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Biographies of Pianists

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Portrait of Mozart
Wikiwickedness - Wikimedia Commons - Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0

Mozart was a child prodigy, and started composing pieces at age 5. He composed many pieces, like symphonies and concertos, for different types of instruments, and performed in royal courts. He composed more than 600 pieces. For me, it is amazing and inspiring to play Mozart's pieces, because I just can't believe I'm playing something that was made so long ago.


Ludwig van Beethoven

Portrait of Beethoven with notebook
Cned-PA - Wikimedia Commons - Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0

Beethoven was the composer of the notable piece "Moonlight Sonata". He was the first composer to combine vocal and instrumental music, and his work raised instrumental music to a "high art" status. He also wrote Symphony No. 9 (Ode to Joy). He composed some of his famous pieces while he was almost deaf.


Frédéric Chopin

Portrait of Chopin in a suit
GregoryFunk - Wikimedia Commons - Public Domain

Chopin was a child prodigy for composing and playing piano music. Britannica.com says, "Chopin’s works for solo piano include about 61 mazurkas, 16 polonaises, 26 preludes, 27 études, 21 nocturnes, 20 waltzes, 3 sonatas, 4 ballades, 4 scherzos, 4 impromptus, and many individual pieces..." That's a lot of pieces!


Franz Liszt

Picture of Liszt
Thomas Goller - Wikimedia Commons - Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5

Liszt began to compose at age eight, and performed publicly at 8/9.He transcribed the works of other composers to the piano and popularized other composers' music. Many of his students became famous, too. He is described as the "greatest piano virtuoso of all time"(Searle 2020).