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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.