Entertainment/Composers
Adolphe Adam (1803 – 1856) was a French composer of operas and ballets
Giselle – ballet. Characters include Duke Albrecht of Silesia, Hilarion and Bathilde. Giselle is a peasant girl who dies of a broken heart
Le Corsaire is a ballet based on the poem The Corsair by Lord Byron
Mark Adamo (born 1962) is an American composer
Little Women (1998) - first opera
John Adams (born 1947) is an American composer
Nixon in China is an opera with music about the visit of Richard Nixon to China in 1972
Doctor Atomic Symphony is an opera about Robert Oppenheimer
The Death of Klinghoffer is an opera based on the hijacking of the passenger liner Achille Lauro by the Palestine Liberation Front in 1985, and the resulting murder of Jewish-American passenger Leon Klinghoffer
Richard Addinsell (1904 – 1977) was a British composer, best known for film music, primarily his Warsaw Concerto, composed for the 1941 film Dangerous Moonlight
Isaac Albeniz (1860 – 1909) was a Spanish pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms, many of which have been transcribed for guitar. Many of his pieces such as Asturias and the Tango in D are amongst the most important pieces for classical guitar
Iberia
Tomaso Albinoni (1671 – 1751)
Adagio in G minor for violin, strings and organ
Gregorio Allegri (1582 – 1652) was an Italian composer
Miserere, (full title: Miserere mei, Deus, Latin for ‘Have mercy on me, O God’) is a setting of Psalm 51 composed during the reign of Pope Urban VIII, probably during the 1630s, for use in the Sistine Chapel during matins, as part of the exclusive Tenebrae service on Holy Wednesday and Good Friday of Holy Week. It is written for two choirs, the one of five and the other of four voices
George Antheil (1900 – 1959) was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author and inventor In 1941 he co-patented a "Secret Communications System" with actress Hedy Lamarr that used a code to synchronize random frequencies, referred to as frequency hopping, with a receiver and transmitter
Ballet Mecanique
Jacques Arcadelt (1507 – 1568) was one of the most famous of the early composers of madrigals
Thomas Arne (1710 – 1778)
Rule, Britannia! originated from the poem by James Thomson and was set to music in 1740
Malcolm Arnold (1921 – 2006) composed nine symphonies and a number of film scores including The Bridge on the River Kwai
English Dances was used as the theme tune to What the Papers Say
Daniel Auber (1782 – 1871)
La muette de Portici (The Mute Girl of Portici) is an 1829 opera in five acts. The work has an important place in musical history, as it is generally regarded as the earliest French grand opera
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) became organist at the church in Arnstadt at the age of 18. From 1717 to 1723, Bach served as court composer to Prince Leopold of Anhalt. In 1723, Bach was appointed Cantor of the Thomasschule at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, as well as Director of Music in the principal churches in the town
Bach married twice and had 20 children, including Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714 – 1788) who was known as the "Berlin Bach" or the "Hamburg Bach", and Johann Christian Bach (1735 – 1782) , who moved to London and became known as the “London Bach” or the “English Bach”
Bach’s music lay forgotten for 50 years after his death. It was not until 1829 when Mendelssohn conducted the St Matthew Passion that Bach’s work returned to the repertoire once more. Bach’s works are indexed with BWV numbers, an initialism for Bach Werke Verzeichnis (Bach Works Catalogue). The catalogue, published in 1950, was compiled by Wolfgang Schmieder
Brandenburg concertos (six). Dedicated to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenbur
Goldberg Variations (30 variations for harpsichord)
English Suites, French Suites, Partitas
Mass in B Minor
The Art of Fugue
Sonatas and partitas for violin solo; the cello suites; more than 200 cantatas; and a similar number of organ works
St. Matthew Passion, St Mark Passion, St Luke Passion, St. John Passion
Well-Tempered Clavier is known as ‘The Forty-Eight’
Italian concerto, Christmas Oratorio
A Musical Offering - offering to Frederick the Great of Prussia
Where Sheep May Safely Graze – cantata
Coffee Cantata
Sleepers Wake – church cantata
Air on a G String – part of Suite for Orchestra No. 3
Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
Toccata and Fugue is played on the organ
Mily Balakirev (1837 – 1910) is known today primarily for his work promoting musical nationalism and his encouragement of more famous Russian composers. Balakirev brought together the composers now known as The Five – the others were Alexander Borodin, Cesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. For several years, Balakirev was the only professional musician of the group
Samuel Barber (1910 – 1981) was an American composer
Adagio for Strings
Agnes Dei is a reworking of Adagio for Strings
Vanessa, Hand of Bridge, Antony and Cleopatra - operas
Bela Bartok (1881 – 1945) was a Hungarian composer. Bartok’s anti-fascist political views caused him a great deal of trouble with the establishment in Hungary
Bluebeard’s Castle. Judith was Duke Bluebeard’s wife
Mikrokosmos – 153 progressive piano pieces
The Wooden Prince, The Miraculous Mandarin – ballets
The Miraculous Mandarin
Arnold Bax (1883 – 1953) was an English composer and poet. His musical style blended elements of Romanticism and Impressionism, always with a strong Celtic influence. Bax wrote poetry and stories under the pseudonym of Dermot O’Byrne. In 1942, Bax was appointed Master of the King's Musick
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) was born in Bonn. Around 1796, Beethoven began to lose his hearing. Beethoven was a student of Haydn. Buried in Vienna, next to Schubert. Composed nine symphonies
Symphony No. 3, Eroica was originally dedicated to Napoleon, but in 1804 Napoleon declared himself Emperor, and Beethoven felt betrayed. The second movement, a funeral march, is frequently performed on memorial occasions
“From today, everything is different” – Beethoven, when Eroica was first performed
Symphony No. 5 and Symphony No. 6 premiered together in Vienna in 1808. Both dedicated to Prince Lobkowitz
Symphony No. 5 is one of the best-known compositions in classical music. It begins with a a distinctive four-note motif
Symphony No. 6, Pastoral is the only Beethoven symphony with five movements. Pastoral Symphony contains a cadenza for woodwind instruments that imitates bird calls: nightingale (flute), quail (oboe), and cuckoo (two clarinets)
Thanksgiving After the Storm, incorporating an Alpine horn call or yodel, is the title of the last movement of Pastoral
Symphony No. 7 – the second movement, Allegretto, was the most popular movement
Symphony No. 8 – Beethoven referred to this as “my little symphony in F”. There is a widespread belief that the second movement is an affectionate parody of the metronome
Symphony No. 9, Choral
The fourth movement of the Choral features an elaborate choral setting of Schiller's Ode An die Freude (Ode to Joy)
Piano Sonata No. 8, Pathetique was dedicated to Prince Karl von Lichnowsky
Piano Sonata No. 14, Moonlight Sonata was named by German poet Ludwig Rellstab
Piano Sonata No. 23, Appassionata
Piano Sonata No. 29, Hammerklavier
Egmont Overture – the subject of the music and dramatic narrative is the life and heroism of a 16th century Dutch nobleman, the Count of Egmont
Egmont – a set of incidental music pieces for the 1787 play of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It consists of an overture followed by a sequence of nine additional pieces
Wellington's Victory, or The Battle of Vitoria is also known as the Battle Symphony. Dedicated to George IV
Violin Sonata No. 9, commonly known as the Kreutzer Sonata, is dedicated to violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer
Fidelio – Beethoven’s only opera. Leonore, disguised as a prison guard named Fidelio, rescues her husband Florestan from death. Set in a prison in Seville
Prisoner’s Chorus – from Fidelio
Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor – Fur Elise
The Creatures of Prometheus – Beethoven’s only ballet score
Beethoven only wrote one violin concerto
Christ on the Mount of Olives – Beethoven’s only oratorio
Archduke Trio is dedicated to Archduke Rudolf of Austria
Piano Concerto No. 5, popularly known as the Emperor Concerto, was Beethoven's last piano concerto. It was dedicated to Archduke Rudolf, Beethoven's patron and pupil. The epithet of Emperor for this concerto, was not Beethoven's own, but was coined by Johann Baptist Cramer, the English publisher of the concerto
Coriolan Overture
Waldstein Sonata
Rasumovsky string quartets
Vincenzo Bellini (1801 – 1835) was an Italian opera composer. His most famous works are La Sonnambula (1831) and Norma (1831). Known for his long flowing melodic lines for which he was named ‘The Swan of Catania’, Bellini was the quintessential composer of Bel canto opera. His father and grandfather were both composers
Norma – 1831 opera. Norma is the daughter of Oroveso, High-priestess of the Celts. She has an affair with a Roman officer, Pollione, which results in two children
La sonnambula (The Sleepwalker)
I Puritani (The Puritans) is set during the English Civil War
Alban Berg (1885 – 1935)
Lulu - opera based on a woman who moves from Vienna to London. She works as a prostitute and is killed by Jack the Ripper
Wozzeck – opera based on a play by Georg Buchner. A poor man murders his wife, Marie, then kills himself
Hector Berlioz (1803 – 1869) was a French Romantic composer. Berlioz made great contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. Berlioz was the first to use the term ‘choral symphony’ for a musical composition - his Romeo et Juliette
Symphonie fantastique was premiered in 1830 during one of Berlioz’s periods of intense infatuation with Irish actress Harriet Smithson, who he eventually married
An Episode in the Life of an Artist, in Five Parts was first performed in 1830
Grande Messe des Morts (Requiem)
Benvenuto Cellini
Beatrice and Benedict is based on Much Ado about Nothing
The Capture of Troy, The Trojans at Carthage – two halves of Les Troyens. Based on Virgil’s Aeneid
Harold en Italie - symphony. Paganini encouraged Berlioz to write this symphony
The Damnation of Faust includes the Hungarian March
La Marseillaise was composed by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle in 1792. It became the song of the French revolution. Berlioz later arranged the song for a chorus and orchestra
Roman Carnival
L’Enfance du Christ – oratorio
Le Corsaire was inspired by Byron’s poem The Corsair
Leonard Bernstein (1918 – 1990) was an American composer and conductor
Jeremiah - symphony
Kaddish - symphony
Candide (1956) is a comic operetta based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire. The original libretto was written by Lillian Hellman
Ronald Binge (1910 – 1979) arranged many of Mantovani's most famous pieces before composing his own music that included Elizabethan Serenade and Sailing By
Harrison Birtwhistle (born 1934) was born in Accrington. He gained notoriety in 1995 when Panic was premiered on a live BBC television broadcast on the second half of the Last Night of the Proms
Punch and Judy
The Mask of Orpheus
The Minotaur – opera
Georges Bizet (1838 – 1875)
Carmen is based on the story of the same title by Prosper Merimee. Set in a cigarette factory. Carmen is stabbed to death by her lover Don Jose. Escamillo is a toreador
Habanera, Toreador song – from Carmen
Carmen was first performed at the Opera-Comique in Paris in March 1875, and was not at first particularly successful. Before the initial run was concluded, Bizet died suddenly, and thus knew nothing of the opera's later celebrity
The Pearl Fishers is based in Sri Lanka. Zurga and Nadir fall in love with Leila
Au fond du temple saint (In the depths of the temple) is a duet from The Pearl Fishers
The Fair Maid of Perth is an opera, after the novel by Sir Walter Scott
L’Arlesienne (The Girl from Arles) includes Carillon and Farandole
Petit suite d’orchestre
Arthur Bliss (1891 – 1975) was knighted in1950. After the death of Sir Arnold Bax he was appointed Master of the Queen's Music in 1953
