Resources for Children: Composer Biographies

I’ve been holding out on you. Last summer I started working on a bibliography of music resources for children: composer biographies, books about opera, ballet, orchestra, jazz, etc. I’m focusing mainly on picture books, with some CDs thrown in. But the project has sort of exploded on me. I figured if I’m going to make a bibliography, it really should be annotated, and if it’s going to be annotated, I have to read all the books. That involves both getting my hands on them and thinking coherently about them. I’ve read quite a few books, but the list keeps growing. And research time is time when everybody else is asleep and I’m foggy at best.

I’m going to give you lists of what I’ve got so far—no notes because they are incomplete and unedited—because it’s part of the reason I started this blog. There are so many fantastic resources out there, they need to be shared. One note:  not all of these books are in print anymore.  However, I've found a number of them at my local library and/or online, so even if you can't find them new, they should still be accessible.  I’ll start with composer biographies (some are straight biographies, others are fictionalized stories with information about the composer):

J. S. Bach:
Bach (Famous Children Series), by Ann Rachlin, illustrated by Susan Hellard








Bach’s Big Adventure, by Sallie Ketcham, illustrated by Timothy Bush








Bach’s Goldberg Variations, by Anna Harwell Celenza, illus. by JoAnn E. Kitchel








Johann Sebastian Bach, (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers), by Mike Venezia







Sebastian: A Book About Bach, by Jeanette Winter, Silver Whistle (a trademark of Harcourt, Inc.), 1999







Sebastian Bach, the Boy from Thuringia (Great Musician Series) by Opal Wheeler & Sybil Deucher







Irving Berlin:
Say it With Music: A Story about Irving Berlin, (Creative Minds Biographies), by Thomas Streissguth, illustrated by Jennifer Hagerman







Ludwig van Beethoven:
Beethoven (Famous Children Series), by Ann Rachlin, illustrated by Susan Hellard







Beethoven Lives Upstairs, by Barbara Nichol, illustrated by Scott Cameron








Bold Composer: A Story about Ludwig van Beethoven, (Creative Minds Biographies), by Judith Pinkerton, illustrated by Barbara Kiwak







The Heroic Symphony, by Anna Harwell Celenza








Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells (Great Musicians Series) by Opal Wheeler & Mary Greenwalt







Ludwig van Beethoven, (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers), by Mike Venezia







The 39 Apartments of Ludwig van Beethoven, by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Barry Blitt







Leonard Bernstein:
Leonard Bernstein, (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers), by Mike Venezia







Hildegard von Bingen:
The Secret World of Hildegard¸ by Jonah Winter









Johannes Brahms:
Brahms, (Famous Children Series), by Ann Rachlin, illustrated by Susan Hellard







Johannes Brahms, (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers), by Mike Venezia







The Young Brahms, (Great Musicians Series) by Opal Wheeler & Sybil Deucher









Frederic Chopin:

Chopin, (Famous Children Series), by Ann Rachlin, illustrated by Susan Hellard







Frederic Chopin, (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers), by Mike Venezia







Frederic Chopin, Son of Poland, Early Years (Great Musicians Series)¸ by Opal Wheeler & Christine Price







Frederic Chopin, Son of Poland, Later Years (Great Musicians Series)¸ by Opal Wheeler & Christine Price


Aaron Copland:
Aaron Copland (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers) by Mike Venezia








Duke Ellington:
Duke Ellington (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers) by Mike Venezia







Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra¸ by Andrea Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney, Hyperion Books for Children, 1998








Stephen Foster:
Stephen Foster and His Little Dog Tray (Great Musicians Series), by Opal Wheeler









George Gershwin:
George Gershwin (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers), by Mike Venezia








Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, by Anna Harwell Celenza









Franz Gruber:
Silent Night: The Song and Its Story, by Margaret Hodges, illustrated by Tim Ladwig, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 1997









George Frederick Handel:
George Handel (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers) by Mike Venezia







Handel (Famous Children Series) by Ann Rachlin, illustrated by Susan Hellard

Handel at the Court of Kings by Opal Wheeler & Mary Greenwalt








Handel, Who Knew What He Liked by M.T. Anderson, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes, Candlewick Press, 2001







Franz Joseph Haydn
Haydn, (Famous Children Series) by Ann Rachlin, illustrated by Susan Hellard

The Farewell Symphony, by Anna Harwell Celenza, illus. by JoAnn E. Kitchel

Joseph Haydn, the Merry Little Peasant¸ (Great Musicians Series) by Mary Greenwalt, Opal Wheeler & Sybil Deucher

Charles Ives:
What Charlie Heard: The Story of the American Composer Charles Ives by Mordecai Gerstein, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002

Scott Joplin:

Raggin’: A Story about Scott Joplin, (Creative Minds Biographies) by Barbara Mitchell, illustrated by Hetty Mitchell

Edward MacDowell:
Edward MacDowell and His Cabin in the Pines, by Opal Wheeler & Sybil Deucher








Darius Milhaud:
Music for the End of Time, by Jen Bryant









Modest Mossorgsky:
Pictures at an Exhibition, by Anna Harwell Celenza, illustrated by Joann Kitchel








Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
Mozart, (Famous Children Series), by Ann Rachlin, illustrated by Susan Hellard







Mozart Finds a Melody, by Stephen Costanza, Henry Holt and Company, 2004








 Mozart, the Wonder Boy (Great Musicians Series), by Opal Wheeler & Sybil Deucher







Mozart: the Wonder Child, A Puppet Play in Three Acts, by Diane Stanley, Harper Collins Children’s Books, 2009








Musical Genius: A Story about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Creative Minds
Biographies), by Barbara Allman, illustrated by Janet Hamlin







Play, Mozart, Play! by Peter Sis, Greenwillow Books, Harper Collins Publishers, 2006







Who Was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? by Yona Zeddis McDonough








Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers), by Mike Venezia







Young Mozart, Rachel Isadora









Erik Satie:
Strange Mr. Satie, by M.T. Anderson, illustrated by Petra Mathers









Franz Schubert:
Franz Schubert and His Merry Friends (Great Musicians Series), by Opal Wheeler & Sybil Deucher









Schubert, (Famous Children Series), by Ann Rachlin, illustrated by Susan Hellard








Clara Schumann:
Her Piano Sang: A Story about Clara Schumann, (Creative Minds Biographies), by Barbara Allman, illustrated by Shelly O. Haas








Robert Schumann:
                          Schumann, (Famous Children Series), by Ann Rachlin, illustrated by Susan                                   Hellard

Robert Schumann and Mascott Ziff (Great Musician Series), by Opal Wheeler & Christine Price









John Philip Sousa:
John Philip Sousa, (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers), by Mike Venezia








Igor Stravinsky:
Igor Stravinsky, (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers), by Mike Venezia








Pyotor Ilyich Tchaikovsky:
Peter Tchaikovsky, (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers), by Mike Venezia







Tchaikovsky, (Famous Children Series), by Ann Rachlin, illustrated by Susan Hellard








Antonio Vivaldi:
I, Vivaldi, by Janice Shefelman, illustrated by Tom Shefelman, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2008








Multiple composers:
Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times, by Kathleen Krull








Why Beethoven Threw the Stew and Lots More Stories about the Lives of Great Composers, by Stephen Isserlis, illustrated by Adam Stower








Why Handel Waggled His Wig and Lots More Stories about the Lives of Great Composers, by Stephen Isserlis