Famous Composers Tell the Story of Their Lives In Music
Biographies of our famous composers are told in first-person as if they returned from the afterlife to tell us their life stories.
We write the biographies using credible, multiple sources so that they may be as accurate as possible. Note: When we quote the composer's exact words (in the guise of the composer speaking), we use quotation marks around those particular words.
We hope you will find this first-person format may give you a fresh perspective, and a warmer connection to your favorite composers.
Richard J. Chandler, MA, Composer & Editor for LeadingMusicians.com
Gabriel Fauré, Composer, Organist, & Educator
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
Gabriel Fauré’s Early Years In Music I was born May 2nd, 1845, in Pamiers, Ariège, France. As the youngest son in a family of six boys and one girl, “I grew up a rather quiet, well-behaved child, in an area of great beauty.” None of my brothers displayed any interest or talent in music. Indeed, …
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
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 …
Bela Bartok, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
Bela Bartok: Composer, Pianist, Musicologist & Piano Teacher This biography of Bela Bartok is told in the first person as if Bartok returned from the afterlife to tell us the story of his life. Along with the help of the British writer, Aly Locatelli, I wrote this biography using multiple sources so it may be …
Bedrich Smetana, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
Bedrich Smetana’s Early Life as a Musical Prodigy I was the 3rd child born on March 2, 1824, into a large, musically inclined family. My father, a violinist in a string quartet, had been previously married twice before meeting my mother, a dancer. Before my birth, my father had been a brewer, and during the …
Georges Bizet, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
Georges Bizet Early Life and Family I was born in Paris on 25 October 1838, and was originally registered as Alexandre César Léopold. I was baptised ‘Georges’ on March 16, 1840, a name gifted to me by my godfather which stuck better than my original name. My father had been a hairdresser and wigmaker, but …
César Franck, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
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 …
Claude Debussy, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
Claude Debussy, Composer Claude Debussy is perhaps the most influential French composer in western music. His influence was prominently felt for composers who were contemporaries and in the decades to follow. Debussy’s music continues to be influential in our time for 21st century composers. Musicians and audiences alike are swept away by the beauty, color …
Christoph Willibald Gluck, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
Christoph Gluck’s Childhood and Early Years I was born July 2, 1714, in Erasbach, Bavaria. The year of my birth was a politically strained one, with the Treaties of Rastatt and Baden being signed, thus ending the War of Spanish Succession. The financial well-being of the country – part of Germany in your time – …
Edvard Grieg, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
Edvard Grieg’s Early Childhood and Musical Inclination I was born in Bergen, Norway, in June, 1843. My family was rather musically inclined, with my mother being a music teacher and the daughter of Edvard Hagerup, for whom I was named after. My father worked as a merchant and consul in Bergen, but he, too, enjoyed …
Charles Gounod, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
Charles Gounod’s Early Years Shaped by the Death of His Father I was born on June 17th, 1818, in Paris to an artistic family. My father was a painter, my mother a talented pianist who, on occasion, gave lessons to musically inclined students. Francois, my father, was, at one point, the official artist to a …
Franz Liszt, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
The Early Life of the Prodigy, Franz Liszt After the Pressburg concert, aristocrats, amazed by my talent, offered to sponsor my education in Vienna. I was nine years old at the time and already creating a fan base that would follow me for the rest of my life. I debuted in Vienna on December 1, …
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
Italian-born French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully served the French court as a composer, dancer, conductor, and performing musician. He composed operas, ballets, and sacred music lived a colorful bisexual lifestyle, and died a freak death due to a conducting accident. Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Early Life I was born November 28, 1632, in Florence, Italy. My father was …
Jules Massenet, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
Prolific French composer Jules Massenet wrote operas, songs, oratorios, cantatas, ballets, orchestral works, and incidental music. His commercial success, judged as pandering to female singers and women-dominated audiences, beguiles his continuing musical admiration in our time. Jules Massenet’s Early Years I was born May 12, 1842, in Montaud, France, on the Loire. Although my parents …
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
Giovanni Palestrina’s Studies & Early Work I believe that I was born circa February 1525. It is impossible to confirm as the war between Emperor Charles V and Pope Clement VII destroyed my municipality of Palestrina along with many of its records. Documents recording the births and deaths of the previous decades were lost. After …
Giacomo Puccini, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
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. …
Jean-Philippe Rameau, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Early Years I was born on September 25, 1683, in Dijon, France. The seventh of eleven children, I was exposed to music at a young age, learning both keyboards and violin. Father was an organist who spent much of his career playing in several churches around our hometown. Family members persistently promoted learning …
Maurice Ravel, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
Maurice Ravel Growing Up and the Beginning of a Musical Life I was born March 8, 1875, in the Basque town of Ciboure in France, near Biarritz, into a talented family. My father, Pierre-Joseph Ravel, was a clever engineer and manufacturer and while my mother did not work, his fruitful career provided for us all. …
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
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 …
Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer
By Richard J. Chandler, BA, MA Bachelor of Arts-Music & Master of Arts-Psychology |
Early Life of Camille Saint-Saëns: A Young Prodigy I was born in Paris on October 9, 1835. From a very young age, I displayed inordinate musical talent, debuting at only ten years old at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. My father died of consumption [tuberculosis] when I was very young, and I was sent away …