Franz Liszt was a Hungarian born composer. He was one of the best, and most respected pianist of his time. He was a very accomplished conductor, and one of the foremost educational instructors in history. In 1836, King Charles Halle described Franz Liszt as the following. "He is tall and very thin, his face very small and pale, his forehead remarkably high and beautiful; he wears his perfectly lank hair so long that it spreads over his shoulders, which looks very odd, for when he gets a bit excited and gesticulates, it falls right over his face and one sees nothing of his nose. He is very negligent in his attire, his coat looks as if it had just been thrown on, and he wears no cravat, only a narrow white collar. This curious figure is in perpetual motion: now he stamps with his feet, now waves his arms in the air, now waves his arms in the air, now he does this, now that." Franz Liszt, was born on October 22, 1811, In the Hungarian town of Raiding. Liszt was taught to play piano at a very young age by his father, who was also very involved in music. His father, Adam played the cello, and many other instruments, as he was a very passionate musician. Adam taught Franz to the extent that he was giving concerts by the age of nine and starting to compose his own pieces. His father, having obtained permission from his employer, Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, accompanied the young Franz to Vienna. Franz Liszt was financially supported by a man by the name of Antonio Salieri, who gave him free tuition in composition. The boy, Franz, gave some very successful performances before prominent people in Vienna and gained a lot of fame. He became very well known for his ability to take a melody provided by a member of the audience and work it into a...
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...ing that included a vast array of famous musicians, such as the likes of Von Bulow, William Mason, Carl Tausig, Rafael Joseffy, and, later, Arthur Friedheim, Alexander Siloti, Eugene d'Albert, and Moritz Rosenthal. He not only was a great piano player but a superb teacher as well. Many people do not have the patience, nor ability to become a teacher. Not many are able to, but the select few are very under-valued, and should be given more of the respect that they deserve.
Overall, Franz Joseph Liszt lived a very successful life. He was one of the best composers, and one of my favorites, of the romantic time period. He was basically the first rock star in history, as he had women rushing on stage, trying to take pieces of his hair (npr.com). He continues, to this day, to impact music, in a way that very few individuals can comprehend the affect he has had on music.
It was not only until the spring of that year that he for first time left Hamburg professionally. He undertook a tour with the Hungarian violinist Eduard Remenyi for the purpose of introducing himself and his works. At Gottingen they gave a concert in which the young pianist made a deep impression upon the musicians present. He and Remenyi were to play Beethoven?s Kreutzer sonata, but at the last moment it was discovered that the piano was half a tone too low.
From the very beginning, Clara’s father, Friedrich Wieck, a well respected German music teacher, intended for her to become a famous musician (Harding, 9). At a young age, he recognized that Clara had the gift of music. According to Bertita Harding, who wrote a biography of Clara Schumann, Wieck took cues from Mozart, in hopes to turning his daughter into a well known child prodigy. He began to rigorously train and cultivate Clara’s natural talent at the age of five and turned it into something extraordinary (Harding, 12)....
Beethoven’s early life was one out of a sad story book. For being one of the most well-known musicians one would think that sometime during Beethovens childhood he was influenced and inspired to play music; This was not the case. His father was indeed a musician but he was more interested in drinking than he was playing music. When his father saw the smallest sliver of music interest in Beethoven he immediately put him into vigorous musical training in hopes he would be the next Mozart; his training included organ, viola, and piano. This tainted how young Beethoven saw music and the memories that music brought. Nevertheless Beethoven continued to do what he knew and by thirteen he was composing his own music and assisting his teacher, Christian Neefe. Connections began to form during this time with different aristocrats and families who stuck with him and became lifelong friends. At 17 Beethoven, with the help of his friends, traveled to Vienna, the music capitol of the world, to further his knowledge and connection...
Franz was homely, humble and above all hidden underneath the long shadows that Beethoven and Mozart cast upon his career. Nevertheless, that never impeded Franz from being not only the first great Romantic composer of his time, breaking out of the liturgies of the Baroque era, but an astoundingly prolific and experienced composer of all types of music within his time. He composed more than 600 Lieder, while making paramount contributions to the disciplines of piano, chamber and symphonic repertoires.
