Entertainment/Composers

Giselle – ballet by Adolphe Adam (1803 – 1856). Characters include Duke Albrecht of Silesia, Hilarion and Bathilde. Giselle is a peasant girl who dies of a broken heart

Little Women (1998) is the first opera composed by American composer Mark Adamo (born 1962)

Nixon in China is an opera with music by the American composer John Adams (born 1947), about the visit of Richard Nixon to China in 1972

Doctor Atomic Symphony – John Adams opera about Robert Oppenheimer

The Death of Klinghoffer – John Adams. The opera is 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 – Isaac Albeniz

Adagio in G minor for violin, strings and organ – Tomaso Albinoni (1671 – 1751)

Miserere, (full title: Miserere mei, Deus, Latin for ‘Have mercy on me, O God’) by Italian composer Gregorio Allegri (1582 – 1652), 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

Ballet Mecanique – American avant-garde composer, pianist, author and inventor George Antheil (1900 – 1959). 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

Jacques Arcadelt (1507 – 1568) was one of the most famous of the early composers of madrigals

Rule, Britannia! originated from the poem by James Thomson, and was set to music by Thomas Arne (1710 – 1778) in 1740

Malcolm Arnold (1921 – 2006) composed nine symphonies and a number of film scores including The Bridge on the River Kwai

English Dances – Malcolm Arnold. Used as the theme tune to What the Papers Say

La muette de Portici (The Mute Girl of Portici) is an 1829 opera in five acts by Daniel Auber (1782 – 1871). 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) works include the Brandenburg concertos (six); the Goldberg Variations (30 variations for harpsichord); the English Suites, French Suites, Partitas, and Well-Tempered Clavier; the Mass in B Minor; The Art of Fugue; the sonatas and partitas for violin solo; the cello suites; more than 200 cantatas; and a similar number of organ works

Brandenburg concertos dedicated to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg

St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion – Bach

St Luke Passion, St Mark Passion – Bach

Well-Tempered Clavier is known as ‘The Forty-Eight’

Italian concerto, Christmas Oratorio – Bach

A Musical Offering, Bach. Offering to Frederick the Great of Prussia

Where Sheep May Safely Graze – cantata by Bach

Coffee Cantata – Bach

Sleepers Wake – church cantata by Bach

JS 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

Air on a G String – part of Suite for Orchestra No. 3

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring – Bach

Toccata and Fugue – Bach. Played on the organ

Bach 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’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 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”

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 best known for Adagio for Strings

Agnes Dei – Barber. Reworking of Adagio for Strings

Operas by Barber – Vanessa, Hand of Bridge, Antony and Cleopatra

Bela Bartok (1881 – 1945) was a Hungarian composer. Composed Bluebeard’s Castle

Judith – Duke Bluebeard’s wife

Mikrokosmos – Bartok. 153 progressive piano pieces

The Wooden Prince, The Miraculous Mandarin – ballets written by Bela Bartok

The Miraculous Mandarin – Bartok

Bartok’s anti-fascist political views caused him a great deal of trouble with the establishment in Hungary

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

“From today, everything is different” – Beethoven, when Eroica was first performed

Eroica – Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3. Originally dedicated to Napoleon, but in 1804 Napoleon declared himself Emperor, and Beethoven felt betrayed

The second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, a funeral march, is frequently performed on memorial occasions

Symphony No. 5 and Symphony No. 6 premiered together in Vienna in 1808. Both dedicated to Prince Lobkowitz

Pastoral – Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6. 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

Pastoral Symphony contains bird songs

The second movement, Allegretto, was the most popular movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7

Beethoven referred to Symphony No. 8 as “my little symphony in F”. There is a widespread belief that the second movement is an affectionate parody of the metronome

Choral – Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9

The fourth movement of the Ninth Symphony features an elaborate choral setting of Schiller's Ode An die Freude (Ode to Joy)

Pathetique – Piano Sonata No. 8. Dedicated to Prince Karl von Lichnowsky

Moonlight Sonata – Piano Sonata No. 14. Named by German poet Ludwig Rellstab

Hammerklavier – Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 29

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 – Beethoven. 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. Leading characters are Leonora and Florestan. Set in a prison

Prisoner’s Chorus – from Fidelio

Appassionata – Piano Sonata No. 23 by Beethoven

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 – Beethoven. Dedicated to Archduke Rudolf of Austria

Piano Concerto No. 5 by Beethoven, popularly known as the Emperor Concerto, was his 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 – Beethoven

Waldstein Sonata – Beethoven

Rasumovsky string quartets – Beethoven

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 – Bellini. 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

I Puritani – Bellini. Set during the English Civil War

Jack the Ripper is in the unfinished opera Lulu by Alban Berg (1885 – 1935)

Wozzeck – opera by Alban Berg 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, best known for his compositions Symphonie Fantastique (Fantastic Symphony): An Episode in the Life of an Artist, in Five Parts (first performed in 1830) and Grande Messe des Morts (Requiem). Berlioz made great contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation

Benvenuto Cellini – Berlioz

Beatrice and Benedict – Berlioz, based on Much Ado about Nothing

The Capture of Troy, The Trojans at Carthage – two halves of Les Troyens, Berlioz. Based on Virgil’s Aeneid

Harold en Italie – Berlioz

Paganini encouraged Berlioz to write Harold in Italy

The Damnation of Faust – Berlioz. Includes 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

Romeo and Juliet symphony – Berlioz

Roman Carnival – Berlioz

L’Enfance du Christ – oratorio by Berlioz

Le Corsaire – Berlioz. Inspired by Byron’s poem The Corsair

Hector Berlioz was the first to use the term ‘choral symphony’ for a musical composition—his Romeo et Juliette

Berlioz married actress Harriet Smithson

Leonard Bernstein (1918 – 1990) was an American composer and conductor

Jeremiah, Kaddish – symphonies by Bernstein

Candide (1956) is a comic operetta by Leonard Bernstein, 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

Punch and Judy, The Mask of Orpheus – Harrison Birtwhistle (born 1934)

Birtwshistle was born in Accrington

The Minotaur – opera by Harrison Birtwhistle

Harrison Birtwistle 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

Georges Bizet (1838 – 1875) is best known for his opera Carmen. Based on the story of the same title by Prosper Merimee. Set in a cigarette factory

Habanera, Toreador song – from Carmen

Carmen is stabbed to death by her lover Don Jose

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

Escamillo – toreador in Carmen

The Pearl Fishers – Bizet. 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 by Georges Bizet, after the novel by Sir Walter Scott

