List of organ composers
Encyclopedia
The following is a list of organ composers. It includes some of the more important names composers who wrote or write for the pipe organ
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Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
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Renaissance
- Elias AmmerbachElias AmmerbachElias Nikolaus Ammerbach was a German organist and arranger of organ music of the Renaissance. He published the earliest printed book of organ music in Germany and is grouped among the composers known as the Colorists....
- Jakob HasslerJakob HasslerJakob Hassler was a German Renaissance composer.He was born in Nuremberg, Germany, the youngest son of Isaak Hassler, and brother of Hans Leo Hassler and Kasper Hassler. The Hasslers were an important Franco-Flemish musical family in Middle Europe during the late Renaissance...
- Conrad PaumannConrad PaumannConrad Paumann was a German organist, lutenist and composer of the early Renaissance. Even though he was born blind, he was one of the most talented musicians of the 15th century, and his performances created a sensation wherever he went...
- Arnolt SchlickArnolt SchlickArnolt Schlick was a German organist, lutenist and composer of the Renaissance. He is grouped among the composers known as the Colorists. He was most probably born in Heidelberg and by 1482 established himself as court organist for the Electoral Palatinate...
Baroque
- Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
- Georg BöhmGeorg BöhmGeorg Böhm was a German Baroque organist and composer. He is notable for his development of the chorale partita and for his influence on the young J. S. Bach.-Life:Böhm was born in 1661 in Hohenkirchen, near Ohrdruf...
- Nicolaus BruhnsNicolaus BruhnsNicolaus Bruhns was a German organist, violinist, and composer. He was one of the most prominent organists and composers of his generation.-Life:...
- Dieterich BuxtehudeDieterich BuxtehudeDieterich Buxtehude was a German-Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period. His organ works represent a central part of the standard organ repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals and in church services...
- Johann Caspar Ferdinand FischerJohann Caspar Ferdinand FischerJohann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer was a German Baroque composer...
- Johann Jakob FrobergerJohann Jakob FrobergerJohann Jakob Froberger was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. He was among the most famous composers of the era and influenced practically every major composer in Europe by developing the genre of keyboard suite and contributing greatly to the exchange of musical...
- Hans Leo HasslerHans Leo HasslerHans Leo Hassler was a German composer and organist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras, elder brother of the less-famous Jakob Hassler...
- Johann Kaspar KerllJohann Kaspar KerllJohann Kaspar Kerll was a German baroque composer and organist.Son of an organist, he showed outstanding musical abilities at an early age, and was taught by Giovanni Valentini, court Kapellmeister at Vienna. Kerll became one of the most acclaimed composers of his time, known both as a gifted...
- Johann Ludwig KrebsJohann Ludwig KrebsJohann Ludwig Krebs was a Rococo musician and composer primarily for the pipe organ.-Life:Krebs was born in 1713 in Buttelstedt, Germany to Johann Tobias Krebs, a well-known organist. J. Tobias had at least three sons who were considered musically talented, and J...
- Johann Tobias KrebsJohann Tobias KrebsJohann Tobias Krebs was a German organist and composer.Krebs was born near Weimar, and died in the same area. He is known as a student of Johann Gottfried Walther and Johann Sebastian Bach....
- Johann KriegerJohann KriegerJohann Philipp Krieger was a German Baroque composer and organist. He was the elder brother of Johann Krieger.-Early years:...
- Vincent LubeckVincent LübeckVincent Lübeck was a German composer and organist. He was born in Padingbüttel and worked as organist and composer at Stade's St. Cosmae et Damiani and Hamburg's famous St. Nikolai , where he played one of the largest contemporary organs...
- Johann MatthesonJohann MatthesonJohann Mattheson was a German composer, writer, lexicographer, diplomat and music theorist.Mattheson was born and died in Hamburg. He was a close friend of George Frideric Handel, although he nearly killed him in a sudden quarrel, during a performance of Mattheson's opera Cleopatra in 1704...
- Georg MuffatGeorg Muffat-Life:He was born in Megève, Savoy, , and of Scottish descent. He studied in Paris with Jean Baptiste Lully between 1663 and 1669, then became an organist in Molsheim and Sélestat. Later, he studied law in Ingolstadt, afterwards settling in Vienna...
- Gottlieb MuffatGottlieb MuffatGottlieb Theophil Muffat was an Austrian composer/organist and son of Georg Muffat. He studied with Johann Fux in Vienna from 1711 onward and was appointed court organist in 1717. He assisted in the performance of Fux's opera Costanza e fortezza in Prague...
