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Richard Wagner
- German dramatic composer
- Infamously known as Hitler’s famous composer (though they did not live in the same time
- His works became synonymous with the Nazi party due to his outspoken antisemitic views and dramatic, emotion-evoking works
- Notable works are The Ring of the Nibelung (1869–76) and Lohengrin (1850)
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Modest Mussorgsky
- One of The Five (or “Mighty Five/Handful”) Russian composers who developed Russia’s nationalistic style of classical music; strove to achieve a uniquely Russian musical identity against the established conventions of Western Music
- Composed works inspired by Russian history, folklore, and national themes
- Notable works include opera Boris Godunov, Night on Bald Mountain, and the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition
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Antonin Dvorak
- Chapter 4
- Czech composer inspired by America
- New world symphony (1893)- inspired by African American spirituals
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Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov
- One of The Five (or “Mighty Five/Handful”) Russian composers who developed Russia’s nationalistic style of classical music
- Used Russian folk song and lore along with exotic harmonic, melodic and rhythmic elements
- Wrote Principles of Orchestration, which discusses the technique of writing for an orchestra and also the emotional and psychological effect of instrumentation
- Notable works include Scheherazade, Capriccio Espagnol, and the Russian Easter Overture
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Leoš Janáček
- Czech composer, musical theorist, folkorist
- was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic music, including Eastern European folk music
- famous works include his opera Jenůfa, piano sonata “On an Overgrown Path”
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Gustav Mahler
- Last composer of the Austro-German tradition
- primarily a conductor during his life
- Know for very large orchestration
- Symphony No.8 “Symphony of a thousand”
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Claude Debussy
- French Impressionist composer
- One of the first Europeans to use pentatonic and whole tone scales
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Richard Strauss
- end of romantic composers
- Salome: scale made of Cm and GM stacked started opera, -seen as a major break though that allowed other composers to experiment with traditional tonality
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Jean Sibelius
- Chapter 5
- Finnish composer
- Finlandia (1899)
- Extreme alcoholic
- Popular in England and Americas but dismissed in Austria-German music centers
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Carl Nielson
- Denmark’s most notable/famous composer
- Inspired by Brahms and Grieg
- Notable works include Helios Ouverture and Maskarade (which became known as the “Danish National Opera”
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Erik Satie
- French impressionist composer
- Drove French composer’s away from the Wagnerian style
- Influenced Ravel and Poulenc
- Composed the Gymnopédies
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Scott Joplin
- Dubbed “the king of ragtime”
- Composed “Maple Leaf Rag” and “The Entertainer”
- Spent his last years in life trying to compose his opera “Treemonisha” but died of syphilis in 1917
- Chapter 4
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Will Marion Cook
- Violinist, composer, conductor, and teacher
- Wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” opera and musical revue called Clorindy
- His composition Dahomey echos the opening of the Largo of Dvoraks New World Symphony
- Chapter 4
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Arnold Schoenberg
- Father of 12 tone - primary members of the Second Viennese School of music - Pierrot lunaire, pioneered the use of Sprechstimme in music -
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Charles Ives
- The celestial country started his career, but his more experimental works “From the Steeples and the Mountains” and “The unanswered Question” are his most known works.
- Composer, organist, insurance agent
- Chapter 4
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Maurice Ravel
- One of the major pioneers of French Impressionist music, pianist and conductor
- Experimented with textures, musical form (Bolero), orchestration (Pictures at an Exhibition), and styles (jazzy chords in Piano Concerto)
- Notable works include Boléro, Daphnis et Chloé
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Bruno Walter
- Considered one of the best conductors of the 20th century
- Escaped Nazi German and went to California
- Worked closely with Mahler and bared a similar musical resemblance
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Manuel De Falla
- Spanish composer and pianist
- Considered the most distinguished Spanish composer of the 20th century for composing works inspired by native Spanish church music, folk music, and native opera (“zarzuela”)
- Notable works include The Three-Cornered Hat and Nights in the Gardens of Spain
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Béla Bartók
- Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist
- Collected and analyzed study of folk music and was one of the founders of comparative musicology, which later became ethnomusicology
- notable works include his Concerto for Orchestra, Mikorkosmos (for piano), his opera Bluebeard’s Castle, and his Viola Concerto
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Igor Stravinsky
- Composed in very different styles throughout his life
- Made innovations in rhythm and harmony
- Composed The Firebird and Rite of Spring
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Percy Grainger
- Australian composer, arranger, and pianist
- played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music
- his most famous work is a piano arrangement of folk song Country Gardens
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Anton Webern
- Part of Second Viennese school lead by Schoenberg
- Many works considered inaccessible my most performers
- Composed the Six Bagatelles for string quartet
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Edgard Varèse
- First major American work was Ameriques
- Came to New York from Paris after being released from the French army on medical grounds in 1915
- Chapter 4
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Alban Berg
- Second Viennese School
- combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique
- Studied with Schoenberg
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Sergey Prokofiev
- Russian Neoclassical Composer
- Studied under Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
- Lived in Stalinist Russia, his works were denounced by the Russian government which was a massive blow to his career
- Notable works include Romeo and Juliet (1936) and Peter and the Wolf (1936)
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Darius Milhaud
- French composer, conductor, teacher, and a member of the Les Six
- Compositions are influenced by jazz and Brazilian music and make extensive use of polytonality
- Considered one of the key modernist composers who taught many significant composers including Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Iannis Xenakis
- Notable works include La création du monde
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Paul Hindemith
- German composer, music theorist, violist
- Advocate for Neue Sachlichkeit (new objectivity) in the 1920s
- Completed a series of six sonatas for strings that have influences from Debussy and Ravel.