L’Arlesienne (The Girl from Arles) – Bizet. Includes Carillon and Farandole

Petit suite d’orchestre – Bizet

Arthur Bliss (1891 – 1975) composed Colour Symphony, Checkmate, Miracle in the Gorbals

In 1950, Bliss was knighted. After the death of Sir Arnold Bax he was appointed Master of the Queen's Music in 1953

Luigi Boccherini (1743 – 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist whose music retained a courtly and galante style. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet from his String Quintet in E major, and the Cello Concerto in B flat major. Influenced by Haydn

Alexander Borodin (1833 – 1887) was a Russian who made his living as a chemist. He is best known for his symphonies, his opera Prince Igor, and for later providing the musical inspiration for the musical Kismet in a string quartet

Polovtsian Dances – 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 – Borodin

Prince Igor was left unfinished upon Borodin’s death and was edited and completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov

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

The Hammer without a Master – Pierre Boulez

Boulez said “the world's opera houses should be burned down”

German requiem – Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)

Brahms wrote four symphonies

Brahm’s 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

Brahms wrote 21 Hungarian Dances

The St. Anthony Choral – Brahms

Wiegenlied (Cradle Song) – Brahms

Sir Roger de Coverley – Frank Bridge (1879 – 1941). Sir Roger de Coverley was always the last dance to be played at country house balls

The Sea – Frank Bridge

War Requiem – written by Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976), 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 – 20th century English chamber opera composed by Benjamin Britten 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 – Britten (1946), was composed 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 by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the Peter Grimes section of George Crabbe's poem The Borough

Peter Grimes – story of a misfit fisherman set in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. First British opera since Henry Purcell

Death in Venice – Benjamin Britten’s 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 – Britten. Book and lyrics by WH Auden

Let’s Make an Opera – Britten

Billy Budd is an opera by Benjamin Britten, 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

Albert Herring, The Rape of Lucretia, Noah’s Flood – Britten

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – opera by Britten

Gloriana – Britten. 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 – Britten

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 – Britten

Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo – Benjamin Britten

Britten and Peter Pears lived in USA from 1939 to 1942

Benjamin Britten was the first British composer to be made a life peer, in 1976

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

Anton Bruckner (1824 – 1896) was an Austrian who composed nine monumental symphonies

Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3 is dedicated to Wagner

Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 is the most popular

Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 was unfinished

Symphony in D minor composed by Bruckner was not assigned a number by its composer, and is known as Symphony No. 0

Bruckner played the organ

The Banks of Green Willow – George Butterworth (1885 – 1916)

Song settings of A. E. Housman's poems from A Shropshire Lad – George Butterworth

The Triumphs of Oriana – William Byrd (1540 – 1623)

Byrd 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

4’33” is a three-movement composition by John Cage (1912–1992). It was 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 – John Cage

Organ²/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible) – John Cage. 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

Songs of the Auvergne is a collection of orchestrated folksongs by Joseph Canteloube (1879 – 1957)

Switched-On Bach by Wendy Carlos (born 1939) played a key role in popularizing classical music performed on electronic synthesizers

La Wally is a four-act opera by Alfredo Catalani (1854 – 1893). Wally is a young girl who refuses to marry the man her father has chosen for her. Theme music to A Single Man

L’Ormindo, La Calisto – operas by Francesco Cavalli (1602 – 1676)

Le Roi malge lui, Suite Pastorale, Joyeuse Marche – Emmanuel Chabrier (1841 – 1894)

Gwendoline – opera by Chabrier

Espana – Chabrier

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

Revolutionary Etude, Minute Waltz, Funeral March – Chopin

The Raindrop – prelude by Chopin

Les Sylphides is a short ballet. Its original choreography was by Michel Fokine, with music by Frederic Chopin

Chopin wrote 21 nocturnes, 16 polonaises, 24 preludes, and 52 mazurkas

Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante – Chopin

Fantaisie-inpromptu – Chopin

Chopin’s heart is preserved in cognac, in a church in Warsaw

Trumpet Voluntary – written by Jeremiah Clarke (1674 – 1707), NOT Henry Purcell

Trumpet Voluntary – correct title is Prince of Denmark’s March

London suite by Eric Coates (1886 – 1957) consists of three movements: I. Covent Garden (Tarentelle), II. Westminster (Meditation), III. 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. Coates is also well known for his contribution to the film score for The Dam Busters

Billy the Kid – ballet by Aaron Copland (1900 – 1990)

Rodeo, Appalachian Spring – ballets by Copland

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)

Fanfare for the Common Man – Copland. Used in his Symphony No. 3

Quiet City – Copland. Musical picture of early morning in lower Manhattan

Copland was teacher to Leonard Bernstein, and they became close friends

Twelve concerti grossi are a collection of twelve concerti written by Arcangelo Corelli (1653 – 1713). He is referred to frequently in the novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Bernhard Crusell (1775 – 1838) was a Swedish-Finnish clarinetist, 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

The Cuckoo – Louis-Claude Daquin (1694 – 1772). Written for the harpsichord

Eight Songs for a Mad King – Peter Maxwell Davies (born 1934). Based on words of George III

In 2004 Peter Maxwell Davies was made Master of the Queen's Music

Claire de Lune – Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918)

Clair de Lune is the third movement of the Suite bergamasque. Its name comes from Paul Verlaine's poem of the same name

Compositions by Debussy are categorized by L (Lesure) number

Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faun – Debussy. Based on a poem by Mallarme

The Snow is Dancing – from Children’s’ Corner Suite by Debussy

Clouds, Festivals, Sirens – nocturnes by Debussy

Petite Suite, Arabesque, La Mer, Dialogue du Vent et de la Mer – Debussy

Pelleas et Melisande – Debussy’s only finished opera

The Girl with the Flaxen Hair – Debussy

Estampes – piano pieces by Debussy. Includes Pagodas, La Soire dans Grenade and Jardins sous la Pluie

Debussy had a daughter known as Chou-Chou

Music for BA adverts – Flower Duet from Lakme, by Leo Delibes (1836 – 1891). Lakme is the daughter of a Brahman. Flower Duet is sung by Lakme and her maidservant Mallika

