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Jul 13, 2023 · Learn about the most famous and influential composers in music history, from Bach and Mozart to Debussy and Tchaikovsky. Discover their biographies, works, styles and recordings with Classic FM.
- Strauss I
Johann Strauss I (1804-1849) was an Austrian Romantic...
- Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) was an Italian composer,...
- Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) was a Russian composer and...
- Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert (1797–1828) was an Austrian Romantic composer...
- Philip Glass
Philip Glass (1937-present) an American composer, who...
- Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann (1810–1856) was a German romantic composer...
- Clara Schumann
Clara Schumann was a German composer-pianist and wife to...
- Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) was one of the few composers...
- Strauss I
- Overview
- Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
- Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91)
- Johannes Brahms (1833–97)
- Richard Wagner (1813–83)
- Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–93)
- Frédéric Chopin (1810–49)
- Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
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They differed in style, skill, innovation, and popularity, and nothing incites more heated debate among classical music scholars and fans than determining which of these composers of Western classical music are the most essential. The three composers that consistently appear in the top spots are Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart. Scholars and fans vary o...
The German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven is widely regarded as the greatest composer who ever lived. He expanded the Classical traditions of Joseph Haydn, one of his teachers, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and experimented with personal expression, a characteristic that influenced the Romantic composers who succeeded him. His life and car...
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organist of the Baroque period. His contemporaries admired him for his talent as a musician but thought his compositions were old-fashioned. A rediscovery of his work in the early 19th century led to the so-called Bach revival, in which he came to be seen as one of the greatest composers of all time. ...
An Austrian composer of the Classical period, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is widely recognized as one of the greatest composers of Western music. He is the only composer to write and excel in all of the musical genres of his time. Rumored to have had the ability to play music at age three and to write music at age five, Mozart began his career as a chi...
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist of the Romantic period, but he was more a disciple of the Classical tradition. He wrote in many genres, including symphonies, concerti, chamber music, piano works, and choral compositions, many of which reveal the influence of folk music. Some of his best-known works include Symphony No. 3 in F Majo...
The German composer and theorist Richard Wagner extended the opera tradition and revolutionized Western music. His dramatic compositions are particularly known for the use of leitmotifs, brief musical motifs for a character, place, or event, which he skillfully transformed throughout a piece. Among his major works are the operas The Flying Dutchman...
The French composer Claude Debussy is often regarded as the father of modern classical music. Debussy developed new and complex harmonies and musical structures that evoke comparisons to the art of his contemporary Impressionist and Symbolist painters and writers. His major works include Clair de lune, La Mer, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, an...
Writing music with broad emotional appeal during the Romantic period, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky became one of the most popular Russian composers of all time. He was schooled in the western European tradition and assimilated elements from French, Italian, and German music with a personal and Russian style. Some of his best-known works were composed f...
Frédéric Chopin was a Polish French composer and pianist of the Romantic period. He was one of few composers to devote himself to a single instrument, and his sensitive approach to the keyboard allowed him to exploit all the resources of the piano, including innovations in fingering and pedaling. He is thus primarily known for writing music for the...
The Austrian composer Joseph Haydn was one of the most important figures in the development of the Classical style of music during the 18th century. He helped establish the forms and styles for the string quartet and symphony. Haydn was a prolific composer, and some of his most well-known works are Symphony No. 92 in G Major, Emperor Quartet, and C...
Learn about the lives and works of some of the most influential composers of Western classical music, from Beethoven and Bach to Debussy and Tchaikovsky. Explore their styles, genres, innovations, and legacy in this list of 10 essential composers.
Discover the 50 greatest classical composers of all time - do you agree with our choices? Meet the great composers with BBC Music Magazine.
- Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) Music poured out of Bach, all for the greater glory of God and, in Bach’s words, “the refreshment of the soul.” Organ music, church cantatas and incidental music for his employers were his daily bread.
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) Forget all that stuff about taking dictation from God. Mozart was always working, teaching himself to be a better composer and trying to be more than just a maker of music.
- Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) It’s not just the tunes, the blazing triumphs, the thundering highlights or the contemplative hymns and the rhapsodies.
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893) The beau idéal of the Romantic composer, Tchaikovsky, put Russian music on the European map. A devotion to Mozart, Bellini and Donizetti reflects his own endless melodic gifts, which he yoked to a brilliant orchestral sense, plus his own very intense emotionality.
- Johann Sebastian Bach. Holding the #1 spot in our list has to be none other than Johann Sebastian Bach, who is highly regarded as one of the best composers of all time.
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. If there is one person who epitomizes the word composer, it is none other than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Born in Salzburg, Austria, in 1756, Mozart was a musical prodigy composing his first piece of music at the age of five.
- Ludwig van Beethoven. Even non-musicians will recognize the name Ludwig van Beethoven, who is widely considered one of the greatest composers in history.
- Joseph Haydn. Often called the Father of the Symphony, Joseph Haydn was one of the most prolific and influential composers of the classical era. Born in Austria in 1732, Haydn showed an early aptitude for music and was given rigorous training by his uncle, a professional musician.
May 30, 2024 · Explore the timeline of famous classical composers from the Baroque to the 21st century. Learn about their lives, works, styles and eras with mini biographies and examples.
Nov 25, 2020 · Learn about the greatest composers active in the second half of the 18th century, from Haydn to Mozart, and their contributions to the Classical music genre. Discover their styles, influences, works and legacy through examples and recordings.
