20th Century Classical

Henri Duparc (Eugène Marie Henri Fouques Duparc) (January 21, 1848 – February 12, 1933) was a French composer of the late Romantic period. Duparc was born in Paris. He studied piano with César Franck at the Jesuit College in the Vaugirard district and became one of his first composition pupils. Following military service in the Franco-Prussian War, he married Ellen MacSwinney, from Scotland, on November 9, 1871. In the same year, he joined with Saint-Saëns and Romain Bussine to found the Société Nationale de Musique Moderne.

Arthur Honegger (March 10, 1892 – November 27, 1955) was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les Six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which imitates the sound of a steam locomotive. Biography Born Oscar-Arthur Honegger (the first name was never used) in Le Havre, France, he initially studied harmony and violin in Paris, and after a brief period in Zurich, returned there to study with Charles Widor and Vincent d'Indy.

Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, KCVO (8 November 1883 — 3 October 1953), was an English composer and poet. His musical style blended elements of Romanticism and Impressionism, always with a strong Celtic influence. His orchestral scores are noted for their complexity and colourful instrumentation. Bax’s poetry and stories, which he wrote under the pseudonym of Dermot O’Byrne, reflect his profound affinity with Irish poet William Butler Yeats and are largely written in the tradition of the Irish Literary Revival.

Harrison Birtwistle is one of the world's foremost living composers. Born Accrington, 1934, he studied Clarinet and Composition at the Royal Manchester College of Music from 1953 where, along with fellow students Peter Maxwell Davies, Alexander Goehr, John Ogdon and Elgar Howarth, he formed the New Music Manchester group which was dedicated to performing avant-garde and contemporary compositions.