Musicians

Medieval

Hildegard of Bingen

Born around 1098 in the Holy Roman Empire, Hildegard of Bingen was a medieval polymath and Benedicti

Baroque

Antonio Vivaldi

Born in Venice in 1678, Antonio Vivaldi established the solo concerto as a dominant Baroque form. Wi

George Frideric Handel

Born in Halle, Germany, in 1685, George Frideric Handel became one of the Baroque era's towering fig

Johann Sebastian Bach

Born in 1685 in Eisenach, Germany, Johann Sebastian Bach elevated Baroque counterpoint to its highes

Modern

Xian Xinghai

Born in Macau in 1905, Xian Xinghai was a pioneer of modern Chinese music. The first Chinese student

Tōru Takemitsu

Born in Tokyo in 1930, Toru Takemitsu was a largely self-taught composer who became one of the twent

Igor Stravinsky

Born near Saint Petersburg in 1882, Igor Stravinsky later became a French and then American citizen,

Dmitri Shostakovich

Born in Saint Petersburg in 1906, Dmitri Shostakovich was the Soviet Union's preeminent composer. He

Béla Bartók

Born in Hungary in 1881, Bela Bartok was one of the most important composers of the twentieth centur

Japanese Art

Rentarō Taki

Born in Tokyo in 1879, Rentaro Taki was a pioneering composer and pianist of Japan's Meiji era, when

Kōsaku Yamada

Born in Tokyo in 1886, Kosaku Yamada composed Japan's first symphony and built the foundations of th

jazz

Louis Armstrong

Born in New Orleans in 1901, Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong was a foundational figure in jazz. His innova

Duke Ellington

Born in Washington, D.C., in 1899, Duke Ellington was hailed by music critic Ralph J. Gleason as 'Am

impressionist

Claude Debussy

Born in France in 1862, Claude Debussy opened new frontiers of harmony and timbre that reshaped West

classical

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Born in Salzburg in 1756, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart defined the Classical era with over 800 compositio

Joseph Haydn

Born in the Austrian village of Rohrau in 1732, Joseph Haydn was the composer who contributed most t

Ludwig van Beethoven

Born in Bonn in 1770, Ludwig van Beethoven bridged the Classical and Romantic eras, expanding the em

romantic

Felix Mendelssohn

Born in Hamburg in 1809, Felix Mendelssohn was a composer, pianist, organist, and conductor of the e

Richard Wagner

Born in Leipzig in 1813, Richard Wagner transformed opera into the Gesamtkunstwerk, a total work of

Johannes Brahms

Born in Hamburg in 1833, Johannes Brahms carried forward the structural traditions of Bach and Beeth

Franz Schubert

Born in Vienna in 1797, Franz Schubert died at just thirty-one yet left over 1,000 compositions, ear

Franz Liszt

Born in Hungary in 1811, Franz Liszt was the Romantic era's supreme virtuoso pianist and a composer

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Born in Russia in 1873, Sergei Rachmaninoff later settled in the United States as one of the last gr

Frédéric Chopin

Born in Poland in 1810, Frederic Chopin devoted his entire creative life to the piano, transforming

Giuseppe Verdi

Born near Busseto, Italy, in 1813, Giuseppe Verdi dominated Italian opera in the nineteenth century.

Robert Schumann

Born in Zwickau, Germany, in 1810, Robert Schumann was a leading composer, pianist, and music critic

Giacomo Puccini

Born in Lucca, Italy, in 1858, Giacomo Puccini was the most successful Italian opera composer after

Gustav Mahler

Born in Bohemia in 1860 to a Jewish family, Gustav Mahler bridged nineteenth-century Romanticism and

Clara Schumann

Born in Leipzig in 1819, Clara Schumann was one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic e

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Born in Russia in 1840, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was the first Russian composer to achieve lasting i