! 0 0 Johann Sebastian Bach
Bach came from a very
musical family but his mom
and dad died by the time he
was was 10.  He became a great
keyboard player (organ and
harpsichord) and he became a
great father.
! 0 1 Bach
In the days before CD's and
tapes, live music was the
only music.  Musicians were
expected to play and compose
music every day, just like
any regular, full-time job.
! 0 2 Bach
His first big job was for the
Duke of Weimar, composing
mainly church music for the
organ.  He stayed there for 9
years.  The, from 1717 to 1723
he worked for Prince Leopold
at Cothen and wrote lots of
instrumental music.  Finally,
he was hired as cantor by St.
Thomas Church in Leipzig.  He
wrote 300 cantatas in this
period.
! 0 3 Bach
Bach was famous only as a
great performer during his
life.  Only much later were his
compositions seen as true
works of genius.
! 1 0 Ludwig Van Beethoven
Beethoven - the punk...the
angry young man.  He had no
time for the phony princes
and nobility of Vienna.  He
loved freedom and nature
and would often compose as
he walked in the country.
! 1 1 Beethoven
Beethoven composed many of
his pieces as he was slowly
going deaf.  Even after he was
totally deaf, he conducted
his own music.  Imagine!  He
never even heard some of his
greatest hits!
! 1 2 Beethoven
Beethoven was well respected
and loved...over 30,000
people came to his funeral.
! 2 0 Johannes Brahms
Like lots of other composers,
Brahms went "on-the-road"
early in life.  He toured with
the famous gypsy violinist
Remenyi and was soon
"discovered" by Robert
Schumann.
! 2 1 Brahms
Also, like others, he moved
to Vienna.  So why did
everyone move to Vienna?
Was it the famous pub "Zur
Roten IgI" (The Red Eagle)
where Brahms went everyday
at noon?  Was it the ghosts of
Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven?
! 2 2 Brahms
Brahms wrote some great
songs too...you probably
know some of his lullabies.
! 3 0 Frederic Chopin
Almost all Chopin's music
was written for the piano.
And what great piano music!
Mazurkas and Polonaises
from his native Poland,
Nocturnes, Impromptus,
Preludes, Etudes - really
good stuff...very romantic!
! 3 1 Chopin
Paris in the 1840's was a wild
place.  Chopin's good friend
was George Sand, a woman
writer who changed her name,
dressed in men's clothes and
smoked cigars.  Weird!
! 3 2 Chopin
Chopin Died at 39.
! 4 0 Claude-Achille Debussy
"Music is made up of colors
and rhythms."  Think of
Debussy as a musical painter
- painting with sounds...
blending sound colors freely,
to leave a soft impression
of an image.
! 4 1 Debussy
Debussy really liked to
break the rules.  Rules of
harmony, that is.  He loved
chords, just for the pure
sound.  Almost all his pieces
were given names: Spring,
The Sea, In White and Black,
Children's Corner...etc.
! 4 2 Debussy
Close your eyes.  Listen to
the original New-Age music!
! 5 0 Georges Gershwin
Gershwin tried putting jazz
melodies into classical
music forms.  And guess what?
People loved it!  He composed
many popular pieces and his
brother Ira often wrote the
words.
! 5 1 Gershwin
Gershwin's first job was
creating rolls for player
pianos - the original
computer music!  Later in
life he also became a painter
and collected works of
Picasso, Modigliani and
others.
! 5 2 Gershwin
George often played tennis
with Arnold Schoenberg but
he didn't really like
Schoenberg's music.
! 6 0 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart was an amazing guy.
He was a child prodigy.  He
played keyboard at 4 years
old and was composing music
at 5.  When he was 7, his father
took him on a tour of Europe
(by horse and carriage!),
playing concerts before
royalty.  The original rock
star?
! 6 1 Mozart
He wrote many symphonies,
chamber pieces (quartets,
quintets etc) concerti and
especially operas, but his
wild character prevented
him from getting a really
good job.  He worked as a
free-lance composer and
gave piano lessons but by
1791 he had spent all his
money and died at only 35
years old.
! 7 0 John Philip Sousa
March - March - March
The pieces Sousa wrote were
almost all Marches.  And why
not?  They were very popular.
During his life-time he
had sold his music to over
18,000 school bands.
! 7 1 Sousa
For 12 years he was leader
of the United States Corps
Marine band and wrote more
than 200 tunes.
! 7 2 Sousa
He even invented a weird
tuba called (you guessedit)
the Sousaphone.  You hold
it with your head through
the middle making it good
for marching bands.
!END



