Music wouldn't be where and what it is today without the contribution of many

talented and creative musicians and composers. Here you will find biographical
information on the world's most notable and prolific musicians in history. Each
musician is categorized under a specific era in music history. Read on and meet
some of our greatest masters of music.
Middle Ages - During this period, musical notation began as well as the birth of
polyphony. There is a remarkable continuity in musical styles categorized into
monophonic and polyphonic styles. The most notable musicians of this era are:

Hildegard von Bingen

Moniot D'Arras

Guillaume de Machaut

Leonel Power

John Dunstable

Gilles Binchois

Perotinus Magister

Guido de Arezzo

Renaissance- Also known as the "rebirth," this era signifies an increased patronage
of music. Known composers of this period are:

Guillaume Dufay

Johannes Ockeghem

Jacob Obrecht

Josquin Desprez

Clement Janequin

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

John Farmer

Claudio Monteverdi

Claudin de Sermisy

Adrian Willaert

Jacob Arcadelt

Orlando Lassus

Luca Marenzio

Carlo Gesualdo

Tomas Luis de Victoria

Giovanni Gabrielli

William Byrd

John Dowland

Thomas Tallis

Baroque Period- This era was a time of experimentation. The role of music in
society continued to expand and there was growing awareness of national styles.
Great musicians of this period are:

Arcangelo Corelli

Henry Purcell

Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet De La Guerre

Antonio Vivaldi

George Frideric Handel

Johann Sebastian Bach

Domenico Scarlatti

Jean-Philippe Rameau

Dietrich Buxtehude

Jean-Baptiste Lully

Heinrich Schtz

Francesca Caccini

Classical- Musical context during this period was more on art and nature. Music
had simpler textures, melodies and rational forms. The piano was a favorite
instrument during this time. Famous composers of this period are:

Johann Sebastian Bach

Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin

Francesco Cavalli

William Mason

Gustav Mahler

Antonin Dvorak

Joseph Haydn

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Ludwig van Beethoven

Richard Wagner

Johannes Brahms

Johann Pachelbel

Christoph Willibald Gluck

Romantic Period - During this era, there was a marked change in the status of
musicians. There was an increased interest in nature and the supernatural as well
as nationalism and exoticism. It also signifies the rise in program music. Famous
musicians of this period are:

Carl Maria von Weber

Paul Dukas

Louis Moreau Gottschalk

Edward MacDowell

Gaetano Donizetti

Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin

Gioachino Rossini

Isaac Albniz

Mikhail Glinka

Charles Gounod

Giacomo Meyerbeer

Niccol Paganini

Vincenzo Bellini

Franz Schubert

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel

Louis-Hector Berlioz

Felix Mendelssohn

Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin

Robert Schumann

Franz Joseph Liszt

Richard Wagner

Giuseppe Verdi

Clara Wieck Schumann

Bedrich Smetana

Johannes Brahms

Georges Bizet

Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky

Antonin Dvork

Ruggero Leoncavallo

Gustav Mahler

Claude Debussy

Richard Strauss

Amy Beach

Jean Sibelius

Camille Saint-Sans

Sergei Rachmaninof

Giacomo Puccini

Edvard Grieg

Gabriel Faur

Edmond Dede

Max Bruch

Edvard Elgar

Modest Mussorgsky

Mily Balakirev

Aleksandr Borodin

Cesar Cui

Cesar Franck

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov

Jacques Ofenbach

Arthur Sullivan

Enrique Granados

Anton Bruckner

20th Century- This period experienced the advent of sound recording and the birth
of a "World Music" culture. There was also a widening gap between the art and
popular music. Great composers of this era are:

Buddy Bolden

Paul Hindemith

Percy Grainger

Henry Mancini

Scott Joplin

Louis Armstrong

Ernest Bloch

Teresa Carreo

Elliott Carter

Carlos Chavez

Manuel de Falla

Silvestre Revueltas

Erik Satie

John Coltrane

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Germaine Tailleferre

Edgard Varese

Stan Getz

Dizzy Gillespie

Benny Goodman

Karl Lawrence King

Gian Carlo Menotti

Charlie "Bird" Parker

Fats Waller

Arnold Schoenberg

Dmitry Shostakovich

Charles Ives

Maurice Ravel

Igor Stravinsky

Bla Bartk

Anton Webern

Alban Berg

Sergei Prokofiev

Edward K. "Duke" Ellington

Aaron Copland

Richard Rodgers

Olivier Messiaen

Witold Lutoslawski

Leonard Bernstein

Heitor Villa-Lobos

John Cage

Samuel Barber

Benjamin Britten

Carl Orf

George Gershwin

Erik Satie

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Aleksandr Scriabin

Zoltan Kodaly

Ferruccio Busoni

Kurt Weill

Frederick Delius

Gustav Holst

Leos Janacek

Carl Nielsen

William Walton

Michael Tippett

Gyorgy Ligeti

Luciano Berio

Francis Poulenc

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Ervin Litkei