Chantal Incandela

Maria Szymanowska (Dec. 14, 1789 - July 25, 1831) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. Born in Warsaw, the history of her musical studies is largely unknown, but we know that she gave her first public recitals in Paris and Warsaw in 1810. Continue reading →

Sir Granville Ransome Bantock (Aug. 7, 1868 - Oct. 16, 1946) was a British composer and conductor, born in London. His parents hoped he would enter the Indian Civil Service, but poor health would prevent him from that. He turned to chemical engineering, but around 20 years old, he started looking at musical manuscripts. His first teacher was at Trinity College of Music, and in 1888 he entered the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Frederick Corder. Continue reading →

Francesco Paolo Tosti (April 9, 1846 - Dec. 2, 1916) was a composer and music teacher, born in Ortona, Italy. Tosti's musical education started at age 11, at the Royal College of San Pietro a Majella, where he studied both violin and composition. He also studied at the conservatory in Naples as well, but illness forced him to return home for a while. Continue reading →

Reynaldo Hahn (Aug. 9, 1874 - Jan. 28, 1947) was a Venezuelan, naturalized French composer, composer, conductor, and music critic. He predominantly wrote songs, written in the French tradition of the mélodie. Continue reading →

Reinhold Moritzevich Glière (Jan. 11, 1875 - June 23, 1956) was a Russian/Soviet composer and violinist born in Kiev, of German-Polish descent. Son of a wind instrument maker, Glière showed talent as a child, and entered the Kiev School of Music in 1891, studying the violin. In 1894 he entered the Moscow Conservatory, and graduated in 1900, after composing a one act opera entitled "Earth and Heaven", and winning a gold medal for it. Glière would later go on to teach in many conservatories, including those of Kiev and Moscow. Continue reading →

Jean-Féry Rebel (April 18, 1666 - Jan. 2, 1747) was a French composer, conductor, violinist, and harpsichordist. The son of a tenor in Louis XIV's private chapel, he was a child prodigy, and would go on to study with Jean Baptiste Lully. Rebel was highly innovative; he was the first composer to utilize a tone cluster (a musical chord made up of at least three adjacent tones in a scale}, and one of the first French composers to compose sonatas in the Italian style of the day. Continue reading →

Louis Moreau Gottschalk (May 8, 1829 - Dec. 18, 1869) was an American composer and pianist, born in New Orleans. He started piano at an early age, and was recognized as a prodigy. At thirteen, he traveled to Europe to further his studies, but was turned down from the Paris Conservatory due to his nationality. He eventually would gain access thanks to family friends. Gottschalk played across the US and in Central and South America, and was highly praised for this playing. Continue reading →

Frank Bridge (Feb. 26, 1879 - Jan. 10, 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor. Born in Brighton, he attended the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903, and was active as a violist in several string quartets. He also did a bit of conducting for awhile before devoting himself to composition, with one of his most famous students being Benjamin Britten. Bridge was prolific in his output, but his music is still comparatively little known, and nowhere near as programmed as you'd think. It's especially vexing as what is written about him is glowing; he's nowhere near the household name one would think he'd be. Continue reading →

Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax (Nov. 8, 1883 - Oct. 3, 1953) was an English poet, author, and composer. His output was prolific, and spanned several genres, from choral works to chamber pieces to orchestral music. His music was for a while neglected, and then revived, though predominantly as recordings; we still don't see his work programmed very often in concert halls, save a few compositions. Continue reading →

Franz Bendel (March 23, 1833 - July 3, 1874) was born in Schönlinde Bohemia, and not that much is known about this pianist and composer. He studied with Liszt for five years in Weimar, and in 1862 he lived in Berlin and taught at Neue Akadamie der Tonkust. He wrote over 400 compositions, mainly all for piano. He died from typhoid fever while on tour in America, at 41. Continue reading →