..
Baroque Era……...………………..p 2-5
Antonio Vivaldi…………………..p 6-11
Johann Sebastian Bach……………p 12-17
George Frideric Handel…………..p 18-23
Classical Era………………………p 24-26
Franz Joseph Haydn……………...p 27-32
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart……..p 33-35
Ludwig Van Beethoven………….. p 41-46
Romantic Era……………………..p 47-48
Franz Schubert……………………p 49-54
Giochino Rossini…………………p 55-61
Hector Berlioz……………………p 62-67
Frédéric Chopin…………………..p 68-73
Franz Liszt……………………….p 74-79
Richard Wagner…………………p 80-85
Johann Strauss, Jr……………….p 86-91
Johannes Brahms………………..p 92-97
Camille Saint-Saëns……………..p 98-103
Georges Bizet……………………p 104-109
Piotr Ilych Tchaikovsky…………p 110-115
Edvard Grieg…………………….p 116-121
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov……...p 122-127
Claude Debussy…………………p 1128-
133
John Philip Sousa………….........p 134-139
Aaron Copland…………….......p 140-145
Music History and their Composers
Baroque Era
1600-1750

Baroque Period – a period of time between 1600-1750 in which

music was composed. It is characterized by elaborate
ornamentation and embellishments.
New styles of music….
• Opera
• Sonata
• Fugue
• Concerto

The orchestra started to take shape, mainly in the

strings, and the violins became the dominant instrument,
and most important in orchestras.
Ornaments and Embellishments
• Typically added notes that are not essential to melody
• Serve to “decorate the piece”
• Let performer add own expression
The Big 3! el
n d
H a
ac h
B

ld i
i va
V
Born: March 4, 1678, Venice, Italy
Died: July 28, 1741, Vienna, Austria

Died from infection at age 63.

 By the numbers….
• Over 500 Concertos (over half for Violin)
• 46 Operas

Fun Facts
• He was a priest
• Worked many years in a girls’ school
• Famously had red hair, earning him the name “Red
Priest”
Born: March 31, 1685, Germany
Died: July 28, 1750, Germany
 By the numbers….
Over 1,000 known compositions written.

Fun Facts
• Was thrown in prison by his boss for taking a better job
• Married twice and had 22 children
Born: February 23, 1685, Germany
Died: April 14, 1759, London, UK
 By the numbers….
• 42 Operas
• 29 oratorios
• 120 cantatas
• 16 organ pieces

Fun Facts
• Zadok the Priest has been used at every British coronation since
written
• It’s tradition to stand during the Hallelujah Chorus

“He is the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover my head and kneel
before his tomb.” Ludwig van Beethoven
Classical Music Composers

1750-1820

Classical Music – music composed between

1750-1820. Has clear and “catchy” melodies.
Classical Characteristics
• More pleasant to listen to than Baroque
• Clearer and catchier melodies.
• Harpsichord was replaced with pianoforte
• Dynamics
Born: March 31, 1732 in Austria
Died: May 31, 1809 in Austria
 By the numbers….
• 108 Symphonies
• 68 String quartets
• 200 + pieces for solo instruments and small ensembles

Fun Facts
• “Father of Symphony”
• Liked making practical jokes
• The ‘surprise’ in the ‘Surprise’ Symphony was the biggest musical joke of its time!
The joke is simply a loud note when the audience is expecting a quiet one. This
joke doesn’t seem much of a joke at all today. 
Born: January 27, 1756 in Austria
Died: December 5, 1791 in Austria
 Theme and Variations
• Theme – main musical idea
• Variation – repeat of the theme but different in some way

How are Variations created? Changes in…..

• Melody
• Rhythm
• Harmony
• Time Signature
Click on Mozart to hear the entire piece. Click on the red star to hear the theme.
 By the numbers….
• Over 600 compositions

Fun Facts
• Stared composing at age 5
• Started performing for kings and queens at age 6
•  Died very poor
Born: December, 1770 in Germany
Died: March 26, 1827 in Austria

Exact date of birth not known

 By the numbers….
• 9 Symphonies
• 32 Piano Sonatas
• 5 Piano Concertos
• 16 String Quartets

Fun Facts
• Known for being very grumpy
• Father forced him to practice hours a day
• Drank coffee with exactly 60 coffee beans
• Famously terrible cook
 Romantic Period

1820-1900

Romantic Period – music that was written between 1820-1900. It is characterized

by music with elaborate, expressive melodies that evokes emotions.

