Anton Dvořák was born on September 8th, 1841 in Nelahozeves - a small village just North of Prague in the Czech Republic. His father, František Dvořák worked as an innkeeper, a professional player of the zither, and a butcher. It was his father that initially inspired him to take up the violin upon entering primary school. Dvořák also took lessons on piano, organ, and in theory. Dvořák began his compositional career by writing mostly for string ensembles. In the early 1860s, Dvořák also made his first symphonic attempts, some of which he self-critically burned. Dvořák married Anna Čermáková in 1873, and later secured the job of organist at St. Vojtěch. When Dvořák turned 33 in 1874, he remained almost unknown as a composer until being awarded
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born April 25, 1840, in Votkinsk, Russia. Tchaikovsky was the second of six born children. He started composing when he was four years old. When he was in his teens his mother died. It was at this point that his dad realized that his son had a talent in music. So he sent him off to St. Petersburg Conservatory. After graduating from there he moved to Moscow to teach music theory at the Russian Musical Society. He did not really like teaching, however, he developed a relationship with Nikolay Rubinstein and this is where he started composing symphonies. In his mid-years of his life, he traveled Europe showing off all his beautiful pieces of music. He even traveled to the U.S. to attend the opening of Carnegie Hall. He ended his life living near Moscow and composed music until the day he died. He is the most popular Russian composer of
Aaron Copland was born on November 14th, 1900 in Brooklyn, New York, United States (3). His parents, Harris Morris Copland and Sarah Mittenthal Copland, were Jewish immigrants from Russia (6). Copland had four older siblings who grew up together. When he was eleven years old, one of his sisters, Laurine, taught him how to play a piano (3). Laurine also influenced to his musical world by introducing him to ragtime and opera (6). From 1913 to 1917, he took his first formal piano lessons from Leopold Wolfsohn (3, 6). Wolfsohn introduced him to the pieces of the great musicians such as Beethoven and Mozart. When he was fifteen, he attended a concert by composer Ignacy Paderewski. The dream of becoming a composer sprouted inside him after
Music has been around for countless generations. In the lifetime of his magical art we call music we have seen many different musicians. One musician who had a great influence and effect on the Romantic Era would have to be Antonin Dvorak. Antonin Dvorak’s talent for music was visible from an early age. He was so gifted his childhood teacher was unable to continue teaching him even while he was still very young.
Antonin Leopold Dvorak was born here on 8 September 1841 to Anna and Frantisek Dvorak, as the first of nine children. The family ran a business in house number 12, a cottage that had an inn on the ground floor. A fire broke out here in the summer of 1842 and the future composer was rescued by his father who carried him out to safety. All of Antonin’s predecessors were butchers or innkeepers, thus it was automatically assumed that the first-born child would inherit the business. In addition to the butcher’s trade the Dvorak family line cultivated another talent: a flair for music. However, music-making was merely regarded to brighten up the daily routine and to earn a little on the side. But it wasn’t long before everyone realized things would be different in Antonin’s case. Throughout his lifetime he would be regarded as a fantastic composer, whose works have greatly influenced the generations after his and to be. Unfortunately, he ended up
Only a few composers in the history of time have ever successfully left their mark throughout our musical world we live in today. It’s been over two hundred years since the birth of Beethoven and his music still speaks to us today as he originally expressed and composed it. Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in the city of Bonn Germany on December 16th 1770 and has since been one of the most influential composers known to man. A common theme of early age learning and mastering seems to emerge in Beethoven’s life because while living in a musical family as a child, his father taught him how to play the piano, violin and in addition how to compose musical pieces since he was four years of age. A few short years later, he gave his first public piano performance at the age of seven. While Beethoven certainly gained a lot of knowledge from his peers, he also supported his family by giving music lessons and also by playing in the court orchestra. In the year 1792, Beethoven worked under an Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn and by the year 1800, his compositions established him as a strong Mozart successor.
