Popular Royalty-free Classical Music Composers
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) was a prolific German composer and organist in the Baroque style of classical music. During his life, he composed more than one-thousand pieces of work. For orchestral and chamber music he composed pieces for single instruments, duets and small ensembles. In regards with vocal and choral works he created cantatas, which varied greatly in both form and instrumentation. Bach’s Air on a G String is one of the most recognizable melodies in the world.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) was a German composer and pianist during the period of time between the classical and romantic eras. Orchestral symphonies, quartets, chamber music, piano concertos and sonatas were the essence of his repertoire. He also wrote one opera, titled Fidelio. His Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 is one of the most popular and well-known compositions in all of European classical music, and one of the most often-played symphonies.
Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin (1810 – 1849) was a Polish romantic composer, whose works were those written almost entirely for the piano. He wrote long polonaises, scherzos, ballades and fantasias, but also sonatas and waltzes. Chopin’s music is used for the famous ballet Les Sylphides, and features in many films, including Shine and The Truman Show.
Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886) was a Hungarian composer who wrote some of the most difficult piano music ever written. Liszt so deeply inspired by the way Paganini played the violin that he wanted to create works for the piano emulating such. The “Dante” and “Faust” symphonies, as well as the twelve “Symphonic Poems” were among the most famous works, but his greatest piano piece was the “Sonata in B”.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was a German composer who composed symphonies, operas, and many other pieces for the piano, as well as works for many combinations of instruments and voices. At seventeen, he composed the stage music for Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Today, one of his most renowned pieces is the “Wedding March” from it, along with the third of the five symphonies he wrote, “The Scottish Symphony”.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) was an Austrian composer who wrote scores of symphonies, dances, operas, serenades, chamber and choral music, piano sonatas and string quartets and quintets. Mozart however, can almost solely be credited with creating and popularizing the piano concerto. He was so talented that it is said, when he heard Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere only once, he wrote it out in its entirety from memory. Two of his many famous works include Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro.
Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (1792 – 1868) was an Italian composer and humorist. He composed thirty-nine operas. Some of his most famous noted works are “Tancredi”, “The Barber of Seville” and “William Tell”. After the later, when Rossini reached the pinnacle of his career, he, for some unknown reason, ceased from composing operas. At this point in his life, he began to write only songs and piano pieces, until his death.
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828) was an Austrian composer, whose works consisted of more than six hundred musical works, including a plethora of Lieder, string quartets, piano sonatas, symphonies dances and waltzes. Some of his great works were “The Great Symphony in C Major”, “Die Winterreise” and “Mass in E-Flat Major”.
Johann Strauss II (1825 – 1899) was an Austrian composer and became the most famous of all in the Strauss family. He wrote over five hundred orchestral pieces, and was known as ‘The Waltz King’ for all of his waltzes, polkas, quadrilles and marches.
His most famous works are “The Blue Danube”, “Die Fledermaus” and “The Gypsy Baron”.
Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893) was a Russian composer and conductor. He wrote operas, symphonies, ballets, piano and violin concertos, string quartet, cello and orchestral pieces. “Eugene Onegin”, “Swan Lake” and “The Nutcracker” were among his many famous masterpieces.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741) was a French composer in the Baroque period and wrote over five hundred concertos for many different instruments. The ones he wrote for trumpet, mandolin and recorder, however, were not published during his lifetime. He also wrote operas, sonatas, church and chamber music. The “Four Seasons”, “Opus 3” concerto and “Gloria” are his most recognizable works of art.
Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was a German composer as well as an author of many books, poems and articles (often political).Of note, his second wife was Franz Liszt’s daughter, Cosima. His popular works include, “The Flying Dutchman”, “Tannhauser” and “Lohengrin”, where the popular wedding march “Here comes the bride” is taken from the melody of the “Bridal Chorus”.
