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Czech; used various folk sounds and natural influences from around the world to influence his writing
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Inspired by Slavic and Eastern European folklore
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Bridged Austro-German tradition with 20th century modernism; talented conductor; converted from Judaism for a director position at Vienna Court Opera; was only 5’4”
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Used impressionist and symbolist art aspects in his music; used whole tone scale and delicate harmonies to exploit overtones and skirt cadences
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Wrote various operas and tone poems that are still very popular; followed after the style of Wagner and Lizst; represents the latter side of German Romanticism
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Finnish; affinity for nationalism is expressed in his works, mostly tone poems and symphonies; heavy drinker, temperamental
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French avant-garde
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Influential in bringing African-American works and influences into the spotlight of the 1920s
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Russian; part of Russian Romantic tradition, highly known for his piano works and symphonies; moved to US 1917
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Father of the 2nd Viennese School; developed 12-tone technique as we know it; was extremely controversial in his time in the theory/musicology field; moved to LA; also an expressionist painter with various famous minor works
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US; noted for poly-rhythms, polytonality, quarter-tones, and aleatoric technique
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French; works notable for their colorful orchestration, distinctive tone, unresolved dissonances
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Hungarian; strongly influenced by his country's folk music
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Russian-born, moved to US in 1939; known for his ballets which shocked Parisian audiences with frequent dissonance and irregular rhythm; later developed a neoclassical style and experimented with serialism
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Australian-born, US citizen in 1918; played a prominent role in the return of British folk music
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Austrian; leading proponent of serialism; music marked by brevity
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French-born, spent most of his career in the US; very focused on timbre and rhythm; coined the term "organized sound" for his work
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Austrian; major proponent and pioneer of twelve-tone music
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French; teacher and conductor, taught many 20th century composers
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Russian; known for lush sounds, popular operas and ballets
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French; member of Le Six; much of his music influenced by polytonality and jazz
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French; Le Six
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German; big proponent of utility music (Gebrauchsmusik); led music education and wrote works for all sorts and combinations
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German; very influential in music education for children
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American; known for putting the "American sound" in classical music; described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclassicist
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Austrian-born, moved to US; became famous for Hollywood scores
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Major pianist and, with his brother, composer for orchestra in jazz idiom
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US; known for his music on American based subjects and unique sounds, most notably Symphony No. 3
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French; Les Six; lyricism, jazz, and pop influences
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US; also pianist and band leader; wrote over 900 compositions for the jazz genre
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German, to US in 1935; best known for political satire operas written with Brecht
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US; known communist supporter; created distinctive American sound based in folk, traditional, and hymn music
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Austrian-American, Student of Webern, also wrote various books
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German emigre, influence from Schoenberg and Hindemith
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Russian composer, experimented with 12-tone but stuck to basic tonality. Lived through Stalin’s reign of terror and the censorship by gov't
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French; influenced by Greek and Hindu music, birdsong, and his faith
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combined elements of European modernism and American "ultra-modernism" into a distinctive style with a personal harmonic and rhythmic language, after an early neoclassical phase
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US born. Combined Romanticism with classical forms
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Hollywood composer: Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane, Hitchcock’s Vertigo, and Scorsese’s Taxi Driver
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Very experimental. Used aleatory music, silence, prepared piano, random objects, etc.
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English composer/pianist, wrote many operas and songworks
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Polish; “Explosively precise musical imaged and their clear-cut surging narratives”
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Noted music educator; known for incorporating new ideas of teaching into his music and training at the Juilliard School
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Also mathematician, noted pioneer of electronic music, very serialistic
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First American conductor of American orchestra (NY Phil); prof. At Harvard; composed in many genres
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Saxophonist, leader of the Bebop movement
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Czech-American; used folk music and historical cultural hymns in his music for wind band
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Romanian-born Greek French avant-garde; very unique, architecture-like music; “texture music”
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Best known for use of his music in film; very regarded, innovative, and influential composer, music described as a journey, existential
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French composer, conductor of NY Phil 71-78, notably angry person…
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Pioneer of indeterminate music
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“Field composition”
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Japanese; largely self-taught; noted for subtle manipulation of timbre; elements of oriental and occidental philosophy in his music
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One of the most influential Minimalist composers and pianist
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Minimalist; inspired by Gregorian chant; technique called tintinnabuli; from 2011 to 2018, Pärt was the most performed living composer in the world, and the second most performed in 2019
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One of the first American Minimalists, avant-garde; known for work with drones and sustained tones; follower of John Cage
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best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition; influenced by jazz and Indian classical music; became notable for innovative use of repetition, tape, and delay systems
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leading minimalist; uses the repetition of short phrases within a simple harmonic canvas; influences include Balinese and West African music
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Contemporary classical music, award-winning, over 100 compositions
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Rooted in minimalism; composed contemporary classical and opera