composer

/kəmˈpoʊzər/

/kəmˈpʌʊzə/

Other forms: composers

A composer is an artist who writes music to be played or performed by musicians. A classical composer might work by writing out musical notation and trying things out on the piano.

If you're a composer, you most likely write classical, jazz, music for film, or another type of primarily instrumental music, without lyrics. A writer of popular or rock music is more likely to be called a "songwriter." A composer might compose symphonies as a profession, or write short tunes as a hobby. In Old French, composer means "put together, arrange, or write," from com-, "with," and poser, "to place."

Definitions of composer

1. noun

   someone who composes music as a profession
   examples:

   Saint Ambrose

   (Roman Catholic Church) Roman priest who became bishop of Milan; the first Church Father born and raised in the Christian faith; composer of hymns; imposed orthodoxy on the early Christian church and built up its secular power; a saint and Doctor of the Church (340?-397)

   Johann Sebastian Bach

   German baroque organist and contrapuntist; composed mostly keyboard music; one of the greatest creators of western music (1685-1750)

   Samuel Barber

   United States composer (1910-1981)

   Bela Bartok

   Hungarian composer and pianist who collected Hungarian folk music; in 1940 he moved to the United States (1881-1945)

   Ludwig van Beethoven

   German composer of instrumental music (especially symphonic and chamber music); continued to compose after he lost his hearing (1770-1827)

   Vincenzo Bellini

   Italian composer of operas (1801-1835)

   Alban Berg

   Austrian composer in Schoenberg's twelve-tone music system (1885-1935)

   Louis-Hector Berlioz

   French composer of romantic works (1803-1869)

   Leonard Bernstein

   United States conductor and composer (1918-1990)

   Georges Bizet

   French composer best known for his operas (1838-1875)

   Marc Blitzstein

   United States pianist and composer of operas and musical plays (1905-1964)

   Ernest Bloch

   United States composer (born in Switzerland) who composed symphonies and chamber music and choral music and a piano sonata and an opera (1880-1959)

   Aleksandr Porfirevich Borodin

   Russian composer (1833-1887)

   Pierre Boulez

   French composer of serial music (born in 1925)

   Johannes Brahms

   German composer who developed the romantic style of both lyrical and classical music (1833-1897)

   Lord Britten of Aldeburgh

   major English composer of the 20th century; noted for his operas (1913-1976)

   Max Bruch

   German composer (1838-1920)

   Anton Bruckner

   Austrian organist and composer of romantic music (1824-1896)

   William Byrd

   English organist and composer of church music; master of 16th century polyphony; was granted a monopoly in music printing with Thomas Tallis (1543-1623)

   John Milton Cage Jr.

   United States composer of avant-garde music (1912-1992)

   Carlos Chavez

   Mexican composer of nationalistic works using themes from Indian folk music (1899-1978)

   Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Cherubini

   Italian composer of church music and operas (1760-1842)

   Frederic Francois Chopin

   French composer (born in Poland) and pianist of the romantic school (1810-1849)

   Aaron Copland

   United States composer who developed a distinctly American music (1900-1990)

   Arcangelo Corelli

   Italian violinist and composer of violin concertos (1653-1713)

   Francois Couperin

   French composer of music for organ and a member of a family of distinguished organists (1668-1733)

   Sir Noel Pierce Coward

   English dramatist and actor and composer noted for his witty and sophisticated comedies (1899-1973)

   Karl Czerny

   Austrian virtuoso pianist and composer of many works for the piano; studied with Beethoven and was a teacher of Liszt (1791-1857)

   Claude Achille Debussy

   French composer who is said to have created Impressionism in music (1862-1918)

   Clement Philibert Leo Delibes

   French composer of operas (1836-1891)

   Frederick Delius

   English composer of orchestral works (1862-1934)

   Gaetano Donizetti

   Italian composer of operas (1797-1848)

   John Dowland

   English lutenist and composer of songs for the lute (1563-1626)

   Paul Dukas

   French composer (1865-1935)

   Antonin Dvorak

   Czech composer who combined folk elements with traditional forms (1841-1904)

   Sir Edward William Elgar

   British composer of choral and orchestral works including two symphonies as well as songs and chamber music and music for brass band (1857-1934)

   Georges Enesco

   Romanian violinist and composer (1881-1955)

   Manuel de Falla

   Spanish composer and pianist (1876-1946)

   Cesar Franck

   French composer and teacher who influenced a generation of composers (1822-1890)

   George Gershwin

   United States composer who incorporated jazz into classical forms and composed scores for musical comedies (1898-1937)

   Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka

   Russian composer (1804-1857)

   Christoph Willibald von Gluck

   German composer of more than 100 operas (1714-1787)

   Charles Francois Gounod

   French composer best remembered for his operas (1818-1893)

   George Percy Aldridge Grainger

   United States composer (born in Australia) who lived in London and collected English folk songs (1882-1961)

   Edvard Hagerup Grieg

   Norwegian composer whose work was often inspired by Norwegian folk music (1843-1907)

   Jacques Francois Fromental Elie Halevy

   French operatic composer (1799-1862)

   George Frederick Handel

   a prolific British baroque composer (born in Germany) remembered best for his oratorio Messiah (1685-1759)

   William Christopher Handy

   United States blues musician who transcribed and published traditional blues music (1873-1958)

   Franz Joseph Haydn

   prolific Austrian composer who influenced the classical form of the symphony (1732-1809)

   Paul Hindemith

   German neoclassical composer and conductor who believed that music should have a social purpose (1895-1963)

   Arthur Honegger

   Swiss composer (born in France) who was the founding member of a group in Paris that included Erik Satie and Darius Milhaud and Francis Poulenc and Jean Cocteau (1892-1955)

   Engelbert Humperdinck

   German composer of six operas and other incidental music (1854-1921)

   Jacques Francois Antoine Ibert

   French composer (1890-1962)

   Charles Edward Ives

   United States composer noted for his innovative use of polytonality (1874-1954)

   Joseph Joachim

   Hungarian violinist and composer (1831-1907)

   Scott Joplin

   United States composer who was the first creator of ragtime to write down his compositions (1868-1917)

   Aram Kachaturian

   Armenian composer who incorporated oriental folk music (1903-1978)

   Jerome David Kern

   United States composer of musical comedies (1885-1945)

   Aram Ilich Khachaturian

   Russian composer (born in Armenia) whose works are romantic and reflect his interest in folk music (1903-1978)

   Leonard Constant Lambert

   English composer and conductor (1905-1951)

   Orlando di Lasso

   Belgian composer (1532-1594)

   Huddie Leadbetter

   United States folk singer and composer (1885-1949)

   Franz Lehar

   Hungarian composer of light operas (1870-1948)

   Franz Liszt

   Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso (1811-1886)

   Baron Lloyd Webber of Sydmonton

   English composer of many successful musicals (some in collaboration with Sir Tim Rice) (born in 1948)

   Frederick Loewe

   United States composer (born in Austria) who collaborated with Lerner on several musicals (1901-1987)

   Jean Baptiste Lully

   French composer (born in Italy) who was the court composer to Louis XIV and founded the national French opera (1632-1687)

   Edward MacDowell

   United States composer best remembered as a composer of works for the piano (1860-1908)

   Gustav Mahler

   Austrian composer and conductor (1860-1911)

   Jules Emile Frederic Massenet

   French composer best remembered for his pop operas (1842-1912)

   Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy

   German musician and romantic composer of orchestral and choral works (1809-1847)

   Gian Carlo Menotti

   United States composer (born in Italy) of operas (born in 1911)

   Jakob Liebmann Beer

   German composer of operas in a style that influenced Richard Wagner (1791-1864)

   Darius Milhaud

   French composer of works that combine jazz and polytonality and Brazilian music (1892-1974)

   Claudio Monteverdi

   Italian composer (1567-1643)

   Douglas Moore

   United States composer of works noted for their use of the American vernacular (1893-1969)

   Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

   prolific Austrian composer and child prodigy; master of the classical style in all its forms of his time (1756-1791)

   Modest Petrovich Moussorgsky

   Russian composer of operas and orchestral works (1839-1881)

   Carl August Nielsen

   Danish composer (1865-1931)

   Jacques Offenbach

   French composer of many operettas and an opera (1819-1880)

   Roy Orbison

   United States composer and rockabilly tenor popular in the 1950s (1936-1988)

   Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

   Italian composer (1526-1594)

   Walter Piston

   United States neoclassical composer (1894-1976)

   Cole Albert Porter

   United States composer and lyricist of musical comedies (1891-1946)

   Francis Poulenc

   French pianist and composer (1899-1963)

   Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev

   Russian composer of ballets and symphonies and operas (1891-1953)

   Giacomo Puccini

   Italian operatic composer noted for the dramatic realism of his operas (1858-1924)

   Henry Purcell

   English organist at Westminster Abbey and composer of many theatrical pieces (1659-1695)

   Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff

   composer and piano virtuoso born in Russia (1873-1943)

