Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music
Edgard Varèse (1883-1965)
Bio
Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse was born in Paris. His family moved to Italy and he initially studied Engineering in Turin. He returned to Paris and studied music under Widor at the Paris Conservatoire. He was friends with Satie, Richard Strauss, and Debussy but departed somewhat from their musical heritage. He is considered an important influence on 20th-century composition concepts.
Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music
Joaquín Turina (1882-1949)
Bio
Joaquín Turina Pérez was born in Seville, Spain. He studied in Madrid and in Paris, taking lessons from d'Indy and Moszkowski. He was inspired by Ravel and Debussy and had a good relationship with Manuel de Falla. He taught at the Madrid Conservatory, and produced a number of operas and other compositions, including a fairly significant piano repertoire.
Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music
Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709)
Bio
Giuseppe Torelli was born in Verona, Venetia. He was a noted violinist in his time and his surviving compositions advanced Baroque literature in the concerto form. His life is not well documented but he is found in lists of Giacomo Antonio Perti's students, the court of George Friedrich II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and in San Petronio.
Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music
Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656)
Bio
Thomas Tomkins was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales. He studied under William Byrd and at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was a prominent member of the virginalist school. He spent most of his career as the organist at the Worcester Cathedral.
Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music
Ernst Toch (1887-1964)
Bio
Ernst Toch was born in Vienna of Jewish descent. He studied music, philosophy, and medicine, the former at the Hoch Conservatory. He was a prolific pianist and fled to England and then the USA to escape Hitler. He taught at Southern Cal, composed for the film industry, and received 3 Oscar nominations. He won the '56 Pulitzer for his 3rd Symphony and taught Holmboe, Previn, and other notables.
Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music
Michael Tippett (1905-1998)
Bio
Sir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE was born in Eastcote, just outside London. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and credited Charles Villiers Stanford's theories as the foundation of his own. He was politically active, arrested for resisting the draft in WWII, and briefly identified as a Communist. He is often considered one of Britain's leading 20th-century composers.
