn; but if he
desired to hear an earthly musician, he would select Boccherini."
    Boccherini was an Italian cellist and composer of the Eighteenth
Century. He was born in Lucca in 1743. He first studied music with his
father, a double bass player, before being sent to continue his education in
Rome in 1757. He returned to Lucca in 1761 to play cello for the local
orchestra, then departed on a tour of Austria and France with the violinist
Manfredi. Boccherini finally settled in Madrid in 1769, where served the
Infante Don Luis, who died in 1785. He was appointed the Court Composer
for Frederick William II of Prussia in 1787 and kept that job until the
King's death in 1797. Boccherini's fortune went downhill from this point
until he himself died in 1805.

@006 Brahms, Johannes\Johannes Brahms was born in the German town of
Hamburg in 1833. As the son of a double bassist, he began studying music
at an early age, soon proving himself to be an excellent student of the
piano-forte. At the age of 11, Brahms began to compose, playing his pieces
in sailors' taverns, and saloons to earn money for the family.
    In 1853, he toured with famous Hungarian violinist Eduard Remenyi
(Hoffman), who introduced him to Gypsy music; the music of the Gypsies
was to become one of Brahms' major influences. On this tour, he also met
Liszt, Schumann, Joachim, and other artistic luminaries of his time.
    In 1862, Brahms visited Vienna, where he chose to make his
permanent home. By 1864, he had devoted himself to composition, and the
performance of his own works. During this period, Brahms established his
success as a composer, his works garnering international success. He
earned a Ph.D. in music from Breslau in 1879. He had also been offered a
Mus.D. from Cambridge in 1877, but he refused it because he did not wish
to travel there in person to receive it. In 1896, he began to suffer from
cancer of the liver, to which he succumbed the following year.
    The music of Brahms successfully merges Classicism and German
Romanticism. In his compositions, he sought to create works of
craftsmanship and coherence, qualities which spoke of his excellent
musical workmanship.

@007 Chaminade, Cecile\ Chaminade, Cecile born Aug 8, 1857 Paris died April 18,1944 Monte
Carlo
     This French pianist and composer is best known for her performances
of her own light salon piano pieces.
     At the age of eight Chiminade began writing church music. She studied
under Godard as well as other well known teachers of that time. Her
numerous works of all kinds attracted the attention of the public and she
performed them during many concert tours in France and in particular
England. Notwithstanding the charm and clever writing of her pieces (over
two-hundred piano works in all), many in the music world believe that they
do not rise above drawing room music quality. Her more serious musical
attempts were not considered successful.

@008 Chopin, Frederic\According to Louis Aguittant, Chopin was "a
personal poet and singer of his race." He was no doubt one of the most
revolutionary of piano composers. Many feel that Chopin's style of piano
composition and playing are the apotheosis of the Romantic era.
Sometimes violent and heroic, at other times meloncholy and full of
despair, Chopin's music is the source of a full spectrum of dramatic human
emotion.
    Chopin was born in Poland in 1810, at the outset of the tumultuous
Romantic period. Musically inclined at an early age, Frederic took piano
lessons at the age of six. The prodigious boy published a polonaise the
following year, and by the time he was eight, he was giving public
performances. At the age of 12, Chopin began taking composing lessons
from Polish musician Ksawery Elsner at the Warsaw Conservatory, which
further developed his already impressive talents in both composition and
improvisation.
    In 1827, he left the Conservatory to explore the world. He performed
in Vienna in 1829, then returned to Poland. After the Russians captured
his homeland in 1830, Chopin chose to make his musical home in Paris,
where he befriended fellow Polish nationals Franz Liszt, Vicenzo Bellini,
Honor_ de Balzac, and Heinrich Heine. He also met George Sand, a writer
whose pen name was Madame Aurore Dudevant. His relationship with her,
though initially platonic, turned intimate, and lasted seven years. During
this time he lived with her at her in Paris, at her country home in Nohant,
and in Majorca, where she took him to recover from illness.
    Chopin was a sickly man, continuously enduring a wide variety of
afflictions. It was John Field who aptly said of Chopin, "He was dying all
his life." In January 1849, Chopin succumbed to tuburculosis of the throat.
    During his lifetime, Chopin wrote many works, almost exclusively
for the solo piano. Among other forms, these included Mazurkas, Studies,
Preludes, Nocturnes and Waltzes.

@009 Debussy, Claude\Claude Debussy (b. St Germain-en-Laye, 1862; d.
Paris, 1918) was one of the greatest composers of all time, but also one
who knew the piano intimately. His piano music exploits the beauty and
potential of the instrument in a way that only a pianist could. Indeed,
Debussy's first music instruction was in the form of piano lessons from,
of all people, the mother-in-law of the renowned French poet Paul
Verlaine. This connection led to his entry into the Paris Conservatoire in
1873. While in his twenties, he spent a couple of years in Rome where he
met Liszt, Verdi and Boito, and heard Wagner's Lohengrin. In 1988 and
1989, he even attended the Bayreuth Festival where Wagner's mammoth
four opera "Ring" cycle is performed each year to this day. Another
influence on his future style was that of hearing the Javanese gamelan
(orchestra), with its assortment of gongs, chimes, marimbas and drums,
at the Paris Exposition of 1889. Debussy also became associated with the
group of painters, writers and poets who were later to be called
"impressionists". In many ways, the term impressionism suited the art. In
painting, the blurred images of Mon_t suggested the subject rather than
trying to portray it realistically. In Debussy's music, there are many
examples of the impressionist tendency to portray nature in an almost
dream-like manner. La cath_dral engloutie is a good example. It paints a
picture in sound of the legendary ruins of a French cathedral now
submerged beneath water, and the fleeting glimpses of its outlines seen
from the surface of the lake. Debussy's music sounds even more
mysterious and exotic by his use of the whole tone scale (rather than
major or minor) and chord intervals of fifths and octaves.

