 Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Haydn was born in Rohrau, Lower Austria, in 1732, and died in Vienna in 1809. He saw the most enormous changes
in musical styles: born towards the end of the Baroque period, he was a major part of the Classical period of music,
and by the time of his death, the Romantic period was creeping in.
 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Bach was arguably the pinnacle of the Baroque period. Pachelbel, Vivaldi and Buxtehude are only three of many
distinguished influences on him, though during his lifetime, he was probably better known as a performer. He was
born in 1685 in Eisenach and died in 1750 in Leipzig.
 Edvard Hagerup Grieg(1843-1907)
Grieg was Norwegian and one of the more important nationalistic, Romantic period composers; he was born in Bergen
in 1843 and died there in 1907; he admired Schumann's music greatly and was much influenced by it.
 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Beethoven (he died in Vienna in 1827) was to be the bridge between the Classical period, and the Romantic, with
his roots firmly in Classical ground; but he first became known as a pianist, a reputation which he developed in
the salons of Vienna.
 Felix Mendelssohn (1809-47)
Felix Mendelssohn was born into a well-to-do Jewish family in Hamburg in 1809 (he died in Leipzig in 1847);
his grandfather was a philosopher (Moses Mendelssohn, formerly Moses Dessau) and the influences upon him were those
of culture and discussion, equality and enlightenment. He was much travelled, even when young, and his musical
skills were developed very early.
 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(1756-91)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (born in Salzburg 1756; died in Vienna 1791). He was firmly in the Classical Period,
and was of the first Viennese school, along with Haydn and Beethoven (the second Viennese school consisted of Schoenberg,
Berg and Webern)
 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky(1840-93)
Tchaikovsky's great strength was in writing wonderful melodies; they are innately Russian, and are often based
on Russian folk melody. He was very much a composer of the Romantic period. He was born in 1840 and died in 1893.
 Valerie and I (Jonathan)
would be happy to receive your comments on our MIDI files Music with Meaning or this WWW site, please drop us a
line.
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