Composers Study Guide

General

94 answers | 705 clues

Must-Know (33)

Ludwig van Beethoven 34x 2.9% stumper $379 avg J:4 DJ:30

J $100 1990 He dedicated his 9th Symphony, which includes the Ode to Joy, to the King of Prussia

DJ $600 1995 The second period of his work, more personal & romantic, began with the "Moonlight" sonata

J $200 2015 His third symphony is also known as "Eroica"

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 28x 22.2% stumper $730 avg J:1 DJ:26 FJ:1

DJ $400 1990 A master composer of ballets, he was the leading Russian composer of the late 19th century

DJ $600 1986 His 6th Symphony, not "Swan Lake", was his swan song

DJ $1,000 1995 Russian "Eugene Onegin" composer whose brother Modest wrote the libretto for his last opera, "Iolanta"

Johann Sebastian Bach 27x 14.8% stumper $1,115 avg J:3 DJ:24

DJ $400 1993 His work "Concerts avec Plusieurs Instruments" is better known as the "Brandenburg Concertos"

DJ $600 1996 This great German composer had 20 children; 4 of them became prominent composers

DJ $1,000 DD 1988 18th-century composer on whose compositionthe following, a 1965 No. 2 hit, is based:"How gentle is the rain /That falls softly on the meadow /Birds high up in the trees /Serenade the flowers with their melodies..."

W.A. Mozart 26x 7.7% stumper $496 avg J:3 DJ:23

DJ $100 DD 2017 In 1785 he dedicated a set of 6 string quartets to the much older Joseph Haydn

J $600 2022 Here'sa bit from his exuberant "Jupiter" symphony

J $1,000 2010 Franz Sussmayr, a pupil of this composer, completed his "Requiem" after his death

Igor Stravinsky 24x 4.5% stumper $1,264 avg J:2 DJ:20 FJ:2

DJ $200 1995 In 1954 this "Rite of Spring" composer wrote the vocal work "In Memoriam Dylan Thomas"

J $600 2015 The dancers could not hear the orchestra over the rioting audience when his "Rite of Spring" premiered

DJ $1,000 1989 This "Firebird" composer was the son of an opera singer

Frederic Chopin 23x 17.4% stumper $626 avg J:1 DJ:22

DJ $200 1996 At age 8 this Polish-French composer played a piano concerto by Ghirivetz in public

DJ $800 1989 This Polish composer's health began to deteriorate rapidly after he broke up with George Sand

DJ $1,200 2017 Hugh Grant in "Impromptu"(1991)(Judy Davis as George Sand)

George Gershwin 21x $480 avg J:1 DJ:19 FJ:1

J $200 2001 (Hi, I'm Michael Feinstein, here at the Hollywood Bowl.) I'm passionately involved in maintaining the legacy of this great cmposer of whose many great songs, one goes like this

DJ $600 1985 It took only 3 weeks for him to compose "Rhapsody In Blue"

DJ $2,000 DD 1991 His exclamatory musicals are "Oh, Kay!" & "Lady, Be Good!"

Richard Wagner 19x 11.8% stumper $712 avg J:1 DJ:16 FJ:2

DJ $400 1988 Though he had little formal training in either music or theater, he transformed opera in the 19th c.

DJ $600 1990 Friedrich Nietzsche was a close friend of this "Lohengrin" composer but later turned against him

DJ $1,000 1988 While writing "Tannhauser", he also wrote a funeral cantata for C.M. von Weber who'd been dead 18 years

Claude Debussy 18x 5.6% stumper $1,139 avg J:3 DJ:15

J $600 2011 Although his "Clair de Lune" is often performed as a separate piece, it's actually the third movement in "Suite Bergamasque"

DJ $2,000 2021 "Play of Waves" is a movement of this Frenchman's symphonic work "La Mer" or "The Sea"

DJ $2,000 2014 This Frenchman dedicated his 1908 piano suite "Children's Corner" to his young daughter Claude-Emma

George Frideric Handel 18x 17.6% stumper $1,700 avg DJ:17 FJ:1

DJ $400 1997 In 1713 this oratorio composer wrote a "Birthday Ode for Queen Anne"

DJ $500 DD 1993 He became a British subject in 1726, dropping the German umlaut from his name

DJ $1,000 1992 "Saul", completed in 1739, is often considered his most dramatic oratorio

Franz Schubert 16x 33.3% stumper $1,027 avg DJ:15 FJ:1

DJ $400 1989 He's known for "Hark! Hark! The Lark" which he finished & "The Unfinished Symphony" which he didn't