@010 Elgar, Sir Edward\
    Edward William Elgar was born in the English town of Broadheath,
near Worcester on June 2, 1857. He was musically educated by his father,
an organist at St. George's Roman Catholic Church in Worcester. Part of his
early education included helping his father at the organ, and participating
in rehearsals of the Worcester Glee Club.
    In 1879, he went to London, where he received a few violin lessons
from Adolf Pollitzer. He also took up employment at the Worcester County
Lunatic Asylum as bandmaster. He was appointed conductor of the
Worcester Amateur Instrumental Society in 1882. He left that job in 1885
to take over from his father as organist at St. George's. He married the
daughter of Sir Henry Roberts in 1889, then moved first to London, then to
Malvern, which became his home for 13 years. In 1904, he moved to
Hereford, then London, until his wife died in 1920, at which point he
returned to Worcester. Elgar died in 1934.
    Although Elgar's academic musical training was far from formal, he
managed to establish himself as a major composer of the early Twentieth
Century. His musical technique was remarkable. His pieces were most
often written in traditional Romantic style, tempered by strong formal
elements.
    Elgar was honored on many occasions by various awards. In 1904, he
was knighted. Honorary degress in Mus.Doc were given to him by Aberdeen
and Cambridge Universities in 1906, and Oxford University in 1905. Leeds
gave him a LL.D in 1904. While in the United States in 1905, Elgar was
awarded a D.Mus. from Yale University. The University of Western
Pennsylvania (Univ. of Pittsburgh) followed suit, granting the same degree
to Elgar in 1907. In 1911, he received the Order of Merit, was appointed as
the Master of the King's Musick in 1924, was made K.C.V.O. in 1928, and a
baronet in 1931.

@011 Faure, Gabriele\Gabriel-Urbain Faure was born in Pamiers, a town in
France, on May 12, 1845. He was the son of a provincial primary school
inspector. At an early age, his father, who had noticed his musical talents,
took him to Paris to study with Louis Niedermeyer. When Niedermeyer died
in 1861, the young Faure commenced studies with Saint-Saens, who was
able to instruct him in the art of composition. Upon completing his lessons
in 1866, Faure traveled to Rennes, where he was hired as an organist at
the church of Saint-Sauveur.
    In 1870, Faure returned to Paris. The Franco-Prussian war had just
begun, and the musician volunteered for service in a light infantry
division.
    In 1896, he was given a post as chief organist at Madeleine. He was
also hired by the Paris Conservatory as a professor. He became a
successful teacher, whose students included the famous composer Maurice
Ravel. His achievements led the Conservatory to appoint him director in
1905. He held this position until 1920, when his failing health and
approaching deafness forced his resignation. From 1903 to 1921, Faure
further occupied himself by writing musical reviews in Le Figaro.
    Faure had an illustrius career. The Academie des Beaux Arts made
him a member in 1909. He was also given the status of Commander of the
Legion d'Honneur, in 1910.
    Faure's unique style gives his art an immortal stature. Unresolved
dischords and coloristic effects make his music anticipatory of the
coming Impressionistic period.
    He died in Paris on November 4, 1924.

@012 Grainger, Percy Aldridge\Percy Aldridge Grainger was born in
Melbourne, Australia on July 8, 1882. Grainger was an eccentric character
who made many advances on contemporary music. Some of these include a
pioneering quartet for electronic instruments, written in 1937, and
replacing the usual Italian terms used in music with plain English.
Grainger also experimented with different methods of notation. His
electronic quartet, for example, was written as a series of zigzags and
curves.
    One of his greatest talents, however, was his piano playing. When he
met the famous composer Grieg in 1906, Grainger impressed him with his
pianistic skill. Grainger's rendition of Grieg's Piano Concerto became very
popular.
    By 1914, Grainger had settled in the United States. In 1928, he
married Ella Viola Strom in an enormous wedding held at the Hollywood
Bowl. Between 1919 and 1931, he taught music in summer seminars at the
Chicago Musical College. He then chaired the music department at New
York University for one year beginning in 1932.
    In 1935, Grainger established the Grainger Museum at the University
of Melbourne. He hoped to share with the public his large collection of
musical souvenirs. He also requested that his skeleton be kept there after
his death. When he died in 1961, however, this particular request was
denied, and his body was interred in a normal fashion.
    Grainger's music is folk-based, though he experimented widely with
"gliding" intervals and polyrhythm.

@013 Granados, Enrique\Enrique Granados was born in Lerida, Spain on
July 27, 1867. He took his formal musical education at the Barcelona
Conservatory, where he won First Prize in piano in 1883. He continued his
studies from 1884 to 1887, learning composition. In 1887, Granados
traveled to Paris to further his education, then returned to Barcelona for
his first recital in 1890.
    This launched his performance career. He made a living by playing
private concerts and entertaining in restaurants. He wrote several operas,
but none of them gained him the fame that he would have liked.
    His most effective works were contained in a series of piano pieces
called "Goyescas", inspired by the paintings and etchings of Goya. Also of
note were his "Danzas espanolas".
    The music of "Goyescas" was later used by Granados in an opera of
the same name. On March 24, 1916, while returning to Europe after the
New York Metropolitan Opera premiere of "Goyescas", Granados' ship was
sunk by a German submarine in the English Channel. He lost his life in the
attack.

@014 Grieg, Edvard Hagerup\Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in Bergen,
Norway, on June 15, 1843. He was educated in music first at home by his
mother, then at the Leipzig Conservatory where he learned piano and
musical theory. His music, steeped in German Romanticism, reflects this
training. He was a master of miniature musical forms. His music also
speaks of the emergence of Norwegian nationalism, capturing the melodic
and rhythmic flavour of the proud nordic country. His nationalistic style
earned him the nickname "Chopin of the North". Grieg was a Scandinavian
nationalist. He, along with fellow Norwegian composer Rikard Nordraak,
organized the Euterpe Society, which promoted Scandinavian music. In
1867, a year after the premature death of Nordraak (he was 23), Grieg
started the Norwegian Academy of Music. In that year he also married his
cousin Nina Hagerup, to whom he dedicated his ensuing works.
    Because of his nationalistic style, the Norwegian government
granted him an annual salary of 1600 crowns to fuel his compositional
efforts. His popularity throughout Europe increased, and he was admired by
such greats as Brahms and Tchaikovsky. Grieg's success, however, did not
affect his reclusive nature. He spent his later years in seclusion from
public attention, though he continued to regularly compose music. He lived
the remainder of his life in his house in Troldhaugen, near his hometown
of Bergen.
    The day of his death, September 4, 1907, was a day of national
mourning in Norway, and he was given a state funeral. His cremated
remains rest on the side of a cliff over the fjords of Troldhaugen.

