composer

composes music as a profession

• contrapuntist — a composer who specializes in counterpoint
• psalmist — a composer of sacred songs
• songwriter, songster, ballad maker — a composer of words or music for popular songs
• Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach — German baroque organist and contrapuntist; composed mostly keyboard music; one of the greatest creators of Western music (1685-1750)
• Barber, Samuel Barber — United States composer (1910-1981)
• Bartok, Bela Bartok — Hungarian composer and pianist who collected Hungarian folk music; in 1940 he moved to the United States (1881-1945)
• Beethoven, van Beethoven, Ludwig van Beethoven — German composer of instrumental music (especially symphonic and chamber music); continued to compose after he lost his hearing (1770-1827)
• Bellini, Vincenzo Bellini — Italian composer of operas (1801-1835)
• Berg, Alban Berg — Austrian composer in Schoenberg's twelve-tone music system (1885-1935)
• Berlioz, Hector Berlioz, Louis-Hector Berlioz — French composer of Romantic works (1803-1869)
• Bernstein, Leonard Bernstein — United States conductor and composer (1918-1990)
• Bizet, Georges Bizet — French composer best known for his operas (1838-1875)
• Blitzstein, Marc Blitzstein — United States pianist and composer of operas and musical plays (1905-1964)
• Bloch, Ernest Bloch — United States composer (born in Switzerland) who composed symphonies and chamber music and choral music and a piano sonata and an opera (1880-1959)
• Borodin, Aleksandr Borodin, Aleksandr Porfirevich Borodin — Russian composer (1833-1887)
• Boulez, Pierre Boulez — French composer of serial music (born in 1925)
• Brahms, Johannes Brahms — German composer who developed the Romantic style of both lyrical and classical music (1833-1897)
• Britten, Benjamin Britten, Edward Benjamin Britten, Lord Britten of Aldeburgh — major English composer of the 20th century; noted for his operas (1913-1976)
• Bruch, Max Bruch — German composer (1838-1920)
• Bruckner, Anton Bruckner — Austrian organist and composer of Romantic music (1824-1896)
• Byrd, William Byrd — English organist and composer of church music; master of 16th century polyphony; was granted a monopoly in music printing with Thomas Tallis (1543-1623)
• Cage, John Cage, John Milton Cage Jr. — United States composer of avant-garde music (1912-1992)
• Chavez, Carlos Chavez — Mexican composer of nationalistic works using themes from Indian folk music (1899-1978)
• Cherubini, Luigi Cherubini, Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Cherubini — Italian composer of church music and operas (1760-1842)
• Chopin, Frederic Francois Chopin — French composer (born in Poland) and pianist of the romantic school (1810-1849)
• Copland, Aaron Copland — United States composer who developed a distinctly American music (1900-1990)
• Couperin, Francois Couperin — French composer of music for organ and a member of a family of distinguished organists (1668-1733)
• Coward, Noel Coward, Sir Noel Pierce Coward — English dramatist and actor and composer noted for his witty and sophisticated comedies (1899-1973)
• Czerny, Karl Czerny — Austrian virtuoso pianist and composer of many works for the piano; studied with Beethoven and was a teacher of Liszt (1791-1857)
• Debussy, Claude Debussey, Claude Achille Debussy — French composer who is said to have created impressionism in music (1862-1918)
• Delibes, Leo Delibes, Clement Philibert Leo Delibes — French composer of operas (1836-1891)
• Delius, Frederick Delius — English composer of orchestral works (1862-1934)
• Donizetti, Gaetano Donizetti — Italian composer of operas (1797-1848)
• Dowland, John Dowland — English lutenist and composer of songs for the lute (1563-1626)
• Dukas, Paul Dukas — French composer (1865-1935)
• Dvorak, Antonin Dvorak — Czech composer who combined folk elements with traditional forms (1841-1904)
• Elgar, Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Edward William Elgar — British composer of choral and orchestral works including two symphonies as well as songs and chamber music and music for brass band (1857-1934)
• Enesco, Georges Enesco, George Enescu — Romanian violinist and composer (1881-1955)
• Falla, Manuel de Falla — Spanish composer and pianist (1876-1946)
• Franck, Cesar Franck — French composer and teacher who influenced a generation of composers (1822-1890)
• Gershwin, George Gershwin — United States composer who incorporated jazz into classical forms and composed scores for musical comedies (1898-1937)
• Glinka, Mikhail Glinka, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka — Russian composer (1804-1857)
• Gluck, Christoph Willibald von Gluck — German composer of more than 100 operas (1714-1787)
• Gounod, Charles Francois Gounod — French composer best remembered for his operas (1818-1893)
• Grainger, Percy Grainger, Percy Aldridge Grainger, George Percy Aldridge Grainger — United States composer (born in Australia) who lived in London and collected English folk songs (1882-1961)
• Grieg, Edvard Grieg, Edvard Hagerup Grieg — Norwegian composer whose work was often inspired by Norwegian folk music (1843-1907)
• Halevy, Fromental Halevy, Jacques Francois Fromental Elie Halevy — French operatic composer (1799-1862)
• Handel, George Frederick Handel, Georg Friedrich Handel — a prolific German baroque composer remembered best for his oratorio Messiah (1685-1759)
• Handy, W. C. Handy, William Christopher Handy — United States blues musician who transcribed and published traditional blues music (1873-1958)
• Haydn, Joseph Haydn, Franz Joseph Haydn — prolific Austrian composer who influenced the classical form of the symphony (1732-1809)
• Hindemith, Paul Hindemith — German neoclassical composer and conductor who believed that music should have a social purpose (1895-1963)
• Honegger, Arthur Honegger — Swiss composer (born in France) who was the founding member of a group in Paris that included Erik Satie and Darius Milhaud and Francis Poulenc and Jean Cocteau (1892-1955)
• Humperdinck, Engelbert Humperdinck — German composer of six operas who influenced Wagner (1854-1921)
• Ibert, Jacques Francois Antoine Ibert — French composer (1890-1962)
• Ives, Charles Edward Ives — United States composer noted for his innovative use of polytonality (1874-1954)
• Joplin, Scott Joplin — United States composer who was the first creator of ragtime to write down his compositions (1868-1917)
• Kachaturian, Aram Kachaturian — Armenian composer who incorporated oriental folk music (1903-1978)
• Kern, Jerome Kern, Jerome David Kern — United States composer of musical comedies (1885-1945)
• Khachaturian, Aram Khachaturian, Aram Ilich Khachaturian — Soviet composer (born in Georgia) whose works are romantic and reflect his interest in folk music (1903-1978)
• Lambert, Constant Lambert, Leonard Constant Lambert — English composer and conductor (1905-1951)
• Lasso, Orlando di Lasso, Roland de Lassus — Belgian composer (1532-1594)
• Lehar, Franz Lehar — Hungarian composer of light operas (1870-1948)
• Liszt, Franz Liszt — Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso (1811-1886)
• Lloyd Webber, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd Webber of Sydmonton — English composer of many successful musicals (some in collaboration with Sir Tim Rice) (born in 1948)
• Loewe, Frederick Loewe — United States composer (born in Austria) who collaborated with Lerner on several musicals (1901-1987)
• Lully, Jean Baptiste Lully, Lulli, Giambattista Lulli — French composer (born in Italy) who was the court composer to Louis XIV and founded the national French opera (1632-1687)
• MacDowell, Edward MacDowell — United States composer best remembered as a composer of works for the piano (1860-1908)
• Mahler, Gustav Mahler — Austrian composer and conductor (1860-1911)
• Massenet, Jules Emile Frederic Massenet — French composer best remembered for his pop operas (1842-1912)
• Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn, Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy — German Romantic composer of orchestral and choral works (1809-1847)
• Menotti, Gian Carlo Menotti — United States composer (born in Italy) of operas (born in 1911)
• Meyerbeer, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Jakob Liebmann Beer — German composer of operas in a style that influenced Richard Wagner (1791-1864)
• Milhaud, Darius Milhaud — French composer of works that combine jazz and polytonality and Brazilian music (1892-1974)
• Monteverdi, Claudio Monteverdi — Italian composer (1567-1643)
• Moore, Douglas Moore — United States composer of works noted for their use of the American vernacular (1893-1969)
• Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — prolific Austrian composer and child prodigy; master of the classical style in all its forms of his time (1756-1791)
• Mussorgsky, Moussorgsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Modest Moussorgsky, Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, Modest Petrovich Moussorgsky — Russian composer of operas and orchestral works (1839-1881)
• Nielson, Carl Nielson, Carl August Nielson — Danish composer (1865-1931)
• Offenbach, Jacques Offenbach — French composer of many operettas and an opera (1819-1880)
• Orbison, Roy Orbison — United States composer and rockabilly tenor popular in the 1950s (1936-1988)
• Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina — Italian composer (1526-1594)
• Piston, Walter Piston — United States neoclassical composer (1894-1976)
• Porter, Cole Porter, Cole Albert Porter — United States composer and lyricist of musical comedies (1891-1946)
• Poulenc, Francis Poulenc — French composer (1899-1963)
• Prokofiev, Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev — Russian composer of ballets and symphonies and operas (1891-1953)
• Puccini, Giacomo Puccini — Italian operatic composer noted for the dramatic realism of his operas (1858-1924)
• Purcell, Henry Purcell — English organist at Westminster Abbey and composer of many theatrical pieces (1659-1695)
• Rachmaninoff, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, Sergei Rachmaninov, Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninov — composer and piano virtuoso born in Russia (1873-1943)
• Rameau, Jean-Philippe Rameau — French composer of operas whose writings laid the foundation for the modern theory of harmony (1683-1764)
• Ravel, Maurice Ravel — French composer and exponent of Impressionsim (1875-1937)
• Respighi, Ottorino Respighi — Italian composer remembered for his symphonic poems (1879-1936)
• Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov, Rimski-Korsakov, Nikolai Andreyevich Rimski-Korsakov — Russian composer of operas and orchestral works; often used themes from folk music (1844-1908)
• Rodgers, Richard Rodgers — United States composer of musical comedies (especially in collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein II and with Lorenz Hart) (1902-1979)
• Romberg, Sigmund Romberg — United States composer (born in Hungary) who composed operettas (1887-1951)
• Rossini, Giloacchino Antonio Rossini — Italian composer remembered for his operas (1792-1868)
• Rubinstein, Anton Rubenstein, Anton Gregor Rubinstein, Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein — Russian composer and pianist (1829-1894)
• Saint-Saens, Charles Camille Saint-Saens — French pianist and composer (1835-1921)
• Satie, Erik Satie, Erik Alfred Leslie Satie — French composer noted for his experimentalism and rejection of Romanticism (1866-1925)
• Schnabel, Artur Schnabel — United States composer (born in Austria) and pianist noted for his interpretations of the works of Mozart and Beethoven and Schubert (1882-1951)
• Schonberg, Arnold Schonberg, Schoenberg, Arnold Schoenberg — United States composer and musical theorist (born in Austria) who developed atonal composition (1874-1951)
• Schubert, Franz Schubert, Franz Peter Schubert, Franz Seraph Peter Schubert — Austrian composer known for his compositions for voice and piano (1797-1828)
• Schumann, Robert Schumann, Robert Alexander Schumann — German romantic composer known for piano music and songs (1810-1856)
• Schumann, Clara Josephine Schumann — German pianist and composer of peiano music; renowned for her interpretation of music, especially the music of her husband Robert Schumann (1819-1896)
• Scriabin, Aleksandr Scriabin, Aleksandr Nikolayevich Scriabin — Russian composer of orchestral and piano music (1872-1915)
• Segovia, Andres Segovia — Spanish guitarist who made classical guitar a concert instrument (1893-1987)
• Sessions, Roger Sessions, Roger Huntington Sessions — United States composer who promoted 20th century music (1896-1985)
• Shostakovich, Dmitri Shostakovich, Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich — Russian composer best known for his fifteen symphonies (1906-1975)
• Sibelius, Jean Sibelius, Johan Julius Christian Sibelius — Finnish composer (1865-1957)
• Smetana, Bedrich Smetana — Czech composer (1824-1884)
• Sondheim, Stephen Sondheim — United States composer of musicals (born in 1930)
• Sousa, John Philip Sousa, The March King — a United States bandmaster and composer of military marches (1854-1932)
• Strauss, Johann Strauss, Strauss the Elder — Austrian composer of waltzes (1804-1849)
• Strauss, Johann Strauss, Strauss the Younger — Austrian composer and son of Strauss the Elder; composed many famous waltzes and became known as the `waltz king' (1825-1899)
• Strauss, Richard Strauss — German composer of many operas; collaborated with librettist Hugo von Hoffmannsthal to produce several operas (1864-1949)
• Stravinsky, Igor Stravinsky, Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky — composer who was born in Russia but lived in the United States after 1939 (1882-1971)
• Sullivan, Arthur Sullivan, Arthur Seymour Sullivan, Sir Arthur Sullivan — English composer of operettas who collaborated with the librettist William Gilbert (1842-1900)
• Tallis, Thomas Tallis — English organist and composer of church and secular music; was granted a monopoly in music printing with William Byrd (1505-1585)
• Taylor, Deems Taylor, Joseph Deems Taylor — United States composer and music critic (1885-1966)
• Tchaikovsky, Peter Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky — important Russian composer whose works are noted for their expressive melodies (1840-1893)
• Telemann, Georg Philipp Telemann — German baroque composer (1681-1767)
• Thomson, Virgil Thomson, Virgil Garnett Thomson — United States composer who collaborated with Gertrude Stein (1896-1989)
• Varese, Edgard Varese — United States composer (born in France) whose music combines dissonance with complex rhythms and the use of electronic techniques (1883-1965)
• Vaughan Williams, Ralph Vaughan Williams — English composer influenced by folk tunes and music of the Tudor period (1872-1958)
• Verdi, Giuseppe Verdi, Guiseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi — Italian operatic composer (1813-1901)
• Villa-Lobos, Heitor Villa-Lobos — Brazilian composer (1887-1959)
• Vivaldi, Antonio Vivaldi, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi — Italian baroque composer and violinist (1675-1741)
• Wagner, Richard Wagner, Wilhelm Richard Wagner — German composer of operas and inventor of the music drama in which drama and spectacle and music are fused (1813-1883)
• Walton, Sir William Walton, Sir William Turner Walton — English composer (1902-1983)
• Weber, Carl Maria von Weber, Baron Karl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber — German conductor and composer of Romantic operas (1786-1826)
• Weill, Kurt Weill — German composer; collaborated with Bertolt Brecht (1900-1950)
• Wolf, Hugo Wolf — Austrian composer (1860-1903)

• musician — artist who composes or conducts music as a profession