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Felix Mendelssohn
February 3, 1809 – November 4, 1847
German
Mendelssohn was a romantic composer. He is most known for his work, Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream. -
Richard Wagner
May 22, 1813 – February 13, 1883
German
Wagner was a prolific Romantic composer. He redefined opera. -
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
May 7, 1840 – November 6, 1893
Russian
Tchaikovsky was a romantic composer. He is most well known for his ballet compositions. -
Leos Janacek
July 3, 1854 – August 12, 1928
Czech
Janacek wrote in the romantic and modern style. He is most known for his opera, Jenufa. -
Edward Elgar
June 2, 1857 – February 23, 1934
English
Elgar was a romantic composer. He was a self-taught composer. -
Gustav Mahler
July 7, 1860 – May 18, 1911
Austro-Bohemian
Mahler was a major composer of the Romantic era. He was also a revolutionary conductor. -
Richard Strauss
June 11, 1864 – September 8, 1949
German
Strauss was a major composer of the Romantic era. He pioneered advanced orchestral harmony. -
Carl Nielsen
June 9, 1865 – October 3, 1931
Danish
Nielsen's music ranged from romantic to modern. Much of his music reflected difficulties in his life. -
Jean Sibelius
December 8, 1865 – September 20, 1957
Finnish
Sibelius was a late romantic composer. Being the only prolific composer from Finland, much of his music depicts the Finnish landscapes. -
Erik Satie
May 17, 1866 – July 1, 1925
French
Satie's music lay between modernism and minimalism. Satie was a huge influence to Les Six -
Ralph Vaughan Williams
October 12, 1872 – August 26, 1958
English
Vaughan Williams was a romantic composer. He wrote the first tuba concerto! -
Arnold Schoenberg
September 13, 1874 – July 13, 1951
Austrian
Schoenberg was a modern, atonal composer. He invented twelve-tone atonality. -
Charles Ives
October 20, 1874 – May 19, 1954
American
Ives was a modern composer. His experimentation is regarded as ahead of his time. -
Maurice Ravel
March 7, 1875 – December 28, 1937
French
Ravel was an Impressionist composer. He is most known for his experimentation with form. -
Bruno Walter
September 15, 1876 – February 17, 1962
German, French
Walter was a major conductor. He worked closely with Mahler to popularize his repertory. -
Bela Bartok
March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945
Hungarian
Bartok composed with classicism and modernism. He is known as one of the first ethnomusicologists. Appropriately, he often used folk music in his compositions -
Igor Stravinsky
June 5, 1882 – April 6, 1971
Russian
Stravinsky wrote in various styles, including neo-classical and serial. Stravinsky was very popular for writing ballets, although he would change styles in the future to remain relevant. -
Percy Grainger
July 8, 1882 – February 20, 1961
Australian
Grainger was an experimental composer and is most know for his use of folk music. He is a huge contributor to band repertoire. -
Anton Webern
December 3, 1883 – September 15, 1945
Austrian
Webern specialized in atonal and contrapuntal music. His music lay "between the noise of life and stillness of death." -
Alban Berg
February 9, 1885 – December 24, 1935
Austrian
Berg was an atonal composer, also specializing in twelve tone. With Schoenberg, he was part of the Second Viennese School. -
Louis Durey
May 27, 1888 – July 3, 1979
French
Durey composed atonal music, especially twelve tone. During WWII, he was part of a committee that worked to hide Jews away from Nazi occupation. -
Sergei Prokofiev
April 27, 1891 – March 5, 1953
Russian
Prokofiev was influenced by romanticism and neoclassicism. Prokofiev found success in many avenues: ballet, opera, symphony, and even film. -
Arthur Honegger
March 10, 1892 – November 27, 1955
French, Swiss
Honegger was an avant garde composer. He is popular for mixing many musical techniques of his ear. -
Germaine Tailleferre
April 19, 1892 – November 7, 1983
French
Tailleferre was an avant garde composer. She was also the only female member of Les Six -
Darius MIlhaud
September 4, 1892 – June 22, 1974
French
Milhaud was an avant garde composer. He is highly responsible for bringing Jazz to Europe. -
Carl Orff
July 10, 1895 – March 29, 1982
German
Orff drew influence from many musical styles. His success comes from Carmina Burana, which is written in the medieval style. -
Virgil Thomson
November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989
American
