Music Musings

Famous Composers' Most Famous Works

COMPOSER

KNOWN FOR

BIRTH PLACE

LIFESPAN

Antonio Vivaldi

"The Four Seasons"

Venice,
Italy

1678-1741
(lived to age 63)

Johann Sebastian Bach

"Toccata and Fugue in D minor"

Eisenach,
Germany

1685-1750
(lived to age 65)

George Frideric Handel

"Messiah"

Halle,
Germany

1685-1759
(lived to age 74)

Joseph Haydn

"The Surprise Symphony"

Rohrau,
Austria

1732-1809
(lived to age 77)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

"The Marriage of Figaro"

Salzburg,
Austria

1756-1791
(lived to age 35)

Ludwig van Beethoven

"Fifth Symphony"

Bonn,
Germany

1770-1827
(lived to age 56)

Gioachino Rossini

"A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Pesaro,
Italy

1792-1868
(lived to age 76)

Franz Schubert

"Ave Maria"

Himmelpfortgrund,
Austria

1797-1828
(lived to age 31)

Felix Mendelssohn

"A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Hamburg,
Germany

1809-1847
(lived to age 38)

Frédéric Chopin

"Grand Polonaise brilliante"

Zelazowa-Wola,
Poland

1810-1849
(lived to age 39)

Robert Schumann

"Dichterliebe"
(A Poet's Love)

Zwickau,
Germany

1810–1856
(lived to age 46)

Giuseppe Verdi

"Rigoletto"

Le Roncole,
Italy

1813-1901
(lived to age 87)

Johannes Brahms

"Wiegenlied"
(Brahams' Lulluby)

Hamburg,
Germany

1833-1897
(lived to age 63)

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

"The 1812 Overture"

Votkinsk,
Russia

1840-1893
(lived to age 53)

Edward Elgar

"Enigma Variations"

Broadheath,
England

1857–1934
(lived to age 76)

Gustav Mahler

"The Fifth"

Kalischt,
Bohemia

1860-1911
(lived to age 50)

Claude Debussy

"Claire de Lune"

Saint-Germain-en-Laye,
France

1862-1918
(lived to age 55)

Sergei Rachmaninov

"Piano Concerto No. 2"

Semyonovo,
Russia

1873-1943
(lived to age 69)

Igor Stravinsky

"The Rite of Spring"

Lomonsov,
Russia

1882-1971
(lived to age 88)

Aram Khachaturian

"Sabre Dance"

Tbilisi,
Georgia

1903-1978
(lived to age 74)

Dmitri Shostakovich

"Symphony No. 5"

St. Petersburg,
Russia

1906-1975
(lived to age 68)

Leonard Bernstein

"West Side Story"

Massachusetts,
USA

1918-1990
(lived to age 72)

John Williams

"Star Wars"

New York,
USA

1932-present