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
Author’s note: For anyone unfamiliar with classical music and wanting to start a music collection, the selections in this chapter contain some of the most beautiful classical pieces ever written.
For more Composers and Classical Music Trivia see Game Show Trivia in its 6th edition
