View source for List of classical music composers by era

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{{Composers by era}}

This is a '''list of classical [[Music Composer|music composers]] by [[Musical era|era]]'''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What are the four main eras of classical music? |url=https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/four-eras-classical-music/ |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=Classic FM |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=School |first=Greater Toronto Music |date=2021-07-31 |title=7 Eras of Classical Music |url=https://www.greatertorontomusic.ca/post/7-eras-of-classical-music |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=GTMS |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Paavola |first=Morgan |title=Research Guides: Music: Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, & Romantic Composers |url=https://libguides.uwrf.edu/c.php?g=554487&p=10581893 |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=libguides.uwrf.edu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-12-04 |title=Musical Periods: The History of Classical Music |url=https://www.musicnotes.com/blog/musical-periods-the-history-of-classical-music/?srsltid=AfmBOopVDY1BKKJNKBdZUr8BoVEQQNYIyUdgp8BWkG5bjAHQFDr4RBrL |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=Musicnotes |language=en}}</ref> With the exception of the overview, the [[Modernism (music)|Modernist]] era has been combined with the [[Postmodern music|Postmodern]]. Composers with a career spanning across more than one time period are colored in between their two respective eras.

==Overview== <!-- PLEASE ONLY ADD VERY SIGNIFICANT AND / OR WELL KNOWN COMPOSERS TO THE OVERVIEW, OTHER COMPOSERS SHOULD GO ON SEPARATE TIMELINES. FOR EXAMPLE, MOST ROMANTIC COMPOSERS SHOULD GO IN Template:Timeline Classical Composers Romanticism Early-->
 
<timeline>

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  from:1100 till:1179 color:Med text:[[Hildegard of Bingen|Hildegard]] #from 1098

  from:1130 till:1200 color:Med text:[[Bernart de Ventadorn|Bernart]]

  from:1135 till:1201 color:Med text:[[Léonin]]

  from:1160 till:1230 color:Med text:[[Pérotin]]

  from:1170 till:1230 color:Med text:[[Walther von der Vogelweide|Walther]]

  from:1180 till:1207 color:Med text:[[Raimbaut de Vaqueiras|Raimbaut]]

  from:1245 till:1306 color:Med text:[[Adam de la Halle|Adam]]

  from:1291 till:1361 color:Med text:[[Philippe de Vitry|Philippe]]
  
  from:1300 till:1377 color:Med text:[[Guillaume de Machaut|Machaut]]
   
  from:1325 till:1397 color:Med text:[[Francesco Landini|Landini]]
   
  from:1370 till:1412 color:Med text:[[Johannes Ciconia|Ciconia]]

  from:1380 till:1445 color:transren text:[[Leonel Power|Power]]
   
  from:1390 till:1453 color:transren text:[[John Dunstaple|Dunstaple]]

  barset:break
   
  from:1400 till:1474 color:Ren text:[[Guillaume Du Fay|Du Fay]]

  from:1400 till:1460 color:Ren text:[[Gilles Binchois|Binchois]]

  from:1415 till:1497 color:Ren text:[[Johannes Ockeghem|Ockeghem]]

  from:1430 till:1492 color:Ren text:[[Antoine Busnoys|Busnois]]

  from:1435 till:1511 color:Ren text:[[Johannes Tinctoris|Tinctoris]]

  from:1445 till:1506 color:Ren text:[[Alexander Agricola|Agricola]]

  from:1450 till:1521 color:Ren text:[[Josquin des Prez|Josquin]]

  from:1450 till:1517 color:Ren text:[[Heinrich Isaac|Isaac]]

  from:1452 till:1518 color:Ren text:[[Pierre de La Rue|La Rue]]

  from:1457 till:1505 color:Ren text:[[Jacob Obrecht|Obrecht]]

  from:1475 till:1558 color:Ren text:[[Clement Janequin|Janequin]]

  from:1490 till:1545 color:Ren text:[[John Taverner|Taverner]]