Bell Song – in Lakme

The Girl with Enamel Eyes – alternative title for Coppelia, by Delibes

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

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

On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring – Delius

In a Summer Garden, The Magic Fountain – Delius

La Calinda – from Delius’s opera Koanga

Florida Suite – Delius, who moved to Florida in 1884

Three Small Tone Poems – Delius

Thomas Beecham was Delius’s greatest champion

Brigg Fair – Delius. Inspired by a music festival in Brigg, Lincs

A Village Romeo and Juliet – Delius. Lovers are Sali and Vreli, who are warned by the Dark Fiddler

Anna Bolena, Don Pasquale, Lucia di Lammermoor, Lucrezia Borgia, Don Sebastien – Gaetano Donizetti (1797 – 1848), who was born in poverty in Bergamo

L’Elisir d’amore (Potion of love) – Donizetti. Bittersweet story of lovesick Nemorino and cold-hearted Adina

Una furtiva lagrima (a secret tear) – aria in L’Elisir d’amore

La Fille du Regiment – Donizetti

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 – Donizetti. Drama about the down of Mary Queen of Scots

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

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Paul Dukas (1865 – 1935). Born in Paris

Antonin Dvorak (1841 – 1904) was born in Czechoslovakia

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

Dvorak’s Symphony No. 1 is subtitled The Bells of Zlonice

Rusalka – opera by Dvorak. 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 composed by Antonín Dvorak

Dvorak wrote eight Humoresques

Carnival Overture – Dvorak

Dvorak was director of the National Conservatory of Music of America from 1891 to 1895

Dvorak had nine children, three of whom died in infancy

I Giorno, Divenire – Ludovico Einaudi (born 1955)

Edward Elgar (1857 – 1934) was born in Lower Broadneath, near Worcester

Nursery Suite – Edward Elgar

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 ‘***’

Elgar dedicated Enigma Variations to his “friends pictured within”

Chanson de Nuit, Chansons de Matin – Elgar

The Dream of Gerontius – Elgar, based on a poem by Cardinal Newman

Land of Hope and Glory – also known as Pomp and Circumstance. Music by Elgar, words by AC Benson

There are five Pomp and Circumstance marches – Land of Hope and Glory is No. 1

Coronation Ode – Elgar. It was written for the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1902

Coronation March – Elgar. Written for the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary in 1911

Sea Pictures – a song cycle by Elgar

Salut d’amour (Love’s Greeting) – Elgar

Serenade for Strings – Elgar

The Wand of Youth suite – Elgar

Sospiri – Elgar

Elegy for Strings – Elgar. Dedicated to R.H. Haddon

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

Manuel de Falla (1876 – 1946) was a Spanish composer. Works include The Three-Cornered Hat and Nights in the Gardens of Spain

The Three-Cornered Hat – the story – a magistrate infatuated with a miller's faithful wife attempts to seduce her – derives from the novella by Pedro Antonio de Alarcon

Spanish Dance, Ritual Fire Dance – Manuel de Falla

La vida breve (Life is Short) – Manuel de Falla

Pavane – Gabriel Faure (1845 – 1924)

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 – Faure

Masques et bergamasques, Apres un reve, Elegie – Faure

Dolly Suite – Faure

Faure served in the Franco-Prussian War

Morton Feldman (1926 – 1987) was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers

Rothko Chapel (1971), written for the building of the same name – Morton Feldman

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. Best known works – Symphony in D minor, the Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra, the Prelude, Chorale and Fugue for piano solo and the symphonic poem Le Chasseur maudit

The Vagabond King, Rose-Marie – Rudolf Friml (1879 – 1972)

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

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) composed 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 by Edward German to a libretto by Basil Hood

Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin (1898 – 1937), libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was 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 – from Porgy and Bess, casts doubt on literal truth of Bible

Summertime, Oh I Got Plenty of Nothing – from Porgy and Bess

Philip Glass (born 1937) is a minimalist composer. Operas – Galileo Galilei, Kepler

Satyagraha, based loosely on the life of Gandhi, forms the second part of Glass's ‘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 inspired Philip Glass’s opera Einstein on the Beach

Low, Heroes – symphonies by Philip Glass

Waiting for the Barbarians – Philip Glass. Based on a book by JM Coetzee

The Perfect American – Philip Glass. About 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 by Glazunov

The Red Poppy Suite – Reinhold Gliere (1875 – 1956). First heroic Soviet ballet

A Life for the Czar, Ruslan and Lyudmila – operas by Mikhail Glinka (1804 – 1857)

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

Glinka was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition within his own country

Orfeo ed Euridice (Orpheus and Eurydice) is an opera composed by Christoph Gluck (1714 – 1787) based on the myth of Orpheus. Gluck was born in Bavaria

Iphigenie en Tauride – opera by Gluck. 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) – Gorecki

Copernican symphony – Gorecki

Charles Gounod (1818 – 1893) was a French composer, best known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Romeo et Juliette

Soldier’s Chorus – from Faust

Faust sells his soul to Mephistopheles, the Devil, in returm for his youth. He is persuaded to do so on seeing a vision of a beautiful young woman, Marguerite, at a spinning wheel

Funeral March of a Marionette (1872) – Gounod, well-known for being the theme music to the TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

Saint Cecilia Mass – Gounod

Brigg Fair, Sentimentals, Country Gardens, Molly on the Shore – Percy Grainger (1882 – 1961). Percy Grainger was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist

Goyescas is a piano suite written by Spanish composer Enrique Granados (1867 – 1916). This piano suite is 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. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his 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), and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces

Holberg Suite – Grieg. Composed to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Danish-Norwegian playwright

March of the Trolls – Grieg

In Autumn, Homage March, Two Elegiac Melodies – Grieg

Wedding Day at Troldhaugen – Grieg

Five Elizabethan Songs – Ivor Gurney (1890 – 1937), who suffered shell shock after World War I

George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759) was a German-born British Baroque composer

Water Music is a collection of orchestral movements, often considered as three suites, composed by Handel. It premiered in the summer on 17 July 1717 when King George I requested a concert on the River Thames

Zadok the Priest – composed for coronation of George II in 1727. Coronation Anthem No 4. Theme music for Uefa Champions League

Music for the Royal Fireworks – Handel, celebrated treaty of Aix La Chapelle (1748, ending the war of Austrian succession). First performed in 1749 in Green Park for George II

Rinaldo, Rodrigo, Rodelinda, Partenope, Agrippina – operas by Handel

Rinaldo was composed in 1711. It is the first Italian language opera written specifically for the London stage

