An iconic figure in American contemporary jazz and classical music, George Gershwin was a composer and pianist of international fame, with a significant number of songs, orchestral and jazz works making him one of the most successful and recognisable musicians of the last century. His compositions have been used as soundtracks for movies and television, while his jazz standards have been covered by many interpreters … Continue reading George Gershwin 🎹🎼🎶
Born in the Upper Palatinate, currently in Germany, in 1714 and raised in Bohemia, Christoph Williband Gluck spent his most creative years in Paris, where he reached high popularity on the very vibrant operatic scene. He is credited for refashion the opera format from its baroque beginnings to a more fluid and popular art. His later opera are on average half the length of a … Continue reading Christoph Williband Gluck 🎶🎹🎵
For the most part of last decade Arvo Pärt has been the most performed living composer in the world. This tells a lot about the popularity of his music with musicians and the general public. Probably reasons behind his sensationalism with the audience are to be found in his profound sources of inspiration, combined with the apparent simplicity of his music. He is in fact … Continue reading Arvo Pärt 🎹🎼🎶
🇬🇧 The so-called Moonlight Sonata is probably the best known composition by Ludwig van Beethoven who composed it in 1801 and dedicated it to his pupil Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. The popular name of Moonlight Sonata came only much later, in 1832, when a music critic likened the first movement of the piece to he tranquillity of a Moon lit scene by a lake. From then … Continue reading Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven 🎼🎹🎶
Marking the 343rd anniversary of Antonio Vivaldi’s birth on 4th of March 1678 Antonio Vivaldi’s music is indissolubly associated in my mind with Venice and its amazing views across the lagoon. Indeed Vivaldi spent most of his life in Venice, although his fame spread across Europe during his lifetime and, in a weird twist of fate, he died in Vienna in poverty in 1741 after … Continue reading Antonio Vivaldi 🖼🎶🇬🇧
Born in Poland in 1810 Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin was very soon recognised as a child prodigy and, by the age of seven, he started giving public concerts as a pianist and composed his first piano pieces. In his early 20s he left Poland and made no return to his homeland, whereas he settled in Paris and acquired the French citizenship, also using the French version … Continue reading Frédéric Chopin 🎨🎶🇬🇧
Georg Friedrich Händel was a German composer born in Halle on 23 February 1685, naturalized English, of the Baroque period, who spent most of his career in London, becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, big concertos and organ concerts. Handel received musical training in Halle, Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712; he became a naturalized British citizen in 1727.The prevailing … Continue reading George Friderick Handel 🎼🎶🇬🇧
Compositore di alcune delle opere più famose messe in scena in tutto il mondo – Tosca, Madame Buttefly, Boheme, Turandot, Manon Lescaut – Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) ebbe anche fama mondiale durante la sua vita. Al momento della morte di Puccini nel 1924, aveva guadagnato 4 milioni di dollari dalle sue opere. Ancora oggi, tre delle sue composizioni (La bohème, Tosca e Madame Butterfly) sono tra … Continue reading Giacomo Puccini 🎼🎹🇮🇹
🇬🇧 One of the greatest composers ever was clearly missing in my musician list featured on this blog, so I’m bridging the gap with a short profile on Ludwig van Beethoven, the quintessentially romantic composer. Born in Bonn, Germany in a family of musicians on 17 December 1770, the precocious Ludwig showed musical genius talent as a pianist from an early age, being taught by … Continue reading Ludwig van Beethoven 🎼🎹🎶
An iconic figure in British contemporary music, Benjamin Britten was a composer, conductor and pianist of international fame, with a significant number of operas and other vocal work making him a leading composer in this genre and most probably the most popular opera composer of the modern age. He was the first composer ever to be awarded with a life peerage. Born on 22 November … Continue reading Benjamin Britten 🎹🎼🎶
