Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Babbitt, Milton

(Encyclopedia)Babbitt, Milton, 1916–2011, American composer, b. Philadelphia. Babbitt turned to music after studying mathematics. He studied composition with Roger Sessions at Princeton, and taught there from 193...

Lutosławski, Witold

(Encyclopedia)Lutosławski, Witold, 1913–94, Polish composer, b. Warsaw, studied Univ. of Warsaw, Warsaw Conservatory. His early works were mainly neoclassical and often included elements from Polish folk music, ...

Thomson, Virgil

(Encyclopedia)Thomson, Virgil, 1896–1989, American composer, critic, and organist, b. Kansas City, Mo. Thomson studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. Until about 1926 he wrote in a dissonant, neoclassic style, bu...

Foote, Arthur William

(Encyclopedia)Foote, Arthur William, 1853–1937, American organist, teacher, and composer, b. Salem, Mass.; pupil of J. K. Paine at Harvard. He was organist (1878–1910) at the First Unitarian Church in Boston, w...

Powell, John

(Encyclopedia)Powell, John, 1882–1963, American pianist and composer, b. Richmond, Va., grad. Univ. of Virginian, 1901. In Vienna he studied piano and composition and in 1908 made his debut as a pianist in Berlin...

Stock, Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Stock, Frederick (Friedrich Wilhelm August Stock) stŏk [key], 1872–1942, German-American conductor and composer. He came to the United States in 1895 as a violist in the Chicago Orchestra and becam...

Donizetti, Gaetano

(Encyclopedia)Donizetti, Gaetano gītäˈnō dōnēdzĕtˈtē [key], 1797–1848, Italian composer. He studied music in Bergamo and Bologna and achieved success with his first opera, Enrico di Borgogna (1818). His ...

Nielsen, Carl

(Encyclopedia)Nielsen, Carl nēlˈsən, Dan. nĭlˈsən [key], 1865–1931, Danish composer. Nielsen was a pupil of Niels Gade at the Royal Conservatory in Copenhagen. Considered Denmark's foremost composer, he is ...

Schnabel, Artur

(Encyclopedia)Schnabel, Artur ärˈto͝or shnäˈbəl [key], 1882–1951, Austrian-American pianist, b. Lipnik, at that time in Austria. He studied (1891–97) with Leschetizky and began his concert tours in Europe...

Rorem, Ned

(Encyclopedia)Rorem, Ned, 1923–, American composer and author, b. Richmond, Ind., grad. Juilliard (B.A. 1946, M.A. 1948). He is basically romantic in approach, determinedly tonal, and often lyrical. Although he c...

Browse by Subject