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The Epitaph of Sicylus is the oldest surviving complete musical composition. Although the Hurrian Songs of ancient Mesopotamia are older, they are fragments rather than complete compositions. The epitaph probably dates from the 1st or 2nd century AD and is part of a Greek inscription written on a marble column placed over the tomb that Sicylus had built for his wife Euterpe, near Tralles (in Asia Minor), present-day Aydın, about 30 km from the coastal city of Ephesus. -
Gregorian chant is a monodic, a cappella plainsong used in the liturgy of the Catholic Church since the Middle Ages. It is notable for its music, subordinated to the Latin text, and its spiritual character, seeking to create a connection with the divine and inner peace. -
Guido d'Arezzo was an 11th-century Italian monk and music theorist, known for developing a notation system based on lines and spaces, which became the precursor to the modern staff. He is also famous for creating the "solfège" method and his contributions to music education. -
Hildegard of Bingen was a 12th-century German abbess, composer, and visionary, known for her religious writings, music, and scientific works. She is one of the first known female composers in Western history and is recognized for her profound contributions to medieval music, especially her chants and mystical texts. -
Music of late medieval Europe between approximately 1170 and 1310, covering the period of the Notre Dame School of polyphony and the years after. -
Alfonso X of Castile, called the Wise, was the king of Castile and the other titled kingdoms between 1252 and 1284. Upon the death of his father, Ferdinand III the Saint, he resumed the offensive against the Muslims and occupied Jerez, Salé, the port of Rabat and conquered Cádiz. -
Guillaume de Machaut was a medieval French cleric, poet, and composer. His influence was enormous, and he is historically the leading exponent of the Ars nova movement, being considered the most celebrated composer of the 14th century. He contributed to the development of the motet and secular song. -
Léonin or Magister Leoninus is, along with Perotin, the first known composer of polyphonic organum, associated with the Notre Dame School. -
Bernart de Ventadorn, also known as Bernart de Ventadour and Bernard de Ventadorn, was a popular Provençal troubadour, composer, and poet. He is probably the best-known troubadour of the trobar leu style. Wikipedia -
Francesco Landini or Landino was an Italian composer, organist, singer, poet, instrument maker, and astrologer. He was one of the most famous and admired composers of the second half of the 14th century and undoubtedly the most famous composer in Italy. -
Perotin, called Pérotin le Grand in French or Magister Perotinus Magnus in Latin, was a French medieval composer who was born in Paris between 1155 and 1160 and died around 1230. He is considered the most important composer of the Notre Dame School of Paris, where the polyphonic style began to take shape. -
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg, better known as Johannes Gutenberg or Johannes Gutemberg, was a German goldsmith, inventor of the modern printing press with movable type, around 1450. -
Juan de Fermoselle, better known as Juan del Encina (in the current spelling of his name) or Juan del Enzina (in the spelling of the time), was a poet, musician, and playwright of the Spanish Renaissance during the time of the Catholic Monarchs. -
Martin Lutero, born Martin Luder, was a theologian, philosopher, and Augustinian Catholic friar who began and promoted the Protestant Reformation in Germany and whose teachings inspired the theological and cultural doctrine known as Lutheranism. -
Cristóbal de Morales (Seville, 1500 - Málaga or, according to others, Marchena, 1553) was a Spanish Catholic priest and chapel master, the main representative of the Andalusian polyphonic school and one of the three greats. -
Ars nova (from the Latin "new art") is an expression due to the theorist Philippe de Vitry that designates the musical production, both French and Italian, after the last works of the ars antiqua until the predominance of the Burgundian school, which will occupy the first place in the musical panorama of the West in the 15th century.[2][1] -
Antonio de Cabezón was a Spanish composer and organist of the Renaissance period. He is known for his keyboard music, especially for the organ and harpsichord. His works greatly influenced Spanish and European music in the 16th century. -
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known representative of the Roman school of musical composition of the 16th century. -
Orlando di Lasso, also known as Orlandus Lassus, Roland de Lassus, Roland Delattre, or Orlande de Lassus, was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance. Along with Palestrina and Victoria, he is considered one of the most influential composers of the 16th century. -
Andrea Gabrieli (ca. 1533 – August 30, 1585) was an Italian composer and organist of the late Renaissance. Uncle of the perhaps more famous composer Giovanni Gabrieli, he was the first internationally renowned member of the Venetian School of composers. -
Tomás Luis de Victoria was a Catholic priest, choirmaster, and celebrated polyphonic composer of the Spanish Renaissance. He has been considered one of the most important and advanced composers of his time, with an innovative style that heralded the imminent Baroque. -
Maddalena Casulana was an Italian composer, lute player, and singer of the late Renaissance. She was the first female composer to have an entire volume of her music printed and published in the history of Western music. -
Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza (Venosa, Basilicata, March 8, 1566 – Avellino, Campania, September 8, 1613), was an Italian composer, one of the most significant figures of late Renaissance music with intensely expressive madrigals and sacred music. -
Giovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organist, born and died in Venice. One of the most influential musicians of his time, he represents the culmination of the Venetian school, marking the transition from Renaissance to Baroque music. -
