Archives: Composers

Camille Saint-Saëns was a French composer, organist, conductor, and pianist of the Romantic era, born on October 9, 1835, in Paris1. He is best known for his symphonic poems, the opera “Samson et Dalila,” and the orchestral piece “The Carnival of the Animals.” Saint-Saëns was a musical prodigy, making his concert debut at the age…

Antonio Salieri was an Italian composer and teacher of the classical period, born on August 18, 1750, in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice. He is known for his significant contributions to the development of late 18th-century opera and was a pivotal figure in the Viennese classical music scene. Salieri’s career was…

Alexander Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist, born on January 6, 1872, in Moscow1. He is known for his innovative and influential contributions to music, particularly in the late Romantic period. Scriabin’s early works were influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed in a relatively tonal, late-Romantic idiom1. However, Scriabin later developed…

Armand Russell was born in Seattle, Washington in 1932. He received the Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Washington, with a major in music composition, and a Doctorate in music composition from the Eastman School of Music. He studied double bass with Leslie Martin, who played in the Seattle…

Josef Strauss was an Austrian composer, born on August 20, 1827, in Mariahilf (now part of Vienna), Austria. He was the son of Johann Strauss I and Maria Anna Streim, and the brother of Johann Strauss II and Eduard Strauss1. Initially, Josef pursued a career in engineering and worked for the city of Vienna as…

German bassist Oswald Schwabe (1846 -1909) was Professor of Double Bass at Leipzig Royal Conservatoire and Principal Bass of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He studied with Emanuel Storch and was a successful teacher in his own right. Schwabe’s works for double bass include a book of Technical Studies alongside three short pieces for double bass…

Hugo Schlemüller (1872-1918) was a German cellist, composer and teacher. From 1902 he taught at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt and in 1910 founded his own publishing company. He composed many works for cello and several pieces in ‘Bass for beginners’ were adapted from his ‘The Very First Performance Pieces for the Young Cellist’.

František [Franz] Simandl (1840-1912) was one of the leading bassists and teachers of his generation and studied double bass at the Prague Conservatoire with Josef Hrabě. He became a member of the Vienna Philharmonic and taught at the Vienna Conservatoire, teaching many bassists who exported the Czech double bass school to every corner of the…

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…