Antonin Dvorak was born in 1841. He was a Bohemian which means that he lied in whats now known as the Czech Republic. His father was a full time butcher who also played zither part time for weddings. This gave Dvorak a chance to hone his abilities by playing fiddle alongside his father. This upbringing gave him contact with mostly folk and dance music. At age 16 Dvorak moved to Prague eventually becoming a professor of composition at Prague Conservatory. Brahms heard his music and offered Dvorak his publishers information. Dvorak accepted which led to him releasing much of his music, such as Cello Concerto in B minor, opus 104, Symphonies no. 7, 8, and 9, Romance for Violin and Orchestra in f minor, opus 11, Serenade for Strings in e major,
In Salzburg, Austria, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756. Wolfgang was the only son of Leopold and Maria Pertl Mozart to survive. Wolfgang began learning about music when he was three years old, watching his sister Nannerl play the keyboard. He was a musical prodigy, composing his first piece at 5, and beginning “tours” with his father at 6 years old. When Wolfgang turned 13, his father took him to Italy to show off this young boy’s talents. Before Mozart turned 21, he was appointed to be assistant concertmaster. It was at this time that he wrote his first opera. Mozart left on another tour in 1777, and then returned to Salzburg to be a court organist. He soon decided he was not so fond of this position, and resigned to become a freelance musician in Vienna. When he moved to Vienna, he married Constanze Weber, against his father’s wishes. Wolfgang lived in luxury during the beginning of his life in Vienna, he was producing popular operas. Soon, though, he began to lack money, and took loans that would leave him in debt for the rest of his life. In the final years of Mozart’s life, he was most productive, writing his most famous symphonies, The Magic Flute, and of course,
Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg, Russia on September 12, 1906. He was a very talented young man and entered the Petrograd Conservatory, a famous music school, at the age of thirteen (McBurney). In his youth, he created three ballets and two famous operas. He produced The Nose (1928) and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1932), both were satirical operas. One of his first works, and one of the most famous, was Symphony
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria on Jan. 27th, 1756 to Leopold and Ann Maria Mozart. As a young child he was considered a prodigy and was able to learn how to play the piano by age 3 due to observing his father. By age 6, Mozart was traveling across central Europe performing for the nobility of Austria, Germany and Hungary. (15-16) During this period of travel, Mozart played for a variety of wealthy and noble people, including the princes and dukes of Germany, Austria and France while developing his musical prowess and even completed his first symphony by age 8. During a trip to England, Mozart met with developed composer Johannes Christian Bach, son of Johannes Sebastian Bach, which to some accounts would later influences the stylings of Mozart’s concertos
Igor Stravinsky was third of a family of four boys. He grew up hearing his father practicing his opera and attending local ballets. He also started taking piano lessons when he was 9 years old and continued on with musical notation and composition instruction. All throughout his early life he studied music. However, although he had been brought
German composer and pianist, Ludwig van Beethoven, was born December 1770 and spent most of his life in Vienna, Austria. His first teacher was his alcoholic father, who worked as a musician at the Court of Bonn. Teaching him day and night, Ludwig suffered from his father's harsh and erratic behavior. For a time, he and his father played at the Church. As his father's alcoholism increased, Ludwig became the main musician.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born May 7, 1840, in Kamsko-votkinsk, Russia. He was born to Ilya Petrovich Tchaikovsky and Alexandra Andreyevna d 'Assier and was the second child of six. From an early age Pyotr Tchaikovsky could remember complex melodies, but could not study music because of his governess,
Wassily Kandinsky was born in Moscow, Russia on December 16, 1866. When Wassily was 5 years old his parents divorced and he went to live with an aunt in Odessa where he learned to play piano and cello, as well as study drawing.
Rimsky-Korsakov was born in Tikhvin, Russia in 1844. He did not always have a significant interest in music. As a child, he took piano lessons, but he chose to follow in the footsteps of his brother and pursue a career in the Navy. While attending the Naval College at St. Petersburg, Korsakov still committed his free time to practicing piano and composition. In fact, he composed his very first symphony on a navy ship. Once he graduated naval school, he became a professor of orchestration and composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, which is known today as the “Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory” in his honor. Here, he taught many composers that eventually found their own fame, including
Franz Liszt was an extremely talented Hungarian pianist from the romantic period. Liszt was born on October 22, 1811 in Raiding, Hungary. Liszt’s father was Ádám Liszt, an official in the service of Prince Nicolas Eszterházy, whose palace was often visited by celebrated musicians. Ádám Liszt was a talented amateur musician who played cello, as well as several other instruments in court concerts. Franz Liszt’s father passionately taught him how to play piano, and by the age of 6, was already recognized as a child Prodigy. At this age, Liszt began to show interest in both church and gypsy music. He developed into a religious child, partly because of his father who spent two years of his youth in the Franciscan order.