Hungarian composer Bela Bartok's musical training began at the family piano, where his mother gave him lessons after realizing that the boy was a musical prodigy: he had perfect rhythm at the age of two, and could play dozens of folk tunes by heart at the age of four. As a young man, Bartok traveled

20th-century music, Anxiety, Bombast, Dissonant, Dramatic, Grand

He studied at Vienna University under Adler (1902-6), taking the doctorate for work on Heinrich Isaac; in composition he was one of Schönberg's first pupils (1904-8), along with Berg. Like Berg, he developed rapidly under Schönberg's guidance, achieving a fusion of Brahms, Reger and tonal Schönber

20th-century music, Dramatic, Eclectic

Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff[a] (Russian: Сергей Васильевич Рахманинов, Sergej Vasil’evič Rakhmaninov, 1 April 1873 [O.S. 20 March] – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He was one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, the l

20th-century music, Bombast, Classical, Complex, Dramatic, Euphoric, Intense, Monumental

The eminent English composer (and arranger), William (Turner) Walton, born to a musical family, was a chorister at Christ Church Cathedral at Oxford, and later studied at the university. He left Oxford without a degree, and from 1920 lived with the Sitwell family in London. The three Sitwells sibling

20th-century music, Lyrical