ANNIVERSARY COMPOSERS
The Anniversary Composers
Pianists are first and forward musicians. A knowledge and awareness of music is essential to any meaningful development beyond the first few months of learning. It is with this in mind that I introduced leaflets promoting the music lessons which featured composers whose birth or death anniversary is a multiple of 50 years away.
Eight composers have occurred each year since 2011. In 2011 they were numbers 1-8, 2012 9-16 &c so that 2024's leaflets are nos 105-112.
These are:
105. Garbriel Faure (1845-1924)
French composer famous for choral and chamber music as well as a large quantity of quite ‘vouge’ piano miniatures. These piano pieces are often encountered at higher grades. Pavane and Requiem are among his most well known works.
106. Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
Austrian composer and organist. Wrote eleven symphonies (nine numbered) along with other orchestral works, belonging to high romanticism. Also wrote choral works belonging to a different sound world and tradition.
107. Charles Villers Stanford (1852-1924)
Dublin born composer who studied at Cambridge University. Stanford wrote many part songs, including ‘The Bluebird’ and several piano works, mainly short pieces. His music shaped the tradition of Vaughan Williams, Holst and others.
108. Duke (Edward Kennedy) Ellington (1899-1974)
Pianist and composers. Director of own-named jazz orchestra since 1923. New York based; Ellington specialised in short performances to fit onto 78 rpm cylinders. The song ‘Come Sunday’ is an example of this.
109. Jeramiah Clarke (1674-1707)
Scottish born composer of who served at the Chapel Royal. Very little is known about the composer. Many of his works were misattributed to other composers including Purcell. Een the cause of his sudden death is not certain.
110. Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884)
Czech composer who promoted the ideas of cultural revival and national identity in the Romantic Movement. Works include Ma Valant (My Fatherland) and Ther Bartered Bride.
111. Charles Ives (1874-1954)
Modernist composer from New England. In the footsteps of his father George Ives, he went about establishing an American music with its own voice that didn’t sound like the music of the European Academies. Works include Three Places in New England and The Unanswered Question.
112. Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)
Austrian composer who lived in USA since the 1930s to escape the Nazi regime. Was involved in the Expressionist Movement in Art and later the Second Viennese School of Music, alongside Berg and Webern.
