Johann Pachelbel Born: 1653, Nuremberg, Germany Died: March 3, 1706, Nuremberg, Germany German composer and organist. He was taught by two local musicians, Heinrich Schwemmer and G. C. Wecker. In 1669 he entered the university at Altdorf and was organist of the Lorenzkirche there, but left after less than a year for lack of money […]
Ludwig van Beethoven Born: December 1770 in Bonn, Germany Died: 26 March 1827 (cirrhosis of the liver, plus dropsy) Ludwig van Beethoven is the most famous classical composer of the western world. Beethoven is remembered for his powerful and stormy compositions, and for continuing to compose and conduct even after he began to go deaf
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was an Italian violinist and composer whose concertos were widely known and influential throughout Europe. Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice on March 4, 1678. His first music teacher was his father, Giovanni Battista Vivaldi. The elder Vivaldi was a well-respected violinist, employed at the church of St. Mark’s. It is possible,
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Born: 7 May 1840 in Votkinsk, Russia Died: 6 November 1893 in St. Petersburg Russian composer Peter (Pyotr) Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most-recognized melodies of classical music, and his ballet The Nutcracker endures as a winter holiday favorite. He began composing in St. Petersburg in the 1860s, while studying and
The Book: The Nutcracker and the Mouse King The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is a story written in 1816 by E. T. A. Hoffmann in which young Marie Stahlbaum’s favorite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, comes alive and, after defeating the evil Mouse King in battle, whisks her away to a magical kingdom populated by
