Baroque Period
C.P.E. Bach "Sonata in A minor movement 3" (Ryan Layne Whitney, clavichord) Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach is the son of famous composer, Johann Sebastian Bach. He had 19 siblings, and some of his brothers also became composers. C.P.E Bach was a successful musician and an expert keyboard player. He actually wrote a textbook (called a treatise during his time) on how to play keyboard instruments. He credits his father for being his only keyboard and composition teacher. As you can hear in this video, J.S. Bach must have been a good teacher! The instrument being played in the video is a
clavichord.
Classical Period
Leopold Mozart "Toy Symphony" (Ensemble Metamorphosis) You have probably heard of Leopold Mozart's famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. However, Leopold Mozart was also a successful musician. He worked as a violinist, composer, and music teacher. He was his famous son's first music teacher. He also helped foster Wolfgang's career by taking him and his sister on grand tours of Europe when they were young to play for kings and queens. In this video, we hear one of Leopold's compositions, in which some toys play along to the music as instruments in the orchestra. Do you think Leopold was inspired to write this piece by listening to his young children play with their toys?
Romantic Period
Clara Schumann "Romance for violin and piano" (Joshua Bell, violin and Jeremy Denk, piano) Clara Schumann's father, Friedrich Wieck was a piano teacher. He taught his daughter piano and composition from an early age and made sure that she practiced hard. She went on to become one of the best pianists in the world. She was also a great composer, as you can hear in this video. Clara's father also taught her famous composer husband, Robert Schumann. If it wasn't for Friedrich Wieck, who knows if we would have Clara or Robert's music to listen to today.
Modern Period
Thomas Newman "Finding Nemo Theme" Thomas Newman is the son of Oscar-winning film composer, Alfred Newman. Kind of like the Bach family, many of the Newmans are composers. Besides his father, Thomas Newman has siblings, cousins, and uncles who are all film composers! Thomas Newman has won many awards, and has written music for movies you might know, including "Finding Nemo" as you can hear in this video and its sequel, "Finding Dory". In this video, you can hear a complete piece from the film. You can also click
here to see a behind-the-scenes clip of Newman recording music for "Finding Nemo".
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