Brief biographies with recommended recordings by Naxos-HNH

Name, nationality, birth and death dates, pronunciation and links for 3000+ composers

The Classical Music Symposium is "for all lovers of classical music. This site is meant as a musical reference center for the sights, sounds, and information of this form of music. Our Composers area contains full-length compositions by several of the Masters, as well as detailed biographies of each composer. Our Literature area contains further reading on classical music and its composers, while Links contains dozens of classical music - related sites for you to explore. And our Classical Midi Music Index contains a complete listing of every classical midi music file on this site for your enjoyment or downloading, free."

This web site provides you almost everything you need concerning classical music- its history, biographical information about composers (with portraits and short sound examples), explanations of the various musical forms and a dictionary of musical terminologies. It is designed to be of use for everyone from "beginners" to the music professional.

Whether you're a casual listener or a serious music student, here's the site for basic information about classical music. Created in cooperation with W.W. Norton & Company, it's built around Essential Classics, the series specially designed to introduce you to the best music of every period. All through the site you'll find almost 200 excerpts from Essential Classics. You'll also find:  Eras: Overviews of the six main periods in music history -- Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Twentieth Century. Composers: Brief biographies of nearly 70 composers, which will bring to life the artists and their works.  Glossary: 200 definitions with numerous musical examples.

Enjoy a few games while you learn about music.

A comprehensive guide to classical music: online and off, including radio, MP3, MIDI, reviews, opera companies, orchestras, trivia, terms, different eras.

Composers and performers -- a scholarly page compiled by UCLA

"Abide with me"

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word;
But as Thou dwell’st with Thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free.
Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.

Come not in terrors, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings,
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea—
Come, Friend of sinners, and thus bide with me.

Thou on my head in early youth didst smile;
And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee,
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

~~Henry F. Lyte, 1847~~

Lyte was inspired to write this hymn as he was dying of tuberculosis; he finished it the Sunday he gave his farewell sermon in the parish he served so many years. The next day, he left for Italy to regain his health. He didn’t make it, though—he died in Nice, France, three weeks after writng these words. Here is an excerpt from his farewell sermon:

"O brethren, I stand here among you today, as alive from the dead, if I may hope to impress it upon you, and induce you to prepare for that solemn hour which must come to all, by a timely acquaintance with the death of Christ."

For more than a century, the bells of his church at All Saints in in Lower Brixham, Devonshire, have rung out “Abide with Me” daily.