July 2019

Enrique Granados Campiña (July 27, 1867 – March 24, 1916) was a Spanish composer and pianist. He studied piano in Barcelona, and moved to Paris in 1887. Unable to get in to the Paris Conservatory, he ended up taking private lessons with a Conservatory professor, Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot. Continue reading →

Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (March 18, 1844 - June 21, 1908) was a Russian composer and professor, and member of the composer group The Big Five.  Continue reading →

Robert Fuchs (Feb. 15, 1847 - Feb. 19, 1927) was an Austrian composer and music professor who taught many famous composers.  Fuchs studied at the Vienna Conservatory, with Otto Dessof and Joseph Hellmsberger. He became Professor of Music Theory in 1875, and held it until 1912. He was highly regarded as a composer, and had a great admirer in Johannes Brahms. Fuchs did little to promote his music however; he wouldn't arrange concerts, preferring to live a quiet life. As a professor, he taught many famous composers, such as Gustav Mahler, Jean Sibelius, Hugo Wolf, and Alexander Zemlinksy. Continue reading →

Theodore Akimenko (Feb. 8, 1876 - Jan. 8, 1945) was a Ukranian pianist, professor, and composer.  He is the older brother of the composer Jakob Akimenko.  Continue reading →

Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (Nov. 2, 1739 - Oct. 24, 1799) was an Austrian composer and violinist. Introduced to the violin at the age of six, he was able to take lessons thanks to his father's financial position, and one of his violin teachers was able to get him in to a church orchestra when he was only eleven years old.  Continue reading →