As your children begin bringing home their composer cards, feel free to use this page as a resource guide. If they show more interest in the composer or music, let this be a jumping-off point for even more exploration.
Hildegard of Bingen
Born in Germany in 1098 during the Medieval musical period, she was an abbess, prophetess, and composer. She was one of the first known composers of Western classical music as most composers were anonymous before then. She wrote books on biology, medicine, botany, theology, and the arts. Though Bingen wrote 77 compositions, there is no evidence they were ever heard outside of her convent.
Guillaume de Machaut
Born in France in 1300 during the Medieval musical period, Machaut was a poet and musician. He was a leading composer of the French Ars Nova style which was an innovative take on rhythmic notation moving from triple meter and adding increasingly smaller note values. He served King John of Luxembourg, the king’s daughter (Bonne of Luxembourg), and Charles II (king of Navarre). His music was preserved in 32 manuscripts.
Josquin des Prez
Born in 1450 France, he was a pivotal composer in transitioning to the music of the Renaissance. He wrote motets (unaccompanied songs from sacred Latin lyrics), masses (musical prayers), and chansons (lyrical French songs). His music was more expressive than medieval music. He used canon and melodic imitation, he wrote voice parts in lower registers as they talked about death, and he employed suspension in harmonies.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Born in 1525 near Rome during the Renaissance era, he composed more than 105 masses and 250 motets. He started as a choirboy, became a musical director of the Julian Chapel Choir, then a composer. He served under two popes and a cardinal. His music used anywhere from four to eight voices, complex counterpoint, ornaments, and most famously parody (when a composer uses already written music as a starting point for a new composition).
Carlo Gesualdo
Born in 1561 in Naples, Italy during the Renaissance era, he was a nobleman, musician, and murderer. His wife loved another man, and when they were caught together, Gesualdo killed them both. In his music, he used jarring harmonies that were unsettling for listeners. Compared to his predecessors who created soothing, religious songs, his challenged traditional forms of composition.
Domenico Scarlatti
Born in Italy in 1685 during the Baroque era. Handel became a good friend for life. Scarlatti was briefly in charge of the musical education of the princesses in Lisbon. He then went to Madrid where he lived the rest of his life. The dance rhythms and folk music of Spain greatly influenced his music. He wrote the majority of his sonatas for harpsichord. His works greatly expanded the technical and musical possibilities of the harpsichord.
Antonio Vivaldi
Born in 1678 in Italy during the Baroque era, Vivaldi was responsible for perfecting what would become the three-movement concerto. He established the fast-slow-fast progression in the movements. The fast movements showed off the virtuosity of the players while the slow movements showed the character of the melodies. Vivaldi was an excellent violinist and worked as a violin master, director of instrumental music, and freelance composer.
Georg Friedrich Handel
Born in 1685 in Germany during the Baroque era, he enrolled as a law student rather than music, perhaps because of his father who did not like the idea of his son pursuing music. He spent many years in Italy and later England. He is most noted for his operas, oratorios, and instrumental compositions. Unlike most composers, he was accepted as a classical composer during his lifetime and his reputation has not suffered any decrease since.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Born in 1685 in Germany during the Baroque period, he is regarded as one of the greatest composers of all times, and he composed over 1000 pieces of work. Orphaned by age 10, he was raised by his older brother who was a keyboardist. He married twice and had 20 children, though only 10 lived to adulthood. Of music, he said “I have had to work hard; anyone who works just as hard will get just as far.”
Muzio Clementi
Born in 1752 in Rome, Italy during the Classical era. He was an organist at 9 and composed his first oratorio at 12. He went on a tour in 1780 and engaged in a friendly musical duel with Mozart. The piano was a new invention, and Clementi was called the “father of the piano” because of his work in developing early techniques. Unlike many composers, he was also a shrewd businessman and cofounded a firm for music publishing and piano manufacturing.
Joseph Haydn
Born in 1732 in Austria during the Classical period, he is responsible for helping to establish the forms and styles of the string quartet and symphony. His compositions are characterized with words like light, witty, and elegant. Haydn was born into a humble family, and after receiving a basic music education from his cousin, he was mostly self-taught by studying other musical works.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Born in 1756 in Austria, Mozart composed more than 600 pieces of music. Mozart was a child prodigy. By 5 he had composed his first piece, and by 6 had performed at two imperial courts. He toured with his sister Maria Anna who composed as well, however, none of her music has survived. Musically, Mozart did not innovate, he mastered, bringing the symphony, opera, and sonata to new heights.
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Born in 1770 in Austria, many consider Beethoven to be the greatest composer to ever live. Beethoven altered classical song structures and added extreme dynamics. He was ashamed as he lost hearing and shut himself away. While almost deaf, he composed an opera, six symphonies, four solo concerti, five string quartets, six string sonatas, seven piano sonatas, five sets of piano variations, four overtures, four trios, two sextets and 72 songs.
Robert Schumann
Born in Germany in 1810 during the Romantic era, he wrote many of his pieces for his wife, Clara, who was a renowned pianist. While he went to school to study law, he spent much of his time studying music. After an injury, he turned his efforts to composition. He excelled in short piano pieces inspired by lyrical poems. He was able to focus on precise images and moods, though he contrasted those songs with other songs with strong rhythmic patterns.
Richard Wagner
Born in 1813 in Germany during the Romantic era, he took an active part in the Dresden uprising of 1849 and had to flee Germany with a warrant out for his arrest. He was in exile for 15 years until an amnesty allowed him to return. In his music, he condensed legends into a taut, dramatic scheme and focused on character motivations. His music conveyed complex symbolism through three indivisible planes — dramatic, verbal, and musical.
Frederic Chopin
Born in 1810 in Poland during the Romantic era, Chopin wrote almost exclusively solo pieces for piano and is one of the world’s greatest musical poets. He was a child prodigy as a pianist and composer. He hated giving concerts and preferred to teach and compose instead. His innovated fingerings to allow for smoother melodic lines. He had a rare gift for writing melody that felt personal and heartfelt.
Johannes Brahms
Born in 1833 in Germany, Brahms lived during the Romantic era, however, he was heavily inspired by the Classical era. He wrote symphonies, chamber music, piano works, concerti (a solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra), and choral works. Much of his music is influenced by folk music. He had a close relationship with Clara and Robert Schumann.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Born in Russia in 1840, Tchaikovsky lived during the Romantic era and was the most famous Russian composer of all time. His compositions painted pictures through heartfelt melodies and harmonies. He composed the ballets Swan Lake, the Nutcracker, and Sleeping Beauty. He wrote symphonies, ballets, operas, suites, concertos, overtures, and more.
Scott Joplin
Born in Texas in 1867 during the Romantic era. He was known as the king of ragtime. Ragtime is a style of music popular in 1890-1910 characterized by its syncopated, ragged rhythms. While he wrote operas, he was most well-known for his ragtime songs like “Maple Leaf Rag” and “The Entertainer.”
Erik Satie
Born in 1866 in France during the Romantic era, he dropped out of the Paris Conservatory and worked as a cafe pianist. He studied at another school for about three years. Satie’s music was a break in tradition from the Romantic era and focused more on the Dada and Surrealist movements. They disregarded traditional forms and structures. His work may sound flippant and eccentric, but Satie sought to strip music of pretentiousness.
Claude Debussy
Born in 1862 in France during the Romantic ear, Debussy developed musical ideas that reflected the ideals of impressionist and symbolist painters and writers of his time. He was inspired by painters like Monet and Turner and said, “I love painting almost as much as music itself.” Debussy used atonality, the whole tone and pentatonic scale, unprepared modulations (with no harmonic bridge), and glittering passages to create impressions of images.
Aaron Copland
Born in 1900 in New York, Copland lived during the Modern era. With the changes in technology like radio, phonograph, and film scores, he sought a change in music. He worked on simplifying music for the masses to enjoy. His most famous pieces focused on American folk stories. He wrote operas, ballets, orchestral music, band music, chamber music, choral music, and film scores. His music reflected the American consciousness.
John Cage
Born in 1912 in California during the Post-Modern era, Cage was an avant-garde composer who questioned, “What is music?” He experimented with technology to see how it affected music. He used randomness like an unspecified number of performers and inexact notation. One of his best-known works was titled 4’33” where the performers sat in silence for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. The sounds of the audience and theatre became the song performed.
Chen Yi
Born in China in 1953, her music is a fusion of Asian and Western influences. During the Cultural Revolution by the communist party in 1966, Chen Yi spent two years doing forced labor including carrying 100 lb. of rock up a mountain up to 20 times a day. She was given an official assignment of playing revolutionary songs on her violin for the local farmers, but at night she muted the strings to practice classical music she had memorized.
Baroque Railroad
Listen to one of these songs:
- Violin Concerto in A minor RV 356 by Vivaldi
- Sarabande in D minor HWV 437 by Handel
- Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major BWV 1050 by Bach
- Sonata in D minor K141 by Scarlatti
Classical Railroad
Listen to one of these songs:
Romantic Railroad
Listen to one of these songs:
- Trio in G minor Op. 17 by Clara Schumann
- Nocturne Op. 27 No. 2 by Chopin
- Swan Lake, Op. 20, Th. 12 / Act 1 – No. 9 Finale by Tchaikovsky
- Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major S. 124 by Liszt
Modern Railroad
Listen to one of these songs: