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
Jacques Offenbach
1819 - 1880
Jacques Offenbach was the inventor of the operetta. Born Jakob Offenbach and the son of a Jewish cantor, he received violin lessons as a child.
Obviously gifted, the boy moved to Paris in 1833 and studied the cello at the Conservatory. He then worked as a cellist at the Opéra Comique, Fromental Halévy was introduced to the art of composition and in 1850 became Kapellmeister at the Théâtre Français.
Five years later he founded his own stage, the “Bouffes Parisiens”, which he directed until 1863 as director, composer and conductor.
His best-known pieces are the dance number Cancan from Orpheus in the Underworld and the barcarole from Hoffmann's stories.