Thine be the Glory – Handel

Acis and Galatea – Handel.The work is set to a libretto by John Gay which is based on Ovid's Metamorphoses

Handel’s 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

Semele, Tamerlano – operas by Handel

Ode for St Cecilia’s Day – Handel

Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Julius Caesar in Egypt) is an Italian opera in three acts written for the Royal Academy of Music by Handel in 1724

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 by Handel

Israel in Egypt – biblical oratorio by Handel

Alexander's Feast is an ode with music by Handel

Judas Maccabaeus – oratorio composed by Handel. The oratorio was 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 Handel's Suite No. 5, for harpsichord

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)

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

Haydn wrote 74 string quartets

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

Le Matin (No. 6), Le Midi (No. 7), Le Soir (No. 8) – symphonies composed by Haydn

Symphony No. 98 is the sixth of the so-called twelve London Symphonies (numbers 93 to 104). It has a variation on National Anthem

Paris symphonies – six symphonies composed by Haydn

Farewell (No. 45), Palindrome (No. 47), Imperial (No. 53), Oxford (No. 92), Surprise (No. 94), The Miracle (No. 96), Military (No. 100), Clock (No. 101), Drumroll (No. 103), Philosopher, Mercury, Echo, The Bear, The Hen – symphonies by Haydn

London – Haydn’s last symphony, No. 104

Farewell 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

Surprise has a sudden, unexpected chord

The Creation – oratorio by Haydn depicting and celebrating the creation of the world as described in the biblical Book of Genesis and in Paradise Lost

Trumpet Concerto – Haydn

The Hoboken-Verzeichnis is the catalogue of over 750 works by Joseph Haydn as compiled by Anthony van Hoboken

German national anthem (Emperor Hymn) was written by Joseph 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

St Paul’s Suite – Holst

The Cotswolds – symphony by Holst

World in Union, I Vow to Thee my Country – from Jupiter in The Planets

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

Holst’s daughter Imogen was a composer and conductor

Arthur Honegger (1892 – 1955) was a Swiss composer, who was born in France. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive

Joan of Arc at the Stake – oratorio by Honegger

Engelbert Humperdinck (1854 – 1921) was a German composer, best known for his opera Hansel und Gretel

A Downland Suite – John Ireland (1879 – 1962). Wrote the film score for The Overlanders

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 – Charles Ives

Universe Symphony – unfinished work by Charles Ives

Holiday Symphony, Three Places in New England – Charles Ives

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

Sinfonietta, The Cunning Little Vixen, Taras Bulba (based on the novel by Gogol) – Janacek

Jenufa – opera by Janacek

Katya Kabanova – Janacek

String Quartet No. 1, subtitled Kreutzer Sonata – Janacek

The Makropulos Affair – Janacek. Adapted from a play by Karel Capek

The Armed Man is the name of a Mass by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins (born 1944), 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

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

In A Monastery Garden –Albert Ketelbey. He is frequently quoted as becoming Britain's first millionaire composer

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 Khachaturian's ballet Gayane, completed in 1942. It evokes a whirling war dance

Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from the ballet Spartacus by Khachaturian was used as the theme music to The Onedin Line

Masquerade – Khachaturian. Based on a play by Mikhail Lermontov

The Merry Widow – Franz Lehar (1870 – 1948). The widow is Hanna Glawari, who wishes to marry Count Danilo of Pontevedro

Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857 – 1919) is best known for his two-act work Pagliacci

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

La Boheme – Leoncavallo

La Grand Macabre – opera by Gyorgy Ligeti (1923 – 2006). Born in Hungary

Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886) was born in Hungary. Composed 12 Transcendental Etudes

Liszt wrote 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies

Liebestraume or Dreams of Love – Liszt

Dante – symphony by Liszt

Faust – symphony by Liszt. Dedicated to Berlioz

Liszt conducted world premiere of Lohengrin, composed by Wagner, his future son-in-law

Liszt was the greatest pianist of his day. Wrote symphonic poems in Weimar

Liszt wrote six Consolations

Liszt’s works are catalogued by S or G numbers, derived from the catalogue compiled by Humphrey Searle

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. Works include Armide, Alceste and Phaeton. 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

Le Bourgeois gentilhomme – Lully. Based on the play of the same name by Moliere

Champagne Galop, Copenhagen Steam Train Galop – Hans Christian Lumbye (1810 – 1894). Known as “The Strauss of the North” or “The Waltz King of the North”. Born in Denmark

The Land of the Mountain and the Flood – Hamish MacCunn (1868 – 1916)

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) Symphony No. 1 – Titan, Symphony No. 2 Resurrection, Symphony No. 7 Song of the Night, Symphony No. 8 Symphony of 1000

Mahler was Jewish, but converted to Catholicism to become musical director of the Vienna Court Opera. Born in Bohemia. Married Alma Schlinder

Symphony No. 1 was originally in five movements, but the movement known as Blumine (Flower Blossoms) was discarded

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

Mahler’s Symphony No. 10 was unfinished

The Song of the Earth – Mahler

Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children) is a song cycle for voice and orchestra by Gustav Mahler

Mahler was one of the leading conductors of his generation, and was director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra

Pietro Mascagni (1863 – 1945) – since 1893, Cavalleria Rusticana (Rustic Chivalry) 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

Mascagni was a rival of Puccini

Jules Massenet (1842 – 1912) – Thais is an opera set in Egypt in the early days of Christianity. Thais is a dancer and courtesan

Manon – opera based on a novel by Abbe Prevost (Manon Lescaut)

Werther – opera by Jules Massenet

Le Cid – opera by Jules Massenet

Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847) wrote the concert overture The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) in 1830

The incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream, including the well-known Wedding March, was written in 1843

Mendelssohn’s Scottish symphony was dedicated to Queen Victoria

Italian – Symphony No. 4 by Mendelssohn

Symphony No. 5, called the Reformation Symphony, was composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1832 in honor of the 300th anniversary of Martin Luther’s Augsburg Confession which had established the founding doctrines of Lutheranism

Songs Without Words – 48 piano pieces by Mendelssohn. Include Spring Song

Camacho’s Wedding – Mendelssohn’s only opera

Elijah, Saint Paul – oratorios by Mendelssohn

Hear My Prayer is a Christian anthem for soprano solo, chorus and organ or orchestra composed by Felix Mendelssohn

Fanny Mendelssohn – sister of Felix, was a pianist and composer

Gian Carlo Menotti (1911 – 2007) – Amahl and the Night Visitors was first performed on Christmas Day, 1951. Based on 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