Thomson was a neoclassical composer. He is essential to the creation of the American sound concept. -
Henry Cowell
March 11, 1897 – December 10, 1965
American
Cowell was a neoclassical and avant-garde composer. He heavily experimented with the use of rhythm and harmony. -
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
May 29, 1897 – November 29, 1957
Austrian, American
Korngold was a neoclassical composer, often being compared to Mozart. He is most revered for his contribution to the film industry. -
Roy Harris
February 12, 1898 – October 1, 1979
American
Roy Harris was a neoclassical composer. He is most noted for his symphonies. -
George Gershwin
September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937
American
Gershwin was a composer of pop/romantic music. He wrote the first great American opera, Porgy and Bess. -
Francis Poulenc
January 7, 1899 – January 30, 1963
French
Poulenc was an avant garde composer. He was also the leader of Les Six. -
Georges Auric
February 15, 1899 – July 23, 1983
French
Auric was an avant garde composer. He found much career success, even in film composition -
Aaron Copland
November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990
American
Copland was a modern composer. Much of his music celebrated the American people. -
Harry Partch
June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974)
American
Partch was a minimalist composer. He is most noted for his creation of customized instruments for his compositions. -
Aram Khachaturian
June 6, 1903 – May 1, 1978
Russian, Armenian
Khachaturian was a neoclassical composer. He was awarded the People's Award in the Soviet Union. He was a tuba player! -
Dmitri Shostakovich
September 25, 1906 – August 9, 1975
Russian
Shostakovich was influenced by romanticism and neoclassicism. His music was also influenced by the possibility of being banned by the USSR. -
Bernard Herrmann
June 29, 1911 – December 24, 1975
Jewish, American
Herrman saw himself as a romantic composer. He contributed much to the film industry while creating a unique sound compared to the "Hollywood sound." -
John Cage
September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992
American
Cage was an avant-garde composer. His work 4'33" challenged listeners to find music in everyday sounds. -
Benjamin Britten
November 22, 1913 – December 4, 1976
English
Britten was a neoclassical composer. He is most known for his opera, Peter Grimes. -
Milton Babbitt
May 10, 1916 – January 29, 2011)
American
Babbitt was an avant-garde composer. He specialized in electronic and serial music. -
Leonard Bernstein
August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990
American
Bernstein was a modern composer but was truly a genius of a musician. He was the first American Conductor to lead an American Orchestra -
György Ligeti
May 28, 1923 – June 12, 2006
Hungarian, Austrian
Ligeti was an avant-garde composer. He was a revolutionary for electronic music and his work was used as inspiration for 2001: A Space Odyssey. -
Pierre Boulez
March 26, 1925 – January 5, 2016
French
Boulez was an avant-garde composer. He believed that any sort of avant-garde music was to be approached in a purist way, avoiding any sort of system. -
Morton Feldman
January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987
American
Feldman was an avant-garde composer. He experimented specifically with graphic notation to develop his unique sound. -
Karlheinz Stockhausen
August 22, 1928 – December 5, 2007
German
Stockhausen was an avant-garde composer. His compositions were revolutionary for electronic music. -
Tōru Takemitsu
October 8, 1930 – February 20, 1996
Japanese
Takemitsu was a minimalist composer. He experimented heavily with timbre. -
Terrence Mitchell Riley
June 24, 1935
American
Riley is a minimalist composer. His music is most notable for it experimentation with electronic elements. -
La Monte Young
October 14, 1935
American
La Monte Young is a minimal composer. His simplicity is derived from the use of sustained tones. -
Steve Reich
October 3, 1936
American
Reich is a minimalist composer. He innovated the use of tape loops to create patterns in his composition. This can be seen as the start of modern day sampling. -
Philip Glass
January 31, 1937
American
Glass is a minimalist composer. His style deals with repetitive structures. -
John Adams
February 15, 1947
American
Adams is a minimalist composer. He composed for a wide amount of mediums, drawing from opera, symphony, jazz, electronic music, and jazz.