Chronological list of German classical composers
Encyclopedia
The following is a chronological list of classical music
composers who live in, work in, or are citizens of Germany
.
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
composers who live in, work in, or are citizens of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Baroque
- Michael PraetoriusMichael PraetoriusMichael Praetorius was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns, many of which reflect an effort to make better the relationship between...
(1571–1621) - Andreas HakenbergerAndreas HakenbergerAndreas Hakenberger was a German composer.A motet Beati omnes, qui timent Dominum à 12 is recorded on Hanseatic Wedding music. Weser-Renaissance Ensemble Bremen dir. Manfred Cordes. cpo-References:...
(1574–1627) - Heinrich SchützHeinrich SchützHeinrich Schütz was a German composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and often considered to be one of the most important composers of the 17th century along with Claudio Monteverdi...
(1585–1672) - Samuel ScheidtSamuel ScheidtSamuel Scheidt was a German composer, organist and teacher of the early Baroque era.-Biography:...
(1587–1653) - Johann SchopJohann SchopJohann Schop was a German violinist and composer, much admired as a musician and a technician, who was a virtuoso and whose compositions for the violin set impressive technical demands for that area at that time. In 1756 Leopold Mozart commented on the difficulty of a trill in a work by Schop,...
(1590–1667) - Johann PachelbelJohann PachelbelJohann Pachelbel was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher, who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most...
(1653–1706) - Georg Caspar SchürmannGeorg Caspar SchürmannGeorg Caspar Schürmann was a German Baroque composer. His name also appears as Schurmann and in Hochdeutsch as Scheuermann.-Life:...
(1672 or 1673–1751) - Georg Philipp TelemannGeorg Philipp TelemannGeorg Philipp Telemann was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually...
(1681–1767) - Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
(1685–1750) - George Frideric HandelGeorge Frideric HandelGeorge Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
(1685–1759) - Johann Gottlieb GraunJohann Gottlieb GraunJohann Gottlieb Graun was a German Baroque/Classical era composer and violinist.Graun was born in Wahrenbrück. His brother Carl Heinrich was also a composer and singer. He studied with J.G. Pisendel in Dresden, and Giuseppe Tartini in Padua. Appointed Konzertmeister in Merseburg in 1726, he taught...
(1703–1771) - Carl Heinrich GraunCarl Heinrich GraunCarl Heinrich Graun was a German composer and tenor singer. Along with Johann Adolf Hasse, he is considered to be the most important German composer of Italian opera of his time.-Biography:...
(1704–1759)
Classical era
- Johan AgrellJohan AgrellJohan Agrell was a late German/Swedish baroque composer.He was born in Löth, Östergötland, a province in Sweden and studied in Uppsala. By 1734 he was a violinist at the Kassel court, travelling in England, France, Italy and elsewhere. From 1746 onward, he was Kapellmeister in Nuremberg...
(1701–1765) - Johann Ernst EberlinJohann Ernst EberlinJohann Ernst Eberlin was a German composer and organist whose works bridge the baroque and classical eras. He was a prolific composer, chiefly of church organ and choral music...
(1702–1762) - Johann Gottlieb JanitschJohann Gottlieb JanitschJohann Gottlieb Janitsch was a German Baroque composer.Janitsch was born in Schweidnitz, Silesia. He graduated from the University of Frankfurt an der Oder. He held various positions at the court of the Kingdom of Prussia, eventually becoming the personal musician of Frederick the Great. Janitsch...
(1708–c1763) - Christoph SchaffrathChristoph SchaffrathChristoph Schaffrath is best known as a musician and composer of classical western music of the late Baroque to Classical transition era.-Career:...
(1709–1763) - Frederick II of PrussiaFrederick II of PrussiaFrederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
(1712–1786) - Johann Ludwig KrebsJohann Ludwig KrebsJohann Ludwig Krebs was a Rococo musician and composer primarily for the pipe organ.-Life:Krebs was born in 1713 in Buttelstedt, Germany to Johann Tobias Krebs, a well-known organist. J. Tobias had at least three sons who were considered musically talented, and J...
(1713–1780) - Carl Philipp Emanuel BachCarl Philipp Emanuel Bachright|250pxCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and second son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach...
(1714–1788) - Christoph Willibald GluckChristoph Willibald GluckChristoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years...
(1714–1787) - Gottfried August HomiliusGottfried August HomiliusGottfried August Homilius was a German composer, cantor, and organist. He was the main representative of the empfindsamer style....
(1714–1785) - Carl Friedrich Abel (1723–1787)
- Florian Leopold GassmannFlorian Leopold GassmannFlorian Leopold Gassmann was a German-speaking Bohemian opera composer of the transitional period between the baroque and classical eras. He was one of the principal composers of dramma giocoso immediately before Mozart....
(1729–1774) - Johann Christian BachJohann Christian BachJohann Christian Bach was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is sometimes referred to as 'the London Bach' or 'the English Bach', due to his time spent living in the British capital...
(1735–1782) - Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
(1756–1791) - Joseph Martin KrausJoseph Martin KrausJoseph Martin Kraus , was a composer in the classical era who was born in Miltenberg am Main, Germany. He moved to Sweden at age 21, and died at the age of 36 in Stockholm...
(1756–1792) - Franz DanziFranz DanziFranz Ignaz Danzi was a German cellist, composer and conductor, the son of the noted Italian cellist Innocenz Danzi. Born in Schwetzingen, Franz Danzi worked in Mannheim, Munich, Stuttgart and Karlsruhe, where he died....
(1763–1826) - Simon MayrSimon MayrJohann Simon Mayr , also known in Italian as Giovanni Simone Mayr or Simone Mayr was a German composer.- Life :...
(1763–1845)
Romantic
- Peter Anton KreusserPeter Anton Kreusser-Biography:Claiming to be of Swabian aristocrat stock he was born in Lengfurt . He began the Anglo-Bavarian branch to the Kreusser [Kreußer] family when he married Anne Rickets in London....
(1765–1831) - Ludwig van BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
(1770–1827) - Louis SpohrLouis SpohrLouis Spohr was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Born Ludewig Spohr, he is usually known by the French form of his name. Described by Dorothy Mayer as "The Forgotten Master", Spohr was once as famous as Beethoven. As a violinist, his virtuoso playing was admired by Queen Victoria...
(1784–1859) - Carl Maria von WeberCarl Maria von WeberCarl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
(1786–1826) - Giacomo MeyerbeerGiacomo MeyerbeerGiacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...
(1791–1864) - Johann Carl Gottfried LöweJohann Carl Gottfried LöweJohann Carl Gottfried Loewe , usually called Carl Loewe , was a German composer, baritone singer and conductor. In his lifetime, his songs were well enough known for some to call him the "Schubert of North Germany", and Hugo Wolf came to admire his work...
(1796–1869) - Fanny MendelssohnFanny MendelssohnFanny Cäcilie Mendelssohn , later Fanny Hensel, was a German pianist and composer, the sister of the composer Felix Mendelssohn and granddaughter of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn...
(1805-1847) - Felix MendelssohnFelix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
(1809–1847) - Robert SchumannRobert SchumannRobert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
(1810–1856) - Richard WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
(1813–1883) - Heinrich Wilhelm ErnstHeinrich Wilhelm ErnstHeinrich Wilhelm Ernst was a Moravian-Jewish violinist, violist and composer. Ernst was widely seen as the outstanding violinist of his time and one of Paganini's greatest successors....
(1814–1865) - Friedrich Robert Volkmann (1815–1883)
- Jacques OffenbachJacques OffenbachJacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
(1819–1880) - Clara SchumannClara SchumannClara Schumann was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era...
(1819–1896) - Carl ReineckeCarl ReineckeCarl Heinrich Carsten Reinecke was a German composer, conductor, and pianist.-Biography:Reinecke was born in Altona, Hamburg, Germany; until 1864 the town was under Danish rule. He studied with his father, Johann Peter Rudolph Reinecke, a music teacher...
(1824–1910) - Albert DietrichAlbert DietrichAlbert Hermann Dietrich , was a German composer and conductor, remembered less for his own achievements than for his friendship with Johannes Brahms.Dietrich was born at Golk, near Meissen...
(1829–1908) - Johannes BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
(1833–1897) - Franz Wohlfahrt (1833–1884)
- Max BruchMax BruchMax Christian Friedrich Bruch , also known as Max Karl August Bruch, was a German Romantic composer and conductor who wrote over 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin repertoire.-Life:Bruch was born in Cologne, Rhine Province, where he...
(1838–1920) - August Friedrich Martin Klughardt (1847–1902)
- Philipp ScharwenkaPhilipp ScharwenkaLudwig Philipp Scharwenka was a German composer and teacher of music. He was the older brother of Xaver Scharwenka.- Early training :...
(1847–1917) - Fritz SeitzFritz SeitzFritz Seitz was a German Romantic Era composer. He was a violinist who served as a concertmaster, who wrote chamber music and five student concertos for the violin....
(1848–1918) - Paul KlengelPaul KlengelPaul Klengel was a German violinist, violist, pianist, conductor, composer, editor and arranger. He was the brother of cellist Julius Klengel....
(1854–1935) - Max WagenknechtMax WagenknechtMax Otto Arnold Wagenknecht was a German composer of organ and piano music. He was born in Woldisch Tychow, Pomerania, Free State of Prussia and spent most of his life in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania region where he was music teacher at the Franzburg Teachers’ College and in his later life...
(1857–1922) - Julius KlengelJulius KlengelJulius Klengel was a German cellist who is most famous for his etudes and solo pieces written for the instrument. He was the brother of Paul Klengel....
(1859–1933) - Richard StraussRichard StraussRichard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
(1864–1949) - Hans PfitznerHans PfitznerHans Erich Pfitzner was a German composer and self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera Palestrina, loosely based on the life of the great sixteenth-century composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.-Biography:Pfitzner was born in Moscow, Russia, where his...
(1869–1949)
Modern/Contemporary
- Wilhelm FurtwänglerWilhelm FurtwänglerWilhelm Furtwängler was a German conductor and composer. He is widely considered to have been one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. By the 1930s he had built a reputation as one of the leading conductors in Europe, and he was the leading conductor who remained...
(1886–1954) - Carl OrffCarl OrffCarl Orff was a 20th-century German composer, best known for his cantata Carmina Burana . In addition to his career as a composer, Orff developed an influential method of music education for children.-Early life:...
(1895–1982) - Paul HindemithPaul HindemithPaul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
(1895–1963) - Herbert EimertHerbert EimertHerbert Eimert was a German music theorist, musicologist, journalist, music critic, editor, radio producer, and composer.-Life:...
(1897-1972) - Werner EgkWerner EgkWerner Egk , born Werner Joseph Mayer, was a German composer.-Early career:He was born in the Swabian town of Auchsesheim, today part of Donauwörth, Germany. His family, of Catholic peasant stock, moved to Augsburg when Egk was six. He studied at a Benedictine Gymnasium and entered the municipal...
(1901-1983) - Stefan WolpeStefan WolpeStefan Wolpe was a German-born composer.-Life:Wolpe was born in Berlin. He attended the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory from the age of fourteen, and the Berlin Hochschule für Musik in 1920-1921. He studied composition under Franz Schreker and was also a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni...
(1902-1972) - Boris Blacher (1903-1975)
- Martin ScherberMartin ScherberMartin Scherber was a German composer and the creator of metamorphosis symphonies.- Childhood and Youth :Martin Scherber was born as the third child of Marie and Bernhard Scherber in Nuremberg, where his father was First Bassist in the orchestra of the State Opera House. Martin was a quiet child,...
(1907–1974) - Berthold GoldschmidtBerthold GoldschmidtBerthold Goldschmidt was a German Jewish composer who spent most of his life in England...
(1903–1996) - Bernd Alois ZimmermannBernd Alois ZimmermannBernd Alois Zimmermann was a post-WWII West German composer. He is perhaps best known for his opera Die Soldaten which is regarded as one of the most important operas of the 20th century...
(born 1918) - Fritz GeißlerFritz GeißlerFritz Geißler was one of the most important composers of the German Democratic Republic....
(1921-1984) - Bertold HummelBertold HummelBertold Hummel was a German composer of modern classical music.- Life :Bertold Hummel was born November 27, 1925 in Hüfingen . He studied at the Academy of Music in Freiburg from 1947 to 1954, taking composition with Harald Genzmer, and cello with Atis Teichmanis...
(1925–2002) - Hans Werner HenzeHans Werner HenzeHans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"...
(born 1926) - Karlheinz StockhausenKarlheinz StockhausenKarlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
(1928–2007) - Helmut LachenmannHelmut LachenmannHelmut Lachenmann is a German composer associated with musique concrète instrumentale.-Life and works:...
(born 1935) - Aribert ReimannAribert ReimannAribert Reimann is a German opera composer, pianist and accompanist, known especially for his literary operas. His version of King Lear was written at the suggestion of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau who sang the title role....
(born 1936) - Michael von BielMichael von BielMichael von Biel is a German composer, cellist, and graphic artist.Von Biel studied piano, theory, and composition in Toronto , Vienna , New York , London , and Cologne...
(born 1937) - Hans-Joachim HesposHans-Joachim HesposHans-Joachim Hespos is a German composer of avant-garde music.Since für Cello solo , he has composed in all genres, including many pieces for unaccompanied solo instruments and theatre works...
(born 1938) - Nicolaus A. HuberNicolaus A. HuberNicolaus A. Huber is a German composer.From 1958 to 1962 Huber studied music education at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München and subsequently composition with Franz Xaver Lehner and Günter Bialas. He pursued his education further with Josef Anton Riedl, Karlheinz Stockhausen and, above...
(born 1938) - Johannes FritschJohannes FritschJohannes G. Fritsch was a German composer.At the age of seven, Fritsch found a violin in the attic of his uncle's house in Bensheim-Auerbach, Germany, and began lessons with a village music teacher named Knapp...
(1941-2010) - Wolfgang RihmWolfgang RihmWolfgang Rihm is a German composer.Rihm is Head of the Institute of Modern Music at the Karlsruhe Conservatory of Music and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Salzburg Festival...
(born 1952) - Hans-Jürgen von BoseHans-Jürgen von BoseHans-Jürgen von Bose is a German Composer.-Life:After an unsettled adolescence, Bose entered the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt in 1969, where he received instruction in piano and music theory...
(born 1953) - Hans ZimmerHans ZimmerHans Florian Zimmer is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including critically acclaimed film scores for The Lion King , Crimson Tide , The Thin Red Line , Gladiator , The Dark Knight and Inception .Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the...
(born 1957)