# Composers as Teachers



## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

At the age of 17, *Schubert* becomes a teacher at his father's boarding school!

*Nadia Boulanger *is a famous teacher-composer that taught Aaron Copland, John Eliot Gardiner, Dinu Lipatti, Igor Markevitch, Philip Glass, and Ástor Piazzolla.

Among *Saliere* famous students were Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt!

So, who among well-known classical composers become teachers in real life? Who are they famous students?
How did they teach?


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I know of a lady who was one of Aram Khachaturian's last students. I would bet most of the modern composers teach or at least hold seminars and guest speaking appearances. 

Beethoven himself was rather famously a piano teacher, wasn't he? Would you consider Czerny a famous student?


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

*Anton Bruckner* was a well-known teacher in his day, although none of his students turned out to be significant composers (Mahler took a few of Bruckner's classes, and allied himself with Bruckner's "faction", but was not truly his student).

*Olivier Messiaen* taught some of the post-WWII avant-garde's most important composers: Boulez, Xenakis, Stockhausen, and so forth. Messiaen himself was taught by *Paul Dukas* of Sorcerer's Apprentice fame.

*Arnold Schoenberg* taught Alban Berg and *Anton Webern*, who in turn taught Rene Leibowitz.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Johann Georg Albrechtsberger was a composer whose pupils included Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Ignaz Moscheles, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, and others. Not so well-known today, though, except for his concertos for Jew's harp.

http://www.amazon.com/Albrechtsberg...id=1361152803&sr=1-1&keywords=albrechtsberger


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Ernest Bloch taught Roger Sessions.

Horatio Parker taught Charles Ives.

My old theory teacher taught Frank Zappa. (Her comment when we asked was, "He wrote some interesting tone rows.")


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## oogabooha (Nov 22, 2011)

i think as far as teaching and conducting/composing is concerned, Lenny was able to communicate a great teaching style that can teach the most advanced musicians or the most amateur


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Charles Villiers Stanford *taught many British composers around the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Two big names among his many students where Vaughan Williams and Holst. Another one was Frank Bridge, who in turn went on to teach Britten. Even Australian composer Arthur Benjamin went to the UK, then centre of the British Empire, to learn under the Irishman Stanford. Apparently Stanford was quite a character. His humour could be dry and pointed (& politically incorrect!).

Another reputable composer who taught in the UK was *Hubert Parry,* but I'm not sure who studied under him (anyone famous?).

Some others I can think of:

- Conductor *Georg Solti* studied under Bartok and Dohnanyi (and possibly Kodaly? - the great Hungarian trimvirate!)
- *Janacek* taught pianist Rudolf Firkusny
- *R. Strauss* taught Spaniard Carlos Surinach
- Vaughan Williams was taught by* Bruch *and also got lessons from *Ravel*
- Beethoven was taught not only by *Haydn *but by *Albrechtsberger *and *Neefe* (This Naxos label cd would be interesting to hear relating to how they may have influenced him...or not?)
- *Peter Sculthorpe *was taught by *Egon Wellesz* and *Edmund Rubbra* (another Aussie, Richard Mills, also went to learn under Rubbra). Sculthorpe in turn taught Barry Conyngham, who also studied under *Takemitsu*
- Schoenberg studied briefly under *Zemlinsky *- apparently the only formal lessons Arnie had, othewise he was self taught
- *Dohnanyi *taught many Hungarian musos, incl. Solti as mentioned, also Annie Fischer, Geza Anda, Andor Foldes (Dohnanyi was one of the great pianists of his time, apart from being a composer)
- *Faure *taught many, most notably Ravel, but also Enescu and Nadia Boulanger
- Faure was taught by *Saint-Saens*
- *Enescu *himself taught Yehudi Menuhin
- *Cesar Franck* taught D'Indy, Vierne, Chausson and Duparc, among others
- *Busoni* taught Varese and Kurt Weill
- *Milhaud *taught many, incl. William Bolcom, Xenakis and Burt Bacharach and Dave Brubeck


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Shostakovich taught three post WWII Soviet generations, he himself was taught by Al Glazunow, Max Steinberg and Nik Sokolov.

/ptr


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Papa Haydn, Korsakov, Smetana and Dvorak ... should be mentioned more.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Robert Fuchs, himself a good composer (try his serenades!) taught many notable composers, including George Enescu, Gustav Mahler, Hugo Wolf, Jean Sibelius, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Erich Korngold, Franz Schmidt, Franz Schreker, Richard Heuberger, Robert Stolz, Leo Fall, Petar Krstic, Erkki Melartin, Leo Ascher and Richard Stöhr.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Mahlerian said:


> ...
> 
> *Arnold Schoenberg* taught Alban Berg and *Anton Webern*, who in turn taught Rene Leibowitz.


Schoenberg also taught Hanns Eisler, composer of Communist convictions, who wrote some fine works (his songs are examples of that interwar period same as Kurt Weill's are, and I think Bertolt Brecht acted as lyricist for both) and also the national anthem of former East Germany. I also think Schoenberg (&/or Berg?) taught Greek serialist Skalkottas. & its widely known on this forum that Schoenberg also gave lessons for free to John Cage once he was in the USA.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

don't forget about hindemith.


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## Rapide (Oct 11, 2011)

The greatest composer and teacher concurrently ever was probably Johann Sebastian Bach.


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

Zarlino was an extraordinarily important teacher of the Venetian School.

Cherubini wrote a very important and systematic treatise of counterpoint and fugal forms.

Fux's works are extraordinary. Even if his conception of Palestrina's music was often quite wrong, we can also blame Bellerman, his music is always good.

Also Padre Martini, surely correctly hailed as one of the most advanced and most important theorists of counterpoint and harmony.

Then, of course, there is Jean-Philippe Rameau whose music is dear to me.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Faure was Ravel's most important composition teacher at the Paris conservatoire.


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

I'm fascinated with the lineage of teachers/composers:

Saint Saens taught Faure who taught Ravel who taught Vaughn Williams (for a while, at least).

Boulanger taught Copland who taught Bernstein composition at least. And Bernstein was a teacher to all of us (through Young People's concerts, Unanswered Question, and various books) if we paid attention.

Those are theo nes I know off the top of my head ....


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

This is a handy list of famous teachers and their famous students:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_music_students_by_teacher

Could improve it on the basis of this thread, of course.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Rapide said:


> The greatest composer and teacher concurrently ever was probably Johann Sebastian Bach.


I was wondering when someone would mention the old curmudgeon...


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov taught Glazunov, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Respighi. Pretty respectable group of students.


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