Joseph Martin Kraus

1756 (Miltenberg am Main, Germany) – 1792 (Stockholm)

Kraus met Haydn, Gluck, Salieri, Albrechtsberger and Martini on a five-year tour of mainland Europe sponsored by Gustav III of Sweden. Richter was Kraus’s teacher as a student in Mannheim.

Joseph Kosma

1905 (Budapest) – 1969 (La Roche Guyon, France)

Kosma studied with Bartók, and later with Eisler – living at the time in Berlin, he also got to know Weill, Brecht (both to become strong influences) and Weigel. Writers he collaborated with after moving to France included Queneau, Desnos, Aragon and Jacques Prévert, while Renoir, Carné, Grimault and Pierre Prévert were among directors he worked with. Jacques Prévert, a lifelong friend, first introduced him to Renoir. He composed the music for the first songs Gréco recorded.

John Field

1782 (Dublin) – 1837 (Moscow)

Field studied as a child with Giordani, and was then apprenticed to Clementi. He met Czerny in Vienna, and Hummel (a competitor) in Moscow, Hummel masquerading as a businessman — they ended firm friends. Glinka was the most noteworthy of Field’s Moscow pupils. He met Mendelssohn, Moscheles and Sterndale Bennett on a final tour of Europe.

John Cage

1912 (Los Angeles) – 1992 (New York)

He was Fischinger’s assistant and studied with Cowell and Schoenberg (who said he wasn’t a composer, but an inventor — of genius). Cage and Cunningham knew each other for 50 years, collaborated closely and were lifetime partners. Among close friends, Rauschenberg collaborated extensively, and Duchamp taught him chess. Wolff gave him the I Ching, while Milhaud told him Satie’s numbers only referred to shopping. He taught Kaprow and Brecht, helped Motherwell edit a magazine, took Bryars on as assistant, and hunted mushrooms with Segal and Higgins. Boulez said he loved his mind but not what it thought.

Johann Nepomuk Hummel

1778 (Pressburg, Austria, now Bratislava, Slovakia) – 1837 (Weimar, Germany)

Hummel was a pupil of Haydn, Albrechtsberger, Mozart, Salieri and Clementi. Beethoven, whom he visited regularly, and his former students Czerny and Hiller were among his colleagues; Czerny had been studying with Beethoven but switched to Hummel on hearing him play. Hummel and Hiller were pall-bearers at Beethoven’s funeral; he met Schubert at the funeral, who dedicated his last three sonatas to him. He visited Chopin in Poland (both Chopin and Schumann were influenced by him) and Field in Russia.

Johann Georg Albrechtsberger

1736 (Klosterneuburg, Austria) – 1809 (Vienna)

Albrechtsberger was among composers sought out by Kraus on a long visit to Vienna in 1783. Michael Haydn had been a fellow-student, and both Haydn brothers were friends of Albrechtsberger, as also was Mozart, of whom he was very fond. Hummel, Czerny, Moscheles, Weigl and Beethoven were among his pupils.

Johann Adam Hiller

1728 (Wendisch-Ossig, Austria, now Osiek Łužycki, Poland) – 1804 (Leipzig, Germany)

Hiller collaborated with the poet Weisse to establish German singspiel. Neefe performed in concerts arranged by Hiller in Leipzig, where Wolf was one of Hiller’s students. Hiller knew Hasse, was an enthusiastic promoter of his music, and composed a lament on Hasse’s death.

Jean-Philippe Rameau

1683 (Dijon, France) – 1764 (Paris)

Voltaire was both friend and collaborator, working with Rameau on a comedy ballet and several operas. Martini was a correspondent. Boucher, Crébillon and Piron were fellow-members of a singing club: Piron co-wrote a comic opera with him. Diderot and d’Alembert had been friends, but Rameau’s disputatiousness over the Encyclopédie’s treatment of French music made good relations difficult; He had a major spat with Rousseau, who had written the entry.

James Hook

1746 (Norwich, England) – 1827 (Boulogne, France)

Hook may be regarded with hindsight as a minor composer, but was very much a man of his time, and successful with it. His son Theodore wrote the words for many of his songs, and libretti for several of his operas, the first at age 16. It seems it was not the father (as sometimes claimed) but the son who ghost-wrote the tenor Michael Kelly’s ‘Reminiscences.’

James Hook knew…

Jacques Brel

1929 (Brussels) – 1978 (Bobigny, France)

Supreme figure in French-language chanson. When he was still struggling to make headway and had come next to last in a competition, Gréco (who described him as raw-boned and untamed) asked if she could sing one of his songs. Both subsequently quit their record labels to join Barclay’s; Barclay became a true friend. Brel acted in films by Carné and Lelouch, took part in a legendary radio interview with his friend Brassens and Ferré, and advised Gainsbourg to sing more himself. Aznavour, another friend, tried in vain to persuade him not to retire from singing.

Jacques Brel knew…