Bach
1685 - 1750 Bach has been called 'the supreme arbiter and law-giver of music'. He is to music what Leonardo da...
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1770 - 1827 Beethoven coupled his genius for music with profoundly held political beliefs and an almost...
more Brahms
1833 - 1897 One of the giants of classical music, Brahms appeared to arrive fully armed, found a style in which...
more Bruckner
1824 - 1896 Bruckner’s reputation rests almost entirely with his symphonies – the symphonies, someone said,...
more Debussy
1862 - 1918 Debussy was among the most influential of all the 20th century’s composers. His lyrical gift,...
more Dvořák
1841 - 1904 If Smetana was the founding father of Czech music, Dvořák was the one who popularised it. A love of...
more Elgar
1857 - 1934 Elgar worked firmly within conventional 19th century German harmonic and structural traditions, yet...
more Gershwin
1898 - 1937 No composer has done more to weld the two opposing cultures of serious and popular music together....
more Grieg
1843 - 1907 Grieg’s music is Norway in just the same way that Elgar and Vaughan Williams are England. It is...
more Handel
1685 - 1759 Handel is one of the giants of musical history – a great man in physical stature, spirit and vision...
more Haydn
1732 - 1809 Haydn was among the most prolific of all great composers and he wrote in every form: 104 symphonies...
more Liszt
1811 - 1886 Composer, teacher, Abbé, Casanova, writer, sage, pioneer and champion of new music, philanthropist...
more Mahler
1860 - 1911 Mahler is the last great Romantic symphonist, music conceived on the grandest scale and employing...
more Mendelssohn
1809 - 1847 Mendelssohn is one of the 'Sunshine Composers' who, like Rossini and Saint-Saëns, wrote effortless...
more Mozart
1756 - 1791 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was arguably the most naturally gifted musician in history, but he also...
more Puccini
1858 - 1924 Whatever the atmosphere he wanted to create, Puccini’s sound world is unique and unmistakeable with...
more Rachmaninov
1873 - 1943 Few musicians have successfully followed two musical disciplines, but Rachmaninov managed three:...
more Ravel
1875 - 1937 Ravel’s greatest significance was in establishing, with Debussy, a distinct French school of music...
more Schubert
1797 - 1828 Schubert was not the first of the Romantics but he was, as one writer put it, 'the first lyric poet...
more Schumann
1810 - 1856 Schumann is a key figure in the Romantic movement; none investigated the Romantic’s obsession with...
more Stravinsky
1882 - 1971 From 1910 to 1945, Stravinsky was the single strongest influence on contemporary music. His early...
more Tchaikovsky
1840 - 1893 Tchaikovsky is the most popular of all Russian composers, his music combining some nationalist...
more Vivaldi
1678 - 1741 With Antonio Vivaldi, Italian Baroque music reached its zenith. The prosperous, cultivated world of...
more Wagner
1813 - 1883 No composer has had so deep an influence on the course of his art, before or since. Entrepreneur,...
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