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
Giuseppe Verdi
1813 – 1901
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, best known for his operas, including Rigoletto, Otello and Falstaff.
He was the son of an innkeeper and showed talent from an early age. While he was earning his living as an organist, he began writing operas in Milan; In 1839 his Oberto was successfully performed at La Scala in Milan and initiated Verdi's long collaboration with the publisher Giulio Ricordi. His next opera, Un Giorno di Regno (1840), failed. Worse still, Verdi's two young daughters and his wife died.
He overcame his despair by composing Nabucco (1842); it was a sensational success and it was followed by the equally successful I Lombardi (1843). For the rest of the decade, he wrote a hit opera every year.
As an ardent nationalist, he was considered a great national personality. After composing his Requiem (1874), he withdrew, but when Ricordi brought him together with the poet and composer Arrigo Boito to initially revise Simon Boccanegra, their mutual appreciation led to the two great operas of Verdi's age, Otello ( 1886) and Falstaff (1890).