Wilhem Richard Wagner, known by Richard, was born in Leipzig, Germany on May 22, 1813. Richard Wagner led a contentious life and is known as one of the world’s most influential composers. He is also famous for his operas such as the four-part, 18-hour Ring Cycle and Tristan Isolde. Wagner led an influential life never losing confidence in himself from financial debt due to his operas not meeting success to being too sick to even compose his music. Richard Wagner is the perfect to example as to why a person should never give up. With Wagner’s perseverance and courage he became a very successful, widely known Romantic period musical icon.
Wagner was born into German decent and was the ninth child his family. His parents are Carl and Johanna Wagner. His father passed away when he was only six months old and Wagner was raised by his stepfather, Ludwig Geyer. At seven years old in 1820, Wagner began practicing the piano with lessons from a Latin teacher at Pastor Wetzel’s school. Wagner quickly caught on to playing the piano and by 1827, Wagner had written a piano transcription for Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Not only was Wagner inspired by Beethoven but he was also inspired by Mozart and Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient. In 1831, Wagner joined the Studentenverbindung Corps Saxonia Leipzig at the University of Leipzig. Here Wagner impressed the cantor of Saint Thomas church and was given free music lessons. Not long after becoming a member of the the Studentenverbindung Corps Saxonia Leipzig, Wagner gained a position as a choir director in 1833. Also in 1833 Wagner completed his very first opera, “The Fairies”. Following the completion of his first opera, in 1834 Wagner met the love of his life who he would soon fall in love with, Minna P...
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...ard Wagner. Wagner was very passionate of Beethoven and his music and at the young age of fifteen he was writing keyboard and orchestral works that had Beethoven influence. Not only was Richard Wagner inspired by others but Wagner also inspired others himself. Wagner’s large operas help set the stage for film work. Wagner is known for contributing to the development of the structure of harmony. Schoenberg, Dvorak, and Bruckner are just a few that Richard Wagner has inspired with his music abilities and everything that he did.
Richard Wagner accomplished a lot in his lifetime spite all through all of his depressions and hardships. Wagner leaves behind a wonderful legacy of not only just music but also his writings and his operas. Richard Wagner had hard times in his life but still managed to push through and produce several operas that will be remembered forever.
Johannes Brahms was born on Tuesday 7th may 1833, in the city of Hamburg the birthplace also of Mendelssohn. Johann Brahms was himself a musician, and played the double bass for a time at the Karl Schultze Theatre, and later in the Stadttheater orchestra. In 1847 Johannes attended a good Burgerschule (citizens? school), and in 1848 a better, that of one Hoffmann. When he was eight years old his father requested the teachers to be very easy with him because of the time that he must take for his musical studies.
All had great influence on later composers, Mozart on Beethoven, Bartók on Copeland and Bach on everyone including his twenty or so children
Richard Strauss was known for being able to portray incredible stories with his music incredibly well. Every part of his writing is so descriptive that even Strauss said that he could “describe a soup spoon” in his music. Program music became so popular and still is for just that reason; a master composer like Strauss can tell any story in a musical format that people enjoy.
Born to poor parents in Hamburg, Germany, Brahms’s first music lessons come from his father who played the double bass. Known as a prodigy of the piano at nine, he quickly started to study seriously and began to compose. Incredibly, at fifteen he gave a public concert and by the time he turned twenty, he had composed piano pieces that are still played today. Moreover, after he taught at Dusseldorf for some time, he became attached to the court of Lippe-Detmold in which he settled until 1860. Constantly composing, he again resided in Hamburg after 1860. For the first time, he visited Vienna in 1862 and remained there. He spent increasingly more of his time in composition during the last twenty years of his life. Furthermore, he went on tours to play and conduct his own compositions, and received increasing honors and popularity. Brahms never married and also never left the continent of Europe, refusing to even visit England when Cambridge University desired to grant him an honorary degree. He was a humorous, gruff and a rather disorderly man, and by the 1890’s, he had become one of the most distinguished citizens of Vienna. (Weinstock 457).
...nnovative sound. Many of Brahms' compositional techniques called for a marriage of various methods, often Beethovenien influences from the eighteenth century. With Beethoven as his ultimate idol, Brahms was considered by composers such as Schumann as a saviour of German music during the nineteenth century. Beethoven's stands as a sort of model for Brahms' Symphony no. 3 in that each movement takes the main themes and unravels and develops it to create a single work of music that is musically unified. Although not as complex or grand as , Brahms' symphonic methodology in composition seems to reflect Beethoven's in many aspects. Effectively carrying over eighteenth century traditions to the nineteenth century, Brahms' contributions to the symphonic tradition were paramount and he remains one of the most innovative virtuoso and composers of his time.
Now in time there are many great composer that have outlived their dying age by making an impact and leaving a permanent seal on this planet with the great symphonies they have composed, which in turn has inspired many composers throughout the preceding centuries.
On September 21, 1874 Gustav Holst was born in Cheltenham, England. As the son of accomplished pianist, Adolph Holst, he began playing the piano from a young age and also practiced the violin. Despite the joy he had when playing music, he was a miserable child who was weak and suffered from asthma and anemia. At age 11 his father sent him to Cheltenham Grammar School in the hopes of having Gustav follow in his footsteps and become a proficient pianist. During this time he learned how to play the trombone. When he was older he found an interest in composing and in 1892 composed the two-act operetta, Lansdown Castle. Shortly after, in 1895, Holst won a scholarship to attend the Royal College of Music to further study composition. It was here that he wrote his first opera under the guidance of his professor, Charles Stanford, titled The Revoke. In 1898 Holst left the Royal College of Music for the Carl Rosa Opera Company where he was later appointed as first trombone. Throughout his experience at Carl Rosa, Holst was able to learn how an orchestra worked which would later assist him in his future compositions.
Mahler was one of the most important and influential conductors of the period. Although Mahler had originally studied piano and composition, he was not a virtuoso pianist and his student and youthful works were already too forward looking for him to win the conservative judged composition contests of the time. As a result, Mahler was forced into a conducting career.
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was born on May 22, 1813 in Leipzig. At six months old, Wagner lost his father Frau Karl Friedrich to typhoid, which he caught from the corpses lying unburied in the streets after the Napoleonic War in Leipzig. Less than a year later, Wagner’s mother married Ludwig Geyer, who Wagner believes is his real father, even though nothing was ever proved. Geyer, like Wagner had an artistic gift. He was an actor a painter, dramatist, and singer. As a child, Geyer was determined “to make something” of Wagner (Jacobs 3). He failed at drawing and painting. Wagner did not realize he had a talent until Geyer was on his deathbed with collapsed lungs.
composer has had an influence on the music we hear today. However, perhaps one of the most
Classical music can be best summed by Mr. Dan Romano who said, “Music is the hardest kind of art. It doesn't hang up on a wall and wait to be stared at and enjoyed by passersby. It's communication. Its hours and hours being put into a work of art that may only last, in reality, for a few moments...but if done well and truly appreciated, it lasts in our hearts forever. That's art, speaking with your heart to the hearts of others.” Starting at a young age Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven have done just that with their musical compositions. Both musical composers changed the world of music and captivated the hearts of many. Their love of composing shared many similar traits, though their musical styles were much different.
...he connection between the composer and the music. Since composers generally write about events that had an impact in their lives, this analysis receives support.
Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg in 1809. His father Abraham Mendelssohn was a banker, while his mum Lea Mendelssohn was a highly educated artist and musician. Mendelssohn first had his piano lesson from his mum, but soon he was sent to study with the best teachers at that time such as Marie Bigot and Ludwig Burger. He also took composition lessons with Karl Zelter, who was the professor of the University of Berlin. Under their proper guidance, he completely showed his music talent- he first appeared as pianist at nine and as a composer at ten. At his age of twelve, he already composed nine fugues, five symphonies for strings, two operas and a huge number of smaller pieces. When he was sixteen, the publication of his Octet in E-flat Major for strings and Overture to A Mid Summer Night’s Dream marked his full maturity.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven are very famous past composers that have created many pieces that have influenced not just people of their time, but people in modern times as well.
Some opera authorities feel Wagner did more than any other composers to change music and drama. Even though his life and music produce passions unlike any other composer’s, his works are both hated and loved by some. However, even those who hate his work have to admit they are great.