Claudio Monteverdi, whose full name was Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi, was an Italian composer, viola da gamba player, singer, choir director, and priest. -
Giacomo Carissimi was one of the most eminent Italian composers of the early Baroque period and a leading exponent of the Roman School. He was born in Marino, near Rome, in 1604 or 1605. -
Barbara Strozzi, also known as Barbara Valle, was an Italian singer and composer of the Baroque period. During her lifetime, she published eight volumes of her own music and had more secular music in print than any other composer of the time. -
Antonio Stradivari was the most prominent Italian luthier. The Latin form of his surname, Stradivarius, is used to refer to his instruments. -
Antonio Vivaldi was a Venetian composer, violinist, impresario, teacher, and Catholic priest of the Baroque period. He was nicknamed "Il prete rosso" (The Red Preacher) because he was a priest and had red hair. -
Georg Philipp Telemann fue un compositor barroco alemán, aunque su obra también tuvo características de principios del clasicismo. Está considerado el compositor más prolífico de la historia de la música. Autodidacta en música, estudió Derecho en la Universidad de Leipzig. -
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, musician, conductor, choirmaster, cantor, and teacher of the Baroque period. He was the most important member of one of the most distinguished musical families in history, with more than 35 famous composers: the Bach family. -
Georg Friedrich Händel; in English George Frideric Handel was a German composer, later naturalized British, considered one of the leading figures in the history of music, especially Baroque music, and one of the most influential composers of Western and universal music. -
Henry Purcell was an English composer of the Baroque period. Considered one of the greatest English composers of all time, he incorporated French and Italian stylistic elements into his music, creating a distinctive English style of Baroque music. -
Franz Joseph Haydn, known as Joseph Haydn, was an Austrian composer. He is one of the leading figures of the Classical period, and is known as the "father of the symphony" and the "father of the string quartet" thanks to his significant contributions to both genres. -
Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart, also known as Nannerl and Marianne, was a famous 18th-century musician. She was the older sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the daughter of Leopold and Anna Maria Mozart. -
Christoph Willibald Gluck, from 1756 Chevalier de Gluck, was a German composer from the Bohemian region of the Czech Republic. He is considered one of the most important opera composers of the Classical period of the second half of the 18th century. -
Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, better known as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was an Austrian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher, from the former Archbishopric of Salzburg.
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Maria Theresia von Paradis was an Austrian pianist and composer. Despite losing her sight completely at the age of three, this did not prevent the output and work of this great pianist, singer, and composer from continuing to stand out. -
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and piano teacher. His musical legacy spans, chronologically, from the Classical period to the beginnings of Romanticism. -
Gioachino Rossini was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber and piano pieces, and some sacred music. -
Franz Peter Schubert, known as Franz Schubert, was an Austrian composer of the early Romantic period and a continuator of the classical sonata form, following the model of Ludwig van Beethoven. -
Felix Mendelssohn, whose full name was Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, was a German composer, conductor, and pianist of Romantic music, a member of the same family as the pianist and composer Fanny Mendelssohn and the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. -
Frédéric François Chopin was a French-Polish composer, virtuoso pianist, and teacher, considered one of the most important in history and one of the greatest representatives of musical Romanticism, who wrote primarily for solo piano. -
Robert Schumann was a 19th-century German composer, pianist, and music critic, considered one of the most important and representative composers of the Romantic era. Schumann abandoned his law studies to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. -
Franz Liszt was an Austro-Hungarian Romantic composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, piano teacher, arranger, and Franciscan layman. His Hungarian name was Liszt Ferencz, according to modern usage Liszt Ferenc, and from 1859 to 1865 he was officially known as Franz Ritter von Liszt. -
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic opera composer, one of the most important of all time. His work bridges the gap between the bel canto of Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti, and the verismo movement and Puccini. Wikipedia
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Clara Wieck, known as Clara Schumann, was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. She was one of the great European concert pianists of the 19th century, and her career was key to the dissemination of the compositions of her husband, Robert Schumann. -
Bedřich Smetana was a composer born in Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic, although during his lifetime it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was a pioneer in the development of a musical style that became closely linked to Czech nationalism. -
Johannes Brahms was a German Romantic composer, pianist, and conductor, considered the most classical of the composers of that period. Born into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. -
