Ludwig van Beethoven was one of three composers that Phil Goulding, in “Great Composers,” placed in his “Immortal” category. The other two are J.S. Bach and Mozart. Beethoven chronologically was the third of this trio of musical gods. In some respects, he is considered greatest of the three. His impact on musical development is without [...]

Achille-Claude Debussy was born in 1862 to Manuel and Victorine Debussy. His family was considered respectable, but definitely not wealthy. Sometimes it was difficult to keep ahead of the bill collectors, so that, for example, they moved four times by the time Achille-Claude was five years old. The musical son would succeed in spite of [...]

Hector Berlioz was born in 1803 as the Classical music period was coming to a close and the Romantic period was about to begin. In 1803, Beethoven was in his prime; he would become the hero and inspiration to Berlioz. Berlioz, in turn, would become one of the greatest of all Romantic composers. Berlioz’ home [...]

Johannes Brahms is one in a long line of great German composers that started with Bach and continued through Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and more. He was born in 1833, just a few years after the deaths of Beethoven and Schubert. He lived sixty-four years in the romantic period of classical music. The great [...]

Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg is one of two Scandinavians considered great composers. The other is Jean Sibelius of Finland. Niels Gade of Denmark is also held in high regard, and he, in fact, had a strong influence on Grieg early in his career. Although Grieg’s standing, especially among the critics, has gone up, down and [...]

Frédéric Chopin is sometimes called the French Romantic. His name usually appears in the French form and he is known to have lived most of his life in France. But he was Polish. He was born in a small town near Warsaw in 1809 to a French father and Polish mother. His Polish name was [...]

Harold E Schonberg in “The Lives of the Great Composers” named German composer Richard Wagner the “Colossus of Germany” for the same reason he named Giuseppe Verdi the “Colossus of Italy.” Both were giants of opera in their respective countries and they dominated composition in this genre during the mid to late nineteenth century. Although [...]

While attending the University of Maryland (Class of 1955), I visited the home of some classmates in Baltimore County, Maryland. While there, I was introduced to two new things: Old Fashions made with straight rye whiskey and Peter (Pyotr) Ilyich Tchaikovsky. I still occasionally enjoy the former, and I truly love the latter. The Tchaikovsky [...]