Gabriel Fauré 1845 - 1924. Fauré in 1907 Fauré was born into a cultured but not especially musical family. His talent became clear when he was a small boy. At the age of nine, he was sent to a music college in Paris, where he was trained to be a church organist and choirmaster. Among his teachers was Camille Saint-Saëns, who became a lifelong friend. After graduating from the college in 1865, Fauré earned a modest living as an organist and teacher, leaving him little time for composition. Biography[edit] Early years[edit] Fauré was born in Pamiers, Ariège, Midi-Pyrénées, in the south of France, the fifth son and youngest of six children of Toussaint-Honoré Fauré (1810–85) and Marie-Antoinette-Hélène Lalène-Laprade (1809–87).[3] According to the biographer Jean-Michel Nectoux, the Fauré family (pronounced "Faoure" in the occitan local dialect) dates to the 13th century in that part of France.[4] The family had at one time been substantial landowners, but by the 19th century its means were reduced.
Fauré in 1875. Pavane, Op. 50. Camille Saint-Saëns - 1835, 1921. Camille Saint-Saëns Early years and education[edit] Saint-Saëns was born in Paris, France, on 9 October 1835. His father, a government clerk, died three months after his birth. He was raised by his mother, Clémence, with the assistance of her aunt, Charlotte Masson, who moved in. Masson introduced Saint-Saëns to the piano, and began giving him lessons on the instrument. At about this time, age two, Saint-Saëns was found to possess perfect pitch. In the late 1840s, Saint-Saëns entered the Conservatoire de Paris, where he studied organ and composition, the latter under Fromental Halévy.
Middle years[edit] Saint-Saëns early in his career. From 1861 to 1865, Saint-Saëns held his only teaching position as professor of piano at the École Niedermeyer, where he raised eyebrows by including contemporary music — Liszt, Gounod, Schumann, Berlioz, and Wagner — along with the school's otherwise conservative curriculum of Bach and Mozart. Saint-Saëns was a multi-faceted intellectual. Later years[edit] Danse Macabre. Smetana - 1824, 1884. Portrait of Bedřich Smetana Bedřich Smetana (Czech pronunciation: [ˈbɛdr̝ɪx ˈsmɛtana] ( Smetana was naturally gifted as a pianist, and gave his first public performance at the age of six. After his conventional schooling, he studied music under Josef Proksch in Prague. His first nationalistic music was written during the 1848 Prague uprising, in which he briefly participated. By the end of 1874, Smetana had become completely deaf but, freed from his theatre duties and the related controversies, he began a period of sustained composition that continued for almost the rest of his life.
Smetana's reputation as the founding father of Czech music has endured in his native country, where advocates have raised his status above that of his contemporaries and successors. Biography[edit] Family background and childhood[edit] Count Waldstein's castle in Smetana's birthplace, Litomyšl, Bohemia The Smetana family came from the Hradec Králové region of Bohemia.
Apprentice musician[edit] First steps[edit] Die Moldau. Edvard Grieg :: 1843 - 1907. Edvard Grieg (1888) Edvard Hagerup Grieg (Norwegian: [ˈɛdʋɑrd ˈhɑːɡərʉp ˈɡrɪɡ]; 15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide.
His use and development of Norwegian folk music in his own compositions put the music of Norway in the international spectrum, as well as helping develop a national identity, much like Jean Sibelius and Antonín Dvořák did in Finland and Bohemia respectively.[1] Biography[edit] Edvard Grieg was raised in a musical milieu. In the summer of 1858, Grieg met the eminent Norwegian violinist Ole Bull,[6] who was a family friend; Bull's brother was married to Grieg's aunt.[7] Bull recognized the 15-year-old boy's talent and persuaded his parents to send him to the Leipzig Conservatory,[6] then directed by Ignaz Moscheles. In 1863, Grieg went to Copenhagen, Denmark, and stayed there for three years. Music[edit] Notes. Peer Gynt - Morning Mood. Peer Gynt :: In the hall of mountain King.