刘北茂，一九○三年七月十日出生于江苏省江阴县澄江镇西横街四十号，一九八一年九月二十四日病逝于北京，享年七十八岁。其父刘宝珊为清末秀才，为一新学之宣导者。其长兄为刘半农，二兄为刘天华，少时，母亲与父亲相继去世后，由两位兄长抚养成人，刘天华亦教其二胡、琵琶、竹笛及西乐器小号、单簧管、短笛等演奏。一九三二年，任重庆国立音乐院二胡教授，一九四○年，写下处女作二胡独奏曲《汉江潮》，在由陝赴川途中，又创作了《乘风破浪》一曲。一九四九年起，先后在中央音乐学院、安徽艺术学院、安徽师大等院校教授二胡，教学之馀，坚持创作，其作品《汉江潮》、《前进曲》、《漂泊者之歌》、《小花鼓》等，表达了民族危难之秋的时代风云，而《欢乐舞曲》、《太阳照耀到祖国边疆》、《欢送》、《千里淮北赛江南》、《缅怀》、《流芳曲》等，则表现了对祖国的歌颂。一九七○年，因病退休返京，与子同住，双腿瘫痪，仍笔耕不辍，创作大量乐曲。
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.