Colour Symphony
Checkmate
Miracle in the Gorbals
Luigi Boccherini (1743 – 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist whose music retained a courtly and galante style. Boccherini was Influenced by Haydn
String Quintet in E major
Cello Concerto in B flat major
Alexander Borodin (1833 – 1887) was a Russian who made his living as a chemist. He provided the musical inspiration for the musical Kismet in a string quartet
Prince Igor was left unfinished upon Borodin’s death and was edited and completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov
Polovtsian Dances are from Prince Igor. The Polovtsian leader Khan Konchak entertains his prisoner Prince Igor with a series of oriental dances
In the Steppes of Central Asia
Nadia Boulanger (1887 – 1979) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher who taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century. Her sister, Lili, was also a composer
Pierre Boulez (born 1925) is a French composer of contemporary classical music and conductor. Boulez said “the world's opera houses should be burned down”
The Hammer without a Master
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897) wrote four symphonies
First symphony is known as ‘Beethoven’s tenth’ as it sounds like Beethoven’s ninth symphony
Academic Festival Overture was one of a pair of contrasting orchestral overtures (the other being the Tragic Overture) written by Johannes Brahms. Brahms composed the Academic Festival Overture during the summer of 1880 as a musical ‘thank you’ to the University of Breslau
German requiem
21 Hungarian Dances
The St. Anthony Choral
Wiegenlied (Cradle Song)
Frank Bridge (1879 – 1941)
Sir Roger de Coverley was always the last dance to be played at country house balls
The Sea
Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976) was the first British composer to be made a life peer, in 1976. Britten and Peter Pears lived in USA from 1939 to 1942
War Requiem is based on poems of Wilfred Owen. Features Anthem for Doomed Youth. Commissioned for the reconsecration of Coventry Cathedral in 1962
The Turn of the Screw is a chamber opera with a libretto by Myfanwy Piper, based on the novella The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra was composed in1946 to accompany Instruments of the Orchestra, an educational film produced by the British government, narrated and conducted by Malcolm Sargent. It has the subtitle ‘Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell’, and takes a melody from Henry Purcell's Abdelazar as its central theme
Peter Grimes is an opera with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the Peter Grimes section of George Crabbe's poem The Borough. Story of a misfit fisherman set in Aldeburgh, Suffolk
Billy Budd is an opera from a libretto by EM Forster and Eric Crozier. It is based on the short novel Billy Budd by Herman Melville. The action takes place during the French Revolutionary Wars, in 1797, on board the battleship HMS Indomitable
Death in Venice – last opera, tells the story of dying composer Aschenbach and his obsession with a young boy, Tadzio. Based on the book by Thomas Mann
Paul Bunyan – book and lyrics by WH Auden
Let’s Make an Opera
Albert Herring
The Rape of Lucretia
Noah’s Flood
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Gloriana was written for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Gloriana was the name given by the 16th century poet Edmund Spenser to his character representing Queen Elizabeth I in his poem The Faerie Queene. Gloriana depicts the relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and the Earl of Essex
A Ceremony of Carols
Simple Symphony
The Prince of the Pagodas is a ballet created for The Royal Ballet in 1957, by choreographer John Cranko, with music commissioned from Benjamin Britten. The ballet was later revived in a new production by Kenneth MacMillan in 1989, achieving widespread acclaim for Darcey Bussell's premiere in a principal role
Alpine Suite for recorder trio
Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo
Max Bruch (1838 – 1920) was a German Romantic composer and conductor who wrote over 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin repertory. Max Bruch was conductor of Liverpool Philharmonic from 1880 to 1883
Violin Concerto No.1 was voted the number one work in the Classic FM Hall of Fame by the station's listeners in 1996
Scottish Fantasy
Anton Bruckner (1824 – 1896) was an Austrian who composed nine monumental symphonies. Bruckner played the organ
Symphony No. 3 is dedicated to Wagner
Symphony No. 7 is the most popular
Symphony No. 9 was unfinished
Symphony in D minor was not assigned a number by its composer, and is known as Symphony No. 0
George Butterworth (1885 – 1916)
The Banks of Green Willow
Song settings of A. E. Housman's poems from A Shropshire Lad
William Byrd (1540 – 1623) was an English composer of the Renaissance. He wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard (the so-called Virginalist school), and consort music
The Triumphs of Oriana
John Cage (1912–1992) was an American composer and music theorist
4’33” is a three-movement composition composed in 1952, for any instrument or combination of instruments, and the score instructs the performer(s) not to play their instrument(s) during the entire duration of the piece throughout the three movements
Imaginary Landscape is the title of several pieces by John Cage
Music of Changes
Organ²/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible) – the performance of the organ version at St. Burchardi church in Halberstadt, Germany, began in 2001 and is scheduled to have a duration of 639 years
Joseph Canteloube (1879 – 1957)
Songs of the Auvergne is a collection of orchestrated folksongs
Wendy Carlos (born Walter Carlos, 1939) raised public awareness of transgender issues
Switched-On Bach played a key role in popularizing classical music performed on electronic synthesizers
Alfredo Catalani (1854 – 1893) was an Italian composer
La Wally is a four-act opera. Wally is a young girl who refuses to marry the man her father has chosen for her. Theme music to A Single Man
Loreley - opera based on the German legend of the Lorelei
Francesco Cavalli (1602 – 1676)
L’Ormindo - opera
La Calisto – opera
Emmanuel Chabrier (1841 – 1894) was a French Romantic composer and pianist
Le Roi malge lui - orchestral work
Joyeuse Marche - orchestral work
Suite Pastorale
Gwendoline – opera
Espana
Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643 – 1704) was a French composer of the Baroque era. The prelude to his Te Deum is well-known as the signature tune for the European Broadcasting Union, heard in the opening credits of the Vienna New Year's Concert and the Eurovision Song Contest
Frederic Chopin (1810 – 1849) had an affair with George Sand. Died of tuberculosis. Chopin wrote 21 nocturnes, 16 polonaises, 24 preludes, and 52 mazurkas. Chopin’s heart is preserved in cognac, in a church in Warsaw
Revolutionary Etude
Minute Waltz
Funeral March
The Raindrop
Les Sylphides is a short ballet. Its original choreography was by Michel Fokine, with music by Frederic Chopin
Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante
Fantaisie-inpromptu
Jeremiah Clarke (1674 – 1707) was an English baroque composer and organist
Trumpet Voluntary - for many years the piece was attributed incorrectly to Henry Purcell. Correct title is Prince of Denmark’s March
Eric Coates (1886 – 1957) is well known for his contribution to the film score for The Dam Busters
London Suite consists of three movements: Covent Garden (Tarentelle), Westminster (Meditation), and Knightsbridge (March)
BBC used Calling All Workers as the theme for the radio programme Music While You Work, and By the Sleepy Lagoon is still used to introduce the long-running radio programme Desert Island Discs
Aaron Copland (1900 – 1990) was teacher to Leonard Bernstein, and they became close friends
Appalachian Spring – title taken from a poem by Hart Crane. Scenario devised by Martha Graham. Known as the Shaker Melody, Shaker Song, and the Shaker Hymn, the music Copland based his ending variations on, was actually called Simple Gifts. This same Shaker tune was used by Sydney Carter in a widely recognized hymn entitled Lord of the Dance
Rodeo was choreographed by Agnes de Mille (niece of Cecil B DeMille)
Billy the Kid – ballet
Fanfare for the Common Man was used in his Symphony No. 3
Quiet City is a musical picture of early morning in lower Manhattan
Arcangelo Corelli (1653 – 1713) is referred to frequently in the novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Twelve concerti grossi
Bernhard Crusell (1775 – 1838) was a Swedish-Finnish clarinettist, composer and translator, and the outstanding Finnish composer before Sibelius
Cesar Cui (1835 – 1918) was an army officer and composer of French and Lithuanian descent. He was a member of The Five
Louis-Claude Daquin (1694 – 1772)
The Cuckoo – written for the harpsichord
Peter Maxwell Davies (1934 – 2016) was made Master of the Queen's Music in 2004
Eight Songs for a Mad King is based on words of George III
Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he disliked the term. Debussy had a daughter known as Chou-Chou
Compositions by Debussy are categorized by L (Lesure) number
Claire de Lune is the third movement of the Suite bergamasque. Its name comes from Paul Verlaine's poem of the same name
Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faun is a symphonic poem based on a poem by Mallarme
The Snow is Dancing – from Children’s’ Corner Suite
Clouds, Festivals, Sirens – nocturnes
Petite Suite
Arabesque
La Mer
Dialogue du Vent et de la Mer
Pelleas et Melisande – only finished opera
The Girl with the Flaxen Hair
Estampes – piano pieces. Includes Pagodas, La Soire dans Grenade and Jardins sous la Pluie
Leo Delibes (1836 – 1891)
Flower Duet from Lakme. Lakme is the daughter of a Brahman. Flower Duet is sung by Lakme and her maidservant Mallika. Music for BA adverts
Bell Song – in Lakme
Coppelia – tells the tale of Swanilda, a village beauty who tries to thwart the fancy of her fiancé (Frantz) for a life-sized doll. Based upon two stories by ETA Hoffmann: Der Sandmann (The Sandman), and Die Puppe (The Doll). Includes Festive Dance and Waltz of the Hours
The Girl with Enamel Eyes – alternative title for Coppelia
Sylvia – ballet with music by Delibes. Sylvia is a nymph of Diana
Frederick Delius (1862 – 1934) was born in Bradford. Lived most of his life in France. Thomas Beecham was Delius’s greatest champion
On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
In a Summer Garden
The Magic Fountain
La Calinda – from the opera Koanga
Florida Suite. Delius moved to Florida in 1884
Three Small Tone Poems
Brigg Fair was inspired by a music festival in Brigg, Lincs
A Village Romeo and Juliet. Lovers are Sali and Vreli, who are warned by the Dark Fiddler
Gaetano Donizetti (1797 – 1848) was born in poverty in Bergamo
L’Elisir d’amore (Potion of love) is a ittersweet story of lovesick Nemorino and cold-hearted Adina
Una furtiva lagrima (a secret tear) – aria in L’Elisir d’amore
La Fille du Regiment is famous for the aria Ah! mes amis, quel jour de fête! (sometimes referred to as Pour mon âme), which has been called the ‘Mount Everest’ for tenors. It features nine high Cs
Maria Stuarda (Mary Stuart) is an opera about the downfall of Mary, Queen of Scots
Anna Bolena
Don Pasquale
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucrezia Borgia
Don Sebastien
Donizetti wrote 67 operas
John Dowland (1563 – 1626) was an English Renaissance composer, singer, and lutenist. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as Come, heavy sleep
Paul Dukas (1865 – 1935). was born in Paris
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was used in the Disney film Fantasia
Antonin Dvorak (1841 – 1904) was born in Czechoslovakia. Dvorak was director of the National Conservatory of Music of America from 1891 to 1895. He had nine children, three of whom died in infancy
Symphony No. 9 may be better known by its subtitle, From the New World, and is also called the New World Symphony. Dvorak wrote it in 1893, while he was in New York, and it premiered at Carnegie Hall. Final symphony writen by Dvorak
