Obscure Music Mondays

Sophie Menter (July 29, 1846 - Feb. 23, 1918) was a German pianist and composer, born to musical parents. At the age of fifteen she soloed with an orchestra, and her concertizing after that took her all around Germany and Switzerland. Menter would go on to be known for her interpretations of Franz Liszt's compositions, and she actually studied with...

Louise Farrenc (May 31, 1804 - Sept. 15, 1875) was a French pianist, teacher, and composer. Born in Paris, she started the piano at an early age, and later on also showed a knack for composition. At the age of fifteen, her parents let her study composition with Anton Reicha at the Paris Conservatory. Later on she embarked upon a...

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...

Rued Langgaard (July 28, 1893 - July 10, 1952) was a Danish composer and organist, born to musical parents. He began piano lessons at five years old, with his parents as his first teachers, and was playing Chopin mazurkas at age seven. Not long after, he started composing for the piano and began taking organ and violin lessons. Langgaard started studying...

Marion Bauer (Aug. 15, 1882 - Aug. 9, 1955) was an American composer, music critic, teacher, and writer. Born in Walla Walla, Washington, she was the youngest of seven children. Her father noticed her musical inclinations and she began studying piano  with her elder sister Emilie, who was 17 years older than her.  Continue reading →

Domenico Carlo Maria Dragonetti (April 7, 1763 – April 16, 1846) was a double bass virtuoso and composer, born in Venice, Italy. He lived there for 30 years and worked at various opera houses before moving to London, England. There he played at the King's Theatre, and lived there the rest of his life. Dragonetti knew Joseph Haydn and Ludwig...

Cécile Louise Stéphanie Chaminade (Aug. 8, 1857 - April 13, 1944) was a French pianist and composer. Her first teacher was her mother, and she also took violin and compositions; sadly her father disapproved.Despite her father's disapproval, Chaminade was composing at a young age, and at eight years old she played some of her music for George Bizet, who was...

Paul Abraham Dukas (Oct. 1, 1865 - May 17, 1935)  was a French composer, professor, and critic, born in to a Jewish family. The second of three children, Dukas didn't show any extraordinary musical talent, despite taking piano from a young age, until his teenage years, when he started to compose while recovering from an illness. When he was 16...

Jacques François Antoine Marie Ibert (Aug. 15, 1890 - Feb. 5, 1962) was a French composer, born in Paris. His father a businessman, and mother a talented pianist, young Ibert was encouraged in his musical journeys. He started piano and violin at age four, and entered the Paris Conservatory in 1910. His studies were interrupted by World War I, where he was a naval officer, but he resumed his studies later on, and won the famous Prix de Rome on his first attempt in 1919.  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. Continue reading →