Ferruccio Busoni
1866 - 1924
Ferruccio Busoni was a German composer and pianist born in Italy. At the age of 7 he made his first public appearance and at 12 he conducted his own Stabat Mater.
He taught in Helsinki, Moscow and Boston before settling permanently in Berlin in 1894. He became famous as a virtuoso pianist and gave world premieres of works by important composers.
His most famous work during his lifetime, the opera Die Brautwahl (1910), was followed by the operas Arlecchino (1916) and Turandot (1917), but the unfinished and posthumously staged Doctor Faust is considered his masterpiece.
Of his orchestral works, his Piano Concerto (1904) is the most frequently performed. His numerous piano pieces include the Fantasia contrappuntistica (1910), six sonatinas (1910-20) and arrangements of organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Erik Satie
1866 - 1925
Hector Berlioz
1803 – 1869
French composer. He studied guitar at a young age and later, against the wishes of his parents, music at the Paris Conservatory.
His first major score was the stormy Symphonie fantastique (1830), which became a milestone in Romanticism. Impulsive and passionate, he was a controversial critic and constantly at war with the music establishment.
Although he was the most convincing French musical figure of his time, most of his works remained unplayed until the mid-20th century.
His works include the operas Benvenuto Cellini (1837) and Les Troyens (1858); the program symphonies Harold in Italy (1834) and Romeo and Juliet (1839); and the choral dramas La Damnation de Faust (1846) and L'Enfance du Christ (1854).
He was also known as a brilliant conductor with unsurpassed orchestral skills; his treatise on orchestration (1843) is the most influential work ever written.