Richard Georg Strauss: Leading German Composer

to the Paris Conservatory. The council denied him on school grounds because he was a foreigner. His father was not going to give up because he took him even further and turned to Ferdinando Paer to teach his son advanced composition. This was during the time when Lizst wrote his first and only opera Don Sanche.

     Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s style unlike anyone else. Mozart was a master of counterpoint, fugue, and the other traditional compositional points of his day. He is also considered the best melody writer the world has ever known. Wolfgang perfected the grand forms of symphony, opera string quartet, and concerto made the classical period. “Mozart’s music is characterized by lucid ease and distinction of style....”2 Wolfgang wrote over 600 works which consisted of 21 stage and opera works, 15 masses, over 50 symphonies, 25 piano concertos, 12 violin concertos,27 concert arias, 17 piano sonatas, 26 string quartets, and many more. His operas range from comic baubles to tragic pieces. In his Requiem it illustrates the supreme vocal sounds in any of his work.

Also among Beethoven’s teachers, though later in his life, were Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, an organist at the imperial court in Vienna whom he studied under until 1795, and Antonio Salieri; Mozart’s old rival whom Beethoven learned vocal composition in the same period he was studying under Albrechtsberger. Before Albrechtsberger and Salieri was a man named Haydn, whom he studied under for a period of about three years starting in 1792 until 1794 when Haydn moved to London. It is said that Beethoven admired Haydn so much that he was the only man he had ever bent his knee to kiss the hand of. Finally, Beethoven studied under Aloys Forster, a specialist in writing scores for quartets. It is plane to see that throughout his life, his talent was not only constructed through his love of music, but forged by his exposure to multiple mediums and teachings throughout his life.

Richard Wagner 's many operas have directly impacted the growth of German society and the expansion of music history. Wagner influenced the course of music history with his operas or “total works of art” (Deathridge and Dahlaus 95). His operas consist of a fusion of original libretto, poetry, visual, musical and dramatic arts. These massively staged spectacles influenced German society in many ways. Wagner was very proud to be German. His goal in writing his operas was not just to create art, but to influence the German people to reignite their Germanic pride.

Richard Strauss, one of the most iconic classical composer during the 1900s, has been known by his music such as Don Juan and Thus Spake Zarathustra. His music style plays a major role in the mid 1900s, creating new music elements while looking back, and have even influenced modern film music. He himself is also a successful conductor, with successful recordings especially in Mozart and his own pieces.

“Without Craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind.” Johannes Brahms was an extraordinarily talented composer of his time, and, as said in one of his famous quotes, he truly crafted each piece of music he wrote with much care and delicacy. Ever since the early age of six years old, Brahms was infatuated with playing the piano, composing music, as well as conducting choral groups as well as symphonies throughout the entirety of his life. He was tremendously popular amongst friends, fellow composers, and other notable people of his time. His fame not only stood in the barriers of his lifetime, but also stood the test of time. His works are often compared to the likes of people such as the famous Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven. This impeccable trio

In 1985, in collaboration with other people one of which was a poet Alice Goodman produced two operas such as Nixon in China and The Death of the King Hoffer, which gained popularity because of being played more often in the past two decades. The other of his works include are: I was looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw The Sky, Doctor Atomic, A Flowering Tree, The Gospel According to the Other Mary, Shaker Loops, The Darma at Big Sur, Doctor Atomic Symphony, and The Son of Chamber Symphony, which were all written by him. (http://www.earbox.com/biography)

In 1834, Wagner’s roller coaster began as he fell in love with an actress named Christine Wilhelmina “Minna” planer. He ended up following her to Konigsberg, where she supported him to get an engagement at the theatre. On November 24, 1836 they got married. Troubles between them started soon after and Minna ended up leaving Wagner temporarily for another man

Johannes Brahms was a German Composer, Pianist and conductor of the 19th century or the Romantic period. He was one of the 3 B's or the Big three: Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. Johannes was a very self-critic man he burned many of his pieces before he could get anyone's opinion on them and he burned all of his compositions that he wrote before the age of 19.

I’ve decided to focus this opinion-based writing on the successful and renowned composer Richard Wagner. After researching the composer and learning about his fascinating history, I was captivated by the fact that he is remembered as a dominant, yet controversial artist because of his questionable views. Despite this fault, Richard Wagner was ahead of his time and he drastically influenced the boundaries of music. For example, one of Wagner’s most remembered and appreciated pieces is The Ring Cycle and in this composition, Wagner masterfully incorporated elements of music, literature, and visual arts with the addition of leitmotifs to unify the musical composition. It can be estimated that films such as Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings

The composed piece "Also sprach Zarathrustra" was composed in 1896. It is a tone poem of the classical genre, with a large orchestra to first present the piece in November of 1896 in Frankfort Kentucky. The idea behind Richard Strauss was said to be highly influenced and inspired by German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's book titled the exact same. The book was written with ideas of "eternal recurrence of the

Vienna Austria. The father of Johann, Johann Strauss Elder, was a self­taught musician who set a

At six years of age Mendelssohn began taking piano lessons from his mother, and at seven he was tutored by Marie Bigot in Paris. Carl Friedrich Zelter had a significant influence on the boy’s future career, as he taught Mendelssohn counterpoint and composition. His music was also deeply influenced by Bach,

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was one of the greatest opera writers of all time. He helped to take opera to a whole new level from even Verdi and Puccini. Some say that Wagner was very egotistic, however; “his extreme egotism rested on conviction, Wagner had the ability to do great things” (Colles 207). He was extraordinary at composing music as well as formulating words. He was not a prodigy however his musical skills surpassed many other composers from his time period.

Igor Stravinsky is considered by many the greatest composer of the 20th Century. Several composers have made breakthroughs and great accomplishments in the past 100 years, but Stravinsky has dominated nearly every trend set. He was born near St. Petersburg, Russia in Oranienbaum, on June 17, 1882. He was born to a famous Russian bass opera singer, Fyodor Ignatyevich Stravinsky.