Composers
This 18th century father of a more well-known composer was known for his programmatic chamber symphonies, set to various "scenes".
Leopold Mozart
This collection of orchestral pieces was presented by a well-known Baroque composer to the Margrave of Brandenburg.
Brandenburg Concerti
Handel's Messiah is played every year around Christmas time by most churches. Less common is a re-orchestration of that oratorio for a larger ensemble by this 18th century composer.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
This plucked string instrument, the largest of the lute family, was frequently used as a continuo instrument in the Baroque period.
Theorbo
Ludwig van Beethoven
The fifth son of Johann Sebastian Bach, this composer became famous in his own right, mainly for his keyboard works, which numbered over one hundred.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Beethoven originally devoted this symphony to Napoleon Bonaparte, but when Napoleon announced the First French Empire, Beethoven furiously crossed Napoleon's name from the manuscript.
Symphony No. 3 (aka Eroica)
Often given solos in Russian Orthodox choral music, the tessitura of this voice type extends over an octave beneath that of a typical bass voice.
Basso Profundo
"Abschied von meinem Silbermannischen Claviere" was written when its composer sold his beloved clavichord to purchase this piano predecessor.
Fortepiano
This early 20th century bandleader used a Tchaikovsky theme in his song, "Moon Love".
Glenn Miller
Less well-known but perhaps equally as influential as her brother, this composer was a leader of the traditionalists in the 19th century "War of the Romantics".
Clara Schumann
Considered the "Father of the Symphony," Haydn composed a total of this many symphonies.
107
Despite not being Jewish, this composer set a choral work in Hebrew to Psalm 92, intended for synagogue use.
Franz Schubert
This cross between a French Horn and a Euphonium was designed by Adolphe Sax for Richard Wagner. It was later utilized by Bruckner, Stravinsky, and others.
Wagner Tuba (aka Tenor and Bass Tuben)
Dukes of this Italian house were the earliest patrons of Monteverdi and many of his contemporaries, and can be credited with funding the birth of Western Classical Music.
Gonzaga
Seeking to unify the disparate styles of Italian and French Baroque music, this composer wrote two "apotheoses" synthesizing the ideas of his favorite Italian and French composers.
François Couperin
This traditional Catalan piece famously performed by Pau Casals for the United Nations in 1971 is sometimes erroneously attributed to him.
Song of the Birds
Telemann was the musical director of the five largest churches in this German city.
Hamburg
Chopin favored the upright piano made by this constructor so much that, while teaching, his students would use a grand piano while he would play his upright.
Pleyel
This animated Orwell adaptation quoted a number of classical pieces in its score, including Schumann's Piano Quintet.
Animal Farm
This traditionalist composer and musician performed at the premieres of most of Wagner's operas, despite loathing Wagner. He called Wagner's music "immature" and often laughed at the latter's motifs.
Franz Strauss
This collection of orchestral pieces was presented by a lesser-known Baroque composer to the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland.
Dresden Concerti
A modern British religious leader claimed the 6th Movement of Beethoven's C# Minor String Quartet opens with the same melody as this Aramaic annulment of vows.
Kol Nidre
This Renaissance-era chromatic trumpet was later utilized by Bach in a number of his chorales.
Tromba di Tirarsi (aka Slide Trumpet)
This conductor's influence saw a number of opera houses destroyed in the Second World War be rebuilt in a modern style for optimized acoustics, as opposed to being restored to their more aesthetically pleasing original designs.
Arturo Toscanini