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Here’s a list of 10 composers you should know. Many of them can claim to be one of the greatest composers to have ever lived, though it’s really impossible to compare music written hundreds of years apart and the list is in no particular order. All of them, however, stand out from among their contemporaries as composers who have written music of the highest quality, and sought to push the boundaries of classical music to new limits. Click on the name to read the biography. Accompanying each composer is a quotable ‘fact’ about his life to make you look like an expert!
Welcome to Classical.com's guide to composers!
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Beethoven at his best - click to listen Top Fact! Beethoven dedicated his 3rd Symphony to Napoleon, but scratched out the dedication when Napoleon declared himself Emperor in 1804. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) The Mastery of J S Bach - click to listen Top Fact! During his lifetime, Bach was so unappreciated that fewer than a dozen compositions of his were printed. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Mozart at his best - click to listen Top Fact! As a boy, Mozart memorized and wrote out the whole of Allegri’s Miserere, after hearing it just once. Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Brahms at his best - click to listen Top Fact! In later life Brahms had a large beard (his life wasn’t very exciting, though he was a lifelong ‘friend’ of Schumann’s wife, Clara). Richard Wagner (1813-1883) Wagner at his best - click to listen Top Fact! Wagner participated in the failed revolutions of 1848/9 in Germany and was forced to take refuge with Liszt after a warrant for his arrest was issued. Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) Stravinsky at his best - click to listen Top Fact! Stravinsky had several failed attempts to launch himself as a film composer. On one occasion he completed the music before actually seeing the film! Piotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Tchaikovsky at his best - click to listen Top Fact! Tchaikovsky died from self-inflicted arsenic poisoning. Some have maintained that this was an act of enforced-suicide to prevent the revelation of a homosexual scandal. Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) Verdi at his best - click to listen Top Fact! Verdi was an Italian nationalist and was elected to the first Italian parliament in 1860 following Italy’s independence from Austria. Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Schubert at his best - click to listen Top Fact! Schubert’s group of friends used to gather to hold informal ‘Schubertiads’, where they would perform his latest works. A kind of fan club then! Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Schumann at his best - click to listen Top Fact! Schumann ended his days in an asylum after he threw himself into the Rhine in a failed suicide bid.
Stravinsky (Right) and Ravel
