Archives: Composers

After a few years playing the piano and violin, Douglas Johnson (b.1966) switched to the double bass and earned a bachelors’ degree in music performance from Northwestern University while studying with Jeff Bradetich. During his college years, Douglas was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Institute and the Bach Aria Festival. Upon graduation, he became Associate Principal Bass with the Honolulu Symphony and, after one season, returned to Chicago where he continued performing and started composing.

He has performed with the bass sections of three “Big Five” American orchestras (Boston, Chicago and Cleveland), as well as the orchestras of Milwaukee, Elgin, and the Chicago Philharmonic. He is active in chamber music as well, and regularly performs with Access Contemporary Music in Chicago and the Bach Cantata Series at Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest, IL.

Douglas has written music for the River North Chicago Dance Company and the Dutch National Ballet Project, is the bandleader of the “free rock” improvisational group, Gunnelpumpers, and is a member of both Origin of Animal and The Growlers.

Charles Gounod was a French composer, organist, and pianist, born on June 17, 1818, in Paris1. He is best known for his operas, particularly “Faust” (1859) and “Roméo et Juliette” (1867), which remain in the international repertory1. Gounod’s music is characterized by its melodic richness and its blend of romantic sentiment with classical restraint and elegance.

Gounod was born into an artistic family; his father was a painter and art teacher, and his mother was a talented pianist who gave him his early musical training. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won France’s most prestigious musical prize, the Prix de Rome. His studies took him to Italy, Austria, and Prussia, where he met Felix Mendelssohn, whose advocacy of Bach’s music was an early influence on him.

After returning to Paris, Gounod briefly considered becoming a priest but instead turned to composing. His career was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War, leading him to move to England with his family for refuge. He later returned to France but remained in London for some time. Despite not being at the forefront of French musical life in his later years, Gounod’s influence on later French composers was considerable.

Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist born on June 15, 1843, in Bergen, Norway. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. Grieg’s use of Norwegian folk music in his compositions brought the music of Norway to fame and helped develop a national identity, much like Jean Sibelius did in Finland and Bedřich Smetana in Bohemia.

Grieg was raised in a musical family; his mother was his first piano teacher and taught him to play when he was aged six. He studied in several schools, including Tanks Upper Secondary School. During the summer of 1858, Grieg met the eminent Norwegian violinist Ole Bull, who recognized the boy’s talent and persuaded his parents to send him to the Leipzig Conservatory.

Grieg’s later years were marked by his establishment of a home called “Troldhaugen” near Bergen, where he spent much of his time composing. He made several tours in Scandinavia, on the Continent, and in England, playing his piano concerto in London in 18882. Grieg passed away on September 4, 1907, in Bergen.

Gustav Theodore Holst, originally named Gustavus Theodore von Holst, was an English composer, arranger, and teacher born on September 21, 1874, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. He passed away on May 25, 1934, in London1. Holst is best known for his orchestral suite The Planets, but he composed many other works across a range of genres, although none achieved comparable success1.

Holst came from a family with three generations of professional musicians, and it was evident from his early years that he would follow in their footsteps. He initially hoped to become a pianist, but was prevented by neuritis in his right arm. Despite this setback and his father’s reservations, he pursued a career as a composer, studying at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford1.

Unable to support himself solely through his compositions, Holst played the trombone professionally and later became a teacher—a role in which he excelled, according to his colleague Ralph Vaughan Williams. He built up a strong tradition of performance at Morley College, where he served as musical director from 1907 until 1924, and he pioneered music education for women at St Paul’s Girls’ School, where he taught from 1905 until his death in 19341.

Holst’s music was frequently played in the early 20th century, but it was not until the international success of The Planets in the years immediately after the First World War that he became a well-known figure. A shy man, Holst did not enjoy fame and preferred to be left in peace to compose and teach1.

In his later years, his personal style of composition was considered too austere by many, leading to a decline in his popularity. However, he was an important influence on a number of younger English composers, including Edmund Rubbra, Michael Tippett, and Benjamin Britten. After a period of neglect, Holst’s music saw a resurgence in the 1980s when recordings of much of his output became available1.

David Funck (1648-c.1699) was born in Bohemia, spent some time in Italy before returning to Germany, and was an accomplished writer, theorist, and composer.

