New York City Ballet George Balanchine was born in 1904 and was raised in St. Petersburg. As the son of a composer, Balanchine’s piano study began at the age of five. After graduating from the Imperial Ballet School in 1921, Balanchine enrolled at the state’s Conservatory of Music where he studied piano and musical theory. Balanchine’s musical background gave him an advantage over other choreographers because he more fully understood the music he was dancing to (“Biography”). The first time George Balanchine danced was as a cupid in the Maryinsky Theatre Ballet Company Production of The Sleeping Beauty, his favorite ballet (“George Balanchine”).
A few composers who made music today possible by struggling through the aftermath of the Black Death epidemic would be; Jasquin Des Prez, (who was a big name at the time,) Pierre De La Rue, a very well proclaimed vocalist (The New York Time Company 2012, March 23. Top 8 Renaissance Composers Retrieved from http://classicalmusic.about.com.) One such composer whose name is still heard pretty often would be Johann Sebastian Bach; he is considered as one of the faces of classical music. Like all of us, he started out with baby steps, slowly learning the ways of music. Bach came from a family of musicians who brought him into the whole scene; his father was a director and had several uncles who were musicians (Christoph Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2000.)
His father, Mathais, was a wheelwright who played the harp, and his mother Maria, was a cook for count Karl Anton Harrach. It was a family custom to call their children by their second name. Thus Joseph Haydn was his name. Joseph Haydn was a choirboy in St. Stephen’s Cathedral by the age of nine. He later was kicked at the age of seventeen out of the choir because he’s amazing voice had matured and he could no longer sing the higher notes.
Bach was trained to be a musician from the time he was a young child. At fifteen he left his brother's home and moved to another town, where he played the violin and organ to support himself in school. When he was eighteen, he became the organist for a church not far outside of his hometown. He left this church at twenty-three and married his cousin Barbara. In 1708, Bach became a court organist in Weimar.
Vivaldi was progressive musically. He established the concerto form as an instrumental standard, played with the idea that the soloist was at war with the larger orchestra and using the contrasts to dramatic effect, not only between players but in speed and volume levels as well, and he pushed the envelope on violin technique, something in which he probably remained untouched. His usual writing style was antiphony, a simple style, which allowed him to experiment with instrument solos and maintain a light and innocent texture to the music. Vivaldi was one of the rare Italian composers interested in woodwind instruments. He composed several concertos for the bassoon, oboe, recorder and flute, as well as the rarer clarinet.
The second one is Vincent Willem van Gogh because I like some of his paintings very much. His paintings were full of deep passion and emotion, and the colors he used are bold and vivid. Therefore, I wonder how he painted these paintings and why he committed suicide in 1890. The final person I want to meet is Maurice Ravel, a talented French musician who is known for his impressionist music. He composed many brilliant music works such as Bolero, Piano concert for the left hand and so on.
Everyone in his family played piano, some played other instruments too so his up bringing was full of music. He began classical piano at the age of 6, but preferred other endeavors so stopped after a few years. He was taught blues and boogie woogie by a friend at the age of 15 and carried on to play by ear. During high school and university he played keyboard in rock and roll bands. His first band was called “Oz & Ends” in Ithaca NY.
Franz vowed then, and there to be the pianist version of Paganini. Already an accomplished composer, Franz took time off from concerts to work tirelessly day in and day out until he emerged, a few years later, as the greatest pianist of his time. Liszt created sounds from the piano as if an orchestra were playing them, and he had remarkable finger dexterity; works such as Douze Grandes Etudes and Paganini Studies show off his amazing talent on the piano. He was an excellent showman. His work encompassed the use of bold leaps, and extreme dynamics.
When he was young, he and his cousin were enthusiasm for the work of contemporary German painters and the music of Wagner. 8. Webern married his cousin and had four children. 9. Schoenberg formally introduced his new technique of composition to Webern in 1920s.
Alex McKenzie Music History III Mid-Term Paper 10/8/09 The Rach Sergei Rachmaninoff is considered to many people as one of the last, if not the last, true link to 19th century Romanticism in music composition. He was known for his stern manner, huge hands that helped in his piano playing, and for his few, but exciting compositions. Many at the time he was alive did not like his music because they thought he was behind modern composition, but the remaining romantic composers and fans of romantic music praised his works. To this day the last great romantic’s pieces are played and loved by many. Born 1 April, 1873 in Semyonovo, Russia, Sergei Rachmaninoff was the son of Vasily and Lubov Rachmaninoff.