  from:1490 till:1562 color:Ren text:[[Adrian Willaert|Willaert]]

  from:1495 till:1560 color:Ren text:[[Nicolas Gombert|Gombert]]

  from:1500 till:1555 color:Ren text:[[Cristobal de Morales|Morales]]

  from:1505 till:1585 color:Ren text:[[Thomas Tallis|Tallis]]

  from:1507 till:1568 color:Ren text:[[Jacob Arcadelt|Arcadelt]]

  from:1525 till:1594 color:Ren text:[[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina|Palestrina]]

  from:1532 till:1594 color:Ren text:[[Orlande de Lassus|Lassus]]

  from:1543 till:1623 color:transbar text:[[William Byrd|Byrd]]

  from:1548 till:1611 color:transbar text:[[Tomás Luis de Victoria|Victoria]]

  from:1551 till:1618 color:transbar text:[[Giulio Caccini|Caccini]]

  from:1554 till:1612 color:transbar text:[[Giovanni Gabrieli|G Gabrieli]]

  from:1562 till:1621 color:transbar text:[[Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck|Sweelinck]] 

  from:1563 till:1626 color:transbar text:[[John Dowland|Dowland]]
 
  from:1566 till:1613 color:transbar text:[[Carlo Gesualdo|Gesualdo]]

  barset:break

  from:1567 till:1643 color:transbar text:[[Claudio Monteverdi|Monteverdi]]

  from:1570 till:1601 color:Ren text:[[John Farmer (composer)|Farmer]]

  from:1571 till:1621 color:transbar text:[[Michael Praetorius|Praetorius]]

  from:1585 till:1672 color:Bar text:[[Heinrich Schütz|Schütz]]

  from:1602 till:1676 color:Bar text:[[Francesco Cavalli|Cavalli]]

  from:1616 till:1667 color:Bar text:[[Johann Jakob Froberger|Froberger]]

  from:1632 till:1687 color:Bar text:[[Jean-Baptiste Lully|Lully]]

  from:1637 till:1707 color:Bar text:[[Dieterich Buxtehude|Buxtehude]]

  from:1643 till:1704 color:Bar text:[[Marc-Antoine Charpentier|Charpentier]]

  from:1653 till:1713 color:Bar text:[[Arcangelo Corelli|Corelli]]

  from:1653 till:1706 color:Bar text:[[Johann Pachelbel|Pachelbel]]

  from:1659 till:1695 color:Bar text:[[Henry Purcell|Purcell]]

  from:1660 till:1725 color:Bar text:[[Alessandro Scarlatti|A Scarlatti]]

  from:1668 till:1733 color:Bar text:[[François Couperin|F Couperin]]

  from:1671 till:1751 color:Bar text:[[Tomaso Albinoni|Albinoni]]

  from:1678 till:1741 color:Bar text:[[Antonio Vivaldi|Vivaldi]]

  from:1681 till:1764 color:transcla text:[[Johann Mattheson|Mattheson]]

  from:1681 till:1767 color:Bar text:[[Georg Philipp Telemann|Telemann]]

  from:1683 till:1764 color:Bar text:[[Jean-Philippe Rameau|Rameau]]

  from:1685 till:1750 color:Bar text:[[Johann Sebastian Bach|JS Bach]]

  from:1685 till:1757 color:Bar text:[[Domenico Scarlatti|D Scarlatti]]

  from:1685 till:1759 color:Bar text:[[Georg Handel|Handel]]

  from:1699 till:1783 color:transcla text:[[Johann Adolph Hasse|Hasse]]

  from:1700 till:1775 color:transcla text:[[Giovanni Battista Sammartini|Sammartini]]

  from:1710 till:1736 color:Bar text:[[Giovanni Battista Pergolesi|Pergolesi]]

  from:1714 till:1787 color:Cla text:[[Christoph Willibald Gluck|Gluck]]

