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[German Version] 1. Mendelssohn, Moses (Sep 6, 1729, Dessau – Jan 4, 1786, Berlin), youngest of the three children of Mendel Heymann and his wife Bela Rachel Sara. The father was a synagogue attendant and scribe of the Jewish community. The boy, who was deformed and had a weak constitution, was supported by the Dessau rabbi David Fränkel, and, as he said himself, reading M. Maimonides's More Nevukhim (ET: Guide for the Perplexed) made a lasting impression on him. In 1743 Mendelssohn followed Fränkel to Berlin, where he lived in very impoverished circumstances. He ac…

[German Version] (Jan 22, 1811, Doborján [Raiding] – Jul 31, 1886, Bayreuth), Hungarian composer. In Liszt's life and work, the influences of his native German language, his identification with Hungarian culture, and his French intellectual training combined to constitute an individual creative unity. His musical talent was recognized early. Thanks to scholarships provided by Hungarian nobility, this son of a Viennese estate manager was able to study with Carl Czerny and Antonio Salieri. In 1823 L…

[German Version] (baptized May 15, 1567, Cremona – Nov 29, 1643, Vienna), Italian composer. After studying in Cremona with Marc'Antonio Ingegneri, in 1590 Monteverdi became a court musician in Mantua, where he was appointed Kapellmeister in 1601. In 1613 he became Kapellmeister of San Marco in Venice. Monteverdi's early works, especially his madrigals and numerous works of liturgical church music, are in the polyphonic a cappella tradition of the late Renaissance. He soon adopted the principles of the new style ( seconda pratica) inspired by the Florentine Camerata, which emp…

[German Version] (Apr 1, 1873, Semyonovo – Mar 28, 1943, Beverly Hills, CA), Russian composer, pianist, and director. His mother gave him his first piano lessons; from 1882 he studied piano at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and from 1895 with Nikolai Zverev. In 1888 he began studying composition ¶ in Moscow with Sergey Taneyev and Anton Arensky. He composed his earliest works in 1890 (Piano Concerto no. 1, Prelude in C# Minor, a one-act opera Aleko as an examination piece). The concerto’s failure brought on a deep depression, for which he underwent psychotherapy. In 1…

[German Version] (Oct 1, 1644 [?], Rome – Feb 25, 1682, Genoa), Italian composer. He sang as a choirboy and studied with Ercole Bernabei; his earliest known composition dates from 1663 (a motet for the ¶ queen of Sweden). In 1665 he entered the service of the Colonnas, a family of Roman nobility, and traveled to Venice and Florence. Involvement in a theft of church property caused him to leave Rome. He was probably in Vienna in 1670, composing primarily for the musical stage. After 1675 he concentrated on oratorios, the best-known being his San Giovanni Batista. He had numerous affairs and…