- Used forms from the Renaissance and Baroque Era and modernized them
- Chapter 6
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Erich Korngold
- Born in the modern day Czech Republic, Korngold was a child prodigy
- Performed from an early age and eventually made his way into composing, mostly for operas, shows, and movies. Dubbed “father of the film score”
- Notable works include scores for the films The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and Another Dawn (1936-1937)
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George Gershwin
- Grew up in Manhattan, inspired by Jazz
- First vaudeville opera was Blue Monday Blues
- Rhapsody in Blue 1924
- Chapter 4
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Francis Poulenc
- French composer and pianist
- One of the composers in Les Six, who reacted strongly against German Romanticism and French Impressionism
- Notable works include his opera Dialogues des Carmélites and Concerto for Organ, Strings, and Timpani
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Duke Ellington
- Jazz pianist, composer, conductor
- Black, Brown, and Beige Suite
- Also referred to as The Duke
- Chapter 4
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Kurt Weill
- Threepenny opera and “Mack the Knife”
- German composer that fled Nazi germany in 1933
- Held the ideal of writing music that served a socially useful purpose
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Aaron Copland
- American composer that 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)
- Other notable work is “A Lincoln Portrait” (1942) which presents sung quotes from Lincoln over orchestra
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Harry Partch
-Invented a 43 note scale and made his own instruments
-American composer in California
-Inspired by Lou Harrison -
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Dmitri Shostakovich
- Experimented with avant-garde techniques and strayed from Western music in early career
- Was subject to the pressures of Stalinist Russia, brought back to more traditional Western style
- Influences include Tchaikovsky and Hindemith
- Notable works include Festive Overture and Symphony No. 5
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Olivier Messiaen
- French contemporary composer
- Heavily inspired by bird song and Roman Catholic theology
- Experimented with non-western scales and modes
- Famous works include 1941; Quartet for the End of Time and 1953; The Awakening of the Birds
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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”
- Most notable work is “4’33””
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Benjamin Britten
-Composed “Peters Grimes” and “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra”
-Defining English composer of the 20th century
-Influenced by Bach, Brahms, and Beethoven -
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Lou Harrison
-Composed the Opera “Rapunzel”
-American composer and music critic
-Inspired by Henry Cowell and Indonesian gamelon -
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György Ligeti
-Composed the music for “2001: A Space Odyssey”
-Hungarian-Austrian avant-grade classical composer
-Influenced by his relationship with Stockhausen -
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Pierre Boulez
- French avant-garde composer and conductor
- Influences include Messian, Leibowitz, and Schoenberg, used techniques of 12-tone and serialism
- Notable works are Piano Sonata No 2 (1948) and Pli selon pli (1957-1962)
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Morton Feldman
- experimented with non-traditional notation, improvisation, and timbre
- Worked with John Cage
- Used stillness and silence in his music
- Notable works include Piano Piece 1952 and For Bunita Marcus
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Karlheinz Stockhausen
-Composed series of nineteen Klavierstücke (Piano Pieces)
-German Composer known for controversial electronic music and serial compositions
-Influenced by Stravinsky -
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Tōru Takemitsu
- Largely self-taught
- Scored more than 90 films
- Inspired by Debussy, Messiaen, Schoenberg, and Cage
- Combined Eastern and Western music and philosophy
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Bernard Herrmann
- 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 through his programs
- Wrote the score for the American Horror film “Psycho”
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Steve Reich
-Composed “It’s Gonna Rain” and “Music for 18 Musicians”
-American composer who pioneered minimalism
-Influenced by Terry Riley’s “In C” -
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Philip Glass
-Composed “Music in 12 Parts”
-Minimalist composer known for bridging the gap between classical and everyday music
-Influenced by everything from Classical Music to relevant minimalist composers to David Bowie -
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John Adams
-Composed “Nixon in China (1977)”
-Composer rooted in Minimalism and Contemporary Classical Music
-Graduated from Harvard and found influence from John Cage