This is a list of classical music composers by era. With the exception of the overview, the Modernist era has been combined with the Postmodern. Composers with a career spanning across more than one time period are colored in between their two respective eras.
Preset = TimeHorizontal_AutoPlaceBars_UnitYear
ImageSize = width:1100 height:auto barincrement:20
Colors =
id:lightGray value:gray(0.7)
id:gray value:gray(0.4)
id:darkGray value:gray(0.2)
id:ren value:rgb(0.88,1,1) legend:Renaissance
id:transbar value:rgb(0.815,1,0.875)
id:bar value:rgb(0.75,1,0.75) legend:Baroque
id:transcla value:rgb(0.875,1,0.75)
id:cla value:rgb(1,1,0.75) legend:Classical
id:transrom value:rgb(1,0.85,0.75)
id:rom value:rgb(1,0.75,0.75) legend:Romantic
id:transmod value:rgb(1,0.75,0.4)
id:mod value:rgb(1,0.75,0) legend:Modernist
id:transava value:rgb(1,0.575,0)
id:ava value:rgb(1,0.4,0) legend:Avant-garde
id:transmin value:rgb(1,0.45,0.375)
id:min value:rgb(1,0.5,0.75) legend:Minimalist
BackgroundColors = canvas:lightGray
Period = from:1400 till:2024
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:50 start:1400
Legend = orientation:vertical left:100 top:160
LineData =
at:1400 color:darkGray layer:back
at:1500 color:darkGray layer:back
at:1600 color:darkGray layer:back
at:1700 color:darkGray layer:back
at:1800 color:darkGray layer:back
at:1900 color:darkGray layer:back
at:2000 color:darkGray layer:back
BarData=
barset:Composers
PlotData=
width:18 fontsize:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(4,-6)
barset:Composers
from:1400 till:1474 color:Ren text:Dufay
from:1400 till:1460 color:Ren text:Binchois
from:1415 till:1497 color:Ren text:Ockeghem
from:1430 till:1492 color:Ren text:Busnois
from:1435 till:1511 color:Ren text:Tinctoris
from:1445 till:1506 color:Ren text:Agricola
from:1450 till:1521 color:Ren text:Josquin des Prez
from:1450 till:1517 color:Ren text:Isaac
from:1452 till:1518 color:Ren text:da la Rue
from:1457 till:1505 color:Ren text:Obrecht
from:1475 till:1558 color:Ren text:Janequin
from:1490 till:1545 color:Ren text:Taverner
from:1490 till:1562 color:Ren text:Willaert
from:1495 till:1560 color:Ren text:Gombert
from:1500 till:1555 color:Ren text:Morales
from:1505 till:1585 color:Ren text:Tallis
from:1507 till:1568 color:Ren text:Arcadelt
from:1525 till:1594 color:Ren text:Palestrina
from:1532 till:1594 color:Ren text:Lassus
from:1543 till:1623 color:Ren text:Byrd
from:1548 till:1611 color:Ren text:Victoria
from:1551 till:1618 color:transbar text:Caccini
from:1554 till:1612 color:Ren text:G Gabrieli
from:1563 till:1626 color:Ren text:Dowland from:1566 till:1613 color:Ren text:Gesualdo
from:1567 till:1643 color:transbar text:Monteverdi
from:1571 till:1621 color:transbar text:Praetorius
from:1585 till:1672 color:Bar text:Schütz
from:1602 till:1676 color:Bar text:Cavalli
from:1616 till:1667 color:Bar text:Froberger
from:1632 till:1687 color:Bar text:Lully
from:1637 till:1707 color:Bar text:Buxtehude
from:1643 till:1704 color:Bar text:Charpentier
from:1653 till:1713 color:Bar text:Corelli
from:1653 till:1706 color:Bar text:Pachelbel
from:1659 till:1695 color:Bar text:Purcell
barset:break
from:1660 till:1725 color:Bar text:A Scarlatti
from:1668 till:1733 color:Bar text:F Couperin
from:1671 till:1751 color:Bar text:Albinoni
from:1678 till:1741 color:Bar text:Vivaldi
from:1681 till:1767 color:Bar text:Telemann
from:1683 till:1764 color:Bar text:Rameau
from:1685 till:1750 color:Bar text:JS Bach
from:1685 till:1757 color:Bar text:D Scarlatti
from:1685 till:1759 color:Bar text:Handel
from:1699 till:1783 color:Bar text:Hasse
from:1710 till:1736 color:Bar text:Pergolesi
from:1714 till:1787 color:Cla text:Gluck
from:1714 till:1788 color:transcla text:CPE Bach
from:1717 till:1757 color:transcla text:Stamitz
from:1729 till:1783 color:transcla text:Soler
from:1732 till:1809 color:Cla text:Haydn
from:1735 till:1782 color:Cla text:JC Bach
from:1750 till:1825 color:Cla text:Salieri
from:1752 till:1832 color:Cla text:Clementi
from:1756 till:1791 color:Cla text:Mozart
from:1761 till:1842 color:cla text:Cherubini
from:1770 till:1827 color:transrom text:Beethoven
from:1778 till:1839 color:transrom text:Sor
from:1782 till:1837 color:transrom text:Field
from:1782 till:1840 color:Rom text:Paganini
from:1786 till:1826 color:Rom text:Weber
from:1791 till:1857 color:transrom text:Czerny
from:1792 till:1868 color:transrom text:Rossini
from:1797 till:1828 color:transrom text:Schubert
from:1797 till:1848 color:Rom text:Donizetti
from:1803 till:1869 color:Rom text:Berlioz
from:1804 till:1857 color:Rom text:Glinka
from:1809 till:1847 color:Rom text:Mendelssohn
from:1810 till:1849 color:Rom text:Chopin
from:1810 till:1856 color:Rom text:R Schumann
from:1811 till:1886 color:Rom text:Liszt
from:1813 till:1883 color:Rom text:Wagner
from:1813 till:1901 color:Rom text:Verdi
from:1819 till:1880 color:Rom text:Offenbach
from:1819 till:1896 color:Rom text:C Schumann
barset:break
from:1822 till:1890 color:Rom text:Franck
from:1824 till:1884 color:Rom text:Smetana
from:1824 till:1896 color:Rom text:Bruckner
from:1825 till:1899 color:Rom text:Johann Strauss II
from:1833 till:1897 color:Rom text:Brahms
from:1833 till:1887 color:Rom text:Borodin
from:1835 till:1921 color:Rom text:Saint-Saëns
from:1838 till:1920 color:Rom text:Bruch
from:1838 till:1875 color:Rom text:Bizet
from:1839 till:1881 color:Rom text:Mussorgsky from:1840 till:1893 color:Rom text:Tchaikovsky
from:1841 till:1904 color:Rom text:Dvořák
from:1842 till:1912 color:Rom text:Massenet
from:1843 till:1907 color:Rom text:Grieg
from:1844 till:1908 color:Rom text:Rimsky-Korsakov
from:1845 till:1924 color:transmod text:Fauré
from:1852 till:1909 color:Rom text:Tárrega
from:1857 till:1934 color:Rom text:Elgar
from:1858 till:1924 color:Rom text:Puccini
from:1860 till:1909 color:transmod text:Albéniz
from:1860 till:1911 color:transmod text:Mahler
from:1862 till:1918 color:Mod text:Debussy
from:1864 till:1949 color:transmod text:Richard Strauss
from:1865 till:1957 color:transmod text:Sibelius
from:1866 till:1925 color:Mod text:Satie from:1867 till:1916 color:Rom text:Granados
from:1868 till:1903 color:Rom text:Joplin
from:1870 till:1948 color:transmod text:Lehár
from:1872 till:1915 color:transmod text:Scriabin
from:1872 till:1958 color:transmod text:Vaughan Williams
from:1873 till:1943 color:Rom text:Rachmaninoff
from:1874 till:1951 color:Mod text:Schoenberg
from:1874 till:1934 color:transmod text:Holst
from:1874 till:1954 color:Mod text:Ives
from:1875 till:1937 color:Mod text:Ravel
from:1876 till:1946 color:Mod text:de Falla
from:1881 till:1945 color:Mod text:Bartók
from:1882 till:1971 color:Mod text:Stravinsky
from:1883 till:1945 color:Mod text:Webern
from:1883 till:1965 color:Ava text:Varèse
from:1891 till:1953 color:transava text:Prokofiev
from:1895 till:1963 color:transava text:Hindemith
from:1897 till:1957 color:Rom text:Korngold
from:1898 till:1937 color:Mod text:Gershwin
from:1899 till:1963 color:Mod text:Poulenc
from:1900 till:1990 color:transmod text:Copland
from:1902 till:1983 color:transmod text:Walton
barset:break
from:1906 till:1975 color:Mod text:Shostakovich
from:1908 till:1992 color:transava text:Messiaen
from:1910 till:1981 color:transmod text:Barber
from:1911 till:1975 color:Mod text:Herrmann
from:1912 till:1992 color:Ava text:Cage
from:1913 till:1976 color:Mod text:Britten
from:1916 till:1999 color:transmin text:Moondog
from:1922 till:2001 color:Ava text:Xenakis
from:1923 till:2006 color:Ava text:Ligeti
from:1925 till:2016 color:Ava text:Boulez
from:1928 till:2007 color:Ava text:Stockhausen
from:1929 till:2004 color:Ava text:Goldsmith
from:1932 till:2024 color:Mod text:Williams
from:1933 till:2020 color:Ava text:Krzysztof Penderecki
from:1934 till:1998 color:Ava text:Schnittke
from:1935 till:2024 color:transmin text:Riley
from:1935 till:2024 color:transmin text:Pärt
from:1936 till:2024 color:transmin text:Reich
from:1937 till:2024 color:transmin text:Glass
from:1947 till:2024 color:Min text:Adams
from:1955 till:2024 color:Min text:Einuadi
from:1957 till:2024 color:Min text:Zimmer
from:1978 till:2024 color:Min text:Yiruma
See List of Medieval composers and Medieval music.
See List of Renaissance composers and Renaissance music.
See List of Baroque composers and Baroque music.
See List of Classical era composers and Classical period (music).
See List of Romantic-era composers and Romantic music.
See List of 20th-century classical composers and 20th-century classical music.
See also: List of modernist composers and List of postmodernist composers.
See main article: article, List of 21st-century classical composers and 21st-century classical music.