  from:1714 till:1788 color:transcla text:[[Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach|CPE Bach]]

  from:1717 till:1750 color:transcla text:[[Georg Matthias Monn|Monn]]

  from:1717 till:1757 color:transcla text:[[Johann Stamitz|J Stamitz]]

  from:1729 till:1783 color:transcla text:[[Antonio Soler (composer)|Soler]]

  from:1732 till:1809 color:Cla text:[[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]]

  from:1735 till:1782 color:Cla text:[[Johann Christian Bach|JC Bach]]

  from:1739 till:1799 color:Cla text:[[Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf|Dittersdorf]]

  from:1743 till:1805 color:Cla text:[[Luigi Boccherini|Boccherini]]

  from:1745 till:1801 color:Cla text:[[Carl Stamitz|C Stamitz]]

  from:1745 till:1799 color:Cla text:[[Chevalier de Saint-Georges|Saint-Georges]]

  from:1750 till:1825 color:Cla text:[[Antonio Salieri|Salieri]]

  from:1752 till:1832 color:Cla text:[[Muzio Clementi|Clementi]]

  from:1756 till:1791 color:Cla text:[[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]

  from:1756 till:1792 color:Cla text:[[Joseph Martin Kraus|JM Kraus]]

  from:1761 till:1842 color:transrom text:[[Luigi Cherubini|Cherubini]]

  from:1770 till:1836 color:transrom text:[[Anton Reicha|Reicha]]

  barset:break

  from:1770 till:1827 color:transrom text:[[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]

  from:1778 till:1839 color:transrom text:[[Fernando Sor|Sor]]

  from:1782 till:1837 color:transrom text:[[John Field (composer)|Field]]

  from:1782 till:1840 color:Rom text:[[Niccolo Paganini|Paganini]]

  from:1786 till:1826 color:Rom text:[[Carl Maria von Weber|Weber]]

  from:1791 till:1857 color:transrom text:[[Carl Czerny|Czerny]]

  from:1792 till:1868 color:transrom text:[[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]]

  from:1797 till:1828 color:transrom text:[[Franz Schubert|Schubert]]

  from:1797 till:1848 color:Rom text:[[Gaetano Donizetti|Donizetti]]

  from:1801 till:1835 color:Rom text:[[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini]]

  from:1803 till:1869 color:Rom text:[[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]

  from:1804 till:1857 color:Rom text:[[Mikhail Glinka|Glinka]]

  from:1809 till:1847 color:Rom text:[[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]]

  from:1810 till:1849 color:Rom text:[[Frederic Chopin|Chopin]]

  from:1810 till:1856 color:Rom text:[[Robert Schumann|R Schumann]]

  from:1811 till:1886 color:Rom text:[[Franz Liszt|Liszt]]

  from:1813 till:1883 color:Rom text:[[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]

  from:1813 till:1901 color:Rom text:[[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]]

  from:1819 till:1880 color:Rom text:[[Jacques Offenbach|Offenbach]]

  from:1819 till:1896 color:Rom text:[[Clara Schumann|C Schumann]]

  from:1822 till:1890 color:Rom text:[[César Franck|Franck]]

  from:1824 till:1884 color:Rom text:[[Bedrich Smetana|Smetana]]

  from:1824 till:1896 color:Rom text:[[Anton Bruckner|Bruckner]]

  from:1825 till:1899 color:Rom text:[[Johann Strauss II|J Strauss II]]

  from:1833 till:1897 color:Rom text:[[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]]

  from:1833 till:1887 color:Rom text:[[Alexander Borodin|Borodin]]

  from:1835 till:1921 color:Rom text:[[Camille Saint-Saëns|Saint-Saëns]]

  from:1838 till:1920 color:Rom text:[[Max Bruch|Bruch]]

  from:1838 till:1875 color:Rom text:[[Georges Bizet|Bizet]]

  from:1839 till:1881 color:Rom text:[[Modest Mussorgsky|Mussorgsky]]
  
