The Most Important Composers Of The Nineteenth Century

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was unlike most other composers of his time. “He wrote music for the glory of God, and to satisfy his own burning curiosity, not for future fame.” During the 1700s, people knew him as a talented musician, not as a composer, as we do today. He never left his country to pursue bigger and better things. Bach was content as long as he could play music. Traditions were very important to him. He wanted to carry on the musical tradition of his family, and never opted to change the traditional ways of composing, as did most composers. Bach’s work is vast and unique.

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.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany 1770; the second half of the classical period. After the death of his grandfather, who was also named Ludwig van Beethoven, the family was on a downward slope financially. As far as physical appearances are concerned, young Beethoven looked much like his grandfather. Beethoven was

Johannes Brahms was a German composer who is sometimes grouped as one of the “Three B’s” along with J.S. Bach and Beethoven. His music was influenced by the structure used by Mozart and Haydn, while also moving them into the Romantic era. Brahms had a wide influence, encompassing both modernist and conservative tendencies.

Ever since his father began teaching him as a child to play the violin and clavier, any keyboard instrument such as the harpsichord, Ludwig van Beethoven has been amongst the most renowned and influential composers of music. Despite the harsh punishments and mistreatment Beethoven suffered through while practicing with his father, he still managed to become a “prodigy” at a rather young age, having his first public recital at around seven years old. After his first recital role music played in his continued to grow, and soon after dropping out of school to pursue music “full time” he published his first composition.

Only a few composers in the history of time have ever successfully left their mark throughout our musical world we live in today. It’s been over two hundred years since the birth of Beethoven and his music still speaks to us today as he originally expressed and composed it. Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in the city of Bonn Germany on December 16th 1770 and has since been one of the most influential composers known to man. A common theme of early age learning and mastering seems to emerge in Beethoven’s life because while living in a musical family as a child, his father taught him how to play the piano, violin and in addition how to compose musical pieces since he was four years of age. A few short years later, he gave his first public piano performance at the age of seven. While Beethoven certainly gained a lot of knowledge from his peers, he also supported his family by giving music lessons and also by playing in the court orchestra. In the year 1792, Beethoven worked under an Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn and by the year 1800, his compositions established him as a strong Mozart successor.

Johannes Brahms was one of the first German composers to grow alongside the musical canon and "musical museum." He had a familiarity with established composers including Beethoven, Haydn, and J.S. Bach. Beethoven's legacy of masterworks intimidated Brahms-over 60 percent of orchestra performances comprised of Beethoven's works-and even asserted that he would "never compose a symphony" (Frisch 178). Critics were harsh on new symphonies, comparing them to Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn's masterworks, and it was not until his forties when he wrote his first symphony. Brahms' symphonies were influenced by specific past musical masterworks, including J.S. Bach's Partita for Solo Violin No. 2 and the Finale of Beethoven's Eroica, and while not particularly interesting at first, his symphonies were well-received by the audience and

Mozart was born on January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, Austria to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria Pertyl. His father was a violinist and a composer and was the man whom introduced him to music at a very young age, and from then on he grew to be one of the most talented musical prodigies in history. Mozart started learning about music at a very young age. It was at age three that he began to play the keyboard, and within the next few years, he could play many different instruments. His sister, Maria Anna, was also very talented in music, and excelled at learning instruments as well. By the time he was eight years old, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had written his first three symphonies, and was learning music and an incredibly quick rate. Because of Mozart’s talent and interest in music, his father took him to Italy when he was thirteen to further his career, leaving his sister behind..

Mendelssohn was a famous German composer of the Romantic period. Although he was born into a Jewish family and grew up without a religion he soon became a reformed Christian. Mendelssohn was born with the talent to be able to play instruments and make music, but his parents never really supported his talent and didn’t help him to improve his talent. He went on to pursue what he loved to do and that was to compose and conduct music. Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, Germany, 1809.

Robert Schumann was born in Zwickau, Saxony on June 8, 1810. At four years of age, Schumann entered a private school (Par 1). At the age of six, he found the love for music and studied the piano. In 1827, he came under the encouragement of musician, Franz Schubert and the poet Jean Paul Richter (Par 2). Also in 1827, he composed some songs at the age of 17 (Par 2).

Ludwig Van Beethoven was one of the most influential composers of his time. The decades around the 1800’s were years of many changes and Beethoven’s new approach to music was something that reflected that. “His symphonies, concertos, string quartets and piano sonatas are central to the repertory of classical music.” This essay will focus on the historical and theoretical aspects of the third movement of Sonata Op. 28 No. 15.

The early piano sonatas of Beethoven deserve special mention. Although his first published examples of concertos and trios and the first two symphonies are beneath the masterpieces of Mozart and Haydn, the piano sonatas bear an unmistakably Beethovian stamp: grandiose in scope and length, and innovative in their range of expression. The sonatas were able to move expression from terrible rage to peals of laughter to deep depression so suddenly. Capturing this unpredictable style in his music, a new freedom of expression which broke the bounds of Classical ideals, was to position Beethoven as a disturbed man in the minds of some of his contemporaries. Furthermore, he was to be seen as the father of Romanticism and the single most important innovator of music in the minds of those after him. (Bookspan 27).

Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg in 1809. His father Abraham Mendelssohn was a banker, while his mum Lea Mendelssohn was a highly educated artist and musician. Mendelssohn first had his piano lesson from his mum, but soon he was sent to study with the best teachers at that time such as Marie Bigot and Ludwig Burger. He also took composition lessons with Karl

Before looking more closely at the composers’ works, they must be placed in their proper historical contexts. Bach was a great composer of the

In the course of the development of music, many great composers have contributed their brilliance towards the revolution of music. To be a great composer does not necessarily mean that they have reached a vast amount of fame. However, it means that their compositions have ingenuity and value. The melodies they have cleverly created have reached a point of worthiness in the world of music. For it is the sweet harmonies a composer creates that defines who he is. One of these gifted composers was Frederic Chopin, born on February 22, 1810 in Zelazowa Wola, Poland. Young Chopin was already composing by the age of eight and as his musical career developed he became known as a master of piano composition. Although he was often misunderstood