Robert le diable, Les Huguenots, Le Prophete – Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791 – 1864)

Meyerbeer was a German opera composer of Jewish birth who has been described as perhaps the most successful stage composer of the nineteenth century

Scaramouche, Le boeuf sur le toit, La creation du monde – Darius Milhaud (1892 – 1974). Friend of Jean Cocteau. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality. Member of Les Six

Coronation of Poppea, The Return of Ulysses – Claudio Monteverdi (1567 – 1643)

Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period

L’Orfeo (1607), L’Arianna (1608) – operas by Monteverdi

Monteverdi wrote many madrigals and vespers

Csardas is a composition by Italian composer Vittorio Monti (1868 – 1922). 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

Mozart’s father, Leopold, was a gifted composer and violin teacher

Mozart wrote his first symphony aged eight

Mozart wrote the opera Mitridate, re di Ponto at the age of 14

Cosi fan tutte – Mozart. Two soldiers (Guglielmo and Ferrando) disguise themselves as Albanians to test the fidelity of their lovers (Fiordiligi and Dorabella). The title literally means ‘Thus do all [women]’ but it is often rendered as ‘Women are like that’

Don Alfonso – philosopher in Cosi fan tutte who makes a bet that all women are fickle

Idomeneo, Apollo et Hyacinthus, Don Juan – Mozart

Idomeneo is a Cretan king. Set shortly after the Trojan War

Haydn Quartets – written by Mozart, who was a friend of Haydn

Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) is Mozart’s last opera

The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 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

The Magic Flute – Tamino rescues Pamina, the daughter of the Queen of the Night, from the High Priest

Papageno – bird-catcher in The Magic Flute

Der Holle Rache – Queen of the Night’s aria in The Magic Flute

The Clemency of Titus – last opera by Mozart

Paris (No 31), Haffner (No 35), Linz (No 36), Prague (No 38) – symphonies by Mozart

Jupiter – Mozart’s last symphony (No. 41)

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star – Mozart

The Impresario – comic opera by Mozart

Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) is an opera buffa (comic opera) composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, 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– concludes with the title character being dragged into hell by the statue of the Commendatore

Don Giovanni (Don Juan in Spanish) is subtitled ‘The Rake Punished’

Leporello – Don Giovanni’s manservant

Champagne Aria – in Don Giovanni

La ci darem la mano (Italian for ‘There we will give each other our hands’) is a duet for the characters Don Giovanni (baritone) and Zerlina (soprano) in Don Giovanni

The Abduction from the Seraglio – Mozart opera set in Ottoman Empire

Mozart’s Requiem was his last composition (K626) and was completed after his death by Franz Sussmayr

Clarinet Concerto, Horn Concerto – Mozart

Solemn Vespers – Mozart

Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music) – Mozart

Mozart’s 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

Divertimento – Mozart

Salzburg Symphonies – Mozart. Example of divertimento

Exultate, jubilate – Mozart

Mozart wrote concertos for almost every instrument

Constanze Weber – wife of Mozart

In 1770, Mozart received the Order of the Golden Spur from Pope Clement XIV in Rome

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

Mozart’s works are categorized by K numbers, after Ludwig Kochel

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

Lorenzo Da Ponte wrote the librettos to three Mozart operas, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte

The Seasons, Turbulent Landscapes, Simon Bolivar – Thea Musgrave (born1928), female Scottish composer who has lived in the United States since 1972

Boris Gudonov – Modest Mussorgsky (1839 – 1881). Based on the drama by Pushkin. Gudonov was a Tsar of Russia

Night on a Bald (Bare) Mountain – Mussorgsky

Night on a Bald Mountain – inspired by a witch in the Gogol story St John’s Eve

Pictures at an Exhibition – Mussorgsky. Inspired by an exhibition by artist Victor Hartman. Includes The Old Castle, The Gnome, and The Hut on Fowl’s Legs (Baba Yaga). Linked by a theme called Promenade

The Great Gate of Kiev – last movement of Pictures at an Exhibition

Khovanshchina – Mussorgsky

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. Inextinguishable – Symphony No. 4, organ work Commotio, opera Saul and David, comic opera Masquerade

Carl Nielsen wrote six symphonies. Born on the island of Funen

Otto Nicolai (1810 – 1849) was a German composer, conductor, and founder of the Vienna Philharmonic. Nicolai is best known for his operatic version of Shakespeare's comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat – opera by Michael Nyman (born 1944)

Michael Nyman is an English composer of minimalist music, and is known for numerous film scores (many written during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway), and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to The Piano

Orpheus in the Underworld – Jacques Offenbach (1819 – 1880)

The Galop from Jacques Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld is the tune most associated with the can-can

La Belle Helene – Offenbach

The Tales of Hoffmann – Offenbach. The Barcarolle, Belle nuit, o nuit d'amour is the opera's most famous number

La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein – Offenbach

In addition to his career as a composer, Carl Orff (1895 – 1982) developed an influential approach of music education for children

The chorus O fortuna (O fate) forms the opening to Carmina Burana, Carl Orff’s epic based on a medieval collection of bawdy songs

Canon in D major – Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706). German composer, organist, and teacher

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

Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848 – 1918) is best known for Jerusalem, the coronation anthem I was Glad and the hymn tune Repton which sets the words “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind”

Cambridge, English – symphonies by Parry

“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

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, Tabula Rasa – Arvo Part

Krzysztof Penderecki (born 1933) is Poland’s greatest living composer

Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, St. Luke Passion, Polish Requiem, Anaklasis – Penderecki

Daphne – Jacopo Peri (1561 – 1633) 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

Dance of the Hours is a ballet from the opera La Gioconda composed by Amilcare Ponchielli (1834 – 1886)

Estrellita is the best known work of Mexican composer Manuel Ponce (1882 – 1948)

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

The Embarkation for Cythera, Les Biches – Poulenc

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

In 1938, Prokofiev collaborated with the Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein on the historical epic Alexander Nevsky

Cinderella – ballet, music composed by Prokofiev

The Gambler, War and Peace – operas by Prokofiev

Peter and the Wolf – Prokofiev. Each animal represented by a different instrument. Cat – clarinet, duck – oboe, wolf – French horn, bird – flute

Lieutenant Kije – Prokofiev. 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 – Prokofiev. Concerns a king convinced his melancholic son will die if he cannot be made to laugh. Prince is cursed by Fata Morgana

