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Leroy Anderson
…Portuguese, in addition to English and Swedish, which he had learned in his youth. He believed that his fluency in multiple languages would secure him a career as a language…
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Jean-Philippe Rameau
…had been officially appointed “Composer of the King’s Chamber Music” for King Louis XV, securing his status as a musical success. Later Years and Legacy In his later years, Rameau…
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Richard Strauss
…continued composing during World War II, creating some of his most poignant late works, including Metamorphosen in 1945, a somber elegy for 23 stringed instruments, and the Four Last Songs…
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Hector Berlioz
…Works In his later years, Berlioz composed several ambitious works: La Damnation de Faust (1846), a dramatic cantata based on Goethe’s Faust. Benvenuto Cellini (1838), an opera that was initially…
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Jacques Offenbach
…Helene (1864), La Vie parisienne (1866), La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein (1867), and La Perichole (1868). These works, filled with risque humor and satirical barbs, became internationally renowned. Association with the…
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Georges Bizet
Born into a family of musicians, Georges Bizet was a French composer whose music has become synonymous with the romantic era. Despite a life cut short by an early death,…
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Felix Mendelssohn
…Mendelssohn was the son of Abraham and Lea Mendelssohn. He hailed from a notable Jewish family, with his grandfather being the esteemed philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. However, the family converted to…
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Frédéric Chopin
…great reverence. Early Life Frédéric François Chopin was born on either February 22nd or March 1st, 1810, in the small village of Żelazowa Wola, near Warsaw in the Duchy of…
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Sergei Rachmaninoff
…loss of the family fortune. Following this, his father abandoned the family, leaving them in a precarious financial state. However, Rachmaninoff’s talent for music was recognized early in his life….
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Johann Pachelbel
…and Education Johann Pachelbel was born in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1653 into a middle-class family. His father, Johann (Hans) Pachelbel, was a wine dealer, and his mother was Anna Maria…
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Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
…Rimsky-Korsakov and Sofya Vasilievna Rimskaya-Korsakova, belonged to the Russian nobility. The Rimsky-Korsakov family had a long-standing tradition of military and naval service, and unsurprisingly, the young Nikolai was to follow…
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Aaron Copland
…old. While his early musical exposure was limited to Jewish weddings, ceremonies, and family musicales, his sister Laurine played a significant role in his musical education. A student at the…