Symphony No. 1 is subtitled The Bells of Zlonice
Rusalka – opera, Rusalka is a water sprite who wants to become human so that she can experience true love. Includes Song to the Moon
Slavonic Dances –a series of 16 orchestral pieces
Dvorak wrote eight Humoresques
Carnival Overture
Ludovico Einaudi (born 1955) has composed the scores for a number of television programmes and films, including Nomadland and The Father
I Giorno (The Days)
Divenire (To Become)
Edward Elgar (1857 – 1934) was born in Lower Broadheath, near Worcester.Elgar’s third symphony was unfinished. Elgar married Caroline Alice Roberts. Elgar war first Professor of Music at Birmingham University. Elgar was Master of the King’s Music from 1924 to 1934
Enigma Variations – so called because the melody on which they are based is supposed to conceal another, ‘enigmatic’, theme.14 Variations. Variation 1 is C.A.E., Caroline Alice Elgar, Elgar's wife. Nimrod is Variation IX and is named after August Jaeger. Variation XIII is titled ‘***’. Dedicated to Elgar's “friends pictured within”
The Dream of Gerontius is based on a poem by Cardinal Newman
Land of Hope and Glory – also known as Pomp and Circumstance. Music. Words by AC Benson
There are five Pomp and Circumstance marches – Land of Hope and Glory is No. 1
Coronation Ode was written for the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1902
Coronation March was written for the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary in 1911
Sea Pictures – a song cycle
Salut d’amour (Love’s Greeting)
Serenade for Strings
The Wand of Youth suite
Sospiri
Elegy for Strings is dedicated to R.H. Haddon
Nursery Suite
Chanson de Nuit
Chansons de Matin
Manuel de Falla (1876 – 1946) was a Spanish composer
The Three-Cornered Hat – a magistrate infatuated with a miller's faithful wife attempts to seduce her – derives from the novella by Pedro Antonio de Alarcon
Nights in the Gardens of Spain
Spanish Dance
Ritual Fire Dance
La vida breve (Life is Short)
Gabriel Faure (1845 – 1924) was a French composer. He served in the Franco-Prussian War
Pavane is named after the slow processional Spanish court dance
Pie Jesu is a motet derived from the final couplet of the Dies irae and often included in musical settings of the Requiem Mass. The best known is the Pie Jesu from Faure's Requiem
Pelleas et Melisande was written for the London production of Maurice Maeterlinck's play in 1898
Masques et bergamasques
Apres un reve
Elegie
Dolly Suite
Morton Feldman (1926 – 1987) was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers
Rothko Chapel was written for the building of the same name
John Field (1782 – 1837) was an Irish pianist and composer. He is best known today for originating the piano nocturne, a form later made famous by Chopin, as well as for his substantial contribution to the development of the Russian piano school
Cesar Franck (1822 – 1890) was born in Liege, which was under French rule. Became known as an organist and a teacher
Symphony in D minor
Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra
Prelude, Chorale and Fugue for solo piano
Le Chasseur maudit - a symphonic poem
Rudolf Friml (1879 – 1972) was a Czech-born composer of operettas, musicals, songs and piano pieces
The Vagabond King is a fictionalized episode in the life of the 15th century poet and thief Francois Villon, centering on his wooing of Katherine De Vaucelles
Rose-Marie is an operetta set in the Canadian Rocky Mountains
Niels Gade (1817 – 1890) was a Danish composer, conductor, violinist, organist and teacher. He is considered the most important Danish musician of his day
Edward German (1862 – 1936) was an English composer of Welsh descent
The Emerald Isle (1901) - completion of the opera left unfinished by Arthur Sullivan at his death
A Princess of Kensington (1903)
Tom Jones (1907)
Fallen Fairies (1909)
Merrie England is an English comic opera in two acts to a libretto by Basil Hood
George Gershwin (1898 – 1937) was an American composer whose compositions spanned both popular and classical genres
Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy. Crippled beggar Porgy takes in prostitute Bess, who has been abandoned by her lover Crown. Set on Catfish Row, in South Carolina
It Ain’t Necessarily So – song from Porgy and Bess, casts doubt on literal truth of Bible
Summertime, Oh I Got Plenty of Nothing – songs from Porgy and Bess
Philip Glass (born 1937) is an American minimalist composer
Galileo Galilei - opera
Kepler - opera
Satyagraha, based loosely on the life of Gandhi, forms the second part of the ‘Portrait Trilogy’ of operas about men who changed the world, which also includes Einstein on the Beach and Akhnaten
Einstein on the Beach is Glass's first and longest opera score, taking approximately five hours in full performance without intermission; given the length, the audience is permitted to enter and leave as desired. In 1933, Albert Einstein was brought to live in a small hut on Roughton Heath, near Cromer, after fleeing Nazi Germany. Einstein’s visit was the inspiration for the opera
Symphony No. 1 (Low), Symphony No. 4 (Heroes), Symphony No. 12 (Lodger) – symphonies based on David Bowie's Berlin Triptych
Waiting for the Barbarians is based on a book by JM Coetzee
The Perfect American covers the final months of the life of Walt Disney
Alexander Glazunov (1865 – 1936) was a Russian composer of the late Russian Romantic period, music teacher and conductor. He served as director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory between 1905 and 1928
The Seasons – one-act ballet
Reinhold Gliere (1875 – 1956) was born in Kiev
he Red Poppy - first heroic Soviet ballet
Mikhail Glinka (1804 – 1857) was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition within his own country
A Life for the Czar is set in the 17th century. A peasant, Ivan Susanin, heroically saves the life of Czar Mikhail from invading Polish troops
Ruslan and Lyudmila is based on a fairy tale poem by Pushkin. Princess Lyudmila is abducted by the evil dwarf and sorcerer Chernomor. Ruslan obtains a magic sword from a gigantic talking head and slays Chernomor
Christoph Gluck (1714 – 1787) was born in Bavaria
Orfeo ed Euridice (Orpheus and Eurydice) is an opera based on the myth of Orpheus
Iphigenie en Tauride – opera, The drama is based on the play Iphigeneia in Tauris by the ancient Greek dramatist Euripides which deals with Greek mythological stories concerning the family of Agamemnon in the aftermath of the Trojan War
Henryk Gorecki (1933 – 2010) was a Polish composer of contemporary classical music
Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)
Copernican symphony
Charles Gounod (1818 – 1893) was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria
Faust is an opera in five acts based on the play by Goethe. Faust sells his soul to Mephistopheles, the Devil, in return for his youth. He is persuaded to do so on seeing a vision of a beautiful young woman, Marguerite, at a spinning wheel
Soldier’s Chorus – song from Faust
Romeo et Juliette - opera in five acts
Funeral March of a Marionette (1872) is well-known for being the theme music to the TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Saint Cecilia Mass
Percy Grainger (1882 – 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist
Brigg Fair
Sentimentals
Country Gardens
Molly on the Shore
Enrique Granados (1867 – 1916) was a Spanish composer
Goyescas is a piano suite usually considered Granados's crowning creation and was inspired by the paintings of Francisco Goya
Edvard Grieg (1843 – 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist who composed in the romantic period
Incidental music to Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt (which includes Morning Mood , In the Hall of the Mountain King, Death of Ase, Anrita’s Song and Solveig’s Song)
Lyric Pieces - collection of piano miniatures
Holberg Suite was composed to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Danish-Norwegian playwright Ludvig Holberg
Piano Concerto in A minor - famously used in a Morecambe and Wise sketch with Andre Previn
March of the Trolls
In Autumn
Homage March
Two Elegiac Melodies
Wedding Day at Troldhaugen
Ivor Gurney (1890 – 1937) was an English poet and composer who suffered shell shock after World War I
Five Elizabethan Songs
George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759) was a German-born British Baroque composer. Handel decided to settle permanently in England in 1712. In 1750 Handel arranged a performance of Messiah to benefit the Foundling Hospital in London. Handel was master of orchestra of the Royal Academy of Music. Handel’s works are indexed with HWV numbers, initialism for Handel Werke Verzeichnis (Handel Works Catalogue)
Water Music is a collection of orchestral movements, often considered as three suites. It premiered in the summer on 17 July 1717 when King George I requested a concert on the River Thames
Zadok the Priest was composed for coronation of George II in 1727. Coronation Anthem No 4. Theme music for Uefa Champions League
Music for the Royal Fireworks celebrated the treaty of Aix La Chapelle (1748, ending the war of Austrian succession). First performed in 1749 in Green Park for George II
Messiah – first performed in Dublin in 1742. An oratorio set to texts from the King James Bible. Includes the Hallelujah Chorus, For Unto us a Child is Born and I Know That My Redeemer Liveth. The custom of standing for the Hallelujah Chorus originates from a belief that, at the London premiere, King George II did so, which would have obliged all to stand
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba – from the oratorio Solomon
Rinaldo was composed in 1711. It is the first Italian language opera written specifically for the London stage
Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Julius Caesar in Egypt) is an Italian opera in three acts written for the Royal Academy of Music
Rodrigo, Rodelinda, Partenope, Agrippina, Semele, Tamerlano – operas
Thine be the Glory
Acis and Galatea – the work is set to a libretto by John Gay which is based on Ovid's Metamorphoses
Ode for St Cecilia’s Day
The opening aria of Serse (Xerxes), Ombra mai fu, is set to one of Handel's best-known melodies, and is often played in an orchestral arrangement, known as Handel's Largo
Let the Bright Seraphim – aria from Samson
Israel in Egypt – biblical oratorio
Alexander's Feast is an ode with music
Judas Maccabaeus – oratorio devised as a compliment to the victorious Duke of Cumberland upon his return from the Battle of Culloden
The Harmonious Blacksmith is the popular name of the final movement, Air and variations, of Suite No. 5, for harpsichord
Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809) was one of the most prominent composers of the Classical period, and is called by some the “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet”. Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, Austria, a village near the border with Hungary. The ethnicity of Haydn was a controversial matter in Haydn scholarship during a period lasting from the late 19th to the mid 20th century. The principal contending ethnicities were Croatian and German. Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Hungarian aristocratic Esterhazy family. Johann Salomon brought Haydn to London in 1791–92 and 1794–95, and together with Haydn led the first performances of many of the works that Haydn composed while in England. Haydn wrote his symphonies numbers 93 to 104 for these trips, which are sometimes known as the Salomon symphonies
The Hoboken-Verzeichnis is the catalogue of over 750 works by Joseph Haydn as compiled by Anthony van Hoboken
Haydn wrote 104 numbered symphonies, and two other symphonies, and 74 string quartets
Symphonies by Haydn include -
Symphony No. 6, Le Matin
Symphony No.7, Le Midi
Symphony No. 8, Le Soir
Symphony No.22, Philosopher
Symphony No. 45, Farewell
Symphony No. 47, Palindrome
Symphony No.53, Imperial
Symphony No. 82, The Bear
Symphony No. 83, The Hen
Symphony No. 92, Oxford
Symphony No. 94, The Surprise
Symphony No. 96, The Miracle
Symphony No. 100, Military
Symphony No. 101, The Clock
Symphony No. 103, Drumroll
Symphony No. 104, London
