Famous Musical Compositions
John Adams (contemporary American composer)
Operas: Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, Doctor Atomic
On the Transmigration of Souls (commemorates those who lost their lives on Sept. 11)
Johann Sebastian Bach
The Brandenburg Concertos; Goldberg Variations; The Passion of St. John; The Passion of St. Matthew; Christmas Oratorio; Well-Tempered Clavier; The Art of Fugue; Mass in B Minor
Samuel Barber
Adagio for Strings; Vanessa (opera with libretto by Menotti)
Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (based on a short prose piece by James Agee)
Bela Bartok (Hungarian)
Opera: Duke Bluebeard’s Castle
Other works: Mikrokosmos
Ludwig van Beethoven
Opera (his only) – Fidelio
Symphonies: Eroica (symphony #3); Pastoral (symphony #6); Eroica (symphony #9) – ends with the famous “Ode to Joy”
Piano sonatas: Moonlight Sonata; Waldstein; Appassionata; Pathetique [piano sonata #8]
Mass in D Major (Missa Solemnis); Hammerklavier
Vincenzo Bellini
Norma; La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker)
Alban Berg
Operas: Lulu; Wozzeck
Irving Berlin [composer of popular songs]
Songs: Easter Parade; God Bless America; White Christmas; Alexander’s Ragtime Band
Musicals: Annie Get Your Gun; Top Hat
Hector Berlioz
Symphonies: Symphony Fantastique – has famous parts called “March to the Scaffold” and “Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath”; Harold in Italy
Operas: Benvenuto Cellini; The Trojans [Les Troyens]
Other works: The Damnation of Faust
Leonard Bernstein
Musicals: West Side Story, On the Town, Candide
Symphonies: Jeremiah, The Age of Anxiety, Kaddish
Ballets: Fancy Free
Other works: Trouble in Tahiti [short opera]; Chichester Psalms
Georges Bizet
Operas: Carmen; The Pearl Fishers; The Fair Maid of Perth
Alexander Borodin –
Opera: Prince Igor
Other works: In the Steppes of Central Asia; Polovtsian Dances
Johannes Brahms
German Requiem; Academic Festival Overture
Benjamin Britten
Operas: Gloriana, Peter Grimes, The Rape of Lucrecia, Billy Budd, The Turn of the Screw, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Death in Venice
Other works: War Requiem; A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra;
Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
Anton Bruckner
“Romantic” Symphony (4th Symphony)
John Cage
Imaginary Landscape No. 4 -- written for 12 radios with two performers at each
4'33" -- the performer sits silently at piano for 4 minutes and 33 seconds
Frederic Chopin (Polish)
Minute Waltz; Military Polonaise; Raindrop Prelude; Funeral March
Aaron Copland
Ballets: Billy the Kid, Rodeo, Appalachian Spring
Other works: Lincoln Portrait, El Salon Mexico, Fanfare for the Common Man,
The Heiress (film score)
Claude Debussy
La Mer; Prelude to “The Afternoon of a Faun”; Clair de Lune; Suite Bergamasque; Peleas et Melisande [his only complete opera]
Gaetano Donizetti
Operas: Don Pasquale; The Elixir of Love; Lucia di Lammermoor
Antonin Dvorak
New World Symphony (Symphony #9 – “From the New World”); Slavonic Dances
Edward Elgar
Pomp and Circumstance; Enigma Variations; The Dream of Gerontius (oratorio)
Stephen Foster (19th century composer of popular songs)
Oh, Susanna; My Old Kentucky Home; Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair; Camptown Races; Old Folks at Home
George Gershwin
Porgy and Bess; An American in Paris; Rhapsody in Blue
Gilbert and Sullivan [Gilbert wrote the words; Sullivan wrote the music]
Operettas: The Pirates of Penzance; HMS Pinafore; The Mikado
Philip Glass
Operas: Einstein on the Beach; Akhnaten; Satyagraha
Mikhail Glinka
Operas: A Life for the Tsar; Ruslan and Lyudmila
Christoph Gluck
Operas: Orpheus and Eurydice; Iphigenia in Tauris
Charles Gounod
