Beethoven and Other Classical Musicians free essay sample

He was a German composer of Classical music, the predominant musical figure In the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest of composers, and his reputation inspired and in some cases intimidated composers, musicians, and audiences who were to come after him. Beethovens first music teacher was his father, who worked as a musicals In the Electoral court at Bonn.Beethovens talent was soon noticed by others. He was given instruction and employment by Christian Gotten Neff , as well as financial sponsorship by the Prince-Elector. Beethovens mother died when he was 17, and for several years he was responsible for raising his two younger brothers. Beethoven moved to Vienna In 1792, where he studied with Joseph Haydn and other teachers. He quickly established a reputation as a piano virtuoso, and more slowly as a composer.He settled into the career pattern he would follow for the remainder of his life: rather than working for the church or a noble court, he was a freelancer, purporting himself with public performances, sales of his works, and stipends from noblemen who recognized his ability. Beethovens personal life was troubled. Around age 28 he started to become deaf, a calamity which led him for some time to contemplate suicide. He was attracted to unattainable (married or aristocratic) women, whom he Idealized; he never married. A period of low productivity from about 1812 to 1816 is thought by some scholars to have been the result of depression, resulting from Beethovens realization that he would never marry. Beethoven quarreled, often bitterly, with his relatives and others, and frequently behaved badly to other people. He moved often from dwelling to dwelling, and had strange personal habits such as wearing filthy clothing while washing compulsively. He often had financial troubles. It is common for listeners to perceive an echo of Beethovens life in his music, which often depicts struggle followed by triumph.This description Is often applied to Beethovens creation of masterpieces In the face of his severe personal difficulties. Beethoven was often In poor health, and In 1826 his lath took a drastic turn for the worse. His death in the following year is usually attributed to liver disease. FAMOUS COMPOSITIONS: Fur Elise Ode to Joy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Born in 1756, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the second child in the family of Leopold Mozart of Salisbury, Austria. Like his older sister Marina he showed great musical talent beginning at a very young age.One day at age three, as his father concluded a piano lesson with his sister young Wolfgang walked over to the Plano and began to play back the lessons that had Just been taught to his older sibling. This event brought his father to begin active music instruction with Wolfgang, and 1 OFF compose pieces of music for the piano , with his father writing down the notes as he played them. Eventually Wolfgang learned to write music notation and his writing flourished. One day he told his father that he was writing a concerto. After looking at the manuscript his father was quoted as saying, It is a pity it can not be made use of. It is so difficult that no one could play it. His son replied, It is a concerto, and must be studied till it can be played properly. Wolfgang then walked to the piano and played it. Mozart family traveled extensively throughout Austria, Germany, Italy, and England beginning in 1762 when Wolfgang was only six years old. A year later he Nas playing for Louis XV in Versailles where he played with young Marie Antoinette.Minion they moved to London where Wolfgang met Johann Christian Bach and was inspired to write his first three symphonies, still only at age eight. In the coming years the family continued performing during three trips to Rome, Italy, and Milan , and later to Vienna again in 1773 where he met Joseph Haydn. A later trip took him to Paris where his mother took ill and passed away in July of 1778. In 1780 Mozart presented his first major Opera, Demimonde , in Munich. In July of 1791, Mozart was hired to write a Requiem (a mass for the dead). At this time Mozart was deep in debt and had taken ill.In his ferrous state some say that Mozart believed the man who commissioned the work was Death himself, and that the Requiem he was writing was to be his own. In the end, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart never completed this Requiem. Speculation that Mozart had been murdered by a rival musician named Antonio Saltier has, over time, proven to be false. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, perhaps the most perfect musical mind ever to put quill to paper, died penniless and forgotten as casualty of Rheumatic Fever and was buried in an unmarked grave on December 5th, 1791.Despite his quiet demise, well over 600 of his works survive to this day. Famous Works: Requiem rhea Marriage of Figaro Ionian Sebastian Bach (March 21, 1685 -July 28, 1750) He was a German Composer and organist of the Baroque period, and is universally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. His works, noted for their Intellectual depth, technical command, and artistic beauty, have provided inspiration to nearly every musician in the European tradition, from Mozart to Schoenberg. J. S. Each was born in Sciences, Germany, in 1685 and died in 1750 at the age of 65.His father, Johann Ambrosias Bach, was the town piper in Sciences, a post that entailed organizing all the secular music in town as well as participating in church music at the direction of the church organist, and his uncles were also all professional musicians ranging from church organists and court chamber musicians to imposers, although Bach would later surpass them all in his art. In an era when sons were expected to assist in their fathers work, we can assume J. S. Bach began copying music and playing various instruments at an early age.Bachs mother died at which time Bach moved in with his older brother Johann Christopher Bach, who was the organist of Ordure in Germany. While in his brothers house, Bach continued copying, studying, and playing music. According to one popular legend of the young composers curiosity, late one night, when the house was asleep, he retrieved a manuscript from his brothers music cabinet and began to copy it by the moonlight. In 1708 Bach took a position as court organist and concert master at the ducal court in Wiener. In 1723, J. S.Bach was appointed Cantor and Musical Director of atmospherics, Leipzig. This post required him not only to instruct the students of the SST. Thomas school (Outmatches) in singing but also to provide weekly music at the two main churches in Leipzig. Bach endeavored to compose a new church piece, or cantata, every week. This challenging schedule, which basically amounted to rioting an hours worth of music every week, in addition to his more menial duties at the school, produced some of his best music, most of which has been preserved.Most of the cantatas from this period expound upon the Sunday readings from the Bible for the week in which they were originally performed. Bach became ill, owing to complications from an eye operation. FAMOUS WORKS: rhea Art of Fugue Cello suite Giaconda Puccini pecker 22, 1858 November 29, 1924) is regarded as one of the great operatic composers the late 19th and early 20th century. Puccini was born Lucia, Italy into a family with a long history of music. After the death of his father hen he was only five years old, he was sent to study with his uncle Fortunate Magi, ho considered him to be a poor and undisciplined student. Later, he took the position of church organist, but it was not until he saw a performance of Verses Aid that he became inspired to be an opera composer. In 1880, the Mesas did Gloria (Glory Mass), composed at the age of 22, marked the end of Puccini apprenticeship as a composer and the culmination of his familys long association Ninth church music in his native Lucia. From 1880 to 1883 he studied at the Milan Conservatory under Mailer Penciling and Antonio Buzzing. In 1882, Puccini entered competition for a one-act opera. Composition was slow after this.In 1903 he was Injured in an automobile accident. In 1906 Cacaos died. In 1909, there was scandal after their maid was falsely accused by Puccini wife of having an affair with Puccini and then committed suicide. And in 1912, Puccini editor, Records, died. La Bobme Madame Butterfly Franz Joseph Haydn, (March 31, 1732 May 31, 1809) Haydn was born in 1732 in the Austrian village of Aurora near the border Ninth Hungary. According to Heydays later reminiscences, his childhood family was extremely musical, and frequently sang together and with their neighbors.Franz losses Haydn was recruited at age 8 to the sing in the choir at SST. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna, where he went on to learn to play violin and keyboard. After he left the choir, he supported himself by teaching and playing violin, while studying time in England he generated some of his best-known work, including the Rider quartet and the Surprise, Military, Drummond and London symphonies. Haydn returned o Vienna in 1795 and took up his former position with the Esterssys, although only part-time.At this point, he was a public fugue in Vienna, and when he wasnt at home composing, he was making frequent public appearances. With his health failing, his creative spirit outlasted his ability to harness it, and he died at age 77. Haydn is remembered as the first great symphonists and the composer who essentially invented the string quartet. The principal engineer of the classical style, Haydn exerted influence on the likes of Mozart, his student Ludwig van Beethoven and scores of others. FAMOUS COMPOSITIONS: Farewell Surprise