Classical – symphony No. 1 by Prokofiev

Iron and Steel – symphony No. 2 by Prokofiev

Dance of the Knights – from Romeo and Juliet, by Prokofiev

Winter Bonfire – Prokofiev

Sleigh Ride – Prokofiev

Prokofiev lived in Paris from 1920 to 1933. Married Lina Llubera

Giacomo Puccini (1858 – 1924) was born in Lucca, in Tuscany

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 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, in Puccini’s opera Tosca

Tosca 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 in Madame Butterfly

Humming Chorus – in Madame Butterfly

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 the opera Gianni Schicchi

La Rondine – (The swallow) (1917) – opera in three acts by Puccini

Turandot (1924) – was unfinished at the time of Puccini's death, and was completed by Franco Alfano in 1926

Nessun Dorma (none shall sleep) is an aria from Turandot

Nessun Dorma is sung by Calaf

Ping, Pang, and Pong – courtiers in Turandot

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

Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695) King Arthur, The Fairy-Queen, Dido and Aeneas

My Heart is Inditing – Purcell. Written for the coronation of James II in 1685

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 – Purcell

Queen Mary’s Funeral Music, Ode to St Celicia – Purcell

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

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873 – 1943) Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Symphonic Dances, Piano Concerto No. 2 (used in Brief Encounter), Piano Concerto No. 3 (used in Shine)

Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 1 was so poorly received that he waited 10 years before composing Symphony No. 2

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

Aleko, The Miserly Knight, Franchesca da Rimini – operas by Rachmaninov

Rachmaninov's 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

Vespers – Rachmaninov

Les Indes galantes is an opera-ballet consisting of a prologue and four entrees (acts) by Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683 – 1764)

Castor et Pollux, Hippolyte et Aricle – Rameau

Platee – comic opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau. The plot concerns an ugly water nymph who believes that Jupiter, the king of the gods, is in love with her

Rameau 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

Bolero is a one-movement orchestral piece by Maurice Ravel (1875 – 1937). Originally composed as a ballet commissioned by Russian actress and dancer Ida Rubinstein, the piece premiered in 1928

Daphnis et Chloe by Ravel 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) – Ravel

L’Heure Espagnole, L'enfant et les sortileges (The Child and the Spells) – short operas by Ravel

Ma mere l’oye (Mother Goose) – Ravel

Miroirs – Ravel

Scheherazade – Ravel

Rapsodie Espagnole – Ravel

Tzigane – Ravel

Ravel received as honorary doctorate from Oxford University

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 by Steve Reich in 1965. It was Reich's first major work and a landmark in minimalism and process music

Radio Rewrite by Steve Reich is based on two songs by Radiohead

Ottorino Respighi (1879 – 1936) is best known for his orchestral Roman trilogy: Fountains of Rome, Pines of Rome, and Roman Festivals

The Birds – orchestral suite by Respighi

Ancient Airs and Dances, Three Botticelli Pictures – Respighi

In C – minimalist composer Terry Riley (born 1935)

The Snow Maiden – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 – 1908). 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

Scheherazade is a symphonic suite composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888. Based on One Thousand and One Nights, sometimes known as The Arabian Nights

Flight of the Bumble Bee – in The Tale of Tsar Saltan by Rimsky-Korsakov. Based on a poem by Pushkin. The Tsar marries Militrissa

The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship – Rimsky-Korsakov

Mozart and Salieri, The Golden Cockerel, The Tsar’s Bride – Rimsky-Korsakov

Russian Easter Festival Overture – Rimsky-Korsakov

Sadko – Rimsky-Korsakov. Sadko is a minstrel from Novgorod

Capriccio Espagnole – Rimsky-Korsakov

Christmas Eve – opera by Rimsky-Korsakov

Mlada – opera-ballet in four acts by Rimsky-Korsakov

Rimsky-Korsakov's editing of works by The Five are significant. This work included the completion of Alexander Borodin's opera Prince Igor

Concierto de Aranjuez is a composition for classical guitar and orchestra by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo (1901 – 1999). Written in 1939, it is probably 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

Gessler ordered William Tell to shoot the apple from his son’s head. Lived in Switzerland. Written by Friedrich Schiller. Last opera by Rossini (1829). 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) – Rossini opera

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 – Rossini

La Danza Tarantella – Rossini

Il Turco in Italia – Rossini

Armida – opera by Rossini

La Boutique fantastque – Rossini. Two dolls perform a cancan. Later arrangement by Ottorino Respighi

The Journey to Reims – Rossini. Written to celebrate the coronation of King Charles X

Sonate a quattro – Rossini

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

Melody in F Major – Rubinstein

Demon – opera by Rubinstein

The Gymnopedies are three piano compositions by Erik Satie (1866 – 1925), which were published in Paris starting in 1888

Gnossienne is the name given to several piano pieces by Erik Satie

Satie wrote the music to a ballet, Parade, with scenery and costumes designed by Picasso

Camille Saint-Saens (1835 – 1921) is known especially for his orchestral works The Carnival of the Animals, Danse Macabre, and Symphony No. 3 (Organ Symphony) which was dedicated to Liszt

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

Samson and Delilah – opera by Saint-Saens

Africa – Saint-Saens

La Princesse jaune – Saint-Saens

The Wedding Cake – Saint-Saens

Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs) is a composition for violin and orchestra written in 1878 by the Spanish composer Pablo de Sarasate (1844 – 1908). It is based on themes of the Roma people

Zapateado – Sarasate. Based on a Spanish dance

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 – Scarlatti

Moses und Aron – unfinished opera by Arnold Schoenberg (1874 – 1951), born in Vienna to an Ashkenazi Jewish family. Schoenberg moved to Los Angeles in 1934

Arnold Schoenberg 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

Pelleas und Melisande – symphonic poem by Schoenberg

Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828) Unfinished – Symphony No. 8. Composed 10 symphonies. Trout Quintet, Death and the Maiden Quartet

Rosamunde – work by Schubert. 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 by Schubert

Marche Militaire – Schubert

Moment Musical – Schubert

Schubert wrote 600 Lieder (songs)

An die musik – song by Schubert

Schubert’s works are categorized by D numbers, after Otto Deutsch

Schubert was a pupil of Salieri. Born in Austria. Possibly died of syphilis or mercury poisoning. Died aged 31. Buried in Vienna

Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856) was born in Germany. Married pianist Clara Wieck in 1840. Clara Schumann was a lifelong friend of Brahms

