To look up the years of birth and death of not so well known composers can be a time consuming and tedious task. This database is aimed at facilitating a conductor's work of writing concert programs. For some composers links to essays concerning their biography are included. Unfortunately, these texts are only available in German. For many composers there can also be found some information in the German Wikipedia.
In the list you can find the life dates of composers who are in a broader sense relevant to plucked string music. Not only authors of original works for plucked string orchestra are included but also composers who wrote music that has been transcribed for this kind of ensemble. The stylistic spectrum is very broad. It ranges from Michael Prätorius to Carlos Santana. If you do not find a composer in the database whom you consider worth of being included, please contact us. All kinds of suggestions to improve the usefulness of this database are highly welcome.Here you can decide which information will be presented in the search results. Just check the corresponding boxes. For many composers in addition to years of birth and death the exact dates are also given.
The search results can be sorted by different criteria. Just select one from the corresponding drop down menu.
The output formatting you choose will be used for all of the following search functions:
This feature is especially useful if you want to know the nationality and birth/death years of a given composer. Please enter the name and/or the christian name of the composer in question and click the search button. If you're unsure about the spelling of a name, please just enter the beginning of the name.
e.g. If you're looking for the life dates of A. Banchieri and don't know how the name is spelled correctly, an appropriate database request could look like: Surname: Ban First name: A
Click the search button and you'll find Antonio Banchieri.
If one of the input fields is left empty, all database entries matching the second one will be included in the search result. If you leave both of them blank you can see the complete database.
This search routine is designed to help you plan a concert program. If e.g. you need an overview over the composers
of Italian Baroque, a request like between: 1600 and: 1750 Country: Italy
could be a good starting point.
This is useful, if you're planning a concert, say for the year 2010, and want to include a composer who has an anniversary in that year. A search for 100th anniversaries in the year 2010 will show you the 100th birthday of Heinrich Konietzny and the 300th anniversary of the death of Gaspar Sanz