Modest Mussorgsky was a Russian composer and a member of The Five. His most notable works include the opera Boris Godunov, the symphonic poem Night on Bald Mountain, and the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition. Mussorgsky was an innovator of Russian music during the Romantic period. -
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He is the author of some of the most famous works of classical music in the current repertoire, such as the ballets Lakes. -
Edvard Hagerup Grieg, commonly referred to as Edvard Grieg, was a Norwegian composer and pianist, considered one of the leading figures of late Romanticism. -
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, conductor, and pedagogue, a member of the group of composers known as The Five. -
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini, better known simply as Giacomo Puccini, was an Italian opera composer, considered among the greatest of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was a visionary, creating musical concepts that would govern cinema during the 20th century. -
Hugo Filipp Jakob Wolff was an Austrian composer of Slovenian origin who lived in Vienna during the late 19th century. An enthusiastic follower of Richard Wagner, he became involved in the disputes prevalent in Vienna at that time between Wagnerians and formalists or Brahmsians. -
Gustav Mahler was an Austro-Bohemian composer and conductor whose works are considered, along with those of Richard Strauss, among the most important of the post-Romantic period. In the first decade of the 20th century, Gustav Mahler was one of the most important conductors and opera singers of his time. -
Achille Claude Debussy fue un compositor francés, uno de los más influyentes de finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX. Algunos autores lo consideran el primer compositor impresionista, aunque él rechazaba categóricamente el término. -
Jean Sibelius, registered at birth as Johan Julius Christian Sibelius, was a Finnish composer and violinist of the late Romantic and early Modernist periods. -
Berlioz primarily refers to Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), an influential French Romantic composer, famous for works such as the Symphonie Fantastique, an innovator in orchestration and considered a master of instrumentation, although there is also a modern jazz-house musician who uses the same name. -
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, music theorist, and painter of Jewish origin. After emigrating to the United States in 1934, he adopted the name Arnold Schoenberg, and this is how he is usually referred to in English-language publications worldwide. -
Joseph Maurice Ravel was a 20th-century French composer. His work, often associated with Impressionism, along with that of his contemporary Claude Debussy, also displays a bold Neoclassical style. -
Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish composer of musical nationalism, one of the most important of the first half of the 20th century, along with Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados, Joaquín Turina, and Joaquín Rodrigo, and one of the most important Spanish composers of all time. -
Béla Viktor János Bartók, known as Béla Bartók, was a Hungarian musician who distinguished himself as a composer, pianist, and researcher of Eastern European folk music. He is considered one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. -
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer and conductor, and one of the most important and influential musicians of the 20th century. His long life allowed him to experience a wide variety of musical styles. -
Joaquín Turina Pérez was a Spanish composer and musicologist, a leading figure of Spanish nationalism in the first half of the 20th century. He and Manuel de Falla, along with Isaac Albéniz, composed some of the most important works of Impressionism in Spain. His most significant works include Danzas fantásticas and La procesión del Rocío. -
Zoltán Kodály was a prominent Hungarian musician whose musical style first went through a post-Romantic Viennese phase and then evolved into its main characteristic: a blend of folklore and complex 20th-century harmonies, a trait he shared with Béla Bartók. -
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, poet, essayist, playwright, and music theorist of the Romantic era. His operas are particularly noteworthy, in which, unlike other composers, he also wrote the libretto and designed the sets. -
Heitor Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian conductor and composer. His music was influenced by both Brazilian folk music and European classical music. He received some musical instruction from his father. -
George Gershwin was an American musician, composer, and pianist. His music is characterized by its blend of classical and jazz influences. -
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a post-Romantic composer from Bohemia—then part of the Austrian Empire—one of the first Czech composers to achieve worldwide recognition and one of the great composers of the second half of the 19th century. -
Messiaen, born in Avignon in 1908, was one of the most prominent compositional figures and composition teachers of the 20th century. Throughout his musical development, he forged a unique and remarkably personal musical language, independent of the prevailing trends of his time. -
John Milton Cage Jr., known artistically as John Cage, was an American composer, music theorist, artist, and philosopher. A pioneer of aleatoric music, electronic music, and the non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the postwar avant-garde. -
Pierre Henry was a French musician, considered the creator, along with Pierre Schaeffer, of musique concrète and one of the pioneers of electroacoustic music. -
Philip Glass is an American composer of minimalist classical music. He studied at the Juilliard School in New York. His international recognition increased after the release of his opera Einstein on the Beach. -
Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer was a French composer. He is considered the creator of musique concrète. He is the author of the book titled Treatise on Musical Objects, in which he expounds his entire theory on this type of music.