Composers

Johann Sebastian Bach
http://www.quicknet.se/midimusic/bach.html
Step back in time with J.S. Bach, and listen to the "top 40" hits of the 1700s! While you are there, discover how many preludes and fugues there are in Bach's keyboard work, The Well-Tempered Clavier. Can you figure out how Bach organized this composition?

Timothy Brock Interview
http://www.kino.com/brockinter.html
Check out an interview with contemporary composer Timothy Brock, who composes for (among other things) silent films. How is composing for film different from other kinds of composition?

Frederic Chopin
http://ipl.lub.lu.se/exhibit/mushist/rom/chopin.html
Check out biographical info on Chopin, this is a good introduction to the unofficial Chopin home page. Chopin composed virtually all his music for only one instrument. What was that instrument?

The Unofficial Chopin Home Page
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/2217/midi.html
Choose from over 200 MIDI recordings of Chopin's works.

The Aaron Copland Home Page
http://voodoo.acomp.usf.edu/copland.html
Find out more about one of America's greatest twentieth-century composers. See pictures, read an entertaining biography, and hear some of Copland's greatest hits on MIDI. Can you identify the piece that plays when you open the homepage?

Claude Debussy
http://www.ipl.org/exhibit/mushist/twen/debussy.html
Check out the composer who made his teachers crazy with his wild harmonic ideas, and ended up starting a whole new style of music. Listen to Debussy's most famous works, and compare them with those of Stravinsky.

The Duke Ellington Society
http://duke.fuse.net/essence/index_ie.html
Explore this extensive source of information on Duke Ellington, where you can hear over 10 samples of famous vocalists performing his music. Can you name the work that Ellington considered to be his most important?

George Gershwin
http://www.ionet.net/~jcj/gershwin.html
As a young boy, George Gershwin recalled that "music never really interested me, and I really liked to spend my time with the boys, making somewhat of a nuisance of myself in the streets." Then his parents brought a piano into the house and the rest, as they say, is history. Was Gershwin successful in his first attempts at composing music? Find out here.

The Philip Glass Library
http://suso.eigenmann.indiana.edu/pgl/history.html
Read a short biography of minimalist composer Philip Glass. Click on "Media Files" to hear some of Glass' music. How did Glass make a living while waiting to be successful as a composer?

W. C. Handy Birthplace, Museum & Library
http://www.ci.florence.al.us/museums/handy/handy.html
Check out this biography of William Christopher Handy, the "Father of the Blues," and see the museum that pays tribute to his memory. How did Handy disappoint his father? Where did he get his inspiration for his most famous song, "The St. Louis Blues"? This is the place to find out!

In the First Person: Libby Larson
http://www.newmusicbox.org/archive/firstperson/larsen/index.html
Read (and listen to sound clips from) an excellent interview with composer Libby Larsen. Find out about composing from an expert! What advice does Larsen have for young composers?

Franz Lizst
http://www.futurenet.com/classicalnet/reference/
composers/liszt.html
Learn more about Franz Lizst and his career. Also, hear some of his most famous pieces. What would life have been like for a nineteenth century "superstar"?

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
http://208.4.223.8/lecagot/biography.asp
Find out more the amazing Mozart, who could compose music as fast as he could think! Read a short, lively biography, and listen to excerpts from Mozart's most famous operas. How many pieces of music did Mozart compose in his short, 35-year life?

Mozart's Magical Musical Life
http://www.stringsinthemountains.org/m2m/1once.html
You will love this detailed description of the life of Mozart! See beautiful pictures, hear clips of Mozart's compositions, and follow the links for even more information.

Gioacchino Rossini
http://www.ajf.org/rossini/rosbio/bior.html
How old was Rossini when he first performed in an opera? How old was he when he wrote his first opera? Guess how long it took Rossini to write The Barber of Seville, then read this entertaining biography to find out if you were right.

Arnold Schoenberg and Twelve-Tone Music
http://www.futurenet.com/classicalnet/composers/features/
schoenberg/arnie.html
Step out of the cozy world of tonality into the twelve-tone frontier. Click on "jargon buster" for definitions of twelve-tone terms. What was Schoenberg trying to accomplish with his new system?

John Philip Sousa
http://www.dws.org/sousa
Hear clips from Sousa's compositions, and find out all about Sousa and his players. Sousa wrote the official march of the United States. Do you know what it is?

Igor Stravinsky
http://www.ipl.org/exhibit/mushist/twen/stravinsky.html
Listen to clips from some of Stravinsky's greatest works, including The Rite of Spring, which caused a riot at its premiere. Also check out a short biography of this most famous twentieth-century composer. What did he study before going into music? What do you think influenced him to become an American citizen?

Antonio Vivaldi
http://www.quicknet.se/ftp/dialup/q-112005/vivaldi.html
Read a short biography of Vivaldi, the composer/priest. While there, you can listen to three of Vivaldi's famous Four Seasons. Which is your favorite?

Star Wars: John Williams
http://www.starwars.com/crew/williams/
When John Williams first agreed to write the music for Star Wars, his expectations for the project were small. Was he ever surprised! How does Williams compose his music to fit the different Star Wars characters?

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