DJ $600 1995 The third movement of this Austrian's famous "Unfinished" symphony was planned to be a scherzo

DJ $1,000 DD 1995 In 1888 the remains of Beethoven and this Lieder composer were buried side by side in a Vienna cemetery

Giuseppe Verdi 16x 18.8% stumper $756 avg J:1 DJ:15

DJ $200 2000 Bertolucci's movie "1900" is about 2 men born the day this "Aida" composer died

DJ $600 1993 Giacomo Puccini decided to write operas after hearing a performance of this composer's "Aida"

DJ $1,000 1994 This Italian's opera "Rigoletto" is set in 16th century Mantua

Felix Mendelssohn 16x 26.7% stumper $973 avg J:1 DJ:14 FJ:1

DJ $200 1992 You may not know that his original first name was Jakob; Felix was one of his middle names

DJ $600 1994 He wrote his Wedding March, from music to "A Midsummer Night's Dream", 5 years after his own wedding

DJ $1,200 2025 Goethe heard both & said Mozart's youthful works were "prattle" compared to those of this later "M" composer

Edvard Grieg 15x 26.7% stumper $1,020 avg J:2 DJ:13

DJ $600 1993 This composer's great-grandfather immigrated to Norway from Scotland in the 18th century

J $1,000 2007 Toralv Maurstadin "Song of Norway"

DJ $800 1992 A lifetime grant from the Norwegian gov't enabled him to give up teaching & conducting after 1874

Franz Liszt 15x 15.4% stumper $877 avg J:1 DJ:12 FJ:2

DJ $400 1989 In 1835 this Hungarian virtuoso ran off to Switz. with a married countess with whom he later had 3 kids

DJ $800 2005 This composer's daughter Cosima married Hans von Bulow in 1857 & Richard Wagner in 1870

DJ $2,000 2009 After visiting a gypsy encampment, he composed a series of rhapsodies including the one heard here

Aaron Copland 14x 35.7% stumper $1,014 avg J:1 DJ:13

DJ $400 1988 U.S. Immigration misspelled the surname of this composer's parents, which was originally Kaplan

DJ $600 1986 He did film scores for "Our Town" & "The Red Pony", as well as the ballet "Rodeo"

DJ $1,000 1995 This American incorporated his popular "Fanfare for the Common Man" into his third symphony

Johannes Brahms 14x 23.1% stumper $738 avg DJ:13 FJ:1

DJ $200 1985 Babies still fall asleep to this bachelor's popular 'lullaby"

DJ $600 1990 Conductor Hans von Bulow, who coined the term "The 3 Bs" was a contemporary of this "B"

DJ $1,200 2020 Robert Schumann praised this "Lullaby" composer in a German periodical, creating a sensation

Franz Joseph Haydn 14x 57.1% stumper $1,136 avg J:3 DJ:11

J $200 2009 Though he wrote a number of operas, Michael Haydn is far less famous than this older brother

DJ $800 1993 A 1791 Handel music festival inspired him to compose the oratorio "The Creation"

DJ $1,000 1991 He wrote a Loudon Symphony as well as a London symphony

Richard Strauss 13x 7.7% stumper $862 avg J:1 DJ:12

DJ $200 1994 Gershwin wrote "Rhapsody in Blue" & he wrote "The Blue Danube Waltz"

DJ $600 1992 On a U.S. tour this "Salome" composer gave 2 concerts at Wanamaker's dep't store in New York

DJ $1,000 1997 He conducted the debut of his "Also Sprach Zarathustra"

Giacomo Puccini 12x $836 avg J:1 DJ:10 FJ:1

DJ $400 2017 He & Leoncavallo both composed versions of "La boheme" at the same time but his was much more successful

DJ $600 1997 When his "Madama Butterfly" opened at La Scala in 1904, it was greeted with hisses

J $1,000 2022 This composer wrote"The Humming Chorus"for the part of the opera where Butterfly waits & hopes for Pinkerton's return

Maurice Ravel 12x 8.3% stumper $592 avg J:2 DJ:10

DJ $200 1991 This "Bolero" composer wrote a concerto for left hand alone for one-arm pianist Paul Wittgenstein

DJ $600 1993 His "Bolero" had its American debut at a 1929 concert of the N.Y. Philharmonic-Symphony

DJ $1,200 2006 "The Clown's Morning Song" by this composer is far less famous than his "Bolero"

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov 11x 27.3% stumper $1,027 avg J:1 DJ:10

DJ $400 1993 This "Flight of the Bumblebee" composer revised "Boris Godunov" after Mussorgsky's death

J $500 1991 This Russian wrote "The Flight of the Bumblebee" for his opera "Tsar Saltan"

DJ $1,000 1996 This Russian "Scheherazade" composer's autobiography "My Musical Life" was published in 1909

Sousa 11x $436 avg DJ:11

DJ $200 1995 This "March King" played in the U.S. Marine Band when he was just 13

DJ $800 2010 That's this man leading thebandin "The Stars and Stripes Forever" for president Hoover

DJ $400 2006 This composer & conductor gave his last performance with the Marines in July 1892 & formed his own band in Sept.

