Giacomo Puccini’s Early Years: Struggles with School & Musical Growth I was born in Lucca, Italy, on December 22, 1858, to a musically gifted family. My father, Michele Puccini, was well established in Lucca as part of a ‘musical dynasty’ founded by my great-great-grandfather, the first maestro di cappella at the Cattedrale do San Martino. …
Camille Saint-Saëns Quotes Camille Saint-Saëns was a French composer, organist, conductor, and pianist in the 1800’s. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, the Second Piano Concerto, The First Cello Concerto, Danse macabre, the opera Samson and Delilah, the Third Violin Concerto, and The Carnival of the Animals. Saint-Saëns was a musical prodigy; he …
Franz Liszt Quotes Franz Liszt was a Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, and organist of the Romantic era. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time. Liszt had over 700 compositions and was the author of books on Frédéric Chopin and Hungarian Roma music. Image: Photo of composer, …
César Franck Quotes César Franck was a Belgian-French composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher who worked in Paris in the 1800’s. Franck’s is known for compositions written in his later years, particularly his Symphony in D minor, the Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra, the Prelude, Chorale and Fugue for piano solo, the Sonata for …
Bedrich Smetana Quotes Bedrich Smetana was a Czech composer in the 1800’s that was known as the father of Czech music. Internationally he is best known for his opera The Bartered Bride and for the symphonic piece Má vlast (“My Homeland”), which portrays the history and landscape of Smetana’s home. Image: Photo of composer Bedrich …
César Franck Pushed To Perform on Piano from His Childhood Did I work myself to death? Perhaps so. Since my childhood, I used my talents as a pianist and composer to line my parents’ pockets, ensuring financial stability in financially hard times. Like Beethoven, my father pushed my violinist brother to study music to generate …
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Quotes Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was an outstanding composer of the late 1800s into the early 20th century. He is best known for his works Sheharazad and Symphonie Espaniol. His influence on composers of his time was significant. Throughout our present-day, he has been a considerable inspiration to Western music composers, mainly through his use of …
Peter Tchaikovsky Quotes Peter Tchaikovsky, the famous Russian composer of the 1800s, is best known in our times for his ballets, most significantly, the Nutcracker, which is performed annually by many ballet companies in the United States and Europe. His influence on Russian music in particular and Western classical music overall is immense. Tchaikovsky was …
The Early Life of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky I was born on May 7, 1840, in Votkinsk, Russia, to a military family. My father worked as a mining engineer and served as a lieutenant colonel in the army. My mother leaned towards a career in the arts. She was French and German and had taught me …
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Early Life as a Musician I was born on March 6, 1844, in Tikhvin, Russia. Unlike other composers of my time, my family was not artistically inclined. Both of my parents played the piano. My mother was more accomplished than my father in that regard. All in all, we were a family that …