   Jean-Philippe Rameau

   French composer of operas whose writings laid the foundation for the modern theory of harmony (1683-1764)

   Maurice Ravel

   French composer and exponent of Impressionism (1875-1937)

   Stephen Michael Reich

   United States composer (born in 1936)

   Ottorino Respighi

   Italian composer remembered for his symphonic poems (1879-1936)

   Nikolai Andreyevich Rimski-Korsakov

   Russian composer of operas and orchestral works; often used themes from folk music (1844-1908)

   Richard Rodgers

   United States composer of musical comedies (especially in collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein II and with Lorenz Hart) (1902-1979)

   Sigmund Romberg

   United States composer (born in Hungary) who composed operettas (1887-1951)

   Giloacchino Antonio Rossini

   Italian composer remembered for his operas (1792-1868)

   Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein

   Russian composer and pianist (1829-1894)

   Charles Camille Saint-Saens

   French pianist and composer (1835-1921)

   Erik Alfred Leslie Satie

   French composer noted for his experimentalism and rejection of Romanticism (1866-1925)

   Artur Schnabel

   United States composer (born in Austria) and pianist noted for his interpretations of the works of Mozart and Beethoven and Schubert (1882-1951)

   Arnold Schoenberg

   United States composer and musical theorist (born in Austria) who developed atonal composition (1874-1951)

   Franz Seraph Peter Schubert

   Austrian composer known for his compositions for voice and piano (1797-1828)

   Robert Alexander Schumann

   German romantic composer known for piano music and songs (1810-1856)

   Clara Josephine Schumann

   German pianist and composer of piano music; renowned for her interpretation of music, especially the music of her husband Robert Schumann (1819-1896)

   Aleksandr Nikolayevich Scriabin

   Russian composer of orchestral and piano music (1872-1915)

   Andres Segovia

   Spanish guitarist who made classical guitar a concert instrument (1893-1987)

   Roger Huntington Sessions

   United States composer who promoted 20th century music (1896-1985)

   Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich

   Russian composer best known for his fifteen symphonies (1906-1975)

   Johan Julius Christian Sibelius

   Finnish composer (1865-1957)

   Bedrich Smetana

   Czech composer (1824-1884)

   Stephen Sondheim

   United States composer of musicals (born in 1930)

   John Philip Sousa

   a United States bandmaster and composer of military marches (1854-1932)

   Strauss the Elder

   Austrian composer of waltzes (1804-1849)

   Strauss the Younger

   Austrian composer and son of Strauss the Elder; composed many famous waltzes and became known as the `waltz king' (1825-1899)

   Richard Strauss

   German composer of many operas; collaborated with librettist Hugo von Hoffmannsthal to produce several operas (1864-1949)

   Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky

   composer who was born in Russia but lived in the United States after 1939 (1882-1971)

   Arthur Seymour Sullivan

   English composer of operettas who collaborated with the librettist William Gilbert (1842-1900)

   Thomas Tallis

   English organist and composer of church and secular music; was granted a monopoly in music printing with William Byrd (1505-1585)

   Joseph Deems Taylor

   United States composer and music critic (1885-1966)

   Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky

   important Russian composer whose works are noted for their expressive melodies (1840-1893)

   Georg Philipp Telemann

   German baroque composer (1681-1767)

   Virgil Garnett Thomson

   United States composer who collaborated with Gertrude Stein (1896-1989)

   Edgar Varese

   United States composer (born in France) whose music combines dissonance with complex rhythms and the use of electronic techniques (1883-1965)

   Ralph Vaughan Williams

   English composer influenced by folk tunes and music of the Tudor period (1872-1958)

   Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi

   Italian operatic composer (1813-1901)

   Heitor Villa-Lobos

   Brazilian composer (1887-1959)

   Antonio Lucio Vivaldi

   Italian baroque composer and violinist (1675-1741)

   Wilhelm Richard Wagner

   German composer of operas and inventor of the musical drama in which drama and spectacle and music are fused (1813-1883)

   Sir William Turner Walton

   English composer (1902-1983)

   Baron Karl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber

   German conductor and composer of romantic operas (1786-1826)

   Kurt Weill

   German composer; collaborated with Bertolt Brecht (1900-1950)

   Hugo Wolf

   Austrian composer (1860-1903)

   types:

   contrapuntist

   a composer who specializes in counterpoint

   psalmist

   a composer of sacred songs

   ballad maker, songster, songwriter

   a composer of words or music for popular songs

   symphonist

   a composer of symphonies

   type of:

   musician

   artist who composes or conducts music as a profession