List of Classical-era composers


This is a list of composers of the Classical music era, roughly from 1730 to 1820. Prominent classicist composers include Christoph Willibald Gluck, Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Johann Baptist Wanhal, Egidio Duni, Baldassare Galuppi, Giovanni Battista Martini, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Georg Matthias Monn, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Johann Joachim Quantz, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, Johann Christian Bach, Carl Friedrich Abel, Johann Schobert, Leopold Mozart, Michael Haydn, Thomas Arne, William Boyce, John Stanley, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, François-André Danican Philidor, Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny, André Grétry, Niccolò Jommelli, Tommaso Traetta, Niccolò Piccinni, Giovanni Paisiello, Domenico Cimarosa, Christian Cannabich, Carl Stamitz, Johann Stamitz, Franz Xaver Richter, Ignaz Holzbauer, Frederick the Great, Johann Gottlieb Graun, Carl Heinrich Graun, Franz Benda, Georg Anton Benda, Joseph Haydn, Antonio Salieri, Muzio Clementi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Luigi Boccherini, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Luigi Cherubini, Ludwig van Beethoven, Gioachino Rossini, Gaspare Spontini, Niccolò Paganini and Franz Schubert.
As with the list of Romantic composers, this is a purely chronological catalogue and includes figures not usually thought of as Classical-period composers, such as Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Frideric Handel, as well as figures more often regarded as belonging to the early Romantic era, such as Carl Maria von Weber and Gaetano Donizetti.

Early Galante era composers – Transition from Baroque to Classical (born before 1710)

Composers in the Baroque/Classical transitional era, sometimes seen as the beginning of the Galante era, include the following listed by their date of birth:

Early Classical era/Later Galante era composers (born 1710–1730)

Middle Classical era composers (born 1730–1750)

Late Classical era composers (born 1750–1770)

Classical/Romantic transition composers (born 1770–1799)