Born in September 8, 1841, in the Bohemian village of Nelahozeves, near Prague, in what was then Bohemia, Antonio Dvorak was inundated with Bohemian nationalist folk music from a young age. His father, who played the zither, first exposed young Dvorak to the music that would launch his career. At the age of six he began studying music, and attended Prague’s only organ school, graduating with proficiency in many instruments including the organ, violin, viola, and piano. In the 1860s, he began teaching piano lessons, and it was through them that he ...
...lassical composers, I applaud this man for his creativity, style, but most of all for the great contribution he has made to the music and film world.
The fact that his contemporaries gave him many awards proves that he was one of the greatest composers of his time. Still, the strongest point in proving his greatness is that fact that he was able to adapt to the changes around him. By his own admission, "...an entirely new public for music had grown up around the radio and phonograph. It made no sense to ignore them and to continue writing as if they did not exist. I felt that it was worth the effort to see if I couldn't say what I had to say in the simplest possible terms." His success in changing to the times speaks volumes about his ingenuity. Many people have an extremely difficult time dealing with
However, he did not get along well with his peers, so his works did not become very famous until after his death. Many did not like the fact that he did not go with the Romantic style when he worked. Some even believed that he was writing music for the devil because his music was not Romantic. During his life time though he composed more than 200 songs. Johannes Brahms was the great master of symphonic and sonata styles in the second half of the 19th century.
Mozart was born to a deputy Kapellmeister to the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg. Leopold, Mozart’s father, was also a minor composer and teacher. Mozart’s musical abilities were first noticed when he showed great interest in the music lessons of his older sister. By the age of five, the Mozart family was touring European courts. The young Mozart showed great ability in the playing and composition of small pieces, many of which were transcribed by his father, and survive today. Eventually, Leopold gave up his own composing to concentrate on the talents of his young son. Leopold was also the early teacher of all of Mozart’s studies. After extensive touring from 1762 to 1773, Mozart was given employ at the Salzburg court at the age of 17. There, he had the op...
Another composer, who enjoyed the piano as much as Clara is Irving Berlin. An immigrant from Russia, his life became the “classic rags-to-riches story” that he never forgot could have happened only in
The brilliant composer Clara Schumann was born as Clara Josephine Wieck on 13 September 1819. Even before her birth, her destiny was to become a famous musician. Her father, Friedrich Wieck, was a piano teacher and music dealer, while her mother, Marianne Wieck, was a soprano and a concert pianist and her family was very musically gifted. Her father, Friedrich, wanted to prove to the world that his teaching methods could produce a famous pianist, so he decided, before Clara’s birth, that she would become that pianist. Clara’s father’s wish came true, as his daughter ended up becoming a child prodigy and one of the most famous female composers of her time.
He received a thorough basic education; his father being a good teacher, and son being a bright student. From his father Franz also learned to play the violin, and from his brother he learned the piano. The family, indeed, was a very musical one; the "String Quartet Parties" family were well known in the part of Vienna in which they lived. But soon, young Franz learned all that his family had to teach him. Later, any neighbors who could play any instruments were drawn in and the quartet became a little orchestra.
Born to a drunkard father and an unhappy mother, the young Beethoven was subjected to a brutal training in music at the hands of his father, who hoped that the boy would prove to be another prodigy like Mozart. Failing in this, the young Beethoven nevertheless embraced music and studied for a short time in 1792 with Franz Joseph Haydn in Vienna. Hailed as a genius and a master of improvisation at the piano, Beethoven soon made a name for himself, and by 1794 was known throughout Europe. He faithfully learned the Classical Viennese styles and traditions in music, and then proceeded throughout his career to completely revolutionize them. His earliest compositions reflect the classical restraint of Haydn and Mozart, yet there were always flashes of what was to come. The emotion he displayed while playing his own music was unheard of in his day, and the fiery intensity of his early Piano Sonata in C minor, known as the "Pathetique" is one of the first works in which Beethoven gives vent to his own dramatic musical voice.
...as he paved the way for composers of the Romantic period like Ludwig van Beethoven, Gioachino Rossini, and Franz Schubert. No one can doubt the finality that mirrors Mozart’s life in his final symphony and his final farewell.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the greatest music composers who ever lived. His name and the word 'genius' are often bandied about together by music writers and critics and many would argue rightly so. Mozart had a fantastic ear for writing a catchy tune with perfect orchestral arrangement. His compositions have a rich and distinctive sound; it can be said that in his brief lifetime (only 35 years) that he wrote a masterpiece in every genre of classical music without much apparent effort.