Composers & Classical Music

Composers and their Works

Bach, Johann Sebastian (German baroque composer)

Brandenburg Concertos 1-6

The Well-Tempered Clavier

Toccata and Fugue

Goldberg Variations

Barber, Samuel (American)

School for Scandal

Adagio for Strings

Beethoven, Ludwig von (German)

Eroica Symphony #3

Pastoral Symphony #6

Choral Symphony #9 (Ode to Joy)

Egmont Overture

Fidelio (his only opera)

Moonlight Sonata

“Emperor” Piano Concerto #5

Für Elise

Berlioz, Hector (French)

Symphonie Fantastique

Damnation of Faust

Les Troyens (opera)

Bizet, Georges (French)

Carmen (opera, set in Seville)

L’Arlésienne

Borodin, Alexandr (Russian)

Prince Igor (opera)

Brahms, Johannes (German)

Hungarian Dances

Lullaby

Britten, Benjamin (British)

Billy Budd (opera)

Chabrier, Alexis (French)

España

Chopin, Frederic (Polish)

Numerous scherzos, etudes and mazurkas

Copeland, Aaron (American)

Appalachian Spring

Fanfare for the Common Man

Billy the Kid (opera)

Music for a Great City

Debussy, Claude (French)

Clair de Lune

La Mer

Prelude, Afternoon of a Faun

Donizetti, Gaetano (Italian)

Lucia di Lammermoor (opera)

Dvorak, Antonin (Czech, the “Bohemian” composer)

The New World Symphony

Humoresque

Elgar, Edward (English)

Pomp and Circumstance

Enigma Variations

Gershwin, George (American)

Rhapsody in Blue

Porgy and Bess (opera)

An American in Paris

Grieg, Edvard (Norwegian)

Peer Gynt

Piano Concerto in A Minor

Grofe, Ferd (American)

The Grand Canyon Suite

Gounod, Charles (French)

Faust (opera)

Handel, George Friedrich (German oratorio composer, lived at times in England)

Messiah

Water Music

Music for Royal Fireworks

Haydn, Franz Joseph (Austrian, nickname “Papa”)

The Creation

“Surprise” Symphony #94

“Military” Symphony #100

“The Clock” Symphony #101

Herbert, Victor (Irish-American)

Babes in Toyland (opera)

Holst, Gustav (English)

The Planets

Humperdink, Engelbert (German)

Hansel and Gretel

Khachaturian, Aram (Soviet-American)

Sabre Dance

Leoncavallo, Ruggiero (Italian)

I Pagliacci (opera)

Liszt, Franz (Hungarian)

Hungarian Rhapsody

Massenet, Jules (French)

Thaïs

Mendelssohn, Felix (German, lived for a time in Scotland)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture

Violin Concerto in E Minor

Hebrides Overture

Menotti, Gian Carlo (20th century Italian)

Amahl and the Night Visitors (opera)

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (Austrian, wife Constanze Weber)

The Magic Flute

Symphony #40 in G Minor

Jupiter Symphony #41

Elvira Madigan

The Marriage of Figaro (opera)

Cosi Fan Tutte (opera)

Don Giovanni (opera)

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music)

Mussorgsky, Modest (Russian)

Night on Bare (Bald) Mountain

Pictures at an Exhibition

Boris Godunov (opera)

Orff, Carl (German)

Carmina Burana

Offenbach, Jacques (German)

Tales of Hoffman

Orpheus in the Underworld

Pachelbel, Johann (German)

Canon

Prokofiev, Sergei (Russian)

Peter and the Wolf

Romeo and Juliet (opera)

Puccini, Giacomo (Italian)

Madam Butterfly (opera)

Tosca (opera)

La Boheme (opera)

Turandot (unfinished opera)

Rachmaninov, Sergei (20th century Russian)

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

Piano Concerto #2

Piano Concerto #3 (used in movie Shine)

Ravel, Maurice (French)

Bolero

Mother Goose Suite

Respighi, Ottorino (Italian)

The Pines of Rome

Ancient Airs and Dances

Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai (Russian)

Flight of the Bumble Bee

Scheherazade

Rossini, Gioacchino (Italian)

William Tell Overture

The Barber of Seville

Saint Saens, Camille (French)

Danse Macabre

The Carnival of the Animals

Symphony #3, “Organ” Symphony

Satie, Erik (French)

Gymnopedies

Schubert, Franz (Austrian “lieder” composer)

Ave Maria

“The Trout” string quintet

The Great C Major Symphony

The Unfinished Symphony

Sibelius, Jean (Finnish)

Finlandia

Smetana, Bedrich (Czechoslovakian)

The Bartered Bride (opera)

Ma Vlast (My Country)

Sousa, John Philip (American, the “March King”)

Stars and Stripes Forever

Strauss, Johann II (Austrian, “The Waltz King”)

Die Fledermaus (“The Bat”)

The Blue Danube Waltz

Tales From the Vienna Woods

Strauss, Richard (Austrian)

Don Juan (opera)

Thus Spake Zarathustra (theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey)

Don Quixote (opera)

Der Rosenkavalier (opera)

Salomé (opera)

Stravinsky, Igor (Russian)

Firebird

Rite of Spring

Petrushka (puppet ballet)

Suppé, Franz von (Austrian)

Poet and Peasant Overture

Tchaikovsky, Peter (Russian)

The Nutcracker (ballet)

Swan Lake (ballet)

1812 Overture

Romeo and Juliet

Symphony #6 (Pathetique)

Eugene Onegin (opera)

Verdi, Giuseppe (Italian)

Aida (opera)

La Traviata (opera)

Rigoletto (opera)

Il Trovatore (opera)

The Anvil Chorus

Vivaldi, Antonio (Italian)

The Four Seasons

Wagner, Richard (German operatic composer)

Tannhauser (opera)

Parsifal (opera)

Tristan and Isolde (opera)

Lohengrin (opera)

The Ring of Nibelungen (The Ring Cycle, opera)

The Flying Dutchman

Ride of the Valkyries

Weill, Kurt (German)

The Threepenny Opera

Conductors

Berlin Philharmonic conductor Herbert von Karajan

Boston Symphony conductor Seiji Ozawa

Renowned Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler

Fantasia conductor Leopold Stokowski

New York Philharmonic conductor Leonard Bernstein

Philadelphia Symphony conductor Eugene Ormandy

National Symphony Leonard Slatkin

NBC Symphony conductor ArturoToscanini

Chicago Symphony conductor George Solti (31 Grammys)

Other Facts

Franz Liszt’s son-in-law Richard Wagner

Composer and film antagonist to Mozart Antonio Salieri

He loved author George Sand Frederic Chopin

12 tone music innovator Arnold Schoenberg

Composer buried at Westminster Abby George Friedrich Handel

Egyptian Slave Girl Aida

Turendot aria Nessum Dorma

Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio

Dvorak symphony that premiered in New York The New World Symphony

Stravinsky ballet that caused a riot at its premier Rite of Spring

John Adams' modern political opera Nixon in China

Opera text Libretto