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Villa-Lobos, Heitor

(Encyclopedia)Villa-Lobos, Heitor āˈtôr vēˈlä-lôˈbôs [key], 1887–1959, Brazilian composer, educated in Brazil but self-taught in composition. He developed an interest in Brazilian folk music, which becam...

Eisler, Hanns

(Encyclopedia)Eisler, Hanns häns īsˈlər [key], 1898–1962, German composer, pupil of Arnold Schoenberg. In 1926, he joined the German Communist party, thereafter producing protest songs and other music express...

Serkin, Rudolf

(Encyclopedia)Serkin, Rudolf, 1903–91, Austrian-American pianist, b. Bohemia. Serkin gave joint recitals with Adolf Busch (his father-in-law from 1935) and made his U.S. debut (1933) with the Busch chamber player...

Enesco, Georges

(Encyclopedia)Enesco, Georges zhôrzh ĕnĕsˈkō [key], Rom. George Enescu, 1881–1955, Romanian violinist, composer, and conductor; studied at the Vienna Conservatory and in Paris with Massenet, Fauré, and othe...

Spohr, Ludwig

(Encyclopedia)Spohr, Ludwig or Louis lo͝otˈvĭkh shpōr, lo͞oˈē [key], 1784–1859, German composer, conductor, and violinist. After touring Europe extensively, he was (1822–57) court conductor in Kassel. Hi...

Milhaud, Darius

(Encyclopedia)Milhaud, Darius däryüsˈ mēyōˈ [key], 1892–1974, French composer. Milhaud studied at the Paris Conservatory. In Brazil (1917–19) as an aide to Paul Claudel, poet and French minister to Brazil...

Górecki, Henryk Mikolaj

(Encyclopedia)Górecki, Henryk Mikolaj hĕnˈrĭk mēkôˈlī gôrĕtˈskē [key], 1933–2010, Polish composer. He studied (1955–60) at the Katowice State Higher School of Music, joining the faculty in 1968, ris...

Scarlatti, Alessandro

(Encyclopedia)Scarlatti, Alessandro älĕs-sänˈdrō skärlätˈtē [key], 1660–1725, Italian composer. He may have studied with Carissimi in Rome, where his first opera was produced in 1679. In 1684 he went to ...

Berg, Alban

(Encyclopedia)Berg, Alban älˈbän bĕrk [key], 1885–1935, Austrian composer. In his youth he taught himself music but in 1904 he became the pupil and close friend of Arnold Schoenberg. Later Berg himself taught...

Cowell, Henry Dixon

(Encyclopedia)Cowell, Henry Dixon kouˈəl [key], 1897–1965, American composer and pianist, b. Menlo Park, Calif., largely self-educated, studied musicology in Berlin (1931–32). Cowell experimented with new mus...