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Antonin Dvorak
Czech; used various folk sounds and natural influences from around the world to influence his writing -
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Leos Janacek
Inspired by Slavic and Eastern European folklore -
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Gustav Mahler
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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Claude Debussy
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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Richard Strauss
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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Jean Sibelius
Finnish; affinity for nationalism is expressed in his works, mostly tone poems and symphonies; heavy drinker, temperamental -
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Erik Satie
French avant-garde -
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Will Marion Cook
Influential in bringing African-American works and influences into the spotlight of the 1920s -
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Sergei Rachmaninov
Russian; part of Russian Romantic tradition, highly known for his piano works and symphonies; moved to US 1917 -
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Arnold Schoenberg
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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Charles Ives
US; noted for poly-rhythms, polytonality, quarter-tones, and aleatoric technique -
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Maurice Ravel
French; works notable for their colorful orchestration, distinctive tone, unresolved dissonances -
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Bela Bartok
Hungarian; strongly influenced by his country's folk music -
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Igor Stravinsky
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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Percy Grainger
Australian-born, US citizen in 1918; played a prominent role in the return of British folk music -
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Anton Webern
Austrian; leading proponent of serialism; music marked by brevity -
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Edgar Varese
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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Alban Berg
Austrian; major proponent and pioneer of twelve-tone music -
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Nadia Boulanger
French; teacher and conductor, taught many 20th century composers -
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Sergei Prokofiev
Russian; known for lush sounds, popular operas and ballets -
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Darius Milhaud
French; member of Le Six; much of his music influenced by polytonality and jazz -
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Arthur Honegger
French; Le Six -
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Paul Hindemith
German; big proponent of utility music (Gebrauchsmusik); led music education and wrote works for all sorts and combinations -
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Carl Orff
German; very influential in music education for children -
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Virgil Thomson
American; known for putting the "American sound" in classical music; described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclassicist -
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Wolfgang Korngold
Austrian-born, moved to US; became famous for Hollywood scores -
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George Gershwin
Major pianist and, with his brother, composer for orchestra in jazz idiom -
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Roy Harris
US; known for his music on American based subjects and unique sounds, most notably Symphony No. 3 -
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Francis Poulenc
French; Les Six; lyricism, jazz, and pop influences -
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Duke Ellington
US; also pianist and band leader; wrote over 900 compositions for the jazz genre -
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Kurt Weill
German, to US in 1935; best known for political satire operas written with Brecht -
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Aaron Copland
US; known communist supporter; created distinctive American sound based in folk, traditional, and hymn music -
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Ernest Krenek
Austrian-American, Student of Webern, also wrote various books -
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Stefan Wolpe
German emigre, influence from Schoenberg and Hindemith -
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Dmitri Shostakovich
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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Oliver Messiaen
French; influenced by Greek and Hindu music, birdsong, and his faith -
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Elliot Carter
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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Samuel Barber
US born. Combined Romanticism with classical forms -
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Bernhard Herrmann
Hollywood composer: Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane, Hitchcock’s Vertigo, and Scorsese’s Taxi Driver -
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John Cage
Very experimental. Used aleatory music, silence, prepared piano, random objects, etc. -
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Benjamin Britten
English composer/pianist, wrote many operas and songworks -
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Witold Lutoslawksi
Polish; “Explosively precise musical imaged and their clear-cut surging narratives” -
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Vincent Persichetti
Noted music educator; known for incorporating new ideas of teaching into his music and training at the Juilliard School -
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Milton Babbitt
Also mathematician, noted pioneer of electronic music, very serialistic -
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Leonard Bernstein
First American conductor of American orchestra (NY Phil); prof. At Harvard; composed in many genres -
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Charlie Parker
Saxophonist, leader of the Bebop movement -
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Karel Husa
Czech-American; used folk music and historical cultural hymns in his music for wind band -
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Giannis Xenakis
Romanian-born Greek French avant-garde; very unique, architecture-like music; “texture music” -
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Gyorgy Ligeti
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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Pierre Boulez
French composer, conductor of NY Phil 71-78, notably angry person… -
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Morton Feldman
Pioneer of indeterminate music -
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Karlheinz Stockhausen
“Field composition” -
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Toru Takemitsu
Japanese; largely self-taught; noted for subtle manipulation of timbre; elements of oriental and occidental philosophy in his music -
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Philip Glass
One of the most influential Minimalist composers and pianist -
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Arvo Part
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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La Monte Young
One of the first American Minimalists, avant-garde; known for work with drones and sustained tones; follower of John Cage -
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Terry Riley
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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Steve Reich
leading minimalist; uses the repetition of short phrases within a simple harmonic canvas; influences include Balinese and West African music -
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John Corgliano
Contemporary classical music, award-winning, over 100 compositions -
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John Adams
Rooted in minimalism; composed contemporary classical and opera