Profession: composer

Sammartini, who taught him, became a very close friend. Salieri, a friend from Vienna, went to Paris with him, where they presented a successful opera as a collaboration before coming clean and announcing that the music was all Salieri’s. He so liked an opera of Mozart’s that he invited him to dinner — Mozart’s father had earlier told him to avoid Gluck. He visited Italy with Dittersdorf, and met Handel in London (possibly Garrick too, whose acting style strongly impressed him): he so revered Handel that he kept a portrait of him in his bedroom, though Handel said Gluck knew no more about music than his cook.

Johann Joseph Fux probably taught him in Vienna, but details of the earlier part of his life are particularly hazy. Richter is known to have taught Kraus. Pleyel was his assistant Kapellmeister at Strasbourg Cathedral, inheriting his position following Richter’s death. Mozart mentioned an over-fondness for alcohol (while exaggerating both the quantity drunk and his advanced age).

Cage and Feldman, who met at a Webern concert, had a close and mutually-significant friendship. Cage introduced him to his painter friends (for five years, the two spent from 6pm to 3am daily talking in the Cedar Bar). He learned a vital lesson walking with Varèse, and studied argumentatively with Wolpe. Guston was his closest friend for two decades, Rauschenberg sold him a painting for $16, and Beckett saw in him the right composer to add music to his texts. As Wolpe advised him of the man in the street’s importance, Feldman happened to look down; crossing the road was Pollock.

Bridge, a strong influence, taught Britten from age 14. Grierson brought Auden and Britten together; the two later lived in a communal house in Brooklyn, Britten competing with Bowles for the piano (donated by Diana Vreeland). Auden was a formative influence: both he and MacNeice collaborated substantially with Britten. Copland, Poulenc, Henze, Isherwood, Hindemith and Shostakovich (especially closely) were all friends. Forster’s conversations led to the composition of ‘Billy Budd.’ Britten’s sketches for the clarinet concerto Benny Goodman commissioned (it’s unclear whether they met) were seized by U.S. Customs, taken for secret code.

Henze was after Stockhausen one of Germany’s most important 20th C composers. Walton was a neighbour when he moved to Italy, becoming a strong supporter and passing on an important commission from Ashton, with whom Henze worked closely. Visconti wrote a libretto (an unsuccessful collaboration); Auden and Bachmann (who wrote two each), Enzensberger (who similarly spent time in Cuba) and Bond proved happier collaborators. Henze dedicated a piece to Britten, a friend and supporter. Nono angrily overturned Henze’s table (he still went to Nono’s funeral). Henze and Lachenmann conducted a long public dispute, Henze eventually offering to make peace.

Berio won a scholarship to study with the influential Dallapiccola in the U.S., where he also connected with the electronic music pioneers Ussachevsky and Leuning. He founded an early electronic studio with Maderna; researching ideas for it, he first met Stockhausen in Basel, and again in Darmstadt, where he also met Boulez, Ligeti and Kagel. Milhaud invited him to teach in the U.S., and Boulez to run an electro-acoustic studio in Paris, while he himself invited Cage to work in Italy, Cage’s Fontana Mix resulting. Berberian was married to him, Eco a lifelong friend, and Reich and Andriessen among his students.

Pedrell taught him. In Paris Debussy, Dukas and Ravel were all influences, helping him with his career and becoming friends. He travelled to Andalucia with Diaghilev and Massine, having first met them in Madrid. Picasso drew Falla and did the designs for his ‘The Three-Cornered Hat.’ When he went to live in Granada he formed a close friendship with Lorca, collaborating with him, and using his influence to plead for Lorca’s life unaware he’d already been executed. Casella visited him in Granada; he met Albéniz in Paris, through Dukas. Stravinsky said he was modest and “as withdrawn as an oyster.”