1. Bach, Johann Christian
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

Composer Bach, Johann Christian Image Life Johann Christian Bach is commonly called the "English Bach", and was the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach und Magdalene. He was born in Leipzig, ...

2. Bach, Johann Sebastian
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

Composer Bach, Johann Sebastian Image Life Johann Sebastian Bach   (father of Carl Philip Emanuel, Johann Christian and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach) was the most significant member of the Bach ...

3. Bartok, Bela
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

... is the Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned by Koussevitzky for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The two Violin Concertos are important additions to the solo violin repertoire. The Viola Concerto and the ...

4. Bax, Arnold
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

... including The Garden of Fand, November Woods and Tintagel, are his best known works. He wrote seven symphonies and some fine chamber music. There are concertos for cello, for viola and for violin and Symphonic ...

5. Berlioz, Hector
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

... later by Harold in Italy, for viola and orchestra, with a narrative programme of literary origin, written for but never performed by the great violinist Paganini. Concert overtures include a Shakespearean ...

6. Bloch, Ernst
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

... inspiration, in particular his Suite hébraïque (Hebrew Suite) for viola or violin and orchestra, Baal Shem for violin and piano, later orchestrated, and Schelomo for cello and orchestra. His Concerto ...

7. Bottesini, Giovanni
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

... for two violins, viola, cello and double bass. He wrote eleven string quartets and  ...

8. Boulez, Pierre
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

Composer Boulez, Pierre (b. 1925) Image Life Pierre Boulez was born at Montbrison (26 March 1925). He studied with Messiaen at the Paris Conservatoire (1942-5) and privately with Andrée Vaurabourg ...

9. Brahms, Johannes
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

Composer Brahms, Johannes (1833 - 1897) Image Life Brahms was born in Hamburg to the son of a double-bass player and his older seamstress wife. The violinist Joseph Joachim introduced him ...

10. Britten, Benjamin
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

Composer Britten, Benjamin (1913-1976) Image Life Benjamin Britten is born at Lowestoft, 22 November 1913, and died at Aldeburgh, 4 December 1976. He studied with Frank Bridge as a boy and ...

11. Corelli, Arcangelo
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

Composer Corelli, Arcangelo (1653 - 1713) Image Life At a time when the violin was replacing the viola, the Italian violinist-composer Arcangelo Corelli was in great demand. He had a great ...

12. Qu, Xiao-Song
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

... he spent four years as a peasant. In 1972, he began to study music, taught himself the violin, and became a violinist and violaist with a Peking Opera Orchestra in his hometown. In 1983, he graduated ...

13. Debussy, Claude
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

Composer Debussy, Claude (1862 - 1918) Image Life Claude Debussy was arguably the most influential composer of the late 19th and early 20th century. He attended the Paris Conservatoire where ...

14. Dvorák, Antonin
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

Composer Dvorák, Antonin (1841 - 1904) Image Life The late 19th century brought an increasing awareness of national identity to various ethnic groups in Europe and Dvorák’s musical career ...

15. Fiala, Joseph
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

Composer Fiala, Joseph (1748 - 1816) Life Cellist, oboist and player of the viola da gamba, the Czech composer Joseph Fiala joined the musical establishment of the Elector of Bavaria in Munich, ...

16. Gubaidulina, Sofia
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

Composer Gubaidulina, Sofia (b. 1931) Image Life Sofia Gubaidulina was born in Chistopol in the Tatar Republic of the Soviet Union in 1931. After instruction in piano and composition at the ...

17. Halvorsen, Johan
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

...  Less often heard are his three symphonies and two Rhapsodies on Norwegian folk-tunes. Halvorsen is regarded with gratitude by viola players for his arrangements of a Sarabande and a Passacaglia by Haendel ...

18. Haydn, Franz Joseph
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

Composer Haydn, Franz Joseph (1732 - 1809) Image Life The Austrian composer "Papa" Haydn was universally loved and an important figure in the development of the classical symphony and string ...

19. Haydn, Michael
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

Composer Haydn, Michael (1737-1806) Image Life Johann Michael Haydn, a composer of Österreich and younger brother of Franz Josef Haydn, was born in Rohrau, in Österreich, and was baptised ...

20. Hindemith, Paul
(Type: Composer | Section: Composers Biographies)

Composer Hindemith, Paul (1895 - 1963) Image Life One of the most important composers of the first half of the 1900s, Hindemith was also one of the most distinguished viola-players of his ...