Music Appreciation Course Essay: Analysis of Seven Composers

This essay provides a detailed analysis of seven music composers, each representing a different era in music history, from the Medieval and Renaissance periods to the 20th century. The essay begins by introducing each composer, including their birth and death years, and their place of origin. It then delves into their musical training, instrumental interests, and the genres they are associated with. The essay explores the influences that shaped their musical achievements and how their compositions contributed to their respective eras. It highlights their most famous compositions and discusses any challenges they faced in their careers. The essay also compares and contrasts their musical styles with those of their contemporaries, offering a comprehensive overview of their contributions to the world of music. Composers discussed include Francesco Landini, Barbara Strozzi, Marianne Martinez, Modest Mussorgsky, Francis Poulenc, Daniel Elfman, and Ali Akbar Khan, providing a broad perspective on the evolution of music.

Running head: ESSAY ON MUSIC COMPOSER
ESSAY ON MUSIC COMPOSER
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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ESSAY ON MUSIC COMPOSER
The essay intends to talk about seven different composers belonging to seven different
eras. The essay precisely concentrates on introducing the composers by mentioning their
years of birth and where they were born. Then it talks about the musical training the musician
has acquired moving forward to specifically analyze his interest in different instruments and
the genre he belongs to. The essay also tries to find out who had been the influence or what
had precisely contributed in shaping his musical achievement. It deals with how the
compositions have contributed to the particular era they belong to and what his most famous
compositions are. It finally talks about whether he has faced any challenge in his musical
career or not and how his compositions are different from that of his contemporaries.
Medieval and Renaissance Periods
Francesco Landini was born in 1335 and died in the year 1397. He was born in
Fiesole, located near Florence and died in Florence. He was one of the greatest composers
during his time and had composed multiple songs from Italy (Georgakarakou, 2015). He
belonged to a family where he was encouraged to take lessons in astrology, music and
philosophy. He had formal training in music that had led him to achieve a laurel wreath for
coming first in a poetical contest arranged in Venice in the year 1364. He had interest in flute
and rebec. He was very popular for composing Landini cadence and his famous compositions
were “balata”, 12 madrigals including a virelay with caccia. His compositions were erudite
and full of limpid texture.
The Baroque Era
Barbara Strozzi was born on August 6th in 1619 and died on November 11th, 1677. She
was born in Venice and undoubtedly the most celebrated singer of her era from Italy (Campo,
2019). Her father was one of the leading artists and political representatives of his era which
has definitely contributed in shaping her career. Surviving the plague she started her musical

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ESSAY ON MUSIC COMPOSER
career at the age of twelve. She took formal training from Francesco Cavalli who had major
contribution to her career as a singer and composer. The specialties of her songs were that
they were poetic and eruditely articulated. Her songs were lyrical. Some of them were
“Cantate, ariette e duetti, “Ariette a voce sola” and “Sacri musicali affetti.
The Classical Era
One of the most popular composers of classical era namely Marianne Martinez was
born on 4th May, 1744 and died in 1812 on 13th December. She was born in Vienna and
composed from there. She used to stay at a place where people belonging to different musical
background used to live together on different floor (Eleanor Menninger, 2018). The Italian
singer Nicola Porpora and a struggling composer, Joseph Hayden had immense contribution
in her career. She was highly influenced by Johann Adolph and Guiseppe Bonno. Her songs
were replete with secular contents including six motets more than a couple of litanies. Her
songs were written in Italian style and she could play the keyboard in a remarkable way.
The Romantic Era
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was born in Karevo in the year 1839 on 21st March and
died on 28th March, 1881. He was the pioneer of introducing Russian music (Elder 2017). He
was strongly moved by the Russian folklore and incorporated them in his songs. He learnt
piano from Anton Gerke and was a recommendable pianist. He was victim of the controversy
raised from educational attitudes. Nothing really stopped him from creating one of most
eloquent opera, “Boris Godunov” and “Khovanshchina”. He was suffering from acute
alcoholism for a long time and the songs which he composed were stylistically uplifted and
utterly romantic. He was an extremist and that reflected in his creations.
The Earliest Twentieth Century

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ESSAY ON MUSIC COMPOSER
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was born on January 7th in 1899 and died on January,
1963. He was a musician who belonged to French Community (Néron, 2019). He did not
confine himself only into composing music but also was a great pianist of his time. He was
famous for both his religious works and the music which carry a light hearted spirit. He stood
out in his time for establishing the importance of gramophone. His music was considered to
be the melodic gift. He did not follow any kind of musical theory in order to make something
new. He composed operas like “Dialogues des Carmélites” and “La Voix humaine”. His
religious work includes “Litanies à la Vierge Noire”.
American Innovations in the Arts
Daniel Robert Elfman is not only a worldwide famous American composer but also a
singer, lyricist and a voice actor. He was born on 29th May, 1953. He was born Los Angeles.
He is particularly famous for making music for feature film over 100, stage production and
even television production. He has composed for the greatest films of this generation namely
Batman, Spider-Man, Good Will Hunting. He earned popularity for writing the music for the
whole series of Fifty Shades of Grey and Men in black. He was thrown away from the
orchestra class in school but this man later has been awarded with one Grammy and four
Oscar nominations and two Emmy (Sanders, Taubman & Lee, 2017). He in fact won a good
number of six Saturn Awards for creating best music and acquired Disney Legend Award in
the year 2015.
Twentieth Century Internationalism
Ali Akbar Khan was born on 14th April, 1922 and died in the year 2009 on 18th June.
He was born in Comilla located in Bangladesh. He worked in Hindustani classical music
where he earned fame for playing Sarod. He did not confine himself in Bangladesh or
Kolkata rather he went to America to teach music and founded a musical school in Kolkata

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and also in San Rafael and Basel. He popularized this genre internationally. He was strongly
inspired by his father who was also a famous composer. He had played with many musicians
like Ravi Shankar, famous violinist L. Subhramaniam. He was awarded with Padma
Vibhushan and five times nomination for Grammy (Khan et al., 2016).
Therefore it can be concluded that the essay comprises of seven different composers
who had been the representatives of seven different timeline and almost seven different
genres. The essay has described how the composers were different from one another and how
they have contributed in each era with their uniqueness and individuality.

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ESSAY ON MUSIC COMPOSER
References
Campo, S. S. (2019). BARBARA STROZZI 400 años del nacimiento de la c élebre
compositora e intérprete veneciana/BARBARA STROZZI 400 years after the birth of
the famous Venetian composer and performer. ARTSEDUCA, (24), 85-96.
Elder, D. W. (2017). Modest Mussorgsky and the Russian Style During the Romantic Era.
Eleanor Menninger, M. (2018). Sovereign Feminine: Music and Gender in Eighteenth-
Century Germany.
Georgakarakou, M. (2015). Some Observations on the Blind Medieval Composer Francesco
Landini. Enabling Access for Persons with Visual Impairment, 85.
Khan, M. A., Akbar, A., Baron, T. H., Khan, S., Kocak, M., Alastal, Y., ... & Nawras, A.
(2016). Endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage: a systematic review and meta-
analysis. Digestive Diseases and Sciences, 61(3), 684-703.
Néron, M. (2019). Reinventing Folklore: Max Jacob and Francis Poulenc. Journal of
Singing, 75(4), 401-416.
Sanders, J., Taubman, G., & Lee, J. J. (2017). U.S. Patent No. 9,812,123. Washington, DC:
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.