- Johann PachelbelJohann PachelbelJohann Pachelbel was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher, who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most...
- Michael PraetoriusMichael PraetoriusMichael Praetorius was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns, many of which reflect an effort to make better the relationship between...
- Johann Adam ReinckenJohann Adam ReinckenJohann Adam Reincken was a Dutch/German organist and composer...
- Heinrich ScheidemannHeinrich ScheidemannHeinrich Scheidemann was a German organist and composer. He was the best-known composer for the organ in north Germany in the early to mid-17th century, and was an important forerunner of Dieterich Buxtehude and J.S. Bach.-Life:...
- Samuel ScheidtSamuel ScheidtSamuel Scheidt was a German composer, organist and teacher of the early Baroque era.-Biography:...
- Heinrich SchützHeinrich SchützHeinrich Schütz was a German composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and often considered to be one of the most important composers of the 17th century along with Claudio Monteverdi...
- Johann Speth
- Franz TunderFranz TunderFranz Tunder was a German composer and organist of the early to middle Baroque era. He was an important link between the early German Baroque style which was based on Venetian models, and the later Baroque style which culminated in the music of J.S...
- Johann Gottfried WaltherJohann Gottfried WaltherJohann Gottfried Walther was a German music theorist, organist, composer, and lexicographer of the Baroque era.Walther was born at Erfurt...
- Matthias WeckmannMatthias WeckmannMatthias Weckmann was a German musician and composer of the Baroque period. He was born in Niederdorla and died in Hamburg.- Life :...
Classicism
- Carl Philipp Emanuel BachCarl Philipp Emanuel Bachright|250pxCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and second son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach...
- Justin Heinrich KnechtJustin Heinrich KnechtJustinus or Justin Heinrich Knecht was a German composer, organist, and music theorist.-Biography:He was born in Biberach an der Riss, where he learnt to play the organ, keyboard, violin, and singing...
- Christian Heinrich Rinck
- Simon SechterSimon SechterSimon Sechter was an Austrian music theorist, teacher, organist, conductor and composer.Sechter was born in Friedberg , Bohemia, then part of the Austrian Empire, and moved to Vienna in 1804, succeeding Jan Václav Voříšek as court organist there in 1824. In 1810 he began teaching piano and voice...
- Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
Romantic
- Johannes BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
- Sigfrid Karg-ElertSigfrid Karg-ElertSigfrid Karg-Elert was a German composer of considerable fame in the early twentieth century, best known for his compositions for organ and harmonium.-Biography:...
- Felix MendelssohnFelix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
- Julius ReubkeJulius ReubkeJulius Reubke was a German composer, pianist and organist. In his short life — he died at the age of 24 — he composed the Sonata on the 94th Psalm, in C minor, which was and still is considered one of the greatest organ works in the repertoire.-Biography:Born in Hausneindorf, a small...
- Josef RheinbergerJosef RheinbergerJosef Gabriel Rheinberger was a German organist and composer, born in Liechtenstein.-Short biography:...
- August Gottfried RitterAugust Gottfried RitterAugust Gottfried Ritter was a German romantic composer and organist.-Biography:Co-creator, together with Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, of the first example of Romantic Organ Sonata ; he moved in 1847 from being organist in Merseburg cathedral to become organist in Magdeburg cathedral...
- Max WagenknechtMax WagenknechtMax Otto Arnold Wagenknecht was a German composer of organ and piano music. He was born in Woldisch Tychow, Pomerania, Free State of Prussia and spent most of his life in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania region where he was music teacher at the Franzburg Teachers’ College and in his later life...
Modern
- Hugo DistlerHugo DistlerHugo Distler was a German organist, choral conductor, teacher and composer.-Life and career:...
- Anton HeillerAnton HeillerAnton Heiller was an Austrian organist, harpsichordist, composer, conductor.-Biography:Heiller was born at Vienna. After undergoing his initial church music training with Wilhelm Mück — organist at the Stephansdom Anton Heiller (September 15, 1923 — March 25, 1979) was an Austrian organist,...
- Max RegerMax RegerJohann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
- Franz SchmidtFranz SchmidtFranz Schmidt was an Austrian composer, cellist and pianist of Hungarian descent and origin.- Life :Schmidt was born in Pozsony , in the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire . His father was half Hungarian and his mother entirely Hungarian...
- Gottfried von EinemGottfried von EinemGottfried von Einem was an Austrian composer. He is known chiefly for his operas influenced by the music of Stravinsky and Prokofiev, as well as by jazz. He also composed pieces for piano, violin and organ.-Biography:...
- Bertold HummelBertold HummelBertold Hummel was a German composer of modern classical music.- Life :Bertold Hummel was born November 27, 1925 in Hüfingen . He studied at the Academy of Music in Freiburg from 1947 to 1954, taking composition with Harald Genzmer, and cello with Atis Teichmanis...
- Paul HindemithPaul HindemithPaul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
Brazil
- Fabio CostaFabio Costa (conductor)Fabio Costa is a Brazilian-born conductor and composer.- Background :Costa was born in São Paulo, Brazil, to an engineer and a psychologist, with family roots in Portugal and Italy; Costa is a dual Brazilian/Italian citizen, and was partly raised in Germany...
http://imslp.org/wiki/Prelude-Meditation_for_Organ_(Costa,_Fabio)
Canada
- Gerald BalesGerald BalesGerald Albert Bales, CM was a Canadian organist and composer.Born in Toronto, Ontario, Bales studied at the Toronto Conservatory of Music from 1936 to 1940 where he was a pupil of Herbert A. Fricker , Albert Procter , Leo Smith , and Healey Willan...
- H. Hugh BancroftH. Hugh BancroftHenry Hugh Bancroft was a British organist and composer who was organist of fivecathedrals.He was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire,and studied music with E.P. Guthrie and J.S...
- Denis BédardDenis BédardDenis Bédard is a Canadian composer of organ works and choral pieces...
- Raymond DaveluyRaymond DaveluyJoseph Eugène Raymond-Marie Daveluy is a Canadian composer, organist, music educator, and arts administrator. An associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre, his compositional output consists mainly of works for solo organ. He had an active international career as a recitalist and concert...
- Jacobus KloppersJacobus KloppersJacobus Kloppers is a Canadian composer, musicologist and organist. He has composed many notable pieces, especially for organ, and has been the subject of substantial scholarship.- Biography :...
- Healey WillanHealey WillanHealey Willan, was an Anglo-Canadian organist and composer. He composed more than 800 works including operas, symphonies, chamber music, a concerto, and pieces for band, orchestra, organ, and piano...
Denmark
- Niels Gade
- Johan Peter Emilius HartmannJohan Peter Emilius HartmannJohan Peter Emilius Hartmann was a Danish composer.-Biography:Hartmann came from a musical family of German descent. Although he received his music lessons initially from his father, he taught himself as much as possible...
- Ib NørholmIb NørholmIb Nørholm is a Danish composer and organist.Nørholm studied with Vagn Holmboe at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, where he later taught , becoming a professor in 1981...
- Frederik MagleFrederik MagleFrederik Magle is a Danish composer, concert organist, and pianist. He studied composition and music theory with Leif Thybo and attended the Royal Danish Academy of Music where he studied composition and organ...
- Per NørgårdPer NørgårdPer Nørgård is a Danish composer.-Biography:Nørgård studied with Vagn Holmboe at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, and subsequently with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. To begin with, he was strongly influenced by the Nordic styles of Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen and Vagn Holmboe...
Classical
- William Boyce
- Benjamin CookeBenjamin CookeBenjamin Cooke was an English composer, organist and teacher.Cooke was born in London and named after his father, a music publisher based in Covent Garden...
- John StanleyJohn Stanley (composer)Charles John Stanley was an English composer and organist.-Biography:Stanley, who was blind from an early age, studied music with Maurice Greene and held a number of organist appointments in London, such as St Andrew's, Holborn from 1726...
Romantic
- Edward ElgarEdward ElgarSir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
- Hubert ParryHubert ParrySir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words...
- Charles Villiers StanfordCharles Villiers StanfordSir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...
- Samuel Sebastian WesleySamuel Sebastian WesleySamuel Sebastian Wesley was an English organist and composer.-Biography:Born in London, he was the eldest child in the composer Samuel Wesley's second family, which he formed with Sarah Suter having separated from his wife Charlotte. Samuel Sebastian was the grandson of Charles Wesley...
Modern
- Lennox BerkeleyLennox BerkeleySir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley was an English composer.- Biography :He was born in Oxford, England, and educated at the Dragon School, Gresham's School and Merton College, Oxford...
- Frank BridgeFrank BridgeFrank Bridge was an English composer and violist.-Life:Bridge was born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903 under Charles Villiers Stanford and others...
- Peter Maxwell DaviesPeter Maxwell DaviesSir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
- James DouglasJames Douglas (composer)James Douglas is a Scottish classical composer.Douglas was born in Dumbarton. He was brought up in Edinburgh and moved to live in North West Scotland in 2006. Douglas has composed over 2000 works including music for a wide variety of instruments and a number of choral pieces...
- George DysonGeorge Dyson (composer)Sir George Dyson KCVO was a well-known English musician and composer. His son is the physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson and among his grandchildren are the science historian George Dyson and Esther Dyson...
- Michael FinnissyMichael FinnissyMichael Finnissy is an English composer and pianist. His music is characterised by the range of extremes often found in his work; opposing binary structures are found commonly, often seen as juxtaposing textures, register and tempi...
- Graham FitkinGraham FitkinGraham Fitkin is a British composer, pianist and conductor. His compositions fall broadly into the minimalist and postminimalist genres...
- Hans GálHans GálHans Gál was a composer, teacher and pianist.Gál was born to a Jewish family in the small village of Brunn am Gebirge, Niederösterreich, just outside Vienna. He was trained in that city at the New Vienna Conservatory where later he taught for some time. While a student he won the K. und K...
- Patrick GowersPatrick GowersWilliam Patrick Gowers is an English composer mainly known for his film scores.-Film music:Gowers' works include the following music scores: Comic Act , Forever Green , The Hound of the Baskervilles , The Sign of Four , Whoops Apocalypse , Anna Karenina , Smiley's People , I remember...
- Basil HarwoodBasil HarwoodBasil Harwood was an English organist and composer.-Life:Basil Harwood was born in Woodhouse, Gloucestershire on 11 April 1859. His mother died in 1867 when Basil was eight. His parents were Quakers but his elder sister Ada, on reaching 21 in 1867, converted to the Anglican Church...
- Herbert HowellsHerbert HowellsHerbert Norman Howells CH was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.-Life:...
- Francis Jackson
- Craig Sellar LangCraig Sellar LangCraig Sellar Lang was a New Zealand-born, British-domiciled organist, music teacher, and composer.Born in Hastings, New Zealand, Dr. C. S. Lang was educated at Clifton College, and studied with Sir Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music...
(born in New Zealand) - Kenneth LeightonKenneth LeightonKenneth Leighton was a British composer and pianist. His compositions include much Anglican church music, and many pieces for choir and for piano as well as concertos, symphonies, much chamber music and an opera. He wrote a well-known setting of the Coventry Carol...
- William MathiasWilliam MathiasWilliam Mathias CBE was a Welsh composer.-Brief biography:Mathias was born in Whitland, Carmarthenshire. A child prodigy, he started playing the piano at the age of three and composing at the age of five. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Lennox Berkeley, where he was elected a fellow...
- Alan RidoutAlan Ridout-Life:Born at West Wickham, Greater London, England, Alan Ridout studied briefly at the Guildhall School of Music before commencing four years of study at the Royal College of Music, London with Herbert Howells and Gordon Jacob...
- Kaikhosru Shapurji SorabjiKaikhosru Shapurji SorabjiKaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was an English composer, music critic, pianist, and writer.-Biography:...
- Ralph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
- Percy WhitlockPercy WhitlockPercy William Whitlock was an English organist and post-romantic composer.A student of Vaughan Williams at London's Royal College of Music, Whitlock quickly arrived at a musical idiom that combined elements of his teacher's output and that of Elgar...
- Arthur WillsArthur WillsDr Arthur Wills OBE is a musician, composer, and professor. He was Director of Music at Ely Cathedral from 1958 to 1990, and also held a Professorship at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1964 until 1992...
- Malcolm WilliamsonMalcolm WilliamsonMalcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson AO , CBE was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.-Biography:...
Baroque (French classical)
- Jacques BoyvinJacques BoyvinJacques Boyvin was a French Baroque composer and organist.He was probably born in Paris, and studied there. One of his first jobs was that of organist of the parisian church des Quinze-Vingts, and in 1674 he was appointed titular organist of the Rouen Cathedral, where Jean Titelouze served as...
- Louis-Nicolas ClérambaultLouis-Nicolas ClérambaultLouis-Nicolas Clérambault was a French musician, best known as an organist and composer. He was born and died in Paris.-Biography:...
- Gaspard CorretteGaspard CorretteGaspard Corrette was a French composer and organist.He was born around 1671, probably in Rouen where he was organist for the church of St-Herbland. In approximately 1720 he moved to Paris. The exact date of his death is not known...