Farewell (Symphony No. 45) was written for Haydn's patron, Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy, while he, Haydn and the court orchestra were at the Prince's summer palace in Eszterhaza. The stay there had been longer than expected, and most of the musicians had been forced to leave their wives back at home in Eisenstadt, so in the last movement of the symphony, Haydn subtly hinted to his patron that perhaps he might like to allow the musicians to return home: during the final adagio each musician stops playing, snuffs out the candle on his music stand, and leaves in turn, so that at the end, there are just two muted violins left
The Surprise (Symphony No. 94) has a sudden fortissimo chord at the end of the otherwise piano opening theme in the variation-form second movement
Paris symphonies – symphonies 82 to 87
London symphonies - symphonies 93 to 104
The Creation – oratorio depicting and celebrating the creation of the world as described in the biblical Book of Genesis and in Paradise Lost
Trumpet Concerto
German national anthem (Emperor Hymn) was written by Haydn in 1797 as an anthem for the birthday of the Austrian Emperor Francis II of the Holy Roman Empire
Paul Hindemith (1895 – 1963) was a German composer who was denounced by Goebbels as an "atonal noisemaker”
Gustav Holst (1874 – 1934) was born in Cheltenham and taught at St Paul’s Girls School in Hammersmith. Lived in Thaxted in Essex. Holst had hoped to partly build his career as a pianist, but stricken with a nerve condition that increasingly affected the movement of his right hand from adolescence; he eventually gave up the piano for the trombone.Holst’s daughter Imogen was a composer and conductor
The Planets was written between 1914 and 1916 (before the discovery of Pluto). First public performance in 1918
Seven movements –
- Mars, the Bringer of War
- Venus, the Bringer of Peace
- Mercury, the Winged Messenger
- Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
- Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age
- Uranus, the Magician
- Neptune, the Mystic
World in Union, I Vow to Thee my Country – from Jupiter in The Planets
St Paul’s Suite takes its name from St Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith. Holst was the school's music master from 1905 to 1934
The Cotswolds – symphony
The Perfect Fool - opera
Arthur Honegger (1892 – 1955) was a Swiss composer, who was born in France. He was a member of Les Six
Pacific 231 is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive
Joan of Arc at the Stake – oratorio
Engelbert Humperdinck (1854 – 1921) was a German composer
Hansel und Gretel - opera based on the Grimm brothers' fairy tale
John Ireland (1879 – 1962) wrote the film score for The Overlanders
A Downland Suite
Charles Ives (1874 – 1954) was an American modernist composer. He was among the first composers to engage in a systematic program of experimental music
The Unanswered Question
Universe Symphony – unfinished work
Holiday Symphony
Three Places in New England
Leos Janacek (1854 – 1928) was a Czech composer. He was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style
The Cunning Little Vixen
Taras Bulba is based on the novel by Gogol
Jenufa – opera
Katya Kabanova
Sinfonietta
String Quartet No. 1, subtitled Kreutzer Sonata
The Makropulos Affair – Janacek. Adapted from a play by Karel Capek
Karl Jenkins (born 1944) was born in Wales
The Armed Man is the name of a Mass, subtitled ‘A Mass for Peace’. The piece was commissioned by the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds for the Millennium celebrations and was initially dedicated to victims of the Kosovo crisis
Adiemus is a series of new age music albums
Joseph Joachim (1831 – 1907) was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century
Josquin (c. 1450 – 1521) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. Josquin is widely considered by music scholars to be the first master of the high Renaissance style of polyphonic vocal music
Albert Ketelbey (1875 – 1959) is frequently quoted as becoming Britain's first millionaire composer
In A Monastery Garden sold over a million copies
Aram Khachaturian (1903 – 1978) was an Armenian composer whose works were often influenced by Armenian folk music.
Sabre Dance is a movement in the final act of the ballet Gayane, completed in 1942. It evokes a whirling war dance
Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from the ballet Spartacus was used as the theme music to The Onedin Line
Masquerade is based on a play by Mikhail Lermontov
Franz Lehar (1870 – 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer mainly known for his operettas
The Merry Widow – the widow is Hanna Glawari, who wishes to marry Count Danilo of Pontevedro
Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857 – 1919) was an Italian opera composer and librettist
Pagliacci (Italian for ‘players’ or ‘clowns’) recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe. Canio stabs Silvio and declares: La Commedia è finita! – "The play is over!" at the end of Pagliacci
Beppe, Nedda – characters in Pagliacci
Gyorgy Ligeti (1923 – 2006) was an avant-garde composer born in Hungary
La Grand Macabre – only opera
Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886) was born in Hungary. Liszt was the greatest pianist of his day. Wrote symphonic poems in Weimar. Liszt conducted world premiere of Lohengrin, composed by Wagner, his future son-in-law
Liszt’s works are catalogued by S or G numbers, derived from the catalogue compiled by Humphrey Searle
19 Hungarian Rhapsodies
12 Transcendental Etudes
6 Consolations
Liebestraume or Dreams of Love
Dante – symphony
Faust – symphony dedicated to Berlioz
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632 – 1687), was a French composer of Italian birth, who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. Born in Florence. Lully died from gangrene, having struck his foot with his long conducting staff during a performance of his Te Deum to celebrate Louis XIV's recovery from surgery. Lully created French-style opera as a musical genre (tragedie en musique or tragedie lyrique)
Operas include Armide, Alceste and Phaeton
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme is based on the play of the same name by Moliere
Hans Christian Lumbye (1810 – 1894) was known as “The Strauss of the North” or “The Waltz King of the North”. Born in Denmark
Champagne Galop
Copenhagen Steam Train Galop
Hamish MacCunn (1868 – 1916) was a Scottish late Romantic composer
The Land of the Mountain and the Flood is a concert overture for orchestra
Edward MacDowell (1860 – 1908) was an American composer and pianist of the Romantic period
Woodland Sketches includes his most popular short piece, To a Wild Rose
Gustav Mahler (1860 – 1911) was Jewish, but converted to Catholicism to become musical director of the Vienna Court Opera. Born in Bohemia. Married Alma Schlinder. Mahler was one of the leading conductors of his generation, and was director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphony No. 1, Titan was originally in five movements, but the movement known as Blumine (Flower Blossoms) was discarded
Symphony No. 2, Resurrection
Symphony No. 3 is a long symphony with six movements. Mahler called this symphony ‘my great nature symphony’
Symphony No. 5 – the fourth movement is arguably Mahler's most famous single piece of music, and is the most frequently performed extract from Mahler's works. It is perhaps best known for its use in the 1971 Luchino Visconti film Death in Venice
Symphony No. 6, Tragic
Symphony No. 7, Song of the Night
Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand is scored for a very large orchestra
Symphony No. 10 was unfinished
Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) comprises six songs for two singers. Described as a symphony when published
Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children) is a song cycle for voice and orchestra
Pietro Mascagni (1863 – 1945) was an Italian composer. Mascagni was a rival of Puccini
Cavalleria Rusticana (Rustic Chivalry) in an 1890 opera in one act. It has often been performed in a so-called Cav/Pag double-bill with Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo. Features Santuzza, Lola, Alfio and Turiddu. Set in Sicily in 19th century, when it was united in a kingdom with Naples ruled by Bourbon kings
Easter Hymn – from Cavalleria Rusticana
Jules Massenet (1842 – 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic era
Thais is an opera set in Egypt in the early days of Christianity. Thais is a dancer and courtesan
Manon is an opera based on a novel by Abbe Prevost (Manon Lescaut)
Werther – opera based on the German novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe
Le Cid – opera based on the play of the same name by Pierre Corneille
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847) was a German composer of the eary Romantic period. Fanny Mendelssohn, the sister of Felix, was a pianist and composer
The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) was written in 1830
The incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream, including the well-known Wedding March, was written in 1843
Symphony No. 3, Scottish was dedicated to Queen Victoria
Symphony No. 4, Italian
Symphony No. 5, Reformation was composed in honour of the 300th anniversary of Martin Luther’s Augsburg Confession which had established the founding doctrines of Lutheranism
Songs Without Words – 48 piano pieces. Include Spring Song
Camacho’s Wedding – only opera
Elijah – oratorio
St. Paul – oratorio
Hear My Prayer is a Christian anthem for soprano solo, chorus and organ or orchestra
Gian Carlo Menotti (1911 – 2007) was an American composer. Born in Italy. Many of his operas enjoyed successful runs on Broadway
Amahl and the Night Visitors was first performed on Christmas Day, 1951. Menotti was inspired by Bosch’s painting The Adoration of the Magi
Oliver Messiaen (1908 – 1992) was appointed professor of composition in 1966 at the Paris Conservatoire, a position he held until his retirement in 1978. His many distinguished pupils included Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He believed birds to be the greatest musicians and considered himself as much an ornithologist as a composer
Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791 – 1864) was a German opera composer of Jewish birth who has been described as perhaps the most successful stage composer of the nineteenth century
Robert le diable (Robert the Devil) is regarded as one of the first grand operas at the Paris Opera
Les Huguenots
Le Prophete
Darius Milhaud (1892 – 1974) was a member of Les Six. Friend of Jean Cocteau. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality
Scaramouche
Le boeuf sur le toit
La creation du monde
Claudio Monteverdi (1567 – 1643) was a pioneer in the development of opera. Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period
L’Orfeo was written in 1607. Based on the legend of Orpheus. It is the earliest opera that is still regularly performed
L’Arianna (Ariadne) is the lost second opera
L'incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea) – opera
Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland) – opera
Monteverdi wrote many madrigals and vespers
Vittorio Monti (1868 – 1922) was an Italian composer
Csardas is a rhapsodical concert piece written in 1904, it is a well-known folk piece based on a Hungarian csardas
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) was born in Salzburg. Full baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. His father, Leopold, was a gifted composer and violin teacher. Mozart wrote his first symphony aged eight. In 1770, Mozart received the Order of the Golden Spur from Pope Clement XIV in Rome. There is a story that Salieri caused Mozart's death by poisoning him because they were rivals for musical success and Salieri bitterly resented Mozart's musical superiority. Music historians have completely rejected this story, but it lives on in literature, as in the popular play and film Amadeus. Constanze Weber – wife of Mozart
Mozart’s works are categorized by K numbers, after Ludwig Kochel
Lorenzo Da Ponte wrote the librettos to three Mozart operas, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti (All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers) is an opera buffa in two acts first performed in 1790. Two soldiers (Guglielmo and Ferrando) disguise themselves as Albanians to test the fidelity of their lovers (Fiordiligi and Dorabella). Don Alfonso is a philosopher who makes a bet that all women are fickle
Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) is Mozart’s last opera, in two acts to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered in 1791. Tamino rescues Pamina, the daughter of the Queen of the Night, from the High Priest. Papageno is a bird-catcher
Der Holle Rache – Queen of the Night’s aria in The Magic Flute
Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) is an opera buffa (comic opera) composed in 1786, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais. Cherubino, a page boy in the household of Count Almaviva, is dressed up as Susanna, the Countess’s maidservant
Non Piu Andrai, Porgi amor – arias in The Marriage of Figaro
Don Giovanni (full title Don Giovanni or The Libertine Punished) is an opera in two acts based on the legends of Don Juan. The opera concludes with the title character being dragged into hell by the statue of the Commendatore. Leporello is Don Giovanni’s manservant
Champagne Aria – in Don Giovanni
La ci darem la mano (There we will give each other our hands) is a duet for the characters Don Giovanni (baritone) and Zerlina (soprano) in Don Giovanni
Apollo et Hyacinthus is an opera written by Mozart at the age of 11
Idomeneo is an opera based on the legend of a Cretan king. Set shortly after the Trojan War
La clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus) is an opera based on the life of the Roman emperor Titus
The Impresario – comic opera by Mozart
The Abduction from the Seraglio – opera set in Ottoman Empire
Symphonies 14 - 30 were composed from 1771 - 1777 and are known as the Salzburg-era Symphonies. Example of divertimento
Symphony No 31, Paris
Symphony No. 35, Haffner. It was commissioned by the Haffners, a prominent Salzburg family
Symphony No, 36, Linz
Symphony No. 38, Prague
Symphony No. 40 in G minor is sometimes referred to as the ‘Great G minor symphony,’ to distinguish it from the ‘Little G minor symphony,’ No. 25
Symphony No. 41, Jupiter was the last symphony composed by Mozart
Mozart’s Requiem was his last composition (K626) and was completed after his death by Franz Sussmayr
Elvira Madigan was a Danish tightrope walker and trick rider, whose illicit affair and dramatic death at the hands of her lover were the subject of a famous Swedish film from 1967. The soundtrack features the Andante from Piano Concerto No. 21 by Mozart, which is now popularly known as Theme from Elvira Madigan
Solemn Vespers
Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music). Theme music of Brian of Britain
Exultate, jubilate - a religious solo motet
Mozart wrote concertos for almost every instrument
Haydn Quartets. Mozart was a friend of Haydn
Thea Musgrave (born1928) is a Scottish composer. She has lived in the United States since 1972
The Seasons
Turbulent Landscapes
Simon Bolivar – opera
Mary, Queen of Scots – opera
Modest Mussorgsky (1839 – 1881) was a Russian composer and a member of 'The Five'
Boris Gudonov is based on the drama by Pushkin. Gudonov was a Tsar of Russia. Only completed opera
Night on a Bald (Bare) Mountain is a tone poem inspired by a witch in the Gogol story St John’s Eve
Pictures at an Exhibition is a suite of ten pieces composed for piano. It was inspired by an exhibition by artist Victor Hartman. Includes The Old Castle, The Gnome, The Hut on Fowl’s Legs (Baba Yaga) and The Great Gate of Kiev. Linked by a theme called Promenade
Khovanshchina – opera
Nikolai Myaskovsky (1881 – 1950) is sometimes referred to as the “Father of the Soviet Symphony”. Friend of Prokofiev. Myaskovsky was awarded the Stalin Prize five times, more than any other composer
Carl Nielsen (1865 – 1931) was the most internationally known composer from Denmark. Nielsen wrote six symphonies. Born on the island of Funen
Symphony No. 4, Inextinguishable
Commotio – organ work
Saul and David – opera
Masquerade – comic opera
Otto Nicolai (1810 – 1849) was a German composer, conductor, and founder of the Vienna Philharmonic
The Merry Wives of Windsor – opera in three acts
Michael Nyman (born 1944) is an English composer of minimalist music, and is known for numerous film scores (many written during his collaboration with Peter Greenaway), and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to The Piano
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat – opera based on the case study of the same name by Oliver Sacks
Jacques Offenbach (1819 – 1880) was a German-born French composer known for his comic operas
Orpheus in the Underworld – opera bouffon first performed in 1858. Orpheus is not the son of Apollo but a violin teacher
The Galop from Orpheus in the Underworld is the tune most associated with the can-can
The Tales of Hoffmann was Offenbach's final work; he died four months before the premiere. Based on three short stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann. The Barcarolle, Belle nuit, o nuit d'amour is the opera's most famous number
La Belle Helene is a parody of Helen's elopement with Paris
La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein
Carl Orff (1895 – 1982) was born in Munich. In addition to his career as a composer, he developed an influential approach of music education for children
Carmina Burana is a cantata based on a medieval collection of bawdy songs. It is part of Trionfi, a musical triptych that also includes Catulli Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite
The chorus O fortuna (O fate) forms the opening to Carmina Burana
Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706) was a German composer, organist, and teacher
Pachelbels's Canon is the first movement of Canon and Gigue in D major
Niccolo Paganini (1782 – 1840) was born in Genoa
Caprice No. 24 in A minor is the final caprice of Paganini's 24 Caprices, and a famous work for solo violin
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525 – 1594) was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th century representative of the Roman School of musical composition. He has had a lasting influence on the development of church music
Hubert Parry (1848 – 1918) was born in Bournemouth
“And did those feet in ancient time” is a short poem by William Blake from the preface to his epic Milton: a Poem (1804). Today it is best known as the hymn Jerusalem, with music written by Parry in 1916
I was Glad is a coronation anthem
Repton is a hymn tune which sets the words “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind”
Symphony No.2, Cambridge
Symphony No. 3, English
Arvo Part (born 1935) is an Estonian composer and a composer of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Part has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-invented compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also takes inspiration from Gregorian chant
Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in the mirror) is written in the tintinnabular style
Fratres (Brothers)
Tabula Rasa
Krzysztof Penderecki (1933 – 2020) was born in Poland
Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima was written for 52 string instruments
St. Luke Passion
Polish Requiem
Anaklasis
Jacopo Peri (1561 – 1633) known under the pseudonym Il Zazzerino, is sometimes called the inventor of opera
Daphne, composed c. 1597, is the first work to be called an opera today
Perotin lived around the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th century. He was the most famous member of the Notre Dame School of polyphony and the ars antiqua style
Amilcare Ponchielli (1834 – 1886) was an Italian opera composer
La Gioconda is an opera in four acts based on a play by Victor Hugo
Dance of the Hours is a short ballet from Act 3 of La Gioconda. It is used in the Walt Disney animated film Fantasia
Manuel Ponce (1882 – 1948) was a Mexican composer
Estrellita is the best known work of Ponce
Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963) was a member of Les Six. Known as ‘half monk, half delinquent’ for his playful, irreverent side. Known for his ‘galante’ style. A great many of the chansons and melodies Poulenc wrote were composed for the baritone Pierre Bernac
Mouvements perpetuels is a suite for solo piano
Les Biches (The Hinds) is a ballet
Michael Praetorius (1571 – 1621) was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns, which reflect an effort to improve the relationship between Protestants and Catholics
Sergei Prokofiev (1891 – 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor. As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous musical genres, he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. Prokofiev lived in Paris from 1920 to 1933. Married Lina Llubera. He wrote seven symphonies
In 1938, Prokofiev collaborated with the Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein on the historical epic Alexander Nevsky
Cinderella – ballet. Premiered in 1945
The Gambler – opera based on the story of the same name by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
War and Peace – opera based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy
Peter and the Wolf is a symphonic fairy tale. Each animal represented by a different instrument. Cat – clarinet, duck – oboe, wolf – French horn, bird – flute
Lieutenant Kije – score for the film of the same name. A part of the Troika movement is used in the 1974 song I Believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake
The Love for Three Oranges is a satirical opera. Concerns a king convinced his melancholic son will die if he cannot be made to laugh. Prince is cursed by Fata Morgana
Symphony No. 1, Classical
Symphony No. 2 was said to be a work of "iron and steel"
Romeo and Juliet – ballet. Dance of the Knights is used as the opening theme music to The Apprentice
Giacomo Puccini (1858 – 1924) was born in Lucca, in Tuscany. Leading exponent of the verismo style of opera
La Boheme (1896) is based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger
Your tiny hand is frozen – aria from La Boheme
Mimi – seamstress in La Boheme. Dies of consumption
Rodolfo – poet in La Boheme
Tosca (1900) – Floria Tosca, a singer, throws herself off the roof of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome after she discovers that her lover Mario Cavaradossi has been executed. Tosca was tricked by Baron Scarpia, the evil Chief of Police
Vissi d’arte (I have lived for art) – aria in Tosca
Madame Butterfly (1904) – Madame Butterfly (Cio-Cio San) marries Lieutenant Pinkerton. Her maid is Suzuki. Contains Star Spangled Banner. Set in Nagasaki
Cio-Cio San sings Un Bel Di (“One fine Day”) in Madame Butterfly
Sorrow – Cio-Cio San’s son
Humming Chorus – in Madame Butterfly
Turandot (1924) was unfinished at the time of Puccini's death, and was completed by Franco Alfano in 1926
The story, set in China, involves prince Calaf who falls in love with the cold princess Turandot. To obtain permission to marry her, a suitor has to solve three riddles; any false answer results in death. Calaf passes the test, but Turandot still hesitates to marry him. He offers her a way out: he agrees to die should she be able to guess his real name. Turandot announces to the people thst his name is – Love
Hope, blood, and Turandot – answers to Turandot’s three riddles to the Prince
Nessun Dorma (none shall sleep) is an aria from Turandot. Sung by Calaf
Ping, Pang, and Pong – courtiers in Turandot
Manon Lescaut (1893) – Manon meets the Chevalier des Grieux in Amiens. She is taken by her brother, Lescaut, to a convent. She dies in Louisiana
La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) (1910) – bar girl Minnie falls in love with Mexican bandit Ramirez
Gianni Schicchi (1917) – is based on a story from The Divine Comedy. Gianni Schicchi impersonates Buoso Donati so that he can rewrite his will
O mio babbino caro (Oh My Beloved Father) is a soprano aria from Gianni Schicchi
La Rondine – (The swallow) (1917) – opera in three acts
Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695) was an English Baroque composer
Purcell’s works are catalogued by Z (Zimmerman) number
Henry Purcell’s brother, Daniel, wrote some of the music for his final work, The Indian Queen
Dido and Aeneas is an opera in a prologue and three acts with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The most famous aria of the work is When I am laid in earth, popularly known as Dido's Lament
King Arthur is a semi-opera with a libretto by John Dryden
The Fairy-Queen is a semi-opera. Following Purcell's death, the score was lost and only rediscovered early in the twentieth century
Lillibullero is a march that sets the words of a satirical ballad generally said to be by Lord Thomas Wharton to music attributed to Henry Purcell
Nymphs and Shepherds is a song written by Purcell
Hail! Bright Cecilia, also known as Ode to St. Cecilia, was composed in honour of the feast day of Saint Cecilia, patron saint of musicians
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873 – 1943) (also spelled Rachmaninoff) was a Russian composer and pianist. The 1917 Russian Revolution meant the end of Russia as the composer had known it. Rachmaninov was a member of the Russian bourgeoisie, and the Revolution led to the loss of his estate, his way of life, and his livelihood
Symphony No. 1 was so poorly received that he waited 10 years before composing Symphony No. 2
Piano Concerto No. 2 is used in the film Brief Encounter
Piano Concerto No. 3 is used in the film Shine
Piano Concerto No. 4 has a distinctive jazzy quality and a theme in the second movement partially based on the nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini was written for piano and orchestra, closely resembling a piano concerto
Symphonic Dances is an orchestral suite. Last major composition
Aleko – opera
The Miserly Knight – opera
Franchesca da Rimini – opera
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683 – 1764) replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera and is also considered the leading French composer for the harpsichord of his time
Hippolyte et Aricle – first opera
Les Indes galantes is an opera-ballet consisting of a prologue and four entrees (acts)
Castor et Pollux – opera
Platee – comic opera. The plot concerns an ugly water nymph who believes that Jupiter, the king of the gods, is in love with her
Maurice Ravel (1875 – 1937) was a French composer associated with Impressionism. Ravel received as honorary doctorate from Oxford University
Bolero is a one-movement orchestral piece. Originally composed as a ballet commissioned by Russian actress and dancer Ida Rubinstein, the piece premiered in 1928
Daphnis et Chloe concerns the love between the goatherd Daphnis and the shepherdess Chloe. The ballet is in one act and three scenes
Pavane pour une infante defunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess) is a work for solo piano
L’Heure Espagnole (The Spanish Hour) – short opera
L'enfant et les sortileges (The Child and the Spells) – short opera
Ma mere l’oye (Mother Goose)
Scheherazade – title of both an overture and a song cycle
Rapsodie Espagnole was one of Ravel's first major works for orchestra
Tzigane is a rhapsody. The name of the piece is derived from the generic European term for "gypsy"
Steve Reich (born 1936) is an American composer who is one of the pioneering composers of minimal music. His innovations include using tape loops to create phasing patterns
It's Gonna Rain is a minimalist composition for magnetic tape written in 1965. It was Reich's first major work and a landmark in minimalism and process music
Radio Rewrite is based on two songs by Radiohead
Music for 18 Musicians
Different Trains
Ottorino Respighi (1879 – 1936) was an Italian composer and musicoligist
'Roman Trilogy' of symphonic poems: Fountains of Rome, Pines of Rome, and Roman Festivals
The Birds – orchestral suite. An attempt to transcribe birdsong into musical notation
Ancient Airs and Dances
Trittico Botticelliano – three movements inspired by Botticelli paintings in the Uffizi Gallery
Terry Riley (born 1935) is an American composer and a pioneer of minimalism
In C is often cited as the first minimalist composition
A Rainbow in Curved Air
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 – 1908) was a master of orchestration and a member of The Five. His editing of works by The Five are significant. This work included the completion of Alexander Borodin's opera Prince Igor
Scheherazade is a symphonic suite based on One Thousand and One Nights, sometimes known as The Arabian Nights
Capriccio Espagnole is an orchestral suite, based on Spanish folk melodies
Russian Easter Festival Overture is a concert overture dedicated to the memories of Modest Mussorgsky and Alexander Borodin
The Snow Maiden – opera. The snow maiden is Snegurochka, the daughter of King Frost and Fairy Spring. Based on a play by Alexander Ostrovsky
Dance of the Tumblers – from The Snow Maiden
The Tale of Tsar Saltan is an opera based on a poem by Alexander Pushkin. The Tsar marries Militrissa
Flight of the Bumblebee – from The Tale of Tsar Saltan
Sadko – opera. Sadko is a minstrel from Novgorod
Mozart and Salieri is an opera based on a verse drama by Alexander Pushkin
The Golden Cockerel – last opera
The Tsar’s Bride – opera
Christmas Eve – opera based on a short story by Nikolai Gogol
Mlada – opera-ballet in four acts. A fantasy tale about ancient pagan Slavs
Joaquín Rodrigo (1901 – 1999) was a Spanish composer
Concierto de Aranjuez is a composition for classical guitar and orchestra. Written in 1939, it is Rodrigo's best-known work
Johan Roman (1694 – 1758) was a Swedish Baroque composer. He has been called “the father of Swedish music” or “the Swedish Handel”
Gioachino Rossini (1792 – 1868) was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces
William Tell – last opera by Rossini. Gessler ordered William Tell to shoot the apple from his son’s head. Based on Friedrich Schiller's play Wilhelm Tell. Story of Switzerland’s fight for independence from Austria
La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) – Ninetta hopes to marry Giannetto, returning from the war. She tries to shelter her father Fernando Villabella, who has deserted from the army, and is troubled by the attentions of the mayor, Gottardo
The Barber of Seville – features Rosina, Doctor Bartolo, Count Almaviva, and Figaro (the Barber of Seville). The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais’s comedy Le Barbier de Seville
Largo al Factotum – barber’s introductory song
La Cenerentola (Cinderella) – opera based on the fairy tale by Charles Perrault
La donna del lago is an opera by Rossini, based on The Lady of the Lake, a poem by Sir Walter Scott
Moses in Egypt – opera
La Danza – song in Tarantella napoletana time
Il turco in Italia (The Turk in Italy) – opera buffa
Il viaggio a Reims (The Journey to Reims) was written to celebrate the coronation of French King Charles X in 1825
Anton Rubinstein (1829 – 1894) was a Russian pianist, composer, conductor, and founder of the St Petersburg Conservatory. His brother, Nikolay, was also a pianist, and founded the Moscow Conservatory
Demon – opera. Best known work
Erik Satie (1866 – 1925) was a French composer and pianist
The Gymnopedies are three piano compositions which were published in Paris starting in 1888
Gnossiennes are several piano compositions
Satie wrote the music to a ballet, Parade, with scenery and costumes designed by Picasso
Camille Saint-Saens (1835 – 1921) was a French composer of the Romantic era
The Carnival of the Animals is in 14 movements. The first movement is known as Introduction and Royal March of the Lion
Tortoises move to a slow rendition of the famous 'Galop infernal' (commonly called the Can-can) from Offenbach's operetta Orpheus in the Underworld in Carnival of the Animals
Music critics are described as donkeys in Carnival of the Animals
The Swan in Carnival of the Animals is played on the cello
Danse Macabre is a tone poem for orchestra. Theme music for Jonathan Creek
Symphony No. 3, Organ was dedicated to Liszt
Samson and Delilah is the only opera by Saint-Saëns that is regularly performed
Pablo de Sarasate (1844 – 1908) was a Spanish composer and violinist
Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs) is a composition for violin and orchestra written in 1878. It is based on themes of the Roma people
Spanish Dances are a collection of eight pieces for violin and piano
Carmen Fantasy
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660 – 1725) was a Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. His son, Domenico, is considered to be the father of modern keyboard technique
Mitridate Eupatore is an opera seria based on Mithridates the Great of Pontus
Arnold Schoenberg (1874 – 1951) was born in Vienna to an Ashkenazi Jewish family. Schoenberg moved to Los Angeles in 1934. He was the leader of the Second Viennese School. Developed twelve-tone technique, a widely influential compositional method of manipulating an ordered series of all twelve notes in the chromatic scale
Moses und Aron – unfinished opera
Pelleas und Melisande – symphonic poem
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828) was a pupil of Salieri. Born in Austria. Possibly died of syphilis or mercury poisoning. Died aged 31. Buried in Vienna. Composed 10 symphonies and wrote 600 Lieder (songs)
Schubert’s works are categorized by D numbers, after Otto Deutsch
Symphony No. 8 is commonly known as the Unfinished Symphony. Schubert started it in 1822 but left with only two movements
Trout Quintet – piano quintet
String Quartet No. 14, Death and the Maiden
Rosamunde is set on Cyprus where Princess Rosamunde lives in the guise of a shepherdess. Based on a play by Helmina von Chezy
Winterreise (Winter Journey) – song cycle
Three Marches Militaire – written for piano four-hands
An die musik – lied for solo voice and piano
Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856) was born in Germany. Married pianist Clara Wieck in 1840. Clara Schumann was a lifelong friend of Brahms. After a suicide attempt in 1854, Schumann was admitted to a mental asylum, at his own request, in Endenich near Bonn. Diagnosed with ‘psychotic melancholia,' Schumann died two years later
Carnaval – written for piano solo
Symphonic Etudes
Fantasie in C – written for piano solo. Dedicated to Franz Liszt
Kinderzenen (Scenes from Childhood)
Papillons (Butterflies) – a suite of piano pieces. The work is meant to represent a masked ball
Symphony No. 1, Spring
Symphony No. 3, Rhenish
Alexander Scriabin (1872 – 1915) was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a highly lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frederic Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed, as a sort of mysticism, an increasingly atonal musical system
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 – 1975) had a complex relationship with the Soviet government, suffering two official denunciations of his music, in 1936 and 1948, and the periodic banning of his work. He won numerous state awards. Shostakovich graduated from St Petersburg Conservatory
Symphony No. 2, To October
Symphony No. 3, The First of May
Symphony No. 7, Leningrad is dedicated to the city of Leningrad and was completed on 27 December 1941
Symphony No. 9 is an ironic Haydnesque parody, which failed to satisfy demands for a ‘hymn of victory.’ The war was won, and unfortunately Shostakovich’s ‘pretty’ symphony was interpreted as a mockery of the Soviet Union’s victory rather than a celebratory piece
Symphony No. 11, The Year 1905
Symphony No. 12, The Year 1917
Symphony No. 13, Babi Yar
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsenck District – opera based on a novel of the same name by Nikolai Leskov. It tells the story of a lonely woman in 19th century Russia, who falls in love with one of her husband's workers and is driven to murder
The Golden Age – ballet that revolves around the visit of a Soviet football team to a Western city (referred to as 'U-town'). Shostakovich is said to have coined the expression "Football is the ballet of the masses"
The Nose – opera based on Nikolai Gogol's 1836 story of the same name
Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957) is the best-known composer from Finland and was the cultural figurehead of Finnish nationalism
Finlandia is a tone poem composed for the Press Celebrations of 1899, a covert protest against increasing censorship from the Russian Empire
