Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

baroque, in music

(Encyclopedia)baroque, in music, a style that prevailed from the last decades of the 16th cent. to the first decades of the 18th cent. Its beginnings were in the late 16th-century revolt against polyphony that gave...

Gossec, François Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Gossec, François Joseph fräNswäˈ zhôzĕfˈ gôsĕkˈ [key], 1734–1829, Belgian composer; pupil of Rameau. In 1784 he organized the École Royale de Chant and taught (1795–1816) composition at...

Bax, Sir Arnold Edward Trevor

(Encyclopedia)Bax, Sir Arnold Edward Trevor, 1883–1953, English composer, studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London. His early works, in an elaborately chromatic style, did not find great favor with the publi...

Wolpe, Stefan

(Encyclopedia)Wolpe, Stefan shtĕfˈän vôlˈpə [key], 1902–72, German–American composer. Of Jewish ancestry, he went to live in Palestine in 1933, but settled in the United States in 1938. Wolpe wrote severa...

Blacher, Boris

(Encyclopedia)Blacher, Boris bläˈkhər [key], 1903–75, Estonian-German composer, b. Yingkou, China. Blacher lived for six years in Siberia. He studied in Berlin and in 1953 became the director of the West Berli...

Gade, Niels Vilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Gade, Niels Vilhelm nēls vĭlˈhĕlm gäˈᵺə [key], 1817–90, Danish composer. He studied (1843–48) in Leipzig, where he met Mendelssohn and Schumann. His eight symphonies, his chamber music, a...

Berwald, Franz

(Encyclopedia)Berwald, Franz fränts bĕrˈväld [key], 1796–1868, Swedish composer. His music, which is highly original in its use of rhythm, harmony, and orchestration, had little popular success. Best known fo...

Maderna, Bruno

(Encyclopedia)Maderna, Bruno bro͞oˈnō mädĕrˈnä [key], 1920–73, Italian composer and conductor, b. Venice. Maderna studied composing with Gian Francesco Malipiero and conducting with Hermann Scherchen. As a...

Boulez, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Boulez, Pierre pyĕr bo͞olĕzˈ [key], 1925–2016, French conductor and composer of modernist classical music. He studied at the Paris Conservatory with Olivier Messiaen (1944–45) and studied twel...

Loeffler, Charles Martin

(Encyclopedia)Loeffler, Charles Martin lĕfˈlər [key], 1861–1935, American composer and violinist, b. Alsace, France; he studied in Kiev, Berlin, and Paris. In 1881 he emigrated to the United States, and from 1...