Profession: composer

Purcell is generally regarded as one of the greatest English composers, and certainly the greatest of the baroque era, writing both for the church and for the theatre. He was a student – and became a great friend – of Blow, who resigned his position as organist at Westminster Abbey in Purcell’s favour; Blow was devastated at Purcell’s early death. Records of Purcell’s life are unfortunately thin on the ground, and other than his close friendship and frequent collaboration with Dryden, the extent to which he might have known others whose work he contributed music to – Behn, Shadwell, Congreve, most notably – is unknown.

The precocious Auric wrote the first ever film-score, and is still perhaps under-appreciated as a composer. As a teenager he wrote about and befriended Satie, conversed intellectually with Maritan and Bloy, had his critical opinion sought by Apollinaire and a manifesto dedicated to him by Cocteau, and got to know Picasso, Jacob, Laurencin, Stravinsky and Braque. Poulenc was an inseparable lifelong friend. Auric had Ravel as page-turner at his first Paris concert, formed a so-called jazz-band with Milhaud on violin and Cocteau on percussion, was commissioned by Diaghilev, and set words by his friends Tzara and Radiguet.

As a child, he studied with Berger, Zelter and Bigot (Hummel also taught him). Zelter took the 12-year-old to visit Goethe, the start of a 9-year friendship, while Humboldt and Hegel were regular family visitors. Robert Schumann became a friend when Mendelssohn moved to Leipzig, where he also engaged as performers Clara Schumann (a close friend and admirer to whom he dedicated some pieces), Thalberg and Moscheles (an old family friend). He met Hiller in Paris and Berlioz in Rome, and played duets with Thorvaldsen in his studio. His friend Gade stood in for him in Leipzig, and he stayed with Attwood in London.

Her younger brother Felix had a close if not fully supportive relationship with her, thought her a better pianist, but overshadowed her. She met Berlioz, Massenet, Ingres and Gounod in Italy: Ingres played violin with her, while Gounod urged her to publish under her own name (he mentioned the fire in her eyes and her extraordinary energy). Hegel, the Humboldts, Liszt, Clara Schumann, Arnim and Paganini all attended her famous ‘Sonntagsmusiken’. She expressed contempt for Heine as a person, while setting his poetry to music. Goethe, impressed by her songs, wrote a poem for her when she was 15.

Michael Haydn taught him as a teenager. Vogler also taught him, Meyerbeer being a fellow-student who became a lasting friend. He learned lithography from its inventor Senefelder, and ran a printing business with his father before returning to composition. He suggested that Spohr take on a post in Kassel that he himself had turned down. Mozart’s wife Constanze was his cousin. Mendelssohn, who took him for a role-model, would recognise him in the street and run over to greet him.

Glass composed some of the most notable late twentieth century music, and effectively reinvented opera. He studied with Milhaud in New York and Boulanger in Paris, where he met Serra, later helping him erect his sculptures; back in New York, they ran a removal company with Reich (a former fellow-student: as composers, they shared an ensemble). Artist friends included Close, LeWitt and Nauman. Collaborators, mostly friends, included Smith, Anderson, Ginsberg, Reggio, Tharp, Lessing, Childs, and probably most importantly, Wilson. He said Shankar (for opening his mind to non-western music) and Lessing (for her intellect) were his most valued friends.