Sibelius was one of a number of composers to compose music based on Maurice Maeterlinck's 1892 drama Pelleas et Melisande. While Debussy composed a five act opera, Sibelius was content with an eight movement orchestral suite
Kullervo is a choral symphony
Symphony No. 7 was the final published symphony of Sibelius. Completed in 1924, it is notable for being a one-movement symphony
Sibelius wrote an Eighth symphony but burned all traces of the score
Karelia Suite is a subset of pieces from the Karelia Music
The Swan of Tuonela is part of the Lemminkäinen Suite (Four Legends from the Kalevala)
Valse Triste (Tragic Waltz)
King Christian II Suite
Christian Sinding (1856 – 1941) was born in Norway and regarded as the successor to Edvard Grieg
Rustle of Spring – best-known work
Bedrich Smetana (1824 – 1884) was a Czech composer. Smetana became deaf due to syphilis and died in a lunatic asylum
Ma Vlast (My Country) is a set of six symphonic poems
Vltava (The Moldau) is the second symphonic poem in Ma Vlast. Vltava is the river that flows through Prague
The Bartered Bride is a comic opera. Marenka is the title character
Ethel Smyth (1858 – 1944) was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement, In 1922 Smyth became the first female composer to be awarded a damehood
Der Wald (The Forest) – opera
The Wreckers – opera
John Philip Sousa (1854 – 1932) was an American bandmaster and composer, known as the "The March King"
The sousaphone is named after Sousa, who popularized its use in his band
The Liberty Bell is used as the signature tune of Monty Python's Flying Circus
The Stars and Stripes Forever is the official National March of the USA
The Washington Post is a march composed for the newspaper's essay contest awards ceremony
El Capitan – operetta. El Capitan also refers to the march of the same name, composed of themes from the operetta
Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871 – 1927) was a Swedish composer, conductor and pianist. Descended from the Vasa kings
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928 – 2007) was a German composer known for his ground-breaking work in electronic music
Helicopter String Quartet involves four helicopters with pilots. It also forms the third scene of Stockhausen's opera Mittwoch aus Licht (Wednesday from Light)
Johann Strauss I (1804 – 1849) was the father of Johann Strauss II
Radetzky March was written to commemorate Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetzy's victory at the Battle of Custoza
Johann Strauss II (1825 – 1899) was born in Vienna. Known as “The Waltz King”. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas and a ballet
The Blue Danube is a waltz composed in 1866
Emperor Waltz was written for Emperor Franz Joseph I
Tritsch-Tratsch Polka – Tritsch-Tratsch (chit-chat) refers to the Viennese passion for gossip
Tales from the Vienna Woods – waltz
Die Fledermaus (The Bat) is an operetta featuring Gabriel von Eisenstein and his wife, Rosalinde. Dr Falke is known as ‘the bat’
Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron) is an operetta
Richard Strauss (1864 – 1949) was born in Munich. Strauss wrote a series of tone poems and operas. Hugo von Hofmannsthal wrote libretti for several of Strauss’s operas
Thus Spake Zarathustra is a tone poem inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's novel. The opening section is used in Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey
Don Juan – tone poem
Alpine Symphony – tone poem for a large orchestra (125 players)
Ein Heldenleben – symphonic poem
Salome is an opera based on the play Salome by Oscar Wilde
Dance of the Seven Veils is Salome's dance performed before Herod II
Der Rosenkavalier (The Cavalier of the Rose) – the opera has four main characters: the aristocratic Marschallin, her very young lover Count Octavian Rofrano, her coarse cousin Baron Ochs, and Ochs' prospective fiancee Sophie von Faninal. A silver rose is delivered as a form of marriage proposal. Set in Vienna
Elektra is an opera based on Sophocles' tragedy Electra
Ariadne auf Naxos – opera. Ariadne lies outside a cave on the island of Naxos, having been abandoned there by her lover Theseus
Intermezzo is an opera based on an actual incident in Strauss's life
Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman without a Shadow) – opera
Arabella – opera
Capriccio – Strauss's final opera. Subtitled "A Conversation Piece for Music"
Igor Stravinsky (1882 – 1971) was a Russian composer. He was a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov
Stravinsky first achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Serge Diaghilev and performed by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes (Russian Ballet): L'Oiseau de feu (The Firebird) (1910), Petrushka (1911), and Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) (1913)
The Firebird tells the story of Prince Ivan who kills the evil magician Kashchei with the help of the Firebird. Mikhail Fokine wrote the libretto
Petrushka is the story of a Russian traditional puppet, Petrushka, who is made of straw and with a bag of sawdust as his body, but who comes to life and develops emotions. Both Petrushka and a Moor fall in love with a Ballerina. Petrushka was danced by Nijinsky at the premiere in 1911
The Rite of Spring is in two parts – Adoration of the Earth, and The Sacrifice. There was a riot at first performance, in Paris
The Rake’s Progress is an opera based on the paintings of William Hogarth. Libretto by WH Auden
Concerto in E-flat, Dumbarton Oaks is a chamber concerto named for the Dumbarton Oaks estate in Washington D.C.
Oedipus Rex is an opera-oratorio based on Sophocles's tragedy, and written by Jean Cocteau
Les noces (The Wedding) is a dance cantata, or ballet with vocalists
Symphony of Psalms – choral symphony
Josef Suk (1874 – 1935) was a Czech composer. He married the daughter of his teacher, Antonin Dvorak. Suk won the silver medal for music at the Art competitions at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles
Asrael Symphony was written by in memory of Suk's father-in-law and teacher, Antonín Dvorak, and his wife (Dvorak's daughter) Otilie Sukova. Asrael is the Angel of Death in Islam
Franz von Suppe (1819 – 1895) was an Austrian composer of light operas
Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna – overture
Light Cavalry Overture
The Beautiful Galatea Overture
Johan Svendsen (1840 – 1911) was a Norwegian composer, conductor and violinist who lived most his life in Copenhagen. He was a close friend of Wagner
Norwegian Artists’ Carnival
Romance for Violin and Orchestra
Germaine Tailleferre (1892 – 1983) was a French composer and the only female member of Les Six
Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 – 1585) was an English Renaissance composer of choral music. He worked with William Byrd
Spem in alium (Hope in any other) is written for eight five-voice choirs
Lamentations of Jeremiah was written for the Holy Week services
Salvator Mundi was a joint venture with William Byrd
Francisco Tarrega (1852 – 1909) was a Spanish composer and classical guitarist known as the “father of modern guitar playing”
Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Memories of the Alhambra) is a classical guitar piece
Guiseppe Tartini (1692 – 1770) was an Italian Baroque composer and violinist
The Devil’s Trill is a work for solo violin that is technically demanding
John Tavener (1944 – 2013) was a composer of choral religious works
The Whale is an early cantata based on the story of Jonah and the Whale
The Protecting Veil is a composition for cello and strings that was shortlisted for the 1992 Mercury Prize
Song for Athene was written as a tribute to Athene Hariades, a young half-Greek actress who was killed in a cycling accident
The Lamb is a setting to music of a William Blake poem
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893) was born in Votkinsk in the Russian Empire. He is buried in Alexander Nevsky cemetery in St Petersburg. He married Antonina Miliukova. Nadezhda von Meck was a patroness of Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake is a ballet. It tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. Lover of Prince Siegfried. Includes Lake in Moonlight
The Nutcracker Suite is a two-act ballet. Tchaikovsky's adaptation of the story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E. T. A. Hoffmann was commissioned by the director of the Imperial Theatres, Ivan Vsevolozhsky in 1891. Children – Clara and Fritz
Waltz of the Snowflakes, Waltz of the Flowers – in The Nutcracker Suite
Dance of the Reed Flutes – one of The Four Dances in The Nutcracker Suite
The Nutcracker Suite is noted especially for its use of the celesta as solo instrument in the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
The Sleeping Beauty is a ballet and the longest work by Tchaikovsky
In 1922, Sergei Diaghilev arranged a 45-minute version of the final act of The Sleeping Beauty for his Ballets Russes, entitled Aurora's Wedding
Symphony No. 1, Winter Daydreams
Symphony No. 2, Little Russian
Symphony No. 6, Pathetique (Passionate) was composed in 1893. First performed nine days before his death
1812 Overture – Tchaikovsky’s festival overture Opus 49. Composed in 1880 to commemorate Russia's defence of its motherland against Napoleon's invading Grande Armee in 1812. Performed at the opening celebrations for Carnegie Hall in 1891
Eugene Onegin is an opera based on the novel by Pushkin
Maid of Orleans is an opera about Joan of Arc based on several sources: Friedrich Schiller's The Maid of Orleans
The Queen of Spades is an opera based on a novella of Alexander Pushkin, but with a dramatically altered plot
Iolanta was the last opera Tchaikovsky composed. The libretto was written by the composer's brother. Modest
Romeo and Juliet is an Overture-Fantasy
Slavonic March is a tone poem written to celebrate Russia's intervention in the Serbo-Turkish War
Capriccio Italien is a fantasy for orchestra
The Tempest – symphonic poem. Based on the Shakespeare play
Hans von Bulow gave the first performance of Piano Concerto No. 1 following the refusal of Nikolay Rubinstein
Piano Concerto No. 3 was unfinished
Georg Telemann (1681 – 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Telemann was one of the most prolific composers in history: his oeuvre comprises more than 3,000 pieces
Michael Tippett (1905 – 1998) was an English composer. He was imprisoned as a conscientious objector in World War II
A Child of Our Time is an oratorio inspired by Kristallnacht
The Midsummer Marriage is an opera based on The Magic Flute
The Ice Break – opera
Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Edgard Varese (1883 – 1965) was a French-born composer who spent most of his life in America. Coined the term "organized sound"
Ameriques was first work Varese composed in America
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 – 1958) was born in Down Ampney, Gloucestershire. He served in the Army in World War I
The Lark Ascending is a work for solo violin and orchestra. It is dedicated to English violinist Marie Hall. Inspired by a poem by George Meredith. The piece has been voted number one in the Classic FM annual Hall of Fame poll eleven times
Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis is a work for string orchestra
Fantasia on Greensleeves
Vaughan Williams composed nine symphonies
Symphony No. 1, A Sea Symphony. The text of A Sea Symphony comes from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass
Symphony No. 2, A London Symphony
Symphony No. 3, Pastoral Symphony
Symphony No. 7, Sinfonia antartica (Antarctic Symphony) is based on the film Scott of the Antarctic
On Wenlock Edge is a song cycle comprising of settings of six poems from A. E. Housman's 1896 collection A Shropshire Lad
Sir John in Love is an opera. The libretto, by the composer himself, is based on Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor
Hugh the Drover – opera
The Pilgrim’s Progress – final opera
Guiseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901) was an Italian Romantic composer who dominated the Italian opera scene. He was born near Busseto in Emilia-Romagna. His second wife was the operatic soprano Giuseppina Strepponi
Francesco Maria Piave was the librettist of ten Verdi operas
After Italy was unified in 1861, many of Verdi's early operas were re-interpreted as Risorgimento works with hidden Revolutionary messages that probably had not been intended by either the composer or librettist. Beginning in Naples in 1859 and spreading throughout Italy, the slogan ‘Viva VERDI’ was used as an acronym for Viva Vittorio Emanuele Re D'Italia (Viva Victor Emmanuel King of Italy), referring to Victor Emmanuel II, then king of Sardinia
La traviata (The Fallen Woman) is based on the Alexander Dumas fils play The Lady of the Camellias. Violetta Valery is the heroine who dies of TB. Other characters include Alfredo (her lover) and Germont
Libiamo ne' lieti calici (Let's drink from the joyful cups) is a duet with chorus from La traviata
Il Trovatore (The Troubadour) – Leonora falls in love with Manrico, the troubadour. Features a gypsy, Azucena. Leonora poisons herself
Il Trovatore contains the Anvil Chorus
Rigoletto – the title character is a humpbacked jester of the Duke of Mantua. Gilda is the Duke’s daughter. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo
La Donna e Mobile (women are fickle) – song in Rigoletto
Aida is an opera in four acts to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. It was first performed at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo on December 24, 1871. Includes the Triumphal March
Aida is the handmaid of Amneris, Princess of Egypt. She is an Ethiopian princess in love with Radames. Set during the 25th Dynasty
Don Carlos is a grand opera based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infante of Spain by Friedrich Schiller. The story is based on conflicts in the life of Carlos, Prince of Asturias (1545 – 1568), after his betrothed Elisabeth of Valois was married instead to his father Philip II of Spain as part of the peace treaty ending the Italian War of 1551 – 1559 between the Houses of Habsburg and Valois
Nabucco is an opera that follows the plight of the Jews as they are exiled from their homeland by the Babylonian king Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar II)
Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves is a chorus in Nabucco
Simon Boccanegra is an opera about the first Doge of Genoa
Macbeth was the first Shakespeare play that Verdi adapted for the operatic stage
Otello – opera based on Othello
Falstaff – Verdi’s last opera. Based on The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV
Messa da Requiem (commonly known as Verdi's Requiem) was composed in memory of Italian poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni
Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball) is an opera concerning the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden in 1792
La Forza del destino (The Force of Destiny) is an opera. Characters include Don Alvaro. Leonora, Marquis of Calatrava, Brother Melitone, Don Carlo
I vespri siciliani (The Sicilian Vespers) – opera written for the Paris Opera
Ernani is an opera based on the play Hernani by Victor Hugo
Tomas Luis de Victoria (c. 1548 – 1611) was the most famous composer of the 16th century in Spain, and one of the most important composers of the Counter-Reformation, along with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Orlando di Lasso. Victoria was not only a composer, but also an accomplished organist and singer
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887 – 1959) was a Brazilian composer, possibly the best-known classical composer born in South America
Choros (Weeping)
The Mountains of Brazil
Tales of the Caboclo
Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741), nicknamed “Il Prete Rosso” (The Red Priest), was a Venetian priest and baroque music composer, as well as a famous violinist. Wrote a number of operas for soprano Anna Giraud
Vivaldi’s works are categorized by RV number, named after Peter Ryom
Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons) is a set of four violin concertos composed by Vivaldi c. 1720
Concerto No. 1 in E major, "Spring" (La primavera)
Concerto No. 2 in G minor, "Summer" (L'estate)
Concerto No. 3 in F major, "Autumn" (L'autunno)
Concerto No. 4 in F minor, "Winter" (L'inverno)
Vivaldi wrote 46 operas. First opera Ottone in villa
L’Olimpiade (The Olympiad) is a libretto
Gloria is a setting of the hymn Gloria in excelsis Deo
Richard Wagner (1813 – 1883) was born in Leipzig. His first marriage was to Minna Planer. Wagner married Liszt’s daughter, Cosima, who was previously married to Hans von Bulow. Wagner was anti-Semitic. Hitler was obsessed with his operas. King Ludwig II of Bavaria was a patron of Wagner
Wagner’s works are indexed with WWV numbers, initialism for Wagner Werke Verzeichnis (Wagner Works Catalogue)
Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) is a four-opera cycle. Wagner wrote the libretto and music over the course of about twenty-six years, from 1848 to 1874. Although individual operas of the sequence are sometimes performed separately, Wagner intended them to be performed in series. The first performance as a cycle opened the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876. The complete Rimg cycle lasts 17 hours
Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold) In the depths of the Rhine, the three Rhinemaidens guard the Rhinegold, a treasure of immeasurable value. The Nibelung dwarf Alberich is dazzled by the sight of it. The girls explain that whoever wins the gold and forges it into a ring will gain power over the world, but must first renounce love. Frustrated by his unsuccessful attempts to catch one of the girls, Alberich curses love and steals the gold
Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) Siegmund and Sieglinde have an incestuous relationship. Seigmund is killed by Hunding. Sieglinde has a child, Siegfried
Die Walkure – best-known excerpt is the Ride of the Valkyries
Siegfried – Siegfried, brought up by Mime, kills the dragon Fafner with the sword Nothung
Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) Siegfried is killed by Hagen, a Nibelung. Brunhilde rides her horse into Siegfried’s funeral pyre in Gotterdammerung. It ends with a fire and a flood
Brunhilde is Wotan’s daughter. Fricka is Wotan’s wife. Tarnhelm is a magic helmet in Der Ring des Nibelungen. It is used as a cloak of invisibility by Alberich in Das Rheingold. It also allows one to change one's form
Tannhauser is an opera based on a knight and poet who goes to Rome to ask pope Urban IV to be absolved of his sins, after he falls under the spell of Venus and goes to live in her realm, Venusberg
Pilgrim’s Chorus is from Tannhauser
Tannhauser is one of the most frequently performed work at The Proms
Parsifal was the last completed opera by Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival (Percival) and his quest for the Holy Grail
Lohengrin is the story of a knight of the Holy Grail coming to the rescue of a falsely accused maiden – riding on a swan
Bridal Chorus (Here Comes the Bride) – from Lohengrin
Tristan and Isolde – Isolde, wife of King Mark of Cornwall, and Tristan, Mark’s champion and friend, fall hopelessly in love
Tristan chord – heard in the opening phrase of Tristan and Isolde as part of the leitmotif relating to Tristan
Liebestod (Love-Death) is the final music in Tristan and Isolde. Isolde sings over Tristan's dead body
Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (The Master-Singers of Nuremberg) takes four and a half hours to perform. The cobbler-poet Hans Sachs, is based on a historical figure, Hans Sachs, the most famous of the master-singers
'Der fliegende Hollander' (The Flying Dutchman) is based on the legend of a Dutch sea captain who pledges to round the Cape of Good Hope. He is doomed to sail for ever, until Senta, the daughter of Daland, sacrifices herself to release him from the curse
Rienzi is based on an Edward Bulwer-Lytton novel. Rienzi is an Italian medieval politician and popular leader, who styled himself as "tribune of the Roman people"
Emile Waldteufel (1837 – 1915) was born in Strasbourg
Les Patineurs Valse (The Skaters’ Waltz) is Waldteufel's best-known work
William Walton (1902 – 1983) was born in Oldham. Died on the island of Ischia
Belshazzar’s Feast is a cantata Osbert Sitwell selected the text from the Bible
Crown Imperial was performed at the coronation of King George VI in 1937. At the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, the march was also used (along with a further Coronation March written by Walton, Orb and Sceptre)
Façade is a series of poems by Edith Sitwell, in which the poems are recited over an instrumental accompaniment by William Walton
Troilus and Cressida is the only full-length opera by Walton
Scores for Shakespeare films including Henry V, Hamlet and Richard III
Score for Battle of Britain
Spitfire Prelude and Fugue was arranged and extracted in 1942 from music he had written for the motion picture The First of the Few
Carl Maria von Weber (1786 – 1826) was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school. Weber's works, especially his operas, greatly influenced the development of the Romantic opera in Germany
Der Freischutz (The Marksman) is considered the first German Romantic opera
Euryanthe is based on a13th-century French romance
Oberon, or The Elf King's Oath is Weber's only English opera
Invitation to the Dance is a piano piece orchestrated by Hector Berlioz
Anton Webern (1883 – 1945) was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique
Kurt Weill (1900 – 1950) was a German composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht. Married to Lotte Lenya
The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht was adapted from an 18th century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and offers a Socialist critique of the capitalist world. Includes the song Mack the Knife
Judith Weir (born 1954) was appointed as the first female Master of the Queen’s Music in 2014
A Night at the Chinese Opera is Weir's first full-scale opera
Charles-Marie Widor (1844 – 1937) was a French compser. Wrote ten organ symphonies
Symphony for Organ No. 5 was composed by in 1879. The fifth movement is often referred to as just Widor's Toccata, which is often played as a recessional at wedding ceremonies
Iannis Xenakis (1922 – 2001) was a Greek-French composer, born in Romania. He pioneered the use of mathematical models in music.
Metastaseis is an orchestral work that introduced independent parts for every musician of the orchestra
Domenico Zipoli (1688 – 1726) was an Italian Baroque composer. He became a Jesuit in order to work in the Reductions of Paraguay. He is remembered as the most accomplished musician among Jesuit missionaries
Groups of composers
The Five or The Mighty Five was the loose collection of five Russian composers in St Petersburg. Known in Russian as The Mighty Handful, the group label was applied in 1867 by the critic Vladimir Stasov. The group had the aim of producing a specifically Russian kind of art music, rather than one that imitated older European music or relied on European-style conservatory training. The formation of the group began in 1856, with the first meeting of Mily Balakirev and Cesar Cui; Modest Mussorgsky joined them in 1857, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1861, and Alexander Borodin in 1862
Les Six is a name, inspired by The Five, given in 1923 by critic Henri Collet to a group of six composers working in Montparnasse whose music is often seen as a reaction against the musical style of Richard Wagner and impressionist music. The members were: Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, and Germaine Tailleferre
Belyayev circle was a society of Russian musicians who met in Saint Petersburg between 1885 and 1908, and whose members included Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov. The circle was named after Mitrofan Belyayev, a timber merchant and amateur musician who became a music philanthropist and publisher
Darmstadt School refers to a loose group of compositional styles created by composers who attended the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music from the early 1950s to the early 1960s. Coined by Luigi Nono, Darmstadt School describes the uncompromisingly serial music written by composers such as Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen
