German composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his operas. Adolf Hitler was an admirer of his music, and saw in it an embodiment of his own heroic mythology of the German nation.
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Along with Bach and Beethoven, he is one of the 3 B's of music. An extreme perfectionist, he produced only four symphonies and destroyed many of his early works.
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Norwegian composer and pianist who composed in the romantic period. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt, and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Celebrated Italian composer of the Baroque period whose music has a consistent syle. Nicknamed 'The Red Priest', his most famous piece deals with something that changes 4 times a year.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
The hint refers to The Four Seasons
French Romantic composer who made great contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation and by utilizing huge orchestral forces for his works, sometimes calling for over 1000 performers. Also wrote the famous Symphonie fantastique.
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
English Romantic composer known for his major orchestral works Enigma Variations and the Pomp and Circumstance Marches.
Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
English composer born in Germany and trained in Italy. His most famous works are Messiah, an oratorio set to texts from the King James Bible, Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks.
George Handel (1685-1759)
The Octet and his overture to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream are the best known of his early works. He wrote also incidental music for the play 16 years later in 1842, including the famous Wedding March, which is frequently played at weddings.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
The first Russian composer to gain wide recognition inside his own country, and is often regarded as the father of Russian classical music.
Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857)
German composer of the late Romantic era and early modern era, particularly noted for his tone poems. His music is used at the beginning of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Super genius who first achieved fame as an organist, his music was the height of the Baroque style. His works include works include the Brandenburg concertos; the Goldberg Variations; the English Suites, French Suites, Partitas, and Well-Tempered Clavier; the Mass in B Minor among others.
Johnann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
One of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century, he is best known for his three Roman tone poems that are Fountains of Rome (1916), Pines of Rome (1924), and Roman Festivals (1928).
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
Lived between 1567-1643 and chiefly remembered for inventing the opera. He wrote one of the earliest operas, Orfeo, which is also the earliest opera to remain dramatically viable by modern standards and is still regularly staged today.
Claudio Monteverdi
Czech composer best known for his symphonic poem Vltava (better known as The Moldau), the second in a cycle of six which he entitled Má vlast (My Country), and for his opera The Bartered Bride.
Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884)
His most famous composition is the the Symphony No.9, From the New World.
Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)
Along with Maurice Ravel, this French composer is considered the most prominent figure working within the style commonly referred to as Impressionist music.
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
American composer best known for his ballet Appalachian Spring.
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
Called by some the 'Father of the Symphony' and 'Father of the String Quartet.' A life-long resident of Austria, spent most of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family.
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Hungarian virtuoso pianist and composer of the Romantic period. He is credited with the invention of the symphonic poem, as well as the modern solo piano recital.
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Probably the most important composer of the 20th century who works include The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
A celebrated, prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. His output of over 600 compositions includes works widely acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. Also the subject of a really good 1984 film.
Wolfgang Mozart (1756-1791)
Along with Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich, this Armenian was considered as one of the titans of Soviet music, enjoying world-wide reputation as some of the leading composers of the 20th century. Among others, he composed the ballets Spartak and Gayane (music of which was used in Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey). The latter ballet features in its final act what is probably his most famous movement, the Sabre Dance.
Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978)
Famous Italian composer of the Renaissance, he was known for his songs written for voices alone.
Giovanni de Palestrina (1525-1594)
A monk of the middle ages responsible for many musical innovations such as singing "do, re, mi, fa..." for the notes of the scale.
Guido of Arezzo
An important figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music, he composed only 9 symphonies. He turned deaf towards the end of his life.
Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Igor Stravinsky characterized him as the greatest Russian composer of his day, other than Stravinsky himself. Composed music for the children's story Peter and the Wolf.
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
His music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. Best-known compositions include Finlandia, Valse Triste, the Violin Concerto, the Karelia Suite and The Swan of Tuonela.
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
French composer best known for his orchestral work, Boléro, which he considered trivial and once described as a piece for orchestra without music.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Austrian composer who wrote some 600 Lieder, eight completed symphonies, the famous Unfinished Symphony, he is noted for his melody and harmony. By his own request, he was buried next to Beethoven, whom he had adored all his life.
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
18th century composer from Guadeloupe in the Caribbean remembered as the first known classical composer of African ancestry.
(Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de) Saint-Georges (1745-1799)
Polish composer often called the poet of the piano. Was the lover of the author George Sand. Warsaw's international airport is named for him.
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)
Was the first to design a seating arrangement for orchestra players and the first to hold rehearsals and conduct using a baton. Is also called the father of German Romantic opera.
Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
An Austrian composer known especially for his waltzes, such as The Blue Danube. Some of his polkas and marches are also well known, as is his operetta Die Fledermaus.
Johnann Strauss II (1825-1899)
Most internationally known composer from Denmark especially admired for his six symphonies and his concertos for violin, flute and clarinet.
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931)
Russian composer of the Soviet period who got into trouble with the Soviet government and is now regarded as the most popular composer of serious art music of the middle years of the 20th century. His greatest works are generally considered to be his symphonies and string quartets, fifteen of each.
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)