Bach was born in 1685 and died in 1750.
The third Brandenburg Concerto was composed around 1715. It is an example of a chamber concerto for solo instruments alone without orchestra. This type of work had previously been written by Vivaldi.
Beethoven was born in 1770 and died in 1827.
Around 1800 Beethoven completed informal studies in dramatic vocal music with Antonio Salieri. In 1804, he began to work on an opera based on a French libretto, Jean-Nicolas Bouilly's "L�onore ou L'amour conjugal". He liked the story, which was about a brave woman who disguises herself as a man in order to save her husband from unjust imprisonment. Beethoven had the libretto translated into German by Joseph von Sonnleithner. The opera premiered on November 20, 1805, at the Theater an der Wien as "Fidelio, oder die eheliche Liebe". It closed after only 3 performances, on account of mixed reviews. Beethoven made substantial revisions, and the new version opened on March 29, 1806. These revisions included changes to the overture. The overture to this 1806 version is what we now know as "Leonore Overture No. 3". This version of the opera was more popular than the first. The opera was later revived in 1814, with additional significant revisions. The "Fidelio" overture was composed for this revival, although he had not finished it at the time the opera opened on May 23, 1814.
Bernstein was born in 1918 and died in 1990.
Candide was first produced in December of 1956. Its plot was by Lillian Hellman, based on the work of Voltaire. Its first run was not very successful. For many years afterward, it was neglected. However, the overture became a successful concert piece.
Brahms was born in 1833 and died in 1897.
The Haydn Variations were Brahms's main work for 1873. The theme on which it is based was probably not composed by Haydn. It is from the second movement of a partita for eight wind instruments which was discovered by the organist and musicologist Carl Pohl. The partita was probably composed by Ignaz Pleyel, who was Haydn's best pupil. Pleyel probably took the theme, which is referred to as the "Corale St. Antonii", from some earlier, unidentified source. Pohl showed the score of the partita to Brahms in 1870. In the variations, Brahms incorporates the compositional style of Haydn, making the piece, at least in part, a tribute to what Brahms had learned from the Viennese classical tradition.
In 1879, Breslau University awarded him a doctorate of philosophy. On account of this, Brahms, in the summer of 1880, composed the
Chopin was born in Zelazowa Wola, a small city near Warsaw, on February 22, 1810. He studied piano at the Warsaw School of Music, and was an accomplished pianist by his early teens. He gave his first public concert at the age of 7, and published his first musical composition when he was 15. He came to Paris in 1831 and immediately fell in love with the city. He decided to make it his new home, and never returned to Warsaw. He died of tuberculosis on October 17, 1849.
Manuel de Falla lived from November 23, 1876 to November 14, 1946.
"El Amor Brujo" ("Love, the Magician") is a ballet in one act, with song. It was first performed in Madrid in 1915, but it was not well-accepted in its original form. De Falla revised it in 1916, resulting in the version we know today. The ballet is about a Gypsy girl who is unable to return the love of a new suitor because she is haunted by the ghost of a dead lover. She convinces another Gypsy girl to distract the ghost. She believes that the ghost will lose its power if she can seal her love for the new suitor wih a kiss. The distraction takes the form of an elaborate ceremony, of which the "Ritual Fire Dance" is a part.
Dvor�k was born in 1841 and died in 1904.
Dvor�k's Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 ("From the New World") was the first work he composed after he came to New York to become Director of the National Conservatory of Music of America. Mrs. Thurber, for whom Dvor�k worked in the U.S., wanted him to compose an American opera based on Longfellow's "The Song of Hiawatha". Instead, the 2nd and 3rd movements of the 9th symphony were inspired by the poem. The dance of Pau-Puk-Keewis at the wedding feast is reflected in the scherzo, and the Largo recalls the funeral of Minnehaha. The symphony was written in 1893 and first performed on December 16, 1893, at Carnegie Hall.
Grieg was born in 1843 and died in 1907.
The dramatic poem "Peer Gynt" was originally written by Henrik Ibsen in 1867. Later, he decided to arrange it for the stage. At the time, Grieg was Norway's leading composer, even though he was still only in his early thirties. Ibsen asked Grieg to write music for the stage production, which was first performed in 1876 in Christiania (which is today known as Oslo). Grieg later used 8 of the pieces he wrote for Peer Gynt to make two concert suites. "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is the last movement of the first suite. In the play, it is played in Act II, when Peer is escaping from the royal hall of the trolls.
Haydn was born in 1732 and died in 1809. He spent almost thirty years in the service of the Esterhazys in a palace in Hungary. This arrangement effectively ended with the death of Nikolaus Esterhazy on September 28, 1790. Subsequently, Johann Peter Salomon arranged for Haydn to visit and compose in England.
Haydn's last symphony (the 104th, in D major) is referred to as the London Symphony. The 4th movement (Finale: Spiritoso) utilizes a folk-like melody, which was a characteristic which English audiences of the day appreciated.
Holst was born in 1874 and died in 1934. He taught at St. Paul's Girls' School.
In 1913, he met Clifford Bax, who introduced him to astrology. From this came the idea for "The Planets", which Holst composed during the period from 1914 to 1916. It was first performed in private on September 29, 1918, by the Queen's Hall Orchestra under Adrian Boult. The first (incomplete) public performance was in February 1919. Early concerts usually only included individual movements of the piece. Click on the links below to listen to 2 of the movements:
Joplin was born in 1868 and died in 1917. He became internationally famous after the publication in 1899 of the Maple Leaf Rag, which was named after the Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia, Missouri, where he had worked. He moved to St. Louis, where he set up a theatrical boarding house with teaching studios. He later settled in New York, and married his second wife Lottie Stokes in 1909. In New York, he set up another theatrical boarding house. His obsession with his opera "Treemonisha" and his failure to get it produced eventually led to his being committed by his wife in 1916. His official cause of death was listed as syphillis.