

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


Johannes Brahms
1833 - 1897

The German pianist and composer Johannes Brahms is one of the masters of Romanticism.
Although he showed piano talent from a young age, he spent much of his young life performing rather than composing.
Brahms' career was promoted by the composer Robert Schumann (1810-56) and his pianist Clara (1819-96); his close relationship with Clara, especially after her widowhood, has sparked much speculation since then.
The two exchanged passionate letters and went on vacation together, but Brahms decided to leave them behind to pursue his career and bachelor life.
At the end of the 1860s he settled in Vienna, where he lived until his death from cancer in 1897.
His best-known composition is the lullaby "Lied Wiegenlied", popularly known simply as "Brahms' lullaby". His compositions include the German Requiem (1866), the Violin Concerto in D (1878) and the Piano Concertos in B (1878-81).