@015 Haydn, Franz Joseph\Franz Joseph "Papa" Haydn was born in Rohrau,
Austria, on March 31, 1732. He was surrounded at an early age by music,
as his family gathered on Sunday nights to sing, accompanied by Bach's
father, who was an amateur harpist. He received his first real education
from cousin Johann Mathias Franck, who taught him reading, writing, and
arithmetic. In addition to the three "R"'s, Franck instructed Haydn in
instrumental playing. He practiced the harpsichord in a rented attic room
above the home of famous Italian librettist Pietro Metastasio. Metastasio
recognized Haydn's talents and recommended that he tutor a local Spanish
family. Haydn also worked as an accompanist to the students of Nicolo
Porpora. In exchange for these services rendered, Porpora gave Haydn
lessons in composition.
    In 1760, Haydn married Maria Anna Keller, which turned out to be a
disaster. Haydn tried for most of his life to avoid her company, and
supporting her by sending her money.
    In 1761 Haydn met Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy of Eisenstadt, who,
upon hearing one of Haydn's symphonies, hired him as second
Kapellmeister. When the Prince died in 1762, his successor Prince
Nikolaus Esterhazy hired Haydn. Haydn's new employer was very
demanding, requiring two operatic and two formal performances per week.
Haydn's period of employment with Prince Esterhazy was an important
segment of Haydn's career. During this time, Haydn produced keyboard
pieces, operas, 83 string quartets, and about 80 symphonies. He also wrote
pieces featuring the viola da gamba, an instrument played by the Prince.
    An interesting anecdote concerning the Prince explains the
composition of one of Haydn's symphonies. Upon hearing that the Prince
wished to disband his orchestra, Haydn wrote the "Farewell Symphony".
During the slow final movement of this symphony, the musicians would
walk off the stage one by one, leaving a sole violinst with the conductor.
The symbolism of the piece convinced the Prince to keep his orchestra
intact.
    Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy died in 1790. Haydn remained in the
employ of the Esterhazy estate under Niklaus' son and heir Paul Anton.
Though Haydn was paid an annuity of 1000 florins, and retained the duties
of Kapellmeister, he made his new home in Vienna. He also spent much
time in London, where he was admired by many musical patrons, including
the King of England.
    Haydn had many influential acquaintances in the music world. One of
his closest friends while in Vienna was Mozart. Mozart and Haydn held
each other in great mutual esteem. Mozart admired the elder Haydn, and
Haydn remarked to Mozart's father that Mozart was "the greatest composer
known to me either in person or by name." Haydn also met Beethoven in
1792 and took him as a student.
    Prince Paul Anton died in in 1794, and was replaced by yet another
Nikolaus. Nikolaus resestablished the Haydn orchestra in Eisenstadt, with
Haydn as Kapellmeister. In 1802, Haydn was forced by illness to end his
association with the Esterhazy family.
    When Haydn died in 1809, he was buried in Hundsturm Cemetery. A
gruesome aside: in 1820, while his remains were being moved for
reinterment in a cemetery in Eisenstadt, his skull became seperated from
the body. The skull was exhibited under glass in Vienna until 1954, when
it was returned to Haydn's grave.

@016 Joplin, Scott\The ragtime music of black composer Scott Joplin is
often seen as the American equivalent of Mozart's Austrian minuets, or
Chopin's Polish mazurkas. Joplin was born in Texarkana on November 24,
1868. After learning to play the piano at home, he studied with a local
German musician. At the age of 17, he moved to St Louis, where he worked
as a piano player. When the World's Fair was staged in Chicago in 1893,
Joplin moved there, attracted by the excitement and music. In 1894 he
took music at a segregated black school, George Smith College.
    In 1899, he composed the "Maple Leaf Rag", which was to become the
most famous of all piano rags. The piece was named after the Maple Leaf
Hall, a local dance hall. On the proceeds from sheet music sales of the
"Maple Leaf Rag", Joplin was able to make a permanent home in St. Louis
and write music full-time.
    Joplin dedicated himself to ragtime music. He began the composition
of both a ragtime ballet called the "Ragtime Dance", and a ragtime opera,
called "A Guest of Honor".
    He moved to New York in 1907 to continue teaching and writing.
There, he made another attempt to adopt the operatic form to ragtime
with his work entitled "Treemonisha". Unfortunately, he did this with
dubious success. He continued to write piano rags, which remained his
mainstay.
    Around 1917, Joplin contracted syphillus, a condition which led to
his insanity. He died in a state hospital.
    Joplin's most well loved songs are still his piano rags like "The
Entertainer" (1902), which was revived by the 1974 movie "The Sting". In
1976, Joplin became the recipient of an award for exceptional posthumous
achievement from the Pulitzer Prize Committee.

@017 Ketelby, Albert William\Albert Ketelby was the composer who
wrote such exotically titled pieces as "In a Persian Market", and "In a
Monestery Garden". The composer of Danish origin was born in Aston,
England, on August 9, 1875. At the age of 11, he wrote his first piano
sonata, which was praised by elder composer Sir Edward Elgar. When he
was 13, he won a Queen Victoria scholarship at Trinity College. At the age
of only 16, he was employed by St. John Church at Wimbledon as organist.
He conducted a musical comedy troupe when he was 20, before being hired
by Columbia Gramophone Co. as musical director, and by Chappell's Music
Publishing as music editor. Much of Ketelby's music was written under
assorted pseudonyms. Ketelby died at Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, on
November 26, 1959.