  from:1840 till:1893 color:Rom text:[[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]]

  from:1841 till:1904 color:Rom text:[[Antonín Dvořák|Dvořák]]

  from:1842 till:1912 color:Rom text:[[Jules Massenet|Massenet]]

  from:1843 till:1907 color:Rom text:[[Edvard Grieg|Grieg]]

  from:1844 till:1908 color:Rom text:[[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov|Rimsky-Korsakov]]

  from:1845 till:1924 color:transmod text:[[Gabriel Fauré|Fauré]]

  from:1857 till:1934 color:Rom text:[[Edward Elgar|Elgar]]

  from:1858 till:1924 color:Rom text:[[Giacomo Puccini|Puccini]]

  from:1860 till:1909 color:transmod text:[[Isaac Albéniz|Albéniz]]

  from:1860 till:1911 color:transmod text:[[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]]

  barset:break

  from:1862 till:1918 color:Mod text:[[Claude Debussy|Debussy]]

  from:1864 till:1949 color:transmod text:[[Richard Strauss|R Strauss]]

  from:1865 till:1957 color:transmod text:[[Jean Sibelius|Sibelius]]

  from:1866 till:1925 color:Mod text:[[Erik Satie|Satie]]
  
  from:1867 till:1916 color:Rom text:[[Enrique Granados|Granados]]

  from:1868 till:1903 color:Rom text:[[Scott Joplin|Joplin]]

  from:1872 till:1915 color:transmod text:[[Alexander Scriabin|Scriabin]]

  from:1872 till:1958 color:transmod text:[[Ralph Vaughan Williams|Vaughan Williams]]

  from:1873 till:1943 color:Rom text:[[Sergei Rachmaninoff|Rachmaninoff]]

  from:1874 till:1951 color:Mod text:[[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]]

  from:1874 till:1934 color:transmod text:[[Gustav Holst|Holst]]

  from:1874 till:1954 color:Mod text:[[Charles Ives|Ives]]

  from:1875 till:1937 color:Mod text:[[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]]

  from:1876 till:1946 color:Mod text:[[Manuel de Falla|de Falla]]

  from:1881 till:1945 color:Mod text:[[Béla Bartók|Bartók]]

  from:1882 till:1971 color:Mod text:[[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]]

  from:1883 till:1945 color:Mod text:[[Anton Webern|Webern]]

  from:1885 till:1935 color:Mod text:[[Alban Berg|Berg]]

  from:1883 till:1965 color:Mod text:[[Edgard Varèse|Varèse]]

  from:1891 till:1953 color:Mod text:[[Sergei Prokofiev|Prokofiev]]

  from:1895 till:1963 color:Mod text:[[Paul Hindemith|Hindemith]]

  from:1898 till:1937 color:Mod text:[[George Gershwin|Gershwin]]

  from:1899 till:1963 color:Mod text:[[Francis Poulenc|Poulenc]]

  from:1900 till:1990 color:transpos text:[[Aaron Copland|Copland]]

  from:1906 till:1975 color:Mod text:[[Dmitri Shostakovich|Shostakovich]]

  from:1908 till:2012 color:transpos text:[[Elliott Carter|Carter]]

  from:1908 till:1992 color:transpos text:[[Olivier Messiaen|Messiaen]]

  from:1910 till:1981 color:transpos text:[[Samuel Barber|Barber]]

  from:1912 till:1992 color:transpos text:[[John Cage|Cage]]

  from:1913 till:1976 color:transpos text:[[Benjamin Britten|Britten]]
  
  from:1913 till:1994 color:transpos text:[[Witold Lutosławski|Lutosławski]]

  from:1916 till:2011 color:transpos text:[[Milton Babbitt|Babbitt]]

  from:1922 till:2001 color:transpos text:[[Iannis Xenakis|Xenakis]]

  from:1923 till:2006 color:transpos text:[[György Ligeti|Ligeti]]

