Archives: Composers

Born on 14 February 1933 in Norwich, Connecticut Bertram Turetzky took up the` tenor banjo at the age of 12 or 13, he switched to the guitar in high school, having fallen in love with jazz, and then changed to the double bass which he described as ‘…the core of everything, the glue between the…

Jacques Vanherenthals (b.1948) began his musical career as a double bassist at Antwerp Opera, now Flemish Opera, in 1969. From 1973-1988 he was at the RTBF Symphony Orchestra, in 1988 he became Director of the Academy of Nivelles and the following year was appointed Director of the Academy of Music, Dance & Spoken Arts of…

Czech bassist-composer, Rudolf Tuláček (1885-1954) studied at Prague Conservatoire with František Černý, was solo double bass of Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra for many years and in 1937 moved to Brno (Czech Republic) where he was appointed Professor of double bass at the Academy of Music. Tuláček wrote a number of lyrical and characteristic works for double…

Wolfgang Wagenhäuser – pianist, organist, composer – was born in Frankfurt am Main (Germany) in 1953. At his insistence the four-year-old Wolfgang asked his father to taught him piano and theory, and his first concert appearance was at the age of five. He was organist in his hometown from the age of nine and, as…

Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, and teacher born on March 4, 1678, in Venice1. He is best known for his contributions to the development of the concerto form and for his numerous concertos for violin and other instruments. Vivaldi’s most famous work is “The Four Seasons,” a series of violin concertos…

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian composer, one of the most influential figures in the world of opera, and a key figure in the development of the Italian Romantic movement. He was born on either October 9 or 10, 1813, in Roncole, near Busseto, in the Duchy of Parma, Italy, and passed away on…

Robert Wylkynson [Wilkinson] (c.1450-1515?) was at Eton Chapel from 1496 to 1515, first as parish clerk and then from 1500 as master of the choristers. His nine-part Salve Regina and his Apostles’ Creed (Jesus Autems Transiens) for 13 voices are the last entries in the manuscript and possibly were copied by him. Wylkynson’s work has…

Jeffery Wilson is one of the country’s foremost composers and educators in music, especially in the field of jazz. He studied composition at the Royal College of music with John Lambert and Herbert Howells, later with Aladar Majorossy, Gordon Jacob and Olivier Messiaen. From 1986 until recently he was visiting lecturer in composition, improvisation and…

Robert Schumann was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic of the Romantic era, born on June 8, 1810, in Zwickau, Saxony, Germany. He passed away on July 29, 1856, in Endenich, near Bonn, Prussia, Germany. Schumann is renowned particularly for his piano music, songs (lieder), and orchestral music. Many of his best-known piano…

Born: March 18, 1844, in Tikhvin, Russia.Died: June 21, 1908, in Lyubensk, near St. Petersburg, Russia. A highly influential Russian composer, teacher, and member of the “Mighty Handful” (also known as “The Five”), a group dedicated to creating a distinctively Russian style of classical music. He is particularly renowned for his mastery of orchestration, his…