one of the great classical composers Also, the trombone brand of choice among most Wind Ensemble trombonists See the FAQ for recommendations and price ranges
born Jan. 4, 1813 died 1893 Austrian politician noted for instituting a system of centralized control. He served as minister of the interior (1849-59); after the death of Felix, prince zu Schwarzenberg in 1852, he largely dictated policy in the regime. Bach centralized administrative authority for the Austrian Empire, but he also endorsed reactionary policies that reduced freedom of the press and abandoned public trials
born March 8, 1714, Weimar, Saxe-Weimar died Dec. 14, 1788, Hamburg German composer. Second son of Johann Sebastian Bach, he received a superb musical education from his father. In 1740 he became harpsichordist at the court of Frederick II the Great, where he remained for 28 years, after which he moved to Hamburg to take the city's leading musical position. He was a leader of the Empfindsamkeit ("sensitivity") movement, which emphasized rhapsodic freedom and sentiment. A founder of the Classical style, he is one of the first composers in whose works sonata form becomes clearly evident. He wrote some 200 works for harpsichord, clavichord, and piano (including dozens of sonatas), some 50 keyboard concertos, many symphonies, and several oratorios and Passions. His Essay on the True Manner of Playing Keyboard Instruments (1753) was a highly important practical music treatise
born Sept. 5, 1735, Leipzig died Jan. 1, 1782, London, Eng. German-born British composer. Youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach, he studied with his brother Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in Berlin before moving to Italy. In 1762 he became composer to the King's Theatre in London, where he would remain the rest of his life, becoming music teacher to the queen, and later the impresario (with Karl Friedrich Abel) of an important series of concerts (1765-81). He wrote some 50 symphonies, some 35 keyboard concertos, and much chamber music. His music, melodious and well formed but far from profound and with no trace of his father's influence, became an important prototype of the Classical style and influenced Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
a German musician, one of the most famous and admired European composers. He is especially famous for his organ music and his religious choral music (=for musicians and singers) , which is typical of the baroque style (1685-1750). born March 21, 1685, Eisenach, Thuringia, Ernestine Saxon Duchies died July 28, 1750, Leipzig German composer. Born to a musical family, he became a superbly well-rounded musician; from 1700 he held positions as singer, violinist, and organist. His first major appointment, in 1708, was as organist at the ducal court at Weimar. This was followed by a six-year stay (1717-23) as kapellmeister at the princely court of Köthen, which was in turn followed by his appointment as cantor at the great church of St. Thomas in Leipzig, where he would remain for the rest of his life. Imbued with the northern German contrapuntal style (see counterpoint) from early childhood, he encountered the lively Italian style, especially in the works of Antonio Vivaldi, about 1710, and much of his music embodies an immensely convincing melding of the two styles. At St. Thomas he wrote more than 200 church cantatas. His orchestral works include the six Brandenburg Concertos, four orchestral suites, and many harpsichord concertos, a genre he invented. His solo keyboard works include the great didactic set The Well-Tempered Clavier (1722 and 1742), the superb Goldberg Variations (1742), the massive but unfinished Art of the Fugue (1749), numerous suites, and many organ preludes and fugues. His surviving choral works include (in addition to the sacred cantatas) more than 30 secular cantatas, two monumental Passions, and the Mass in B Minor. His works, never widely known in his lifetime, went into near-total eclipse after his death, and only in the early 19th century were they revived, to enormous acclaim. He was perhaps the most accomplished organist and harpsichordist of his time. Today Bach is regarded as the greatest composer of the Baroque era, and, by many, as the greatest composer of all time
born Nov. 22, 1710, Weimar, Saxe-Weimar died July 1, 1784, Berlin German composer and organist. Eldest son of Johann Sebastian Bach, he was trained by his father. One of the finest organists of his time, he held important organist posts in Dresden (1723-46) and Halle (1746-64) but thereafter lived an unsettled life and drifted into drinking and poverty. Though he was a highly gifted composer, his compositions veered confusingly between the old contrapuntal style and the new pre-Classical styles. He wrote more than 30 church cantatas, several keyboard concertos, and many solo keyboard works