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List of classical music composers (all time)

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Aaron Copland
1

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland (November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. Instrumental in forging a distinctly American sty...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Alexander Scriabin
2

Alexander Scriabin

Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Скря́бин; 6 January 1872 – 27 April 1915) was a Russian composer and pianist. Scriabin, who was influenced by Frédéric Chopin, composed early works that are characte...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Anton Bruckner
3

Anton Bruckner

Anton Bruckner (4 September 1824 – 11 October 1896) was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets.
8
8
from 1 vote
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Antonín Dvořák
4

Antonín Dvořák

Antonín Leopold Dvořák (8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czech composer. Following the nationalist example of Bedřich Smetana, Dvořák frequently employed aspects, specifically rhythms, of the folk music of Moravia and his nati...
9
9
from 1 vote
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Antonio Vivaldi
5

Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher and cleric. Born in Venice, he is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his l...
7.8
7.8
from 9 votes
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Arnold Schoenberg
6

Arnold Schoenberg

Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 1874 – 13 July 1951) was an Austrian composer and painter. He was associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School. With the...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Bedřich Smetana
7

Bedřich Smetana

Bedřich Smetana (2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is perhaps best known f...
0
0
from 0 votes
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Béla Bartók
8

Béla Bartók

Béla Viktor János Bartók (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a Hungarian composer and pianist. Through his collection and analytical study of folk music, he was one of the founders of comparative musicology, which later beca...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Benjamin Britten
9

Benjamin Britten

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British classical music, with a range of works including opera, o...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Camille Saint-Saëns
10

Camille Saint-Saëns

Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (9 October 1835 – 16 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Second Piano C...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Carl Maria von Weber
11

Carl Maria von Weber

Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 1786 – 5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school.
8
8
from 1 vote
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César Franck
12

César Franck

César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck (10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life. He was born at Liège, in what is now Belgium (though a...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Charles Ives
13

Charles Ives

Charles Edward Ives (October 20, 1874 – May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though his music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his wor...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Christoph Willibald Gluck
14

Christoph Willibald Gluck

Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate (now part of Germany) and raised in Bohemia, he gained...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Claude Debussy
15

Claude Debussy

Claude-Achille Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures associated with Impressionist music, though he himself disliked the term when applie...
9
9
from 1 vote
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Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi
16

Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi

Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (15 May 1567 (baptized) – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, singer and Roman Catholic priest. Monteverdi's work marked the change from the Renaissance style of music to that of...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Dmitri Shostakovich
17

Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (Russian: Дми́трий Дми́триевич Шостако́вич; 25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Soviet composer and pianist, and a prominent figure of 20th-century music. Shostakovich achieved fame in the Sov...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Domenico Scarlatti
18

Domenico Scarlatti

Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti (26 October 1685 – 23 July 1757) was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He is classified primarily as a Baroque composer chronolo...
8.5
8.5
from 2 votes
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Edvard Grieg
19

Edvard Grieg

Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. His use and development of Norwegian folk music in his own compositions put the music of Norway in the international spectrum, as well as...
8.5
8.5
from 2 votes
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Edward Elgar
20

Edward Elgar

Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet (2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orc...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Erik Satie
21

Erik Satie

Éric Alfred Leslie Satie (17 May 1866 – 1 July 1925) – he signed his name Erik Satie after 1884 – was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde. His work was a precu...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Felix Mendelssohn
22

Felix Mendelssohn

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 1809 – 4 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn,[n 1] was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. A grandson of the...
9
9
from 1 vote
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François Couperin
23

François Couperin

François Couperin (10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as Couperin le Grand ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musically t...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Franz Liszt
24

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt (Hungarian: Liszt Ferencz, in modern usage Liszt Ferenc) (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a prolific 19th-century Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, philanthropist and Franc...
9
9
from 1 vote
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Franz Schubert
25

Franz Schubert

Franz Peter Schubert (31 January 1797 – 19 November 1828) was an Austrian composer. Schubert died before his 32nd birthday, but was extremely prolific during his lifetime. His output consists of over six hundred secular vocal work...
9
9
from 1 vote
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Frédéric Chopin
26

Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric François Chopin (22 February or 1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849), born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic era, who wrote primarily for the solo piano. A child prodigy, he...
9
9
from 7 votes
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Gabriel Fauré
27

Gabriel Fauré

Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Georg Philipp Telemann
28

Georg Philipp Telemann

Georg Philipp Telemann (14 March 1681 – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg,...
9
9
from 2 votes
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George Frideric Handel
29

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric (born Georg Friedrich Händel, 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German, later British Baroque composer who spent the bulk of his career in London, becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, and o...
9
9
from 1 vote
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Georges Bizet
30

Georges Bizet

Georges Bizet (25 October 1838 – 3 June 1875), registered at birth as Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer of the romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Giacomo Puccini
31

Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (22 December 1858 – 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer. While his early work was rooted in traditional late-19th-century romantic Italian opera, he successfully develop...
9
9
from 1 vote
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Gioacchino Rossini
32

Gioacchino Rossini

Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces. His best-known operas include the I...
9
9
from 1 vote
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Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
33

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525 – 2 February 1594) was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition.
8
8
from 1 vote
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Giuseppe Verdi
34

Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer of operas. Verdi was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, and developed a musical education with the help of a l...
9
9
from 1 vote
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Gustav Mahler
35

Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler (7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austrian late-Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th century Austro-German tradition and the mod...
8.5
8.5
from 2 votes
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Hector Berlioz
36

Hector Berlioz

Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts (Requiem). Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orch...
8.5
8.5
from 2 votes
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Henry Purcell
37

Henry Purcell

Henry Purcell (10 September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Although incorporating Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, Purcell's legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music. No ot...
8
8
from 2 votes
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Igor Stravinsky
38

Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (sometimes spelled Strawinski, Strawinsky, or Stravinskii, 17 June 1882 – 6 April 1971) was a Russian (and later, a naturalized French and American) composer, pianist and conductor. He first achieved in...
7
7
from 4 votes
Discuss [1]
James Horner
39

James Horner

James Roy Horner (August 14, 1953 – June 22, 2015) was an American composer, conductor and orchestrator of film scores. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for his fre...
0
0
from 0 votes
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Jean Sibelius
40

Jean Sibelius

Jean Sibelius (born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius (8 December 1865 – 20 September 1957), was a Finnish composer and violinist of the late Romantic and early-modern periods.
8
8
from 1 vote
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Jean-Baptiste Lully
41

Jean-Baptiste Lully

Jean-Baptiste Lully (born Giovanni Battista Lulli; 28 November 1632 – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, instrumentalist, and dancer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. Lully di...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Jean-Philippe Rameau
42

Jean-Philippe Rameau

Jean-Philippe Rameau (25 September 1683 – 12 September 1764) was a French composer and music theorist of the Baroque era. Little is known about Rameau's early years, and it was not until the 1720s that he won fame as a major theor...
8
8
from 2 votes
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Johann Sebastian Bach
43

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and the ada...
9
9
from 3 votes
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Johannes Brahms
44

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer and pianist. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria. In his lifetime, Brahms's popularity and influen...
9
9
from 1 vote
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Joseph Haydn
45

Joseph Haydn

Franz Joseph Haydn (31 March[n 2] 1732 – 31 May 1809) was a prominent and prolific Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the piano trio and his contributions to...
9
9
from 1 vote
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Josquin Des Prez
46

Josquin Des Prez

Josquin des Prez (c. 1450/1455 – 27 August 1521), often referred to simply as Josquin, was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. His original name is sometimes given as Josquin Lebloitte and his later name is given under a...
8.7
8.7
from 3 votes
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Leonardo da Vinci
47

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, more commonly Leonardo da Vinci, (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath. He was a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, carto...
0
0
from 0 votes
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Ludwig van Beethoven
48

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous...
8.8
8.8
from 12 votes
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Maurice Ravel
49

Maurice Ravel

Joseph Maurice Ravel (French: [ʒɔzɛf mɔʁis ʁavɛl]; 7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although...
8
8
from 1 vote
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Modest Mussorgsky
50

Modest Mussorgsky

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (Russian: Модест Петрович Мусоргский; 21 March 1839 – 28 March 1881) was a Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five". He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period. He strove...
8
8
from 1 vote
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