Papillons, Carnaval, Symphonic Etudes, Flower Piece – Schumann

Spring – Symphony No. 1 by Schumann

Rhenish – Symphony No. 3 by Schumann

Kinderscenen (Scenes from Childhood) – Schumann

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

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

Lady Macbeth of the Mtsenck District – opera by Shostakovich. 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

To October – Symphony No. 2 by Shostakovich

The First of May – Symphony No. 3 by Shostakovich

Leningrad – Symphony No. 7 by Shostakovich, 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

The Year 1905 – Symphony No. 11 by Shostakovich

The Year 1917 – Symphony No. 12 by Shostakovich

Babi Yar – Symphony No. 13 by Shostakovich

Shostakovich graduated from St Petersburg Conservatory

The Golden Age – Shostakovich, revolves around the visit of a Soviet football team to a Western city (referred to as 'U-town')

The Nose – opera by Shostakovich

The Gadfly – Shostakovich

Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti – Shostakovich

Pelleas et Melisande is a 1905 incidental music suite by Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957)

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

Finlandia was originally known as Finland Awakes

Kullervo – symphonic poem by Sibelius

Symphony No. 7 was the final published symphony of Jean 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 – Sibelius

The Swan of Tuonela – Sibelius

Valse Triste (Tragic Waltz) – Sibelius

King Christian II Suite – Sibelius

Rustle of Spring – Christian Sinding (1856 – 1941). Born in Norway and regarded as the successor to Edvard Grieg

Bedrich Smetana (1824 – 1884) was a Czech composer best known for his symphonic poem Vltava (The Moldau), the second in a cycle of six which he entitled Ma Vlast (My Country), and for his opera The Bartered Bride

Marenka – heroine in The Bartered Bride

Festive Symphony – Smetana

Smetana became deaf due to syphilis and died in a lunatic asylum

Dame Ethel Smyth (1858 – 1944) was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement

Der Wald, The Wreckers – Ethel Smyth

The Liberty Bell, Stars and Stripes Forever, Washington Post – John Philip Sousa (1854 – 1932)

El Capitan – march by Sousa, who was known as the “March King”

Sousaphone is named after American bandmaster and composer John Philip Sousa, who popularized its use in his band

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 groundbreaking work in electronic music

Helicopter Quartet – Karlheinz Stockhausen

Johann Strauss I (1804 – 1849) Radetzky March. Father of Johann Strauss II

Johann Strauss II (1825 – 1899) was 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 – Johann Strauss II

Die Fledermaus (The Bat) – Johann Strauss II. Features Gabriel von Eisenstein and his wife, Rosalinde. Dr Falke is known as ‘the bat’

Thunder and Lightning Polka – Johann Strauss II

The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief – Johann Strauss II. Includes the waltz Roses from the South

Emperor Waltz – Johann Strauss II. Written for Emperor Franz Joseph I

Tritsh-Tratsh-Polka, Pizzicato Polka – Johann Strauss II

Richard Strauss (1864 – 1949) was born in Munich. Strauss wrote a series of tone poems, including Thus Spake Zarathustra, the opening section of which is well known today for its use in Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey)

Ein Heldenleben – symphonic poem by Richard Strauss

Die Frau ohne Schatten, Elektra, Salome, Ariadne auf Naxos, Intermezzo (autobiographical) – operas by Richard Strauss

Dance of the Seven Veils – from Salome

Der Rosenkavalier (The Cavalier of the Rose) – opera by Richard Strauss. 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

Don Juan – tone poem by Richard Strauss

Alpine Symphony – tone poem by Richard Strauss

Arabella – duet for two sopranos by Richard Strauss

Capriccio – final Richard Strauss opera

Hugo von Hofmannsthal wrote libretti for several of Richard Strauss’s operas

Igor Stravinsky (1882 – 1971) 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 – riot at first performance, in Paris

The Rite of Spring is in two parts – Adoration of the Earth, and The Sacrifice

The Rake’s Progress – Stravinsky. Libretto by WH Auden

Dumbarton Oaks – Stravinsky concerto

Oedipus Rex – Stravinsky

Les noces – Stravinsky, is a dance cantata, or ballet with vocalists

Symphony of Psalms – choral symphony by Stravinsky

Stravinsky was a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov

Asrael Symphony was written by Josef Suk (1874 – 1935) in memory of his father-in-law and teacher, Antonín Dvorak, and his wife (Dvorak's daughter) Otilie Sukova

Josef Suk won the silver medal for music at the Art competitions at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles

Franz von Suppe (1819 – 1895) was an Austrian composer of light operas

Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna – overture by Suppe

Light Cavalry Overture – Suppe

The Beautiful Galatea Overture – Suppe

Johan Svendsen (1840 – 1911) was a Norwegian composer, conductor and violinist who lived most his life in Copenhagen. Close friend of Wagner

Norwegian Artists’ Carnival, Romance for Violin and Orchestra – Johan Svendsen

Germaine Tailleferre (1892 – 1983) was a French composer and the only female member of the group of composers known as Les Six

Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 – 1585) worked with William Byrd

Works by Thomas Tallis include his settings of the Lamentations (of Jeremiah the Prophet) for the Holy Week services and the unique motet Spem in alium written for eight five-voice choirs

Salvator Mundi – Thomas Tallis

Memories of the Alhambra, Gran Jota – Francisco Tarrega (1852 – 1909). Known as the “father of modern guitar playing”

The Devil’s Trill – Guiseppe Tartini (1692 – 1770). Italian Baroque composer and violinist

The Whale – John Tavener (1944 – 2013)

The Protecting Veil, Song for Athene, The Lamb – John Tavener

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893) is buried in Alexander Nevsky cemetery in St Petersburg

Swan Lake 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 noted especially for its use of the celesta as solo instrument in the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

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 Sleeping Beauty – longest work by Tchaikovsky. Princess Aurora

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

Winter Daydreams – Symphony No. 1 by Tchaikovsky

Little Russian – Symphony No. 2 by Tchaikovsky

Pathetique – Symphony No. 6 by Tchaikovsky. Composed in 1893. First performed nine days before his death. Means ‘passionate’

Maid of Orleans, The Queen of Spades, Iolanta – Tchaikovsky operas

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 – Tchaikovsky opera, based on the novel by Pushkin

Capriccio Italien – Tchaikovsky

Romeo and Juliet – Tchaikovsky

Slavonic March – Tchaikovsky

The Tempest – symphonic poem by Tchaikovsky. Based on the Shakespeare play

Hans von Bulow gave the first performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 following the refusal of Nikolay Rubinstein

Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3 was unfinished

Tchaikovsky had a brother called Modest

Tchaikovsky married Antonina Miliukova

Nadezhda von Meck – patroness of Tchaikowsky

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) composed A Child of Our Time, The Midsummer Marriage and The Ice Break

Concerto for Double String Orchestra – Tippett

Tippett was imprisoned as a conscientious objector in World War II

Ameriques – Edgard Varese (1883 – 1965). Coined the term "organized sound"

Guiseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901) was an Italian Romantic composer

Verdi had an affair with Giuseppina Strepponi

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

Moved by the death of compatriot Alessandro Manzoni, Verdi wrote the Messa da Requiem in 1874 in his honour

La traviata, by Verdi (1853), is based on the Alexander Dumas fils play The Lady of the Camellias. Violetta Valery is the heroine who dies of TB. Other characters – Alfredo (her lover) and Germont

La traviata – means ‘the woman who strayed’ or ‘the fallen one’

Libiamo ne' lieti calici (Let's drink from the joyful cups) is a duet with chorus from Verdi's La traviata

Don Carlos is a grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi (1867), 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 – Verdi (1842) , contains the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, and the conquest of the Jews by the Assyrian king Nebuchadnezzar

Simon Boccanegra – first Doge of Genoa. Opera by Verdi (1857)

Il Trovatore – Verdi (1853), contains the Anvil Chorus

Il Trovatore (the Troubadour) – Leonora falls in love with Manrico, the troubadour. Features a gypsy, Azucena. Leonora poisons herself

Macbeth, Otello – operas by Verdi

Falstaff – Verdi’s last opera

Aida is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi (1871) 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

Rigoletto – Verdi (1851). 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

Un Ballo in Maschera – Verdi

La Forza del destino – Verdi. Characters – Don Alvaro. Leonora, Marquis of Calatrava, Brother Melitone, Don Carlo

The Sicilian Vespers – opera by Verdi

Ernani is an opera by Verdi based on the play Hernani by Victor Hugo

Francesco Maria Piave was the librettist of ten Verdi operas

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

The Mountains of Brazil, Tales of the Caboclo – Heitor Villa-Lobos

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

Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons) is a set of four violin concertos composed by Vivaldi c. 1720. First concerto is Spring

Vivaldi wrote 46 operas. First opera Ottone in villa

L’Olimpiade – Vivaldi

Gloria – Vivaldi

Vivaldi’s works are categorized by RV number, named after Peter Ryom

Richard Wagner (1813 – 1883) is famous for his four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen

Wagner wrote the libretto and music over the course of about twenty-six years, from 1848 to 1874. The four operas that constitute the Ring cycle are, in sequence: Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), Siegfried, Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods)

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

Das Rheingold – 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 Walkure – best-known excerpt is the Ride of the Valkyries

Die Walkure – Siegmund and Sieglinde have an incestuous relationship. Seigmund is killed by Hunding. Sieglinde has a child, Siegfried

Siegfried – Siegfried, brought up by Mime, kills the dragon Fafner with the sword Nothung

Brunhilde is Wotan’s daughter

Fricka is Wotan’s wife

Siegfried is killed by Hagen, a Nibelung. Brunhilde rides her horse into Siegfried’s funeral pyre in Gotterdammerung

Gotterdammerung ends with a fire and a flood

Nibelung – a race of blacksmith dwarves who live underground and mine gold

Tarnhelm – 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 – 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 – from Tannhauser

Tannhauser – most frequently performed work at The Proms

Parsifal – last Wagner opera. 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 – 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

Isolde, wife of King Mark of Cornwall, and Tristan, Mark’s champion and friend, fall hopelessly in love in Tristan and Isolde

Tristan chord – heard in the opening phrase of Tristan and Isolde as part of the leitmotif relating to Tristan

Liebestod (Love-Death) – in Tristan and Isolde

Hans Sachs is immortalized in Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg

The Flying Dutchman – Wagner. 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 – Wagner

Wagner’s works are indexed with WWV numbers, initialism for Wagner Werke Verzeichnis (Wagner Works Catalogue)

King Ludwig II of Bavaria was a patron of Wagner

Wagner’s 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

The Skaters’ Waltz – Emile Waldteufel (1837 – 1915). Born in Strasbourg

William Walton (1902 – 1983) was born in Oldham. Died on the island of Ischia

Belshazzar’s Feast – oratorio by Walton

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)

Facade – William Walton, with poems by Edith Sitwell

Troilus and Cressida – opera by Walton

Walton wrote scores for Shakespeare films including Henry V, Hamlet and Richard III

Walton wrote scores for The First of the Few and Battle of Britain

Spitfire Prelude and Fugue – Walton

Carl Maria von Weber (1786 – 1826) was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school. Weber's works, especially his operas Der Freischutz, Euryanthe and Oberon greatly influenced the development of the Romantic opera in Germany

Clarinet Concerto – Weber

Invitation to the Dance – Weber. Orchestrated by 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

A Night at the Chinese Opera – opera by Judith Weir (born 1954). In 2014 Judith Weir was appointed as the Master of the Queen’s Music

Symphony for Organ No. 5 was composed by Charles-Marie Widor (1844 – 1937) in 1879. The fifth movement is often referred to as just Widor's Toccata, which is often played as a recessional at wedding ceremonies

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 – 1958) was born in Down Ampney, Gloucestershire

Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, Fantasia on Greensleeves, A Sea Symphony (Symphony No. 1), London Symphony (Symphony No. 2), Pastoral Symphony (Symphony No. 3), Antarctic Symphony (Symphony No. 7) based on the film Scott of the Antarctic

The text of A Sea Symphony by Vaughan Williams comes from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass

Four Last Songs – Vaughan Williams

Hugh the Drover – opera by Vaughan Williams

On Wenlock Edge – Vaughan Williams

Sir John in Love is an opera by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The libretto, by the composer himself, is based on Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor

The Lark Ascending – 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 six times

The Wasps, The Bacchae – incidental music by Ralph Vaughan Williams

The Wasps is based on the play by Aristophanes

The Pilgrim’s Progress – final opera by Ralph Vaughan-Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams composed nine symphonies

Iannis Xenakis (1922 – 2001) pioneered the use of mathematical models in music. Among his most important works are Metastaseis (1953–54) for orchestra, which 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