Operas: Faust; Romeo and Juliet
Edvard Grieg (Norwegian)
Peer Gynt -- includes a famous section called In the Hall of the Mountain King
George Handel
Oratorios: Messiah; Saul; Israel in Egypt; Judas Maccabeus; Esther
Other works: Water Music; Music for the Royal Fireworks; Zadok the Priest [written for the coronation of George II and sung at every British coronation since]
Joseph Haydn – called the “Father of the Symphony” – wrote over 100 symphonies
Symphonies: Surprise Symphony (Symphony #94); Clock Symphony (Symphony #101); Military Symphony (Symphony #100);“London” Symphonies (12 symphonies); Farewell Symphony; Miracle Symphony
Other works: The Creation (oratorio); The Seasons (oratorio); Lord Nelson Mass
Gustav Holst (English)
The Planets, Egdon Heath; St. Paul’s Suite
Engelbert Humperdinck
Hansel and Gretel [opera]
Charles Ives (American experimental composer)
Concord Sonata, Three Places in New England
Scott Joplin (19th century – Ragtime music)
The Entertainer; Maple Leaf Rag; Treemonisha (opera)
Ruggiero Leoncavallo
Opera: Pagliacci [also called I Pagliacci] (opera)
Franz Liszt (Hungarian)
Hungarian Rhapsodies; Faust Symphony; Dante Symphony
Gustav Mahler
Symphonies: Symphony of a Thousand (Symphony #8); Titan Symphony (Symphony #1); Resurrection Symphony (Symphony #2); Tragic Symphony (Symphony #6); Song of the Night (Symphony #7)
Other works: The Song of the Earth (Das Lied von Erde); Songs of a Wayfarer
Songs on the Death of Children
Jules Massenet
Manon [opera]
Pietro Mascagni
Opera: Cavalleria Rusticana
Felix Mendelssohn
Hebrides Overture (also known as Fingal's Cave); Scottish Symphony; Italian Symphony;
St. Paul (oratorio); Elijah (oratorio); Songs Without Words (eight collections of short piano pieces); A Midsummer Night’s Dream [including famous “Wedding March”]
Gian Carlo Menotti
Operas: Amahl and the Night Visitors [1st opera done for television]; The Saint of Bleecker Street; Amelia Goes to the Ball
Claudio Monteverdi
Orfeo [considered 1st modern opera]; The Coronation of Poppea
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart [works catalogued by Kochel number]
Symphonies: Jupiter Symphony (Symphony #41); Prague Symphony (Symphony #38); Linz Symphony (Symphony #36); Paris Symphony (Symphony #31); Haffner Symphony (Symphony #35)
Operas: The Magic Flute; Abduction from the Seraglio; Don Giovanni; Cosi Fan Tutte; The Marriage of Figaro
Other works: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (“A Little Night Music”); Requiem Mass
Modest Mussorgsky
Operas: Boris Godunov; Khovanshchina
Other works: Pictures at an Exhibition [includes a famous movement called “The Great Gate of Kiev”]; Night on Bald Mountain
Jacques Offenbach
Operas: Orpheus in the Underworld; The Tales of Hoffmann
Carl Orff
Carmina Burana
Johann Pachelbel
Canon in D Major [known as “Pachelbel’s Canon”]
Sergei Prokofiev
Operas: A Love for Three Oranges; War and Peace
Other works: Peter and the Wolf; Alexander Nevsky; Classical Symphony (symphony #1); Romeo and Juliet (written for ballet)
Giacomo Puccini
Operas: La Boheme; Tosca; Madame Butterfly; Turandot; The Girl of the Golden West; Manon Lescaut
Henry Purcell
Dido and Aeneas (one of the earliest English operas); The Fairy-Queen
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, The Isle of the Dead, Symphonic Dances
Sergei Prokofiev
Peter and the Wolf, The Love for Three Oranges (opera), Romeo and Juliet (ballet), War and Peace (opera), Alexander Nevsky (film score)
Giacomo Puccini
Operas: La Boheme; Tosca; Turandot; Madame Butterfly; The Girl of the Golden West; Manon Lescaut
Henry Purcell
Dido and Aeneas [one of the earliest English operas]
The Fairy Queen [incidental music to a version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream]