James Cruttenden was born in Hastings, East Sussex in 1967 and began playing the double bass at the age of 13, having already learnt the violin. He studied double bass at Birmingham School of Music with Tony Morgan and currently works as an instrumental teacher for East Sussex Music Service and also at Vinehall Preparatory School and Eastbourne College.
James began composing for his own double bass students, and for groups of young bassists who attend the regular ESMS (East Sussex Music Service) Summer School. He also composes ensemble music for various instrumental combinations, but of course always featuring the double bass, and performs locally as a double bassist in his native East Sussex.

Austrian composer Robert Fuchs was one of the last of the great romantic composers and his life spanned the period from the death of Felix Mendelssohn in 1847 to the composition of Irving Berlin’s Broadway song ‘Blue Skies’ in 1927. Fuchs was a great friend of Johannes Brahms but was completely overshadowed by the genius of his friend and, although much of his music has survived to the present day, particularly his string serenades and chamber music, he is still primarily remembered as the teacher of more famous composers such as George Enescu, Leo Fall, Erich Korngold, Gustav Mahler, Franz Schmidt, Franz Schrecker, Jean Sibelius, Hugo Wolf and Alexander von Zemlinsky.

Robert Fuchs was born in Frauental an der Laßnitz (Styria, Austria) in 1847, the youngest of thirteen children, and studied at the Vienna Conservatory with Felix Otto Dessoff and Joseph Hellmesberger amongst others. He eventually secured a teaching position there and was appointed Professor of music theory in 1875, a position he held until 1912. He was a prolific composer and was highly regarded during his lifetime but apparently did little to promote his own music, preferring a quiet life in Vienna. He had many admirers, Brahms amongst the most positive, and this from a composer who rarely praised others: ‘Fuchs is a sterling musician; everything is so polished and skilful, so charmingly invented! One is invariably delighted!’ Famous conductors of the day, including Arthur Nikisch, Felix Weingartner and Hans Richter, also championed his orchestral works but his chamber music was considered his finest work. Robert Fuchs died in Vienna in 1927 at the age of eighty.

Fuchs composed in most genres producing a varied and impressive worklist which includes three symphonies, operas, choral works, a wealth of chamber music and works for piano, organ and harp. Most of his chamber music was for strings including six sonatas for violin and piano, one sonata for viola and piano, and two sonatas for cello and piano, alongside string duos, trios and quartets. More importantly for double bassists are his Op.96 and 97, both for double bass and piano.

Austrian bassist-composer Max Dauthage (1862-1937) studied at the Vienna Conservatoire with František [Franz] Simandl. He completed his studies in 1884 and joined the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, where he played until his retirement in 1918.

Dauthage taught at the Vienna Conservatoire from 1910-31 and composed a number of recital and educational works for the double bass including 20 Melodische Übungsstücke [20 Melodic Pieces] (Db/Pno), A School of Virtuosity, Concerto (Db/Orch), Andante & Humoresque (Db/Pno) and Andante (4Db) amongst others.

Humphrey Clucas was born in 1941 and read English at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was also a Choral Scholar. Having taught English for twenty- seven years he subsequently became a Lay Vicar at Westminster Abbey but is now retired.

As a composer he is self-taught, and although he is well-known for a set of Anglican Responses written as an undergraduate, almost all his serious music has been written over the last twenty-five years. He has a growing reputation as a choral composer and has produced an impressive and steady stream of choral works, both sacred and secular, alongside much instrumental music.

He has written works for Cathedrals in Chichester, Guildford, Salisbury and Winchester, as well as for King’s College, Cambridge, Southwell Minster and Westminster Abbey.

Classical bassist, early music bassist, composer and one of the few Viennese bass specialists, Michał Bylina received his Bachelor degree at the Academy of Music in Kraków with Dr. Krzysztof Firlus in 2018, graduating with distinction. Since then he has studied with Korneel Le Compte at Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussels, who described him as: “Exceptionally talented, very enthusiastic, with positive attitude. A model student in all areas.” Michał was awarded with distinction during the Bonawentura Nancka Double Bass Competition (2015) and the IX International Franz Simandl Double Bass Competition (2018).

As a composer, Michał Bylina writes mostly for the double bass. His most important works include Preludes and Fugues, Baroque Fantasias and Ricercars all for double bass solo. His music was recently recognized by Bertram Turetzky, who commented: “Thank you for all that music! I’m overwhelmed with the quality of the music and the extent of your productivity.” Many of his compositions have been premiered in different countries including USA, Germany, Venezuela, Italy and Great Britain