-
Period: to
Richard Wagner
- German dramatic composer
- Infamously known as Hitler’s famous composer (though they did not live in the same time)
- Works became synonymous with the Nazi party due to his outspoken anti semitic views and dramatic, emotion-evoking works
- Notable works: The Ring of the Nibelung and Lohengrin
-
Period: to
Modest Mussorgsky
- One of the "Mighty Five" Russian composers
- Compositions inspired by Russian history, folklore, and national themes
- Notable works: Night on Bald Mountain and Pictures and an Exhibition
-
Period: to
Antonin Dvorak
- Czech composer
- Inspired by American music including African American spirituals
- Notable work: New World Symphony
-
Period: to
Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov
- One of the "Mighty Five" Russian composers who developed nationalistic style classical music
- Used Russian folk music, introduced new harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic elements
- Wrote "Principles of Orchestration"
- Notable works: Scheherazade, Cappriccio Espagnol
-
Period: to
Leoš Janáček
- Czech composer, musical theorist, and folklorist
- inspired by Eastern European folk music
- Notable work: On an Overgrown Path, piano sonata
-
Period: to
Gustav Mahler
- Last "Austro-German" composer
- Prolific conductor as well as composer
- Known for unusually large orchestration
- Notable work: Symphony No.8 “Symphony of a thousand”
-
Period: to
Claude Debussy
- French impressionist composers
- One of the first Western composers to used pentatonic and whole tone scales
- Notable work: Claire de Lune
-
Period: to
Richard Strauss
- Austrian composer at the end of the Romantic era
- Most famous work is an opera called "Salome", was controversial for its use of dissonance and it's sacreligious plot
- major breakthrough that allowed other composers to begin experimenting with non-traditional techniques
-
Period: to
Carl Nielson
- Danish composer, most prolific composer from Denmark
- Inspired by Brahms and Grief
- Notable works: Helios Ouverture and Maskarade (which became known as the “Danish National Opera”
-
Period: to
Jean Sibelius
- Finnish composer, most prolific of the time
- struggled with alcoholism throughout his life which influenced his writing
- music was popular in England and US but dismissed by Austria-German people
- Notable work: Finlandia
-
Period: to
Erik Satie
- French Impressionist composer
- Influenced other French composers to stray from Wagnerian style music
- Notable work: Gymnopédies
-
Period: to
Scott Joplin
- American composer, "King of Ragtime"
- Spent years of his life trying to compose an opera called "Treemonisha" that was sadly never finished
- Notable works: Maple Leaf Rag, The Entertainer
-
Period: to
Will Marion Cook
- American composer, violinist, and conductor
- Wrote an opera inspired by Uncle Tom's Cabin
- Notable works: Clarindy, Dahomey (inspired by New World Symphony)
-
Period: to
Arnold Schoenberg
- father of 12-tone composition
- one of the primary members of the Second Viennese School of music
- Notable work: Pierrot Lunaire (introduction of Sprechstimme)
-
Period: to
Charles Ives
- American experinmental composer
- Worked as an insurance agent as well as a composer and organist
- Notable works: From the Steeples and the Mountains, The Unanswered Question
-
Period: to
Maurice Ravel
- French impressionist composer, pianist, and conductor
- Experimented with textures, orchestration, and styles
- Notable work: Boléro
-
Period: to
Bruno Walter
- German born conductor, escaped Nazi Germany and fled to California
- One of the most prolific conductors of the 20th century
- Worked closely and produced similar works to Mahler
-
Period: to
Manuel De Falla
- Spanish composer and pianist
- One of the most prolific Spanish composers of the 20th century, influenced by Spanish church music and folk music
- Notable works: The Three-Cornered Hat and Nights in the Gardens of Spain
-
Period: to
Béla Bartók
- Hungarian composer
- Studied folk music, was one of the founders of what is now known as ethnomusicology
- notable works include: Concerto for Orchestra, Mikorkosmos, opera "Bluebeard's Castle"
-
Period: to
Igor Stravinsky
- Russian composer, composed in many different styles
- Madie innovations in rhythm and harmony
- Notable works: Firebird and Rite of Spring
-
Period: to
Percy Grainger
- Australian composer, arranger, and pianist
- works contributed to the revival of British folk music
- Notable work: arrangement of Country Gardens for piano
-
Period: to
Anton Webern
- Austrian composer
- Second Viennese School
- Works often considered inaccessible by many performers
- Notable work: Six Bagatelles for String Quartet
-
Period: to
Edgard Varèse
- French composer, went to New York after being released from the French Army
- Notable work: Ameriques
-
Period: to
Alban Berg
- Austrian Romantic composer
- member of the Second Viennese School
- Studied with Schoenberg, learned 12-tone technique
-
Period: to
Sergey Prokofiev
- Russian Neoclassical composer
- Studied with Rimsky Korsakov
- Lived in Stalinist Russia, his works were denounced by the Russian government which was a massive blow to his career
- Notable works: Romeo and Juliet and Peter and the Wolf
