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
Gustav Mahler
1860 - 1911
Gustav Mahler, a famous conductor during his lifetime, has since been considered an important composer whose work bridges the gap between 19th century Romanticism and the modern compositions of the 20th century.
As a teenager he studied piano and composition in Vienna and made a name for himself as a conductor in his mid-twenties.
He held positions in Prague, Leipzig and Budapest before becoming chief conductor of the Hamburg Opera in 1891. He also conducted the Vienna State Opera (1897-1907) and the New York Philharmonic Society (1908-11) while composing songs.
Nine symphonies and his most famous work "Das Lied von der Erde" (1908, not referred to as a symphony by Mahler because of superstition - he admired Anton Bruckner and Ludwig Van Beethoven, who both died after they had written nine symphonies).
A generation after his death, compositions such as his "Kindertotenlieder" (1901-04) became known as standard works for the orchestra. Mahler was born a Jew but converted to the Roman Catholic Church.