Rossini 11x 9.1% stumper $964 avg DJ:11

DJ $200 1994 This "William Tell" composer's first wife, Isabella, had been the mistress of the King of Naples

DJ $600 1990 This "Barber of Seville" composer spent his later years in Paris & became as a host

DJ $1,600 2020 This composer of "The Barber of Seville" was the son of working musicians: a horn player & a singer

Edward Elgar 11x 27.3% stumper $1,236 avg DJ:11

DJ $200 1988 At one time, this composer of "Pomp & Circumstance" regularly led a band at a mental hospital

DJ $800 2015 Referring to his first "Pomp And Circumstance" march, he said, "I've got a tune that will... knock 'em flat!"

DJ $1,000 1997 His "Pomp And Circumstance" is actually a set of 5 marches

Cole Porter 10x 60.0% stumper $1,000 avg J:2 DJ:8

DJ $200 1991 This "I Get A Kick Out Of You" composer was born in Peru--Indiana

DJ $600 1995 Monty Woolley, this composer's friend from Yale days, appeared as himself in "Night and Day"

DJ $1,000 1993 While at Yale, this "Night and Day" composer wrote the football songs "Bingo Eli Yale" & "Bull Dog"

Antonio Vivaldi 10x 10.0% stumper $800 avg J:2 DJ:8

J $200 2015 He published "The Four Seasons" with poems that expressed what the music was intended to evoke about each season

DJ $600 1994 This composer of "The Four Seasons" was a teacher at a Venetian orphanage for girls

DJ $1,000 1997 This Venetian's first works date from the early 18th C. during his years as violin master of a girls' orphanage

Antonio Salieri 10x $975 avg J:1 DJ:7 FJ:2

DJ $200 DD 1993 Beethoven studied under this rival of Mozart & later dedicated 3 sonatas to him

DJ $600 1994 Both Liszt & Schubert were students of this composer & reputed rival of Mozart

DJ $1,000 1986 In 1774, he became court composer to Emperor Joseph II of Austria

Leonard Bernstein 9x 12.5% stumper $838 avg J:2 DJ:6 FJ:1

J $300 1988 His opera "Trouble In Tahiti" is performed somewhat less often than his "West Side Story"

DJ $600 1997 Before becoming director of the N.Y. Philharmonic in 1958, he was music director of the NYC Center Orchestra

DJ $1,000 DD 1996 In 1969 he was named Conductor Laureate for life of the New York Philharmonic

Scott Joplin 8x $1,143 avg DJ:7 FJ:1

DJ $400 2013 In 1899 a Sedalia, Missouri music store published his "Maple Leaf Rag"

DJ $1,200 2019 Of "Fig Leaf Rag" & "The Ragtime Dance"

FJ 2018 His works are the only ones in the National Recording Registry that are preserved on piano rolls

J.S. Bach 8x $388 avg J:1 DJ:7

DJ $200 1997 He wrote half of the 48 pieces in his "Well-Tempered Clavier" in Cothen, the other half in Leipzig

DJ $800 2004 His "Goldberg Variations" were originally designed to help an insomniac nobleman sleep

DJ $200 1986 Since his sons were musicians, this greatest Baroque composer could have written a family fugue

Jean Sibelius 8x 12.5% stumper $1,250 avg DJ:8

DJ $600 1999 In 1939 the Helsinki Music Institute changed its name to honor this famed graduate

DJ $1,000 1994 The Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, inspired many of his works, including "The Swan of Tuonela"

DJ $1,600 2003 In his teens, conductor Eas-Pekka Salonen studied at the Helsinki academy named for this composer

Robert Schumann 8x 25.0% stumper $1,125 avg DJ:8

DJ $400 1985 Composer whose name sounds like he was in the footwear business

DJ $600 1994 This lieder composer met his future wife, Clara, when she was 9; he was studying piano with her father

DJ $1,000 1992 In 1854 this German romantic lieder composer tried to drown himself & was placed in a private asylum

Should-Know (21)

