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:1600 height:auto barincrement:17
Colors =
id:lightGray value:gray(0.7)
id:gray value:gray(0.4)
id:darkGray value:gray(0.2) id:med value:rgb(0.75,0.65,0.3) legend:Medieval
id:transren value:rgb(0.815,0.825,0.65)
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(1,0.75,0.5)
id:mod value:rgb(1,0.75,0) legend:Modernist
id:transpos value:rgb(1,0.525,0.4)
id:pos value:rgb(1,0.3,0.8) legend:Post-1945
BackgroundColors = canvas:lightGray
Period = from:1100 till:2024
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:50 start:1100
Legend = orientation:vertical left:60 top:150
LineData = at:1100 color:darkGray layer:back
at:1200 color:darkGray layer:back
at:1300 color:darkGray layer:back 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:1100 till:1179 color:Med text:Hildegard #from 1098
from:1130 till:1200 color:Med text:Bernart
from:1135 till:1201 color:Med text:Léonin
from:1160 till:1230 color:Med text:Pérotin
from:1170 till:1230 color:Med text:Walther
from:1180 till:1207 color:Med text:Raimbaut
from:1221 till:1284 color:Med text:Alfonso X
from:1245 till:1306 color:Med text:Adam
from:1291 till:1361 color:Med text:Philippe from:1300 till:1377 color:Med text:Machaut from:1325 till:1397 color:Med text:Landini from:1370 till:1412 color:Med text:Ciconia
from:1380 till:1445 color:transren text:Power from:1390 till:1453 color:transren text:Dunstaple
barset:break 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
from:1450 till:1517 color:Ren text:Isaac
from:1452 till:1518 color:Ren text: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:transbar text:Byrd
from:1548 till:1611 color:transbar text:Victoria
from:1551 till:1618 color:transbar text:Caccini
from:1554 till:1612 color:transbar text:G Gabrieli
from:1563 till:1626 color:transbar text:Dowland from:1566 till:1613 color:transbar text:Gesualdo
barset:break
from:1567 till:1643 color:transbar text:Monteverdi
from:1570 till:1601 color:Ren text:Farmer
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
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:1764 color:transcla text:Mattheson
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:transcla text:Hasse
from:1700 till:1775 color:transcla text:Sammartini
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:1750 color:transcla text:Monn
from:1717 till:1757 color:transcla text:J 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:1739 till:1799 color:Cla text:Dittersdorf
from:1743 till:1805 color:Cla text:Boccherini
from:1745 till:1801 color:Cla text:C Stamitz
from:1745 till:1799 color:Cla text:Saint-Georges
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:1756 till:1792 color:Cla text:JM Kraus
from:1761 till:1842 color:transrom text:Cherubini
from:1770 till:1836 color:transrom text:Reicha
barset:break
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:1801 till:1835 color:Rom text:Bellini
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
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:J 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: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
barset:break
from:1862 till:1918 color:Mod text:Debussy
from:1864 till:1949 color:transmod text:R 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: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:1885 till:1935 color:Mod text:Berg
from:1883 till:1965 color:Mod text:Varèse
from:1891 till:1953 color:Mod text:Prokofiev
from:1895 till:1963 color:Mod text:Hindemith
from:1898 till:1937 color:Mod text:Gershwin
from:1899 till:1963 color:Mod text:Poulenc
from:1900 till:1990 color:transpos text:Copland
from:1906 till:1975 color:Mod text:Shostakovich
from:1908 till:2012 color:transpos text:Carter
from:1908 till:1992 color:transpos text:Messiaen
from:1910 till:1981 color:transpos text:Barber
from:1912 till:1992 color:transpos text:Cage
from:1913 till:1976 color:transpos text:Britten from:1913 till:1994 color:transpos text:Lutosławski
from:1916 till:2011 color:transpos text:Babbitt
from:1922 till:2001 color:transpos text:Xenakis
from:1923 till:2006 color:transpos text:Ligeti
from:1925 till:2016 color:transpos text:Boulez
from:1926 till:1987 color:transpos text:Feldman
from:1928 till:2007 color:transpos text:Stockhausen
from:1929 till:2022 color:transpos text:Crumb
from:1931 till:2024 color:transpos text:Gubaidulina
from:1933 till:2020 color:transpos text:Penderecki
from:1933 till:2010 color:transpos text:Górecki
from:1934 till:1998 color:transpos text:Schnittke from:1934 till:2022 color:transpos text:Birtwistle
from:1935 till:2024 color:transpos text:Lachenmann
from:1935 till:2024 color:pos text:Pärt
from:1936 till:2024 color:pos text:Reich
from:1937 till:2024 color:pos text:Glass
from:1939 till:2021 color:pos text:L Andriessen
from:1943 till:2024 color:pos text:Ferneyhough
from:1947 till:2024 color:pos text:Adams
from:1952 till:2023 color:pos text:Saariaho
from:1952 till:2024 color:pos text:Rihm
from:1961 till:2024 color:pos text:Chin
from:1968 till:2024 color:pos text:O Neuwirth from:1971 till:2024 color:pos text:Adès
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.