劉北茂，一九○三年七月十日出生於江蘇省江陰縣澄江鎮西橫街四十號，一九八一年九月二十四日病逝於北京，享年七十八歲。其父劉寶珊為清末秀才，為一新學之宣導者。其長兄為劉半農，二兄為劉天華，少時，母親與父親相繼去世後，由兩位兄長撫養成人，劉天華亦教其二胡、琵琶、竹笛及西樂器小號、單簧管、短笛等演奏。一九三二年，任重慶國立音樂院二胡教授，一九四○年，寫下處女作二胡獨奏曲《漢江潮》，在由陝赴川途中，又創作了《乘風破浪》一曲。一九四九年起，先後在中央音樂學院、安徽藝術學院、安徽師大等院校教授二胡，教學之餘，堅持創作，其作品《漢江潮》、《前進曲》、《漂泊者之歌》、《小花鼓》等，表達了民族危難之秋的時代風雲，而《歡樂舞曲》、《太陽照耀到祖國邊疆》、《歡送》、《千里淮北賽江南》、《緬懷》、《流芳曲》等，則表現了對祖國的歌頌。一九七○年，因病退休返京，與子同住，雙腿癱瘓，仍筆耕不輟，創作大量樂曲。
LIU Bei-mao
LIU Bei-mao was born on July 10, 1903 in Jiangyin, Jiangsu province and passed away of illness on September 24, 1981 in Beijing. His father LIU Bao-shan was a scholar in Qing Dynasty. His eldest brother was LIU Fu and elder brother was LIU Tian-hua. He was brought up by his brothers as his parents died so early. He was instructed the performance of the erhu, pipa, dizi and the western instruments by LIU Tian-hua. In 1932, he was appointed the erhu professor of the Chongqing National Conservatory. In 1940, he has completed his maiden composition Han Jiang Chao. Since 1949, he was appointed by the Central Conservatory, Anhui Arts Academy and Anhui Teachers Training College as an erhu teacher. In 1970, he returned to Beijing for retirement due to sickness and lived with his son. He still worked hard in composition of erhu pieces.