Vienna 7x 14.3% stumper $371 avg J:1 DJ:6

DJ $200 1997 Carl Czerny was just 15 when he began teaching in this Austrian city; Beethoven's nephew was among his pupils

DJ $800 2014 Born in this city, Alexander Zemlinsky taught Schoenberg & was rejected by Alma in favor of Mahler

DJ $200 1996 Shortly before his 1741 death, Vivaldi sought a post from Charles VI in this Austrian capital

Bizet 7x $429 avg J:1 DJ:6

J $200 2011 This composer died on June 3, 1875, exactly 3 months after his "Carmen" premiered

DJ $600 1986 He was awarded the French Legion of Honor the day "Carmen" premiered

DJ $200 1992 On the same day his "Carmen" premiered, he was named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor

Modest Mussorgsky 7x 16.7% stumper $1,233 avg DJ:6 FJ:1

DJ $800 1988 In 1858, he gave up his Army commission to compose such works as "A Night on Bald Mountain"

DJ $1,000 1986 Russian who spent "A Night on Bald Mountain"

FJ 2010 His first name means "moderate"; sadly, immoderate drinking helped kill him in 1881 at age 42, but not on Bald Mountain

Johann Strauss 6x 16.7% stumper $533 avg DJ:6

DJ $200 1997 His younger brother Josef composed waltzes too

DJ $600 1995 He composed dozens of waltzes, including the 1869 hit "Wine, Women and Song"

DJ $1,000 DD 2008 In 1863 he became music director of the court balls in Vienna

John Williams 6x $500 avg DJ:6

DJ $400 2013 Composer for such films as "Jaws" & "Superman", he served as conductor of the Boston Pops from 1980 to 1993

DJ $600 1997 His first sci-fi theme was for "Lost in Space"; later he composed for sci-fi films like "Star Wars"

DJ $400 2010 He leads the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra in recordings of his own film music

Antonin Dvorak 6x 20.0% stumper $1,040 avg J:1 DJ:4 FJ:1

DJ $600 1997 His symphony "From The New World" premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1893

J $1,000 2015 His best-known work is his Symphony No. 9 in E minor: "From the New World"

FJ 2002 His Rococo-style summer house in Prague is nicknamed "America"

Stephen Foster 5x 40.0% stumper $520 avg DJ:5

DJ $200 1995 "Swanee River" & "I Dream of Jeanie" are movie biographies of this composer

DJ $600 1993 A composition that he wrote in 1853 was adopted as Kentucky's state song

DJ $200 1992 His wife Jane may have inspired his song "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair"

Russia 5x $480 avg DJ:5

DJ $200 1985 Rimsky-Korsakov began composing while still an officer in this country's navy

DJ $600 1996 When this country ruled Finland, it banned Jean Sibelius' "Finlandia" as it aroused the Finns' patriotism

DJ $400 1995 19th c. composer Mikhail Glinka was called the father of this country's music by his successors

Sergei Rachmaninoff 5x 75.0% stumper $1,550 avg DJ:4 FJ:1

DJ $1,000 1997 This Russian composer & pianist died in Beverly Hills March 28, 1943

FJ 1997 One of this Russian's best-known works is the fiendishly difficult Piano Concerto No. 3 of 1909

DJ $1,200 2019 The 1996 movie "Shine" popularized his concerto known as the "Rach 3"

Richard Rodgers 5x $1,360 avg DJ:5

DJ $200 1993 After the death of Hammerstein, he wrote the musical "Do I Hear A Waltz?" with Stephen Sondheim

DJ $1,600 2006 Tom Drake in "Words and Music" (Hint: Mickey Rooney played his partner Lorenz Hart)

DJ $3,000 DD 2017 He composed the music for Oklahoma's state song

Jacques Offenbach 5x 40.0% stumper $840 avg DJ:5

DJ $400 2005 Born in Cologne, this "Tales of Hoffman" composer became a French citizen in 1860

DJ $600 1988 Son of a Cologne cantor, he wrote such works as "The Tales of Hoffmann"

DJ $1,600 2007 In 1876 this composer of "Orpheus in the Underworld" went bankrupt; he toured the U.S. to recoup his losses

Paganini 4x $1,400 avg J:1 DJ:3

J $500 1990 Some of his 24 caprices for violin were adapted for piano by Schumann & Liszt

DJ $1,000 1996 Liszt's piano music was influenced by the phenomenal technique of this Italian violin virtuoso

DJ $1,600 2025 Said to be in league with the devil, this composer of "24 Capricci" for solo violin wasn't buried in holy ground until 5 years after death