@018 Liszt, Franz\Franz Liszt was born in Hungary in 1811. He first
performed in public at the age of nine. In 1823, after briefly studying
piano playing and composition in Vienna, Liszt moved to Paris, where he
hoped he would be admitted to the famous Conservatoire. However,
because he was a foreigner, he was refused admission. Undaunted, Liszt
took up private lessons and was soon performing as a professional concert
pianist. For the next twenty years, he impressed audiences all over Europe
with his virtuoso talents.
    At home in France, Liszt was influenced by the intellectuals and
artists he met, like Victor Hugo, George Sand, Frederic Chopin, and Hector
Berlioz. Saturated by French thinking and French lifestyle, Liszt became a
great libertine and freethinker, and had several well-publicized affairs
with socially prominent ladies. He fathered three illigitimate children
with Countess Marie d'Agoult. In an attempt to escape the world's many
temptations, the Romantically spirited Liszt turned to the Church. In
1879, he devoted himself to the Catholic Church, performing minor holy
orders, and worked to improve church music. In 1886, he died.
    Liszt's piano music was largely inspired by literary and artistic
sources. Liszt was a musical poet. According to Liszt, "The musician who
is inspired by nature exhales in tones nature's most tender secrets
without copying it. He thinks, he feels, he speaks through nature." His
works were descriptively titled pieces, consisting mainly of short lyrical
and sentimental songs. They tested the abilities of not only the pianist,
but also of the keyboard itself. Liszt, in his day, was known as the
"legendary destroyer of pianos," driving the limits of keyboards and
keyboard technique far beyond previous boundries. However, contemporary
musicians are often critical of Liszt's work, accusing him of producing
music of uneven quality and lacking in substance. Because he wrote music
primarily to show off his own talents, they tend to be technically
brilliant, but sometimes musically weak. However, of the over 700 pieces
he wrote, there are many examples which show the artistic talents of one
of the greatest Romantic pianists.

@019 MacDowell, Edward Alexander\Edward Alexander MacDowell was an
American composer born on December 18, 1860 in New York. In 1877,
while visiting Europe with his mother, MacDowell enrolled at the Paris
Conservatory under Augustin Savard. However, he withdrew from the
Conservatory after only a year because of slow progress and went to
Germany. There he studied with a pupil of Mendelssohn, Louis Ehlert. In
1879 he enrolled at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, a well respected
institution. At Hoch Conservatory, Carl Heymann taught MacDowell piano
and director Joachim Raff taught him composition. While studying with
Heymann, MacDowell encountered famous pianist Franz Liszt, who visited
the class twice, and took the opportunity to impress Liszt with his
talents. Two years later, MacDowell played his First Piano Concerto for
Liszt, and sent him a copy of his Modern Suite. Liszt recommended that the
piece be played at a meeting of German music notables held in 1882. Liszt
also helped get MacDowell's works printed by publishers Breitkopf &
Hartel. MacDowell's growing stature landed him a job at the Darmstadt
Conservatory. He married one of his students, Marian Nevins, in 1884.
    MacDowell, after his marriage, suffered financial problems. He
refused a job at the National Conservatory of New York, and also at an
American Consulate in Germany. In 1896, MacDowell was hired by
Columbia University to head their newly established music department.
However, he had disagreements with the school, and resigned in 1904.
    Soon after, MacDowell's mental health began to deteriorate. On
January 23, 1908, Edward Alexander MacDowell died locked in a pathetic
childlike condition at the age of only 47.
    The unused money raised for MacDowell's care was put toward the
establishment of a sanctuary for American writers and composers.

@020 Mendelssohn, Felix\Jacob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was
born in Hamburg, Germany on February 3, 1809. His early piano education
was given to him by his mother, who then sent him to Ludwig Berger. He
also studied violin with Carl Wilhelm Henning and Euard Rietz. At an early
age, Mendelssohn also displayed a talent for foreign languages and drawing
with pastels.
    Around 1820, Mendelssohn began study with his greatest teacher,
Carl Friedrich Zelter. Zelter, who realized what enormous talent the boy
had, took him to Weimar, and introduced him to Goethe, who was
impressed by Mendelssohn's playing. Zelter also helped Mendelssohn get
into the Berlin Singakademie as an alto. The Akademie even performed one
Mendelssohn's works in 1819.
    Mendelssohn was proving himself to be a prodigious young musician.
His first public performance was held when he was nine, in 1818. He
wrote an octet at the age of 16, and composed an overture for the
performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" when he was 17. The
perfection of his early works remained throughout his entire career.
    As an adult, Mendelssohn traveled widely in Europe. He visited
England on numerous occasions, as well as Austria, Italy, Switzerland and
his native Germany.
    He was well known not only for his composition and playing, but also
for his conducting. He conducted the Berlin Singakademie in 1829 in a
performance that revived interest in Bach's choral works. He also
conducted the Lower-Rhine Music Festival in 1833, and in Cologne in 1835.
He elevated the already prestigious Gewandhaus Orchestra to an all time
high when he led it in 1835.
    In 1837, Mendelssohn married the daughter of a French Protestant
clergyman, and they had five children.
    In 1841, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV offered the post of
Generalmusikdirektor to Mendelssohn. This job put gave him responsibility
over music of the court and of the Cathedral.
    Mendelssohn established the Conservatorium in Leipzig in 1842. The
illustrius teaching staff of the institution included Mendelssohn himself,
Schumann, Hauptmann, David, Becker, Plaidy, and Wenzel.
    Sadly, Mendelssohn became sick in 1847. At the age of only 38,
Mendelssohn passed away. The exact cause of his death is unknown, though
through the last days of his life he suffered severe headaches and chills.
    Mendelssohn's pieces have become favorites in the hearts of those in
Germany, England, America, and Russia. One particularly well known piece
is the "Wedding March" from "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

