Bio:Mozart was no doubt the greatest child star that ever lived. He was traveling all over Europe playing music by the time he was six. Because of his constant travels, Mozart eventually learned to speak fifteen different languages.

Famous works:
Mozart wrote over 600 works during his lifetime, including 41 symphonies (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik), and 27 piano concertos. Some of his well known works is Variations on "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." and Rondo Alla Turca (Turkish March).

Bio: Beethoven's first music instruction came from his father Johann, Beethoven's talent was recognized early on, and by 1778 he was learning to play the organ and viola in addition to his piano studies. His most important teacher in Bonn was Christian Gottlob Neefe, a Court organist. It was Neefe who helped Beethoven publish his first piece of music.
In 1787, the young Beethoven decided to travel to Vienna, hoping to meet and study composition with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is not clear if he succeeded in meeting or studying with Mozart. By his twenties Beethoven began to suffer from hearing loss. He did, however, continue to compose, conduct and perform, even after he was completely deaf. One story recalls that after conducting the premiere of his Ninth Symphony he had to be turned around to see the overwhelming applause of the audience. When he heard nothing, he began to weep.
Ludwig van Beethoven is remembered as an important composer in the transitional period between the Classical Era and Romantic Era in music and continues to be one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.

Famous works:
Fifth Symphony,
Für Elise for piano solo
Ninth Symphony which includes the melody Ode to Joy

Bio: While Franz Liszt was a composer, conductor, critic and teacher, he was best known as a pianist. He was the first of the virtuoso performers. When Liszt walked onto the stage, he took over the hall, amazing the audience with his incredible technique and his awesome presence. He was a true showman and the man who invented the solo recital. Although some were annoyed by his personality, Liszt was one of the greatest pianists the world has ever known.

As a composer, Liszt, of course, wrote music primarily for the piano. He also transcribed popular orchestral works for this instrument. Many of his pieces are tremendously difficult and few pianists can perform them properly. Later in his life, he started writing music for the orchestra and composed wonderful melodies.

Liszt also wrote music criticism and was known as a conductor and teacher. He trained many of the performers of his time in his tradition.

Because of his ego and attitude, Liszt was always a controversial figure. However, he is recognized as one of the dominant personalities of 19th century Romantic music.

Famous works:Faust Symphony, Totentanz, Liebesträume, Hungarian Rhapsodies

Bio: Clara Wieck-Schumann is known for being the wife of composer Robert Schumann, but she is also a famous musician in her own right! Her parents were Friedrich Wieck, a music teacher, and Marianne Tromliz Wieck, a pianist and soprano. Clara was a musician from an early age, making her first musical appearance at age 9 and performing her first piano recital at age 11. She didn't just play the piano, however. She studied voice, violin, score reading and composition, among other musical things.
Throughout her life, Clara was well-known as a piano soloist, gaining fame for her teachnical proficiencies, sensitive interpretations of musical works and her ability to express the composer's intent in the music.

Famous works: Four Polonaises (for piano); Piano Concertino in F Minor; Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 17; Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 7

Bio: Claude Debussy really had a double first name: Achille-Claude. He was born in a suburb of Paris, and it was his aunt who first noticed how musical he was. She got him started taking piano lessons. When he was only ten, Debussy started studying at the very strict Paris Conservatory.

As a child, Debussy was fascinated by visual art, and as he grew up, he loved the new style called "Impressionism." Instead of painting realistic, lifelike paintings with hard outlines, Impressionists used thousands of dots, or many different shades of color to create the "impression" of what they wanted to depict. Debussy took that idea and applied it to music, creating Impressionism in music.

Famous Works: Pelléas et Mélisande, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun), La Mer

Bio: Schumann was one of five children, he began to compose at the age of seven. Schumann's teacher assured him, that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, however a hand injury prevented those hopes from being realized, so he decided to focus his musical energies on composition. Schumann's published compositions were written exclusively for the piano until 1840; he later composed works for piano and orchestra.

At the age of 30, he married his piano instructor's daughter pianist Clara Wieck, who also composed music.

Famous works: Four symphonies, a piano concerto, chamber music and music for solo piano

Bio: Tchaikovsky began piano lessons at the age of five.
When he was 14 Tchaikovsky suffered the shock of his mother's death, that was when he started to compose music, and he wrote a song about her.
He wrote music that was emotional. Many of his works were ballets and other compositions that were meant to tell a story.

He did not have many friends and did not like to go out much. He never had any kids of his own. He got sick and died in 1893 when he was 53 years old.

Famous works:The Nutcracker Suite, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty, also the 1812 Overture, Symphony #6 - the Pathetique, and the Piano Concerto in Bb.