Download Composer Information - Canton Symphony Orchestra

YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERT
COMPOSER INFORMATION
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
March 21, 1685 - July 28, 1750
Born in Germany
• Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany, where his father was a
town musician. Over 300 years’ worth of Bachs all worked as professional musicians.
• Johann was brought up by his older brother, who was a church organist. Johann
became a very good organist, too.
• Johann Sebastian Bach held three major jobs in his life: first he worked for a duke,
then for a prince, and finally, he became director of music at the St. Thomas
Church and School in Leipzig, Germany.
• Bach conducted and wrote music for a group of musicians who liked to get together to perform at a local
coffee house.
• No one really knew much about his music until 100 years after his death, when another composer, Felix
Mendelssohn, started conducting his music.
• Bach is now seen as one of the greatest geniuses in music history. He wrote all kinds of music -- for
organ and other keyboard instruments, orchestras, choirs, and concertos for many different
instrumental combinations.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
December 16, 1770 – March 26, 1827
Born in Germany
• Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany. His father, a singer, was
his first teacher.
• While he was still a boy, Ludwig became a traveling performer to support
his family.
• In his early twenties, Beethoven moved to Vienna, where he spent the rest of
his life.
• Beethoven was one of the first composers to make a living without being
employed by the church or a member of the nobility.
• He was first known as a brilliant pianist. But when he was around 30 years old, Beethoven started going
deaf and could no longer hear well enough to play the piano. Beethoven composed some of his best
music after he was deaf!
• Beethoven is considered one of the greatest musical geniuses who ever lived. He may be most famous for
his nine symphonies, but he also wrote many other kinds of music: chamber and choral music, piano
music and string quartets, and an opera.
JOHANN PACHELBEL
September 1, 1653 – March 9, 1706
Born in Germany
• Born in Nuremburg, Pachelbel was one of the most important figures in German
music of the generation before Bach.
• He was an outstanding student, educated in southern Germany and Italy, and his
music was influenced by the music and composers from those regions.
• He was a celebrated organist for his whole life and composed a sizable amount of organ music for church
and non-church use. He wrote in forms later used by J.S. Bach.
• Pachelbel composed several sacred concertos, works for voices and a small group of instruments, as well
as keyboard suites, motets and chamber works.
AARON COPLAND
November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990
Born in America
• Aaron Copland is one of the most famous American composers of all time.
• Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York, and went to France as a teenager to
study music with Nadia Boulanger, who helped Copland create his own style.
• Some of his most famous pieces are his ballets -- Billy the Kid, Rodeo, and
Appalachian Spring. Billy the Kid and Rodeo are about the Wild West. Copland
also wrote music for movies -- Of Mice and Men and Our Town, among others.
• One of Copland’s best known compostions is Fanfare for the Common Man. Copland wrote it after the
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra asked several composers to write fanfares during World War II.
• Copland wrote music with a very “American” sound and his music has become a great part of
American history.
TERRY RILEY
June 24, 1935
Born in America
• Terry Riley was born in Colfax, California. He began performing professionally as
a solo pianist during the 1950s.
• A pioneer of the Minimalist movement in music, Riley was among the most
revolutionary composers of the post-WWII era. He masterminded early
experiments in tape loops and delay systems which left an indelible mark on the
experimental music produced later.
• His compositions In C (1964) and Dorian Reeds (1965) changed the course of twentieth-century music
and strongly influenced the music of rock groups such as The Who, The Soft Machine, Curved Air,
Tangerine Dream and composers Steve Reich, Philip Glass and John Adams.
• Riley was listed in the London Sunday Times as “one of the 1000 makers of the 20th Century.