Thanks for joining us for KDFC's Summer of the Great Composers! Peruse the list below to see who made the list (and who didn't). You may be shocked. Let us know what you think on KDFC's Facebook Page. To join the conversation, click here.
And what a great summer it's been. We hate for it to end, so we’re going to play back your top 40 composers again. Starting Friday, August 26th through Monday the 29th, we’ll play one work each hour from 9a to 7p as we count them down one more time, and we’ll slip in some of the composers who just missed the list too. A fun way to cap off the summer with the Summer of the Great Composers recap from Classical KDFC.
Looking for more Great Composer fun? Think you can name the musical mugs in our Great Composer collage? Give it, click here!
Bach was a formidable intellectual and technical composer, but his music is also uplifting and spiritual, melodic, and rhythmically irresistible. Few names in music are as revered as Bach’s.
Mozart was a supreme melodist and is one of the most popular classical composers of all time. “Mozartean” is practically synonymous with elegance and grace.
Chopin embodies the Romantic ideal of the introverted and reclusive genius. His music is full of unexpected twists and turns, and explores the full range of Romantic expression through the piano.
Last of the great line of German symphonists. One of the musicians who bridged Romanticism and the early Modernist era at the turn of the 20th century.
The first fully conservatory-trained, professional composer of consequence in Russia. His melodic gift made him an international superstar and he remains one of the most popular Romantic composers.
Possibly the best-known Italian Baroque composer, Vivaldi wrote more than 400 concertos (such as his famous Four Seasons), thus cementing the basics of this now-standard musical form.
Often called the successor to Beethoven, Brahms achieved greatness in a wide variety of genres. Despite his intellectual rigor, he is one of the most popular Romantic composers.
Frenchman Claude Debussy offered a musical alternative to Romanticism. Because he reinterpreted or discarded many of the laws of traditional harmony and form, he is considered one of the fathers of modern music.
“The Mozart of the Nineteenth Century,” according to Robert Schumann. Mendelssohn’s Romanticism was tempered by a love of J.S. Bach and other German classic composers.
The leading composer of the generation that "revived" British classical music in the early 20th Century. He was inspired by English folk song and Elizabethan and 17th-century English music.
Born in Germany and trained in Italy, Handel immigrated to London and became the most celebrated composer in English history. Originator of the English oratorio, most notably Messiah.
Loved for his beautiful melodies, Prokofiev also demonstrated a sense of humor-often biting-that tempered his Romanticism. He is one of the most popular 20th-century composers.
Wagner reinvented German opera and became one of the most influential composers of all time. His reforms affected opera composition, theatrical practice in general, and the development of the orchestra.
Seminal composer of the early Romantic era. His original harmonies and his affinity for homely genres like the art-song (lieder) and short piano pieces were hugely influential.
One of the most celebrated and prolific composers of the German Baroque, his mastery of many styles and incredible ingenuity and inventiveness have brought him renewed popularity.
Composer of Scheherazade and several great operas, Rimsky-Korsakov was also a great teacher, one of the most important influences in 19th-century Russian music.
Known as “The Swan of Pesaro,” Rossini was the most popular composer of the first half of the 19th century. Rossini’s highly ornate musical style revolutionized the art form, inaugurating the “Golden Century” of Italian opera.
Initially famous as a composer of symphonic poems (notably “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” which contains the theme made famous in “2001: Space Odyssey”), he later concentrated on writing operas. Strauss is an important link between Romanticism and 20th-century modernism.
Finnish symphonist considered a national hero in his homeland. His music spans an enormous emotional range, and many of his innovations remain influential on contemporary composers.
In early 20th-century France, Ravel was one of the great orchestrators in music. He used his original harmonic sensibility to create lush, tuneful, and engaging works.
The leading English composer at the beginning of the 20th century, Elgar was the first one in more than a century to earn a major international reputation. He was equally successful with small, popular works and large, symphonic ones.
A stinging gadfly in the dead white male club, Satie rejected most ideas of “great” music he inherited, and struck out on his own to discover a modern, un-Romantic style.
As much a superstar in his time as Michael Jackson was in ours, he revolutionized the art of piano playing. As a composer he remains most famous for his tuneful and brilliant Hungarian Rhapsodies.
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