  from:1925 till:2016 color:transpos text:[[Pierre Boulez|Boulez]]

  from:1926 till:1987 color:transpos text:[[Morton Feldman|Feldman]]

  from:1928 till:2007 color:transpos text:[[Karlheinz Stockhausen|Stockhausen]]

  from:1929 till:2022 color:transpos text:[[George Crumb|Crumb]]

  from:1931 till:2024 color:transpos text:[[Sofia Gubaidulina|Gubaidulina]]

  from:1933 till:2020 color:transpos text:[[Krzysztof Penderecki|Penderecki]]

  from:1933 till:2010 color:transpos text:[[Henryk Górecki|Górecki]]

  from:1934 till:1998 color:transpos text:[[Alfred Schnittke|Schnittke]]
  
  from:1934 till:2022 color:transpos text:[[Harrison Birtwistle|Birtwistle]]

  from:1935 till:2024 color:transpos text:[[Helmut Lachenmann|Lachenmann]]

  from:1935 till:2024 color:pos text:[[Arvo Pärt|Pärt]]

  from:1936 till:2024 color:pos text:[[Steve Reich|Reich]]

  from:1937 till:2024 color:pos text:[[Philip Glass|Glass]]

  from:1939 till:2021 color:pos text:[[Louis Andriessen|L Andriessen]]

  from:1943 till:2024 color:pos text:[[Brian Ferneyhough|Ferneyhough]]

  from:1947 till:2024 color:pos text:[[John Adams (composer)|Adams]]

  from:1952 till:2023 color:pos text:[[Kaija Saariaho|Saariaho]]

  from:1952 till:2024 color:pos text:[[Wolfgang Rihm|Rihm]]

  from:1961 till:2024 color:pos text:[[Unsuk Chin|Chin]]

  from:1968 till:2024 color:pos text:[[Olga Neuwirth|O Neuwirth]]
  
  from:1971 till:2024 color:pos text:[[Thomas Adès|Adès]]

</timeline>

== Medieval era ==
''See [[List of Medieval composers]] and [[Medieval music]].''

{{Timeline Classical Composers Medieval}}

== Renaissance era ==
''See [[List of Renaissance composers]] and [[Renaissance music]].''

{{Timeline Classical Composers Renaissance}}

== Baroque era ==
''See [[List of Baroque composers]] and [[Baroque music]].''

{{Timeline Classical Composers Baroque}}

== Classical era ==
''See [[List of Classical era composers]] and [[Classical period (music)]].''

{{Timeline Classical Composers Classical}}

== Romantic era ==
''See [[List of Romantic-era composers]] and [[Romantic music]].''

{{Timeline Classical Composers Romanticism Early}}
{{Timeline Classical Composers Romanticism Late}}

== 20th century/contemporary/modern/postmodern ==
''See [[List of 20th-century classical composers]] and [[20th-century classical music]].''
{{See also|List of modernist composers|List of postmodernist composers}}

== 21st century/postmodern ==
{{Main article|List of 21st-century classical composers|21st-century classical music}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== See also ==
* [[History of music]]
* [[List of composers by name]]
* [[Lists of composers]]
* [[List of burial places of classical musicians]]
*[[Women in music|Women in Music]]
* [[List of best-selling sheet music]]

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160311144927/http://composerquiz.sourceforge.net/cmap/ Clickable and searchable version of graphical composers timeline with groups]

[[Category:Classical music lists|Composers by era]]
[[Category:Lists of composers|Classical]]
[[Category:Lists of people by period|Classical music composers]]
[[Category:Timelines of music|Composers, classical]]
[[Category:Graphical timelines|Composers, classical]]
[[Category:History of classical music]]
[[Category:Classical music eras|*Composers]]

[[de:Komponist#Komponisten (Klassik) - Grafische Übersicht]] <!-- subsection interwikis don't work in Wikidata. Please leave this here. -->