 Classical vs. Romantic
Classical Music & Composers
• reason, order and rules
• working for wealthy bosses
& royalty
• only allowed to compose
exactly what their employer
wanted
Romantic Music & Composers
• emotion, adventure and
imagination
• work for themselves
• composed music to express
what they were thinking and
feeling
• new appreciation of the
artist as an individual
Known for writing songs called leider.

Leider is a type of German song, especially

of the Romantic period, typically for solo
voice with piano accompaniment.
 By the numbers….
• Wrote over 1,000 pieces of music

Fun Facts
• His ‘Unfinished’ Symphony really is unfinished and was discovered by surprise after Schubert
died. It is one of his greatest works, but he didn’t even tell his friends that he was writing it!

• Was a torch bearer at Beethoven’s funeral 

Born: February 29, 1792 in Italy
Died: November 13, 1868 in France
 By the numbers….
• 40 Operas
• 18 Cantatas

Fun Facts
• Born on leap year and had 19 “actual” birthdays
• Loved fine foods
• Suffered from depression
Born: December 11, 1803 in
France
Died: March 8, 1869 in France
 By the numbers….
• 6 Operas
• 4 Operas
• 50 songs

Fun Facts
• Loved Shakespeare
• Very forgetful
Born: March 1, 1819 in Poland
Died: October 17, 1849 in France
 By the numbers….
• Over 230 surviving pieces of music. Mostly piano
• 2 concertos
• Few chamber pieces

Fun Facts
• Was Famous by age 8
• Suffered from epilepsy
Born: October 22, 1811 in Hungary
Died: July 31, 1886 in Germany
 Fun Facts
• Liszt often broke piano strings when he played! In fact, audiences used
to be disappointed if he didn’t break any strings!!

• He was one of the greatest piano players who has ever lived!
Born: May 22, 1813 in Germany
Died: February 13, 1883 in Italy
Wagner died at the age of 69 from a heart attack. Despite his popularity, he died with
little due to his habit of personally funding several of his later productions.
 Fun Facts
• Divorced his first wife to marry Liszt’s daughter, Cosima
• Was a political journalist
Born: October 25, 1825 in Austria
Died: June 3, 1899 in Austria
 By the numbers…..
• Composed over 500 pieces of music
• 150 waltzes

Fun Facts
• Secretly taught violin
• Father was a composer and did not want his son to write music
Born: May 7, 1833 in Germany
Died: April 3, 1897 in Austria
 Fun Facts
• Secretly taught violin
• Father was a composer and did not want his son to write music
Born: October 9, 1835 in Germany
Died: December 16, 1921 in Algiers
 Fun Facts
• Friends with Tchaikovsky
• First famous composers to write for a movie
Born: October 25, 1838 in France
Died: June 3, 1875 in France
 Fun Facts
• Bizet’s ability as a pianist, particularly as a sight-reader, was so
great that the  famous Liszt pronounced him his equal.

• Only six of 30 opera projects he started were ever completed.

Born: May 7, 1840 in Russia
Died: November 6, 1893 in Russia
 By the numbers…..
• 3 Ballets
• 6 Symphonies
• 11 Operas
• 12 Concertos
• 169 total compositions are known!

Fun Facts
• Tchaikovsky NEVER EVER drank unbottled water. Probably a good decision,
given the cholera outbreak in Russia at the time…

• Cause of death is still a mystery

Born: June 15, 1843 in Norway
Died: September 4, 1907
 Fun Facts
• Had a “lucky frog” that he would rub before he would go on stage
• He looks Einstein
Born: March 18 1844 in Russia
Died: June 21, 1908 in Russia
 Fun Facts
• Taught composing to many great composers

• Wrote only in italics

• Flight of the Bumblebee was never suppose to be famous. It was

wrote as an interlude, not a separate piece.
Born: August 22, 1862 in France
Died: March 25, 1918 in France
 Fun Facts
• Debussy started the modern period of classical music. Many musicians
say that the first modern piece of classical music was Debussy’s L’après-
midi d’un faune (Afternoon of the Faun)

• His music often sounds quite soft and ‘dreamy’.

• Much of his music is written for the piano.

Born: November 6, 1854 in Washington

DC

Died: November 6, 1893 in Pennsylvania

 Fun Facts
• The last piece he conducted with the esteemed ensemble was Stars and
Stripes Forever.
Born: November 14, 1900 in
Brooklyn
Died: December 2, 1990 in New York
 Fun Facts
• Was a teacher to Leonard Bernstein
• Stopped composing in the 1960s to focus on conducting
 Fun Facts
• Has worked with Stephen Spielberg on more than 20 films
• Received the National Medal of Arts in 2010