Sergei Rachmaninoff [one of the greatest pianists in history]
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; The Isle of the Dead; Symphonic Dances;
The Bells [based on a poem by Edgar Allan Poe]
Maurice Ravel
Bolero; Daphnis and Chloe (ballet); La Valse (orchestral suite);
Pavane for a Dead Princess
Ottorino Respighi
The Fountains of Rome; The Pines of Rome
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Flight of the Bumblebee; Spanish Capriccio; Scheherazade; Russian Easter Overture
Operas: The Golden Cockerel; The Snow Maiden; The Tale of Tsar Saltan
Gioachino Rossini
Operas: The Barber of Seville; William Tell; Cinderella (La Cenerentola); Sins of Old Age; The Italian Girl in Algiers
Camille Saint-Saens
The Carnival of the Animals; Danse Macabre; Samson and Delilah (opera)
Erik Satie
Gymnopedies
Arnold Schoenberg (famous for 12-tone technique]
Moses und Aron (two-act opera); Transfigured Night
Franz Schubert
Unfinished Symphony (Symphony No. 8 in B minor); Tragic Symphony (Symphony #6); The Trout Quintet
Songs: Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel; The Erlkonig (The Erl-King)
Robert Schumann
Papillons; Carnaval; Spring Symphony; Rhenish Symphony,
Kinderscenen (Scenes from Childhood)
Dmitry Shostakovich [most important Russian composer whose career took place entirely in the Soviet Union]
Operas: The Nose, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
Leningrad Symphony; Babi Yar
Jean Sibelius (Finnish)
Finlandia; Valse Triste
Bedrich Smetana (Czech)
The Bartered Bride; Ma Vlast (My Country) – includes a famous piece called The Moldau
John Philip Sousa
Stars and Stripes Forever; Washington Post March; Semper Fidelis
Johann Strauss [called the “Waltz King”]
Waltzes: The Blue Danube; Tales from the Vienna Woods
Operettas: Die Fledermaus (“The Bat”); The Gypsy King
Richard Strauss
Famous Operas: Elektra; Salome; Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose)
Lesser known operas: Guntram; Feuersnot
Other works: Ariadne auf Naxos; Thus Spake Zarathustra (Also Sprach Zarathustra) – used as the theme for the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”
Igor Stravinsky
Ballets: The Firebird; Petrouchka; Rite of Spring [subtitled “Pictures from Pagan Russia”]
Opera: The Rake’s Progress [his only full-length opera]
Other works: Dumbarton Oaks [concerto]; The Owl and the Pussycat
Peter Tchaikovsky
Ballets: Swan Lake; The Nutcracker; Sleeping Beauty
Operas: Eugene Onegin; The Queen of Spades
Symphonies: Winter Dreams (Symphony #1); Little Russian (Symphony #2); Polish (Symphony #3); Pathetique (Symphony #6); Manfred Symphony
Other works: 1812 Overture; Marche Slav
Virgil Thompson
Four Saints in Three Acts [opera with libretto by Gertrude Stein]
Giuseppe Verdi
Famous operas: Rigoletto; La Traviata; Il Trovatore; Aida; Falstaff; Otello;
Il Trovatore (The Troubadour) – contains the famous “Anvil Chorus”
Lesser known operas: Oberto [his first opera]; Nabucco
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis; A Sea Symphony; The Pilgrim’s Progress [opera]
Antonio Vivaldi (his nickname is “The Red Priest”)
The Four Seasons
Richard Wagner
Famous operas: Tannhauser; Lohengrin; Tristan and Isolde; Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg); The Flying Dutchman; Parsifal; The Ring of the Nibelung [“Ring Cycle”] – consists of 4 operas: Das Rheingold; The Valkyrie; Siegfried;Gotterdammerung (The Twilight of the Gods)
Lesser known operas: The Fairies [his first opera]; The Ban on Love (Das Liebesverbot) [based on Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure]; Rienzi
Carl Maria Weber (first important composer of German romantic opera)
Der Freischutz (The Free-Shooter)