Statistics on Classical Composers

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Statistics on Classical Composers

• Willie E. Spruill, II
• Stat 006D
• Dr. Steve Marron, Instructor

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Above is a line graph of Classical Composer
Birthdays Sorted by Year of Birth, generated
using Microsoft Excel. Most Composers were born
between 1850 and 1925. There were 267 birthdays
between 1850 and 1925.
J. Brahms (1833-1897)
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Above is a line graph of Classical Birthdays
Sorted by Deaths, generated using Microsoft
Excel. The most deaths occurred between 1935 and
1980, with a total of 153.
W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)
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J.F. Haydn (1732-1809)
The above graph is a histogram of Classical
Composer Birthday Statistics Based on Months,
generated using Microsoft Excel. The most
birthdays occurred in the month of January (total
of 65) while, the least occurred in August
(total of 29).
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G.F. Handel (1685-1759)
The above graph is a histogram of Classical
Composer Birthday Statistics Based on the Day of
the week, generated using Microsoft Excel. The
typical composer was born on Saturday (Max. of
101 Birthdays) while, Thursday had the minimum
number of birthdays (Min. of 67).
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Random or not Random That is the Question
First, I generated a series of random uniform
decimals, using Microsoft Excel Random
Generation. Generating 500 rows (number of
composers) and 71 columns.
Secondly, I multiplied each cell by 7, and then
rounded up.
Thirdly, using the Count IF function, I counted
the number of 6s in each column (6 representing
Saturday), and lastly found the maximum of this
row.
Conclusion The maximum number of Saturdays
produced using Random Generations was 91, while a
total of 101 birthdays occurred on Saturday
according to the Classical Composer Data. This
suggests that the Classical Composer Data was not
random, because a total of 101 birthdays is
higher than 91.
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1170-1230
A. Vivaldi (1678-1741)
1775-1795
The above graph is a scatter plot of Age Vs. Year
of Birth from 1100 to 1795 generated using
Matlab. I thought there would be a direct
correlation between life expectancy and year of
birth however, the plot shows that there are
composers born in the 1800s who die at an early
age and there are composers who die very late in
the earlier centuries.
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J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
This is a scatter plot of Age Vs. Year of Birth
from 1795 to 1934 generated using Matlab. Once
again, there is no direct correlation between the
life expectancy of a composer and their year of
birth.
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Classical Composers Sorted by Nationalities
Countries Represented with 1 Composer
(Min.) American-Swiss, Australian,
Austrian-American, Austrian-German,
Austro-Hungarian, Belgian-French, Cuban,
English-Irish, French-Belgian French-Flemish,
French-Italian, French-Spanish Hungarian-American,
Hungarian-English Italian-American,
Italian-German, Latvian, Lithuanian, New Zealand,
Portuguese Russian-Armenian, Scottish,
Silesian Spanish-American, Swedish-German,
Swiss Venezuelan, Venezuelan-French
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Classical Composers Sorted by Nationalities
Countries with 10 or More Composers Hungarian
(10), Czech (11) Belgian (18), Polish (18)
Bohemian (23), Spanish (27) Russian (34),
American (40) Austrian (42), Italian (85) English
(88), French (97) Maximum German (125)
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A Summary of the Characteristics of the Average
Composer

• Nationality German
• Born between 1850 and 1925
• Born on a Saturday
• Celebrated a Birthday in January
• Died between 1935 and 1980