- François CouperinFrançois CouperinFrançois Couperin was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as Couperin le Grand to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented Couperin family.-Life:Couperin was born in Paris...
- Louis CouperinLouis CouperinLouis Couperin was a French Baroque composer and performer. He was born in Chaumes-en-Brie and moved to Paris in 1650–51 with the help of Jacques Champion de Chambonnières. Couperin worked as organist of the Church of St. Gervais in Paris and as musician at the court...
- Jean-François DandrieuJean-François DandrieuJean-François Dandrieu was a French Baroque composer, harpsichordist and organist.He was born in Paris into a family of artists and musicians. A gifted and precocious child, he gave his first public performances when he was 5 years old, playing the harpsichord for Louis XIV, King of France, and...
- Louis-Claude DaquinLouis-Claude DaquinLouis-Claude Daquin , was a French composer of Jewish birth writing in the Baroque and Galant styles. He was a virtuoso organist and harpsichordist.-Life:...
- Nicolas GigaultNicolas GigaultNicolas Gigault was a French Baroque organist and composer. Born into poverty, he quickly rose to fame and high reputation among fellow musicians. His surviving works include the earliest examples of noëls and a volume of works representative of the 1650–1675 style of the French organ...
- Nicolas de GrignyNicolas de GrignyNicolas de Grigny was a French organist and composer. He died young and left behind a single collection of organ music, which together with the work of François Couperin, represents the pinnacle of French Baroque organ tradition.-Life:Nicolas de Grigny was born in 1672 in Reims in the parish of...
- Gilles JullienGilles JullienGilles Jullien was a French Baroque composer and organist.He is credited with bringing the style of French organ music then current in Paris to Chartres....
- Nicolas LebègueNicolas LebègueNicolas Lebègue was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was born in Laon and in 1650s settled in Paris, quickly establishing himself as one of the best organists of the country. He lived and worked in Paris until his death, but frequently made trips to other cities to...
- Louis MarchandLouis MarchandLouis Marchand was a French Baroque organist, harpsichordist, and composer. Born into an organist's family, Marchand was a child prodigy and quickly established himself as one of the best known French virtuosi of his time. He worked as organist of numerous churches and, for a few years, at the...
- Guillaume-Gabriel NiversGuillaume-Gabriel NiversGuillaume-Gabriel Nivers was a French organist, composer and theorist. His first livre d'orgue is the earliest surviving collection with traditional French organ school forms...
- André RaisonAndré RaisonAndré Raison was a French Baroque composer and organist. During his lifetime he was one of the most famous French organists and an important influence on French organ music. He published two collections of organ works, in 1688 and 1714. The first contains liturgical music intended for monasteries...
- François RoberdayFrançois RoberdayFrançois Roberday was a French Baroque organist and composer. One of the last exponents of the French polyphonic music tradition established by Jean Titelouze and Louis Couperin, Roberday is best remembered today for his Fugues et caprices, a collection of four-part contrapuntal organ...
Late Classical
- Claude-Bénigne BalbastreClaude-Bénigne BalbastreClaude Balbastre was a French composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was one of the most famous musicians of his time.-Life:Claude Balbastre was born in Dijon in 1724...
- Jean-Jacques Beauvarlet CharpentierJean-Jacques Beauvarlet CharpentierJean-Jacques Beauvarlet-Charpentier was a celebrated French organist and composer.He was born in Abbeville. From 1763, he was a member of the Académie des Beaux Arts de Lyon...
- Alexandre Pierre François BoëlyAlexandre Pierre François BoëlyAlexandre Pierre François Boëly was a French composer, organist, and pianist. Born into a family of musicians, Boëly received his first music lessons from his father, Jean François, who was a countertenor at the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris and a composer and harp teacher at the court of Versailles...
- Michel CorretteMichel CorretteMichel Corrette was a French organist, composer and author of musical method books.-Life:Corrette was born in Rouen, Normandy. His father, Gaspard Corrette, was an organist and composer. Corrette served as organist at the Jesuit College in Paris from about 1737 to 1780. It is also known that he...
Romantic
- Léon BoëllmannLéon BoëllmannLéon Boëllmann was a French composer of Alsatian origin, known for a small number of compositions for organ. His best-known composition is Suite Gothique , still very much a staple of the organ repertoire, especially its dramatic concluding Toccata.-Biography:The son of a pharmacist, Boëllmