Chapter 2 A Brief Background of Dvo??k Anton?n Dvo??k (1841?1904) was one of the most versatile and prolific composers of the nineteenth century, reaching into almost all genres of music from piano miniatures to comprehensively conceived vocal-orchestra compositions. His output encompasses nine symphonies and fifty-five other orchestral pieces, eleven opera, eleven works for chorus and orchestra, nine small choral works, thirty-five sets of songs and duets, fifty-five chamber works for various…
Beethoven had a traumatic childhood even if he grew up surrounded by music. Ludwig van Beethoven was born around December 16, 1770, and baptized on December 17 in Bonn, located in the now-nonexistent Electorate of Cologne (“Ludwig van Beethoven”). His parents, Johann van Beethoven and Maria Magdalena van Beethoven, had to bury two children before Ludwig, and celebrated his successful birth. Maria bore Johann two more sons after Ludwig: Caspar Carl, born in 1774 and Nickolaus Johann, born in 1776…