@021 Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus\Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is often
referred to as the most brilliant composer ever known. Not only is his
work highly regarded today, but was admired by his contemporary peers,
like the eloquent Ludwig van Beethoven, whou once summmed it up
concisely, saying, "Mozart is good and admirable."
    The "good and admirable" Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria in
1756. The Classical Period was well under way, and Salzburg was quickly
becoming one of the centres for the arts in Europe. Mozart was fortunate
to be born into the family of one of the town's foremost music teachers:
Leopold Mozart.
    Leopold's influence in his young son's musical development was
enormous, as he encouraged the eager Wolfgang to improve his already
astounding talents. By the age of four, having already experimented on his
own for about a year with tunes and chords, Wolfgang began his studies in
earnest on the keyboard. Under Leopold's training, Mozart began learning at
an incredible rate. In half an hour, Mozart was able to learn an entire
minuet and trio. Mozart also posessessed an eerie sense of perfect pitch.
    By the age of six, Leopold felt that his son and his daughter, who
was also extremely talented, were ready to be presented to the rest of the
world. With this in mind, the family set out for Munich, the Bavarian
capital. Upon their arrival, Wolfgang and his sister Nannerl were presented
to the Municher nobles, who, needless to say, were stunned by the
performances of thes two tiny children. A tour of Munich which lasted
nearly three weeks followed this highly successful first concert, and the
Mozarts' renown and popularity grew.
    This wildly successful tour presented the Mozarts with the key to a
tour in Vienna, the musical capital of the Classical world. This tour in
turn led to one in Paris and Versailles. It was in Paris, when Wolfgang was
seven, that his first published works appeared. Four sonatas for clavier
and violin were printed.
    By the age of 13, Mozart had written La Finta Semplis, his first
opera. He was enjoying enormous popularity, swarmed by throngs of people
wherever he travelled in Europe.
    Returning to Salzburg, Mozart took up employment as concertmaster
for the Archbishop Colloredo. Unfortunately, the Archbishop was
unconvinced of Mozart's genius, and fired the young composer at the age of
twenty-one.
    Following his release, Mozart toured unsuccessfully through
Mannheim and Paris, where he endured the loss of his beloved mother.
Heartbroken and jobless, he returned to Salzburg where he was forced
once again to be employed by the hated Archbishop. This spell of
employment was short-lived. Soon, Mozart was travelling again, this time
to Vienna, where he married Constanze Weber in 1782.
    In 1785, Mozart began work on one of his most famous operas_The
Marriage of Figaro. By 1787, Mozart was writing as if in a frenzy, churning
out works, trying to keep up with the costs of his sickly wife and six
children. However, his hard work paid off. He finally landed a position as
the Imperial and Royal Court Composer in Vienna.
    Mozart soon found disappointment in his new job. The salary was
insufficient to pay for his now extravagant lifestyle, and the fashionable
Viennese public was tiring of his concerts. He was forced to borrow
money, mostly to pay for his wife's health care, and this depressed him.
Despite these setbacks, Mozart was optimistic that his fortune would
change.
    His fortune did change, but not for long. In 1791, his newest opera,
The Magic Flute premiered to rousing success. However, Mozaart did not
live long to enjoy this success. He was by this time quite ill, suffering
from weakness, and fainting frequently. On Decembler 5, 1791, Mozart
died, trying to compose the drums for his Requiem.
    The joy of Mozart's music reflects Mozart's own enjoyment of life
and its pleasures. Even during the times of his deepest despair, Mozart
was able to fill his music with the ebulliency of his soul. In these
passages, Mozart's playful sense of fun is clearly evident. However, Mozart
was also capable of stirring darker emotions. Thus while some themes
bounce merrily, others are sombre and pensive.
    Mozart had few influences. His musical genius allowed him to be
almost completely original. Despite the constant praise that was lavished
upon him, however, Mozart never allowed himself to become arrogant of
supercilious. He still kept himself open to new experiences, especially
those of a musical nature. For instance, after hearing the music of Bach,
Mozart exclaimed, "Now here's something one can learn from!"
    During the course of his thirty-year musical career, Mozart produced
over 600 works, in all the popular forms of the time, including concertos
for piano, violin, and viola, sonatas, trios, quartets, quintets, symphonies,
and operas. Mozart made his music reflect the changing opinions of the
time while simultaneously adding his own. If there is one artist wo
represents the order and sedate nature of Classical perfection, while
embodying the turbulent emotional appeal of the Romantic era, that artist
is Mozart. And if one artist can be called the greatest musical genius ever
to grace this Earth, that artist is Mozart, the God of Music.

@022 Mussorgsky, Modest\Mussorgsky is considered to be one of the
Russian Five, that group of Slavic composers seen to be the quintessence
of native Russian music. The Russian Five also includes Balakirev, Borodin,
Cui, and Rimsky-Korsakov. These composers drew their inspiration from
the rich musical well of Russian folk art.
    Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was born in Karevo in 1839. At the age
of ten, he was sent St. Petersburg to prepare for military school. In 1856,
after four years in the military school, he joined a regiment, and did not
think of a musical career until he met composers Alexander Dargomizhsky
and Mily Balakirev in 1857. In 1858 he resigned his commission to take up
music, which he pursued unsystematically. Following the liberation of the
Russian serfs in 1861, Mussorgsky gained an interest in their character
and speech. He began several works, but none of them gained much success.
Many of them remained unfinished after his death in 1881 from spinal
disease.

@023 Prokofiev, Sergei\Sergei Prokofiev was a great Russian composer
born April 27, 1891 in Sontzovka. He, like many famous composers, took
his first piano lessons from his mother, and showed incredible promise at
an early age. He wrote an entire piano score for his first opera, "The
Giant", by the age of nine. Two years later, in 1902, he finished an
overture and 3 tableaux for another opera, "On Desert Island". From 1904
to 1907, he worked on yet another opera, "Ondine". Upon its completion,
Prokofiev went to Moscow to take lessons in compositions from Gliere.
While in Moscow, he wrote a Symphony in G, and an opera called "Feast
during the Plague".
    Prokofiev enrolled at the St. Petersburg Conservatory at the age of
13 and studied with Rimsky-Korsakov. When he graduated in 1914, his
First Piano Concerto won him a grand piano, the Anton Rubinstein Prize for
best pianist-composer.
    In 1920, Prokofiev traveled to Paris, where he met Diaghilev, a
producer for his ballets. He also met Koussevitzky, who eventually
published Prokofiev's works.
    Prokofiev married Lina Llubera in 1923, a soprano from Spain whose
real name was Carlina Codina. However, the marriage was not successful.
By 1940, Prokofiev was living with a young writer named Myra Mendelson.
He was not yet divorced from his first wife, but this turned out not to be a
problem, as she was sent to a concentration camp in 1946 for political
crimes and was not released for 8 years. Prokofiev died in Moscow on
March 5, 1953.
    Prokofiev's work was progressive and modernistic in style. Some of
his most popular works include an opera called "Love for 3 Oranges", and a
children's symphonic fairy tale, "Peter and the Wolf".

@024 Poulenc, Francis\Francis Poulenc was born in Paris, on January 7,
1899. He took music lessons from his mother until he was 16. At this
point he enlisted piano teacher Ricardo Vines. Influenced by the eccentric
modern style of Erik Satie, Poulenc joined a group of young French
musicians called the "Nouveaux Jeunes". Besides Poulenc, the group
included composers Auric, Durey, Honegger, Milhaud, and Tailleferre.
French critic Henri Collet called them "Le Groupe de Six", after the famous
Russian Five. The name was later shortened to just "Le Six".
    Poulenc served in the French army from 1918 to 1921, before taking
lessons from Koechlin, who taught him composition. Poulenc stayed with
Koechlin until 1924.
    In 1935, Poulenc began to work for baritone Pierre Bernac as
accompanist. He also wrote pieces for Bernac to sing. Poulenc also wrote
ballet music. He was hired by Diaghilev to write for his Ballet Russes.
Poulenc died in Paris on January 30, 1963.
    Poulenc's style was different than that of the rest of "Le Six". While
they experimented wildly with wild new rhythms and harmonies, Poulenc
preferred to follow the neo-Classicist strain. Poulenc best showed his
skills when composing religious pieces, as well as those for the piano and
the organ.

@025 Rachmaninoff, Segei\Sergei Rachmaninoff, great Russian pianist and
composer, was born in Oneg, district of Novgorod, on April 1, 1873.
Rachmaninoff's musical talents were discovered early, as both his
grandfather and father were amateur pianists. His parents took him to St.
Petersburg Conservatory in 1882, where he studied until 1885 under
Demiansky. He then went to the Moscow Conservatory to study with
Zverev, where he remained until his graduation as a pianist in 1891. While
in Moscow, he chanced to meet Tchaikovsky, who showed interest in the
young composer's talent. He also wrote, at the age of 19, his famous
Prelude in c-sharp minor.
    In 1902, Rachmaninoff married his cousin Natalie Satina, and they
lived for several months in Switzerland. He then returned to Russia to
conduct the Bolshoi Theater for the seasons of 1904 to 1906. He moved to
Dresden in 1906, working there in the winters and spending his summers
in Russia. In 1909, he toured the U.S. for the first time. From 1910 to
1917, he conducted the Philharmonic Society Orchestra in Moscow, but
left Russia after the Revolution in 1917.
    After the Revolution, Rachmaninoff lived in Switzerland. In 1935, he
moved to New York, then to Los Angeles, which became his permanent
home. A few weeks before his death on March 28, 1943, Rachmaninoff
became an American citizen.
    Rachmaninoff's music was inspired by the Romantic Russian music
of the Nineteenth Century. It was often melancholic, dwelling largely in
minor keys, with broad melodies and resonant harmonies.

@026 Ravel, Maurice\Joseph Maurice Ravel was born in Cibourne, France,
on March 7, 1875. At the age of 7, he began studying the piano, and taking
lessons in harmony. He enrolled at the Paris Conservatory in 1889, where
he continued to study piano. He won the first medal in 1891.
    He appeared for the first time as a conductor in 1899. He led the
performance of his own overture to "Sheherazade", played by the Paris
Societe Nationale.
    Ravel's compositions won him much fame in France. Critics saw him
as a follower of Debussy's style, because he wrote music using many of
Debussy's techniques, though he anticipated many of Debussy's
developments.
    Like Debussy, Ravel paralleled his music with poetic ideas. He also
enjoyed working with Spanish motifs and old modes.
    Ravel lived a rather reticent lifestyle. He was never married, and
very seldom taught. His talents as a performer were somewhat less than
great. As a result, he spent most of his time composing. When Europe
exploded into war in 1914, Ravel joined the war effort in a front-line
ambulance corps. He was refused by the other services because of his poor
health and apparent frailty. His war career was short lived. The battle
proved to be too intense for Ravel's ill-health, and he was forced to enter
a hospital for recuperation in 1916.
    After the war, Ravel traveled widely. In the 1920's, he saw
Amsterdam, Italy, England, Sweden, Scotland, and America. He was given
an honorary D.Mus. at Oxford University in 1928.
    Sadly, Ravel's health began to fail in the 1930's. He was treated for
cerebral illness, and underwent a brain operation. However, this proved
fruitless, and he died nine days later in Paris on December 28, 1937.

@027 Rubenstein, Anton\Rubinstein, Anton  born Nov 28, 1829 died Nov 20, 1894
     Rubinstein was one of the greatest pianists of the nineteenth century,
often said to be second only to Liszt. He was also an exceptional composer
and teacher, and an influential though somewhat controversial figure in
Russian musical circles.
     In his early years he was considered a child virtuoso and gave many
performances in an extended tour of Europe. There he was exposed to
many influential people such as Chopin, Liszt, members of the Russian
Imperial Family and Queen Victoria. In 1846 he returned to Russia and the
Tsars' sister-in-law the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna took him under her
wing. In Nice in 1856 he and the Duchess made sweeping plans to improve
musical education in Russia, founding in 1859 the Russian Musical Society
and in 1862 the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In 1872 he toured the USA
and for the next fifteen years was one of the most sought after pianists in
the world.
     Rubinstein managed to alienate many of his Russian contemporaries
(ie; Balakirev) by publicly stating that "...it was not possible to create
nationalistic operas, and that even the greatest of Russian composers (
Glinka ) in his operas 'suffered disaster' ". He softened his views after the
liberation of the serfs several years later.
     Aside from his many piano works he also left behind many illegitimate
children as he is alleged to have said "...if I had to educate and provide for
all my children, the fortune of two Rothchilds would scarcely suffice....".
     Rubinstein's most lasting piano effort is frequently said to be Melody in
F op. 3 no. 1 for solo piano.

@028 Satie, Eric\Critics of Satie see him as either an important
trailblazer to the Impressionistic Era, or an eccentric amateur composer.
His many compositional styles were undoubtably influenced by his
acquaintance with the artistic stars of his time, including Debussy,
Cocteau, and Picasso.
    Eric Satie was born in Honfleur, France in 1866. He studied for a
year a the Paris Conservatory , and made a living playing in caf_s, and
writing music for the songwriter Hypsa, and singer Paulette Darty. He
befriended Debussy in 1890, and, at the age of 40, went to the Schola
Cantorum to study under d'Indy and Roussel. Later, he established his own
school of music in Arcueil, where he was able to influence younger
composers. Satie died in Paris in 1925.

@029 Scarlatti, Domenico\Scarlatti, Dominico  born Naples Oct 26, 1685 died Madrid July 23,
1757
 Scarlatti came from a large musical family being the sixth of ten children.
He was an accomplished composer, keyboard teacher and performer. At
age sixteen he was appointed organist and composer of the Naples Royal
Chapel of which his father Alessandro Scarlatti was maestro. By age
eighteen Dominico was writing operas.
     From 1709 until 1714 Scarlatti lived in Rome under the patronage of
Maria Casimira the Queen of Poland. He later worked for the Portuguese
Embassy and then for the Julian Chapel at the Vatican in 1715. After some
travel, the last years of his life were spent in Madrid where the Queen of
Spain (his former student) Maria Barbara employed him. She also
generously paid his debts and provided for his impoverished family at the
time of his death.
     Scarlatti left behind over 555 sonatas, many stage works and much
church music. His music explored new musical ends, such devices as hand-
crossing, rapid repetition of notes and arpeggios traversing the length of
the keyboard. The most characteristic of his harmonic mannerisms being
the acciaccatura (a lower auxiliary note struck together with its resolution).

@030 Schubert, Franz\Schubert, Franz  born Vienna Jan 31, 1797 died Vienna Nov 19, 1828
     Schubert is widely regarded as one of the world's finest songwriters and
classical composers. He was the only Viennese master native to the city.
     Schubert was one of fourteen children born (of which only four survived
infancy) into the family of a Lichtenthal music teachers family. His
childhood was music filled with his father being his first teacher and young
Franz composing songs and short instrumental pieces by the age of ten. He
also excelled at singing (Vienna Court choir and Konvict choir) and
playing violin. By age sixteen he had composed his first symphony as well
as much else. At age eighteen he composed more than a hundred songs
including his masterpiece Der Erlkonig. For most of his adult life Schubert
was strongly attracted by the theater and wrote many operas which have
not received any lasting popularity.
     Tragically, Schuberts life was severely incapacitated in the year 1822
when he was diagnosed with syphilis. He made a partial recovery the
following year and was able to complete many sonatas and his greatest
string quartets, the C-major symphony, as well as many other works before
his death at the age of thirty-one. He is buried in the Wahring cemetery
two graves away from where Beethoven had been laid to rest twenty
months earlier. The great admiration Schubert having felt for Beethoven as
evidenced by his remark "...but who can ever do anything after
Beethoven?..."

@031 Schumann, Robert Alexander\Robert Alexander Schumann was born
in Zwickau, Germany, on June 8, 1810. As a child, his musical interests
were nurtured by his father. He was given piano lessons at the age of 10
from the organist of a local church.
    In 1828, he entered the Leipzig University as a law student, but was
more interested in philosophy. While in Leipzig, Schumann studied piano
with Friedrich Wieck. He traveled to Heidelberg in 1829. There he began
studying music in earnest. When he returned to Leipzig in 1830, he lived in
the home of Wieck, while he took lessons in composition from Heinrich
Dorn.
    Schumann was not entirely mentally sound. His life was filled with
tragic events, such as the death of his father from nervous disease, the
suicide of his 19-year-old sister, and the early deaths of two of his three
brothers. Schumann had a fascination with poets and writers who met
early and unfortunate deaths. He also suffered from what he called
pervasive melancholy. Symptomatic of this popular malady were losses of
conciousness, shortness of breath, and inexpressible angst.
    In 1840, Schumann made plans to marry 21-year-old Clara Wieck,
the daughter of his mentor, Friedrich Wieck. Needless to say, Friedrich
didn't want his daughter to marry the unstable Schumann, but a court
decision allowed the pair to complete their nuptials. Despite the
objections and exhortations of Schumann's new father-in-law, the
marriage turned out to be very happy and successful. Altogether, Clara and
Robert had seven children: three daughters and four sons.
    Schumann's weak mental health didn't affect his ability to produce
music. He wrote many pieces for the stage, including operas, as well as
piano and orchestral works. His style was deeply Romantic. However, his
music was not somber and dramatic like that of Beethoven, but
harmonious and melodious.
    Schumann died in Endenich on July 29, 1856. During his final days he
showed few moments of lucidity. He refused to see his wife and children.
One of the only visitors he accepted was Brahms, with whom he enjoyed
playing piano duets.
    There is some contention as to the cause of Schumann's death.
Modern evidence points to his symptoms as syphilitic, but the physicians
of his day diagnosed his illness as either a sclerosis of the brain, or
dementia praecox.

@032 Scriabin, Alexander\Alexander Scriabin was born in Moscow, on
January 6, 1872. He was taught music at an early age from his aunt. When
he was 12, he began lessons with two prominent Moscovite piano teachers:
Conus and Zverev. He commenced his studies of composition in 1885. In
1888, he enrolled at the Moscow Conservatory. He never showed much
promise as a performing pianist, but he graduated with a gold medal
nonetheless. He remained at the conservatory after his graduation to study
fugue, but did not meet the requirements for the course when he failed the
examination. Scriabin was offered a contract by a publisher who also
offered to pay for his planned European tour. Scriabin performed some of
his music in Paris in 1896 before returning to Russia where he completed
his Piano Concerto.
    In 1897, Scriabin married Vera Isakovic, a fellow musician with
whom he began to give joint recitals of his works. He began to teach piano
at the Moscow Conservatory in 1898, and remained part of the faculty
until 1903.
    In 1904, Scriabin earned an annuity of 2,400 rubles from a
successful Moscow merchant, Morosov. He seperated from his wife in
1905, and moved in with Tatiana Schloezer, the sister of a music critic. In
1906, Scriabin appeared as a guest soloist with the Russian Symphony
Society in New York. He left America for Paris in 1907 for fear of moral
charges being brought against him and his common-law wife; he had never
been legally divorced from his first wife. In 1908, Scriabin signed a five-
year contract with publisher Serge Koussevitsky worth 5,000 rubles
annually. He signed in 1912 with another publisher, Jurgenson, for an
annual salary of 6,000 rubles.
    Scriabin died on April 27, 1915 in Moscow. He had developed blood
poisoning from an abscess in his lip.
    It was once said that Alexander Scriabin's solitary genius had no
predecessors and left no disciples. His incredible inventiveness in
harmony remains unmatched. He had an unusual conception of tones, which
led to some interesting performances. For example, Scriabin saw certain
keys as being associated with certain colors: C Major was red, F-sharp
Major was bright blue. This led some performers to accompany their
playing of Scriabin's works with displays of laser light.

@033 Sibelius, Jean\Johan Julius Christian Sibelius (or Jean Sibelius)
was a composer whose family dates back to 17th Century Finland. He was
born in Hameelinna on December 8, 1865. He began his childhood piano
studies at the age of 9. He also took lessons in violin, which he was soon
playing in chamber music performances.
    He enrolled at a University in Helsinki in 1885. He intended to study
law, but dropped out after only a semester of study. He registered instead
at the Conservatory, where he practiced violin and composition. A string
quartet that he wrote at the conservatory earned him a grant from the
government which allowed him to travel for further study in Germany. He
went to Berlin, where he Alan Becker gave him lessons in counterpoint and
fugue. He also traveled to Vienna for further education.
    Sibelius married Aino Jarnefelt in 1892, and began teaching
composition at the Helsinki Conservatory. In 1897, he was granted an
3,000 marks annuity by the Finnish Senate. He quit his job at the
conservatory in 1900. In that year he also revealed his most patriotic
work: Finlandia. The piece became so identified with the Finnish
nationalist movement that its performance was barred by the Czarist
government.
    He settled in Jarvenpaa in 1904. He traveled in 1914 to America
where he received an honorary degree from Yale University. Just before
World War I, Sibelius arrived back in Finland. He was only seen once again
in public performance on March 24, 1924, when he conducted his 7th
Symphony. He continued to write in seclusion until 1927, but ceased at
that point. Although he was willing to give interviews to interested
journalists, he wouldn't answer questions about his music. However, it
was his music that brought him his fame and fortune. The Finnish
government issued a Sibelius postage stamp, and numerous annual musical
festivals were held in his name. Despite all the attention showered upon
him, Sibelius preferred his privacy. He lived secluded at his home in
Jarvenpaa until September 20, 1957, when he died at the age of 91.
    Sibelius' music was the last of the 19th Century's Romanticism.
Although he was quite willing to listen to the contributions of the newer,
more modern composers, he kept his style traditional, as he was taught by
his German mentors. However, his music was spoke powerfully of Finland
and its folk culture. It is at once somber, tragic, and powerful.

@026 Sinding, Christian\Christian Sinding was born in Kongsberg, Norway,
on January 11, 1856. His first music lessons were from Lindeman in
Norway. Sinding then went to Leipzig, Germany, where he studied theory,
orchestration and violin at the conservatory. Returning to Norway in 1881,
Sinding had one of his works performed in Oslo. This performance earned
him a gratuity, which paid for his further education in Munich, Berlin, and
Dresden.
    In 1915, the Norwegian government granted him a pension of 4,000
crowns, and in 1916, he was given a further gift of 30,000 crowns, for his
contribution to Norwegian nationalism. He taught at the Eastman School of
Music in Rochester New York for the 1921-22 season, then returned to
Oslo. Sinding died in Oslo on December 3, 1941. Although celebrated by
Norwegians as a great national composer, his music shows the Germanic
influence of Schumann and Liszt.

@034 Tchaikovsky, Piotr Ilyich\Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is perhaps the
most famous Russian composer ever. He was born in Votkinsk, on May 7,
1840. Having been born to a reasonsonably well-off family, he was given a
good musical education from a French teacher. At the age of 10,
Tchaikovsky moved with his family to St. Petersburg, where he studied to
become a government clerk. His musical talent, however, did not manifest
itself until he attended the new school in the city founded by Anton
Rubinstein. That school came to be called the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
Here, Tchaikovsky learned harmony and counterpoint, as well as
composition.
    Tchaikovsky was hired by the Moscow Conservatory in 1866 as a
professor of harmony. At this point he began to compose in earnest, but
his first works were somewhat uninspired. It was his symphonic poem
"Fatum" (1869) which finally demonstrated Tchaikovsky's promise as an
individualistic composer, with its minor modes and rhythmic life. His
subsequent works, though often criticized, went on to become enormously
famous. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 (1875) was initially called
"unplayable" by his good friend Nicolai Rubinstein. Similar attacks were
made on his Violin Concerto (1881) by Leopold Auer, to whom the score
was dedicated. However, the incredible popular response to these pieces
spoke for Tchaikovsky's mastery.
    Much of Tchaikovsky's music reflects a life fraught with tragedy. His
mother died of cholera when he was 14. A woman with whom he
considered marriage married another man in 1868; when he was finally
married in 1877, he found that his homosexual nature was incompatible
with his new wife, and in a fit of dispair, he attempted, unsuccessfully, to
commit suicide; a woman, Nadezhda von Meck, who had been supporting
Tchaikovsky with an annuity of 6000 rubles per year terminated this
income and all correspondence at the peak of his career. Tchaikovsky found
this particularly sad because, having corresponded with her for over 13
years, he had considered von Meck among his best friends.
    It seems ironic that Tchaikovsky should die of the same disease that
claimed his mother. While visiting St Petersburg in 1893 during the height
of a cholera epidemic, Tchaikovsky ignored the warnings about drinking
unboiled water. On November 6, 1893, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky died.
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