The Art Song Project

Toivo Ilmari Hannikainen

Ilmari Hannikainen (1892 – 1955) came from a very famous finnish musical family. His father and two of his brothers were composers and another brother was a conductor. …Read more

Herbert Hughes (1882 – 1937) grew up in Belfast and completed his studies with Charles Wood at the Royal College of Music, London, in 1901. Together with his brother he collected, transcribed and arranged irish…Read more

Cyril Scott

“Cyril Scott’s life (1879-1970) covered an enormous span of developments in the world; in adulthood he could recall a day when his teachers in Frankfurt took time off to attend the funeral of Johannes Brahms…Read more

Felix Weingartner

“Dear colleague, next sunday I will conduct Beethoven’s 5th at the Vienna Musikverein. There you will hear the correct tempo.” …Read more

Florence Aylward

Florence Aylward (1862 – 1950 in Sussex ) grew up in a big family „with many siblings and servants“ as the daughter of the vicar of Brede, Augustus Aylward. At the age of nine, she…Read more

Joachim Raff

The swiss composer Joachim Raff (1822 – 1882) was early on supported by Franz Liszt and Felix Mendelssohn. In his time he was as well-respected and famous as Richard Wagner or Johannes Brahms. …Read more

Régine Wieniawski / Poldowski / Lady Dean

The life story of Régine Wieniawski (1879 – 1932) sounds like a glamorous piece for the yellow press. She was born in Bruxelles, Belgium. Her father was the great polish violinist and composer Henrik Wieniawski,…Read more

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

The english composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 – 1912) was a violin playing prodigy, who studied music at the Royal College of Music at 15 years of age. He became very popular as a composer, and…Read more

Elfrida Andrée

The swedish composer Elfrida Andrée (1841 – 1926) was born on the beautiful island Gotland. She studied composition with Niels Gade and Ludwig Norman. However, being a woman, she was not permitted to do so…Read more

Franz Xaver Scharwenka

The polish/czech composer Theophil Franz Xaver Scharwenka (1850 – 1924) started out as a protegé of Liszt, and was a friend of Johannes Brahms and Max Bruch. He was an excellent pianist, and his first…Read more

Gabriel Pierné

The french composer Gabriel Pierné (1863-1937) moved in the very center of the french music scene. He studied at the Conservatoire in Paris with César Franck and Jules Massenet, was a friend of Camile Saint-Saens…Read more

Anton Rubinstein

„Russians call me German, Germans call me Russian, Jews call me a Christian, Christians a Jew. Pianists call me a composer, composers call me a pianist. The classicists think me a futurist, and the futurists…Read more

Wilhelm Peterson – Berger

Wilhelm Peterson-Berger (1867-1942) is not unknown: Everybody knows him. In Sweden. …Read more

Augusta Holmès

“Like children, women have no idea of obstacles, and their willpower breaks all barriers. Mademoiselle Holmès is a woman, an extremist.” …Read more

Joseph Marx

The austrian Joseph Marx 1882- 1964 has been called the last great tonal composer. He was himself against the NS-regime, but another composer of the time, Karl Marx (!), wasn‘t and after the war they…Read more

Federico Mompou

“I make music like this because art has reached its limits…my art is a return to the primitive…no, not even a return, it is to begin again“ …Read more

Nadia Boulanger

„If there is one thing of which I am certain, it is that my music is worthless.“ …Read more

Gunnar de Frumerie

The composer and pianist Gunnar de Frumerie (1908-1987) is considered one of the swedish neoclassicists. He studied in Stockholm, with von Sauer in Vienna and Cortot and Sabanejev in Paris. Maybe his most popular works…Read more

Ludwig Thuille

The austrian composer Ludwig Thuille (1861-1907) was born in Bozen. After having lost both his parents as a child, he lived with his uncle who was very supportive of his musical developement. …Read more

Adolf Jensen

The german composer, pianist and teacher Adolf Jensen (1837-1879) learned how to play the piano by himself before he studied at the academy in Berlin. He then went on to teach music and work as…Read more

Rebecca Clarke

„And when I had that one little whiff of success that I‘ve had in my life, with the viola Sonata, the rumour went around, I hear, that I hadn‘t written the stuff myself…“ …Read more

Thomas Deneuville

Back in the early nineties there was not much to do on weekends for a teenage boy growing up in Tahiti. Thomas Deneuville (*1977) got bored of skateboarding or picking ripe mangoes and decided to…Read more