-
Period: to
Darius Milhaud
- French composer and conductor
- Member of "Les Six"
- Musical influences included jazz and Brazilian music, polytonality
- Taught many significant modern composers including Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Iannis Xenakis
- Notable works: La création du monde
-
Period: to
Paul Hindemith
- German composer, music theorist, violist
- Advocate for Neue Sachlichkeit (new objectivity) in the 1920s
- Influenced by Debussy and Ravel
- Modernized musical forms from Renaissance and Baroque eras
- Notable work: Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber
-
Period: to
Erich Korngold
- Czech composer
- child prodigy, performed publicly and composed from a young age
- "Father of the Film Score"
- Notable works: scores for the films The Adventures of Robin Hood and Another Dawn
-
Period: to
George Gershwin
- American composer from New York
- inspired by jazz music
- Notable works: Blue Monday Blues (opera) and Rhapsody in Blue
-
Period: to
Francis Poulenc
- French composer and pianist
- one of "Les Six" composers who strayed from German Romanticism and French Impressionism
- Notable works: Dialogues des Carmélites and Concerto for Organ, Strings, and Timpani
-
Period: to
Duke Ellington
- Jazz pianist, composer, conductor
- Commonly referred to as "The Duke"
- Notable work: Black, Brown, and Beige
-
Period: to
Kurt Weill
- German composer
- Fled Nazi Germany
- Wanted to write music that served a useful purpose for society
- Notable works: Threepenny Opera, Mack the Knife
-
Period: to
Aaron Copland
- American composer, incorporated aspects of jazz and folk music into his works
- Active member of the composer community as member of the American Composer alliance, advocate for young composers
- Won Pulitzer Prize for composition “Appalachian Spring” (1944) Notable work: A Lincoln Portrait
-
Period: to
Harry Partch
- American composer from California
- Invented many of his own instruments for his own composition including a 43 note scale marimba
- Inspired by Lou Harrison
- Notable work: Oedipus
-
Period: to
Dmitri Shostakovich
- Russian composer
- Experimented with avant-garde techniques in early career, fell subject to the pressures and traditionalism of Stalinist Russia
- Influenced by Tchaikovsky and Hindemith
- Notable works: Festive Overture and Symphony No. 5
-
Period: to
Olivier Messiaen
- French contemporary composer
- Heavily inspired by bird song and Roman Catholic theology
- Experimented with non-western scales and modes
- Notable works: Quartet for the End of Time and The Awakening of the Birds
-
Period: to
John Cage
- American avant-garde composer, very experimental
- Utilized many unorthodox instruments and instrumentation
- Used the principle of “indeterminism” or randomness in his works, huge departure from western music. Advanced the conversation of the question “what is music”
- Notable work: “4’33””
-
Period: to
Benjamin Britten
- British composer, perhaps most prolific of the 20th century
- Influences include Bach, Brahms, and Beethoven
- Notable works: opera "Peter Grimes" and "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra"
-
Period: to
Lou Harrison
- American composer and music critic
- Inspired by Henry Cowell and Indonesian gamelon music
- Notable works: opera "Rapunzel"
-
Period: to
György Ligeti
- Austrian-Hungarian avant-garde classical composer
- Influenced by Stockhausen
- Notable work: 2001: A Space Odyssey"
-
Period: to
Pierre Boulez
- French avant-garde composer and conductor
- Influences include Messian, Leibowitz, and Schoenberg, used techniques of 12-tone and serialism
- Notable works: Piano Sonata No 2 (1948) and Pli selon pli (1957-1962)
-
Period: to
Morton Feldman
- American composer
- Experimented with non-traditional notation, improvisation, timbre, and silence
- Worked with and inspired by John Cage
- Notable works: Piano Piece and For Bunita Marcus
-
Period: to
Tōru Takemitsu
- Japanese composer
- largely self-taught
- Inspirations included Debussy. Messiaen, Schonberg, and Cage
- Combined Eastern and Western musical techniques and themes
- Scored more than 90 films
- Notable works: Small Sky, Rain Tree, Three Film Scores
-
Period: to
Bernard Hermann
- American composer, often referred to as a “music-dramatist” as he wrote mainly for opera and film
- Was a passionate advocate for music being widely accessible, was heavily involved with both radio and television broadcasting of musical programs
- Championed composer Charles Ives
- Notable work: film score for American Horror film "Psycho"
-
Steve Reich
- American composer
- Pioneer of minimalism
- Notable works: It's Gonna Rain and Music for 18 Musician
-
Philip Glass
- American minimalist composer
- Wanted to bridge the gap between classical and popular music
- Many influences including everything from classical works to David Bowie
- Notable work: Music in 12 Parts
-
John Adams
- American composer
- Rooted in minimalism and contemporary classical music
- Influenced by John Cage
- Notable work: Nixon in China
-
Period: to
Karlheinz Stockhausen
- German composer
- known for controversial electronic music and serial compositions
- Influenced by Stravinsky
- Notable work: nineteen Klavierstücke (piano pieces)