Duke Ellington 4x 25.0% stumper $650 avg DJ:4

DJ $400 2012 Stevie Wonder's song "Sir Duke" was a tribute to this jazzy composer & bandleader

DJ $600 1989 This "noble" jazzman wrote "Sophisticated Lady" & "Mood Indigo"

DJ $800 2010 He popularized the term "swing" by composing "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing"

W.C. Handy 4x 25.0% stumper $975 avg J:1 DJ:3

J $100 1988 The initials in this early blues composer's name stood for William Christopher

DJ $800 1995 Billy Preston played this composer as a boy & Nat King Cole played him as an adult in "St. Louis Blues"

DJ $1,000 1990 He published his autobiography, "Father of the Blues", in 1941

Shostakovich 4x 75.0% stumper $2,000 avg DJ:4

DJ $2,000 2025 He began writing his "Leningrad Symphony" in 1941 during the city's siege by the Germans before being evacuated

DJ $2,000 2022 In 1968 Georgy Sviridov succeeded his mentor, this other "S" composer, in the top job in the Soviet musical bureaucracy

DJ $2,000 2020 "Testimony": Ben Kingsley as this Soviet composer

Andrew Lloyd Webber 4x $350 avg DJ:4

DJ $400 2019 With Tim Rice, "Don't Cry For Me Argentina"

DJ $200 1994 His father, the composer William Southcombe Lloyd Webber, was the director of the London College of Music

DJ $400 2003 1980:"Evita"

(Gustav) Mahler 4x $1,550 avg DJ:4

DJ $1,000 1988 Due to the huge number of performers required, his 8th symphony was dubbed "Symphony of a Thousand"

DJ $1,600 2004 This Austrian composer's Symphony No. 8 is known as the "Symphony of a Thousand"

DJ $2,000 2016 To become director of the Vienna court opera in 1897, this Austrian converted from Judaism to Catholicism

the harpsichord 4x $400 avg J:2 DJ:2

J $400 2010 Between 1713 & 1730 Francois Couperin published 4 books of suites for this precursor of the piano

DJ $400 1994 Domenico Scarlatti wrote over 550 pieces for this piano predecessor

J $400 2011 Many of Francois Couperin's works were written for this old keyboard instrument, including 27 suites

Hector Berlioz 4x 50.0% stumper $1,100 avg J:1 DJ:3

DJ $1,000 1997 From 1835 to 1863 this "Symphonie Fantastique" composer wrote music criticism for "Journal des Debats" ("Journal of Debates")

DJ $1,200 2015 The first part of his "Symphonie fantastique" was originally a part of a piece he had written as a youngster

J $1,000 2011 This "Symphonie Fantastique" composer was given 20,000 francs by Paganini, who declared him a musical genius

Arthur Sullivan 4x 25.0% stumper $700 avg J:1 DJ:3

J $400 1988 He wrote the hymn "Onward! Christian Soldiers" as well as the music for "H.M.S. Pinafore"

DJ $600 1994 This composer's brother Fred played the learned judge in the original cast of his operetta "Trial by Jury"

DJ $1,200 2006 Allan Cordunder in "Topsy-Turvy" (Hint: Jim Broadbent played his partner W.S.)

a piano 4x $450 avg DJ:4

DJ $400 1996 John Cage's "Prepared" type of this keyboard instrument has objects attached to the strings

DJ $600 1993 Rachmaninoff was one of the greatest 20th century virtuosos on this musical instrument

DJ $400 1997 Cecile Chaminade wrote more than 200 light salon pieces for this musical instrument

Worth Knowing (40)

Louis XIV 3 Kurt Weill 3 Jerome Kern 3 Brazil 3 Bela Bartok 3 Prokofiev 3 Khachaturian 3 Bedrich Smetana 3 Alexander Borodin 3 (Frederick) Loewe 3 Irving Berlin 3 World War I 2 Venice 2 Stephen Sondheim 2 Scotland 2 Randy Newman 2 Pictures at an Exhibition 2 Norway 2 Leoncavallo 2 Leonard 2 John Adams 2 Henry Mancini 2 George M. Cohan 2 Danny Elfman 2 Carmen 2 Bonn 2 bel canto 2 ballets 2 a funeral march 2 the Unfinished Symphony 2 The Phantom of the Opera 2 the Boston Symphony Orchestra 2 the Messiah 2 the guitar 2 Philip Glass 2 Ignace Jan Paderewski 2 Englebert Humperdinck 2 Ferde Grofe 2 Burgess 2 Beethoven & Brahms 2

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