Curated playlist
German opera composers
- Ludwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven could no longer hear the applause his own music had earned. At the premiere on the 7th of May 1824, the contralto Caroline Unger had to turn him around so he could see the audience cheering behind his back. He had…
- Richard WagnerRichard Wagner was born on the 22nd of May 1813 in Leipzig, in the Jewish quarter of the city, at a house known as the House of the Red and White Lions. His father died of typhoid fever just six months after his birth. His mother then…
- Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart was four years old when his father began teaching him minuets at the clavier, treating it as a game. The boy played them faultlessly, in perfect time, with delicacy. By five he was composing little pieces and…
- Robert SchumannRobert Schumann was born on the 8th of June 1810 in Zwickau, in the Kingdom of Saxony, into a family of booksellers and translators with no particular musical connections. His father August made his fortune selling German translations of…
- Felix MendelssohnFelix Mendelssohn was born on the 3rd of February 1809 in Hamburg, in the same house where, exactly one year later, the violinist Ferdinand David would be born. That coincidence would prove fitting: David would one day give the world…
- Richard StraussRichard Strauss died on the 8th of September 1949 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen with the words "dying is just as I composed it in Tod und Verklärung" on his lips. He was speaking to Alice, his Jewish daughter-in-law, the woman he had spent…
- George Frideric HandelZadok the Priest has sounded at every British coronation since 1727, and George Frideric Handel wrote it. The German-born composer who supplied that anthem began life far from any throne. He was baptised Georg Friedrich Handel in 1685 in…
- Jacques OffenbachJacques Offenbach died on the 5th of October 1880, just months before the premiere of the opera he had spent years trying to finish. He was heard saying to his dog, Kleinzach, "I would give everything I have to be at the premiere." He…
- Paul HindemithPaul Hindemith was born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, on the 16th of November 1895, and within two decades he would be playing concertmaster at the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra. He was a composer, yes, but also a theorist, a teacher, a violist, a…
- Johann Christian BachJohann Christian Bach was born on the 5th of September 1735 in Leipzig, Germany, the youngest son of one of the most towering figures in Western music. His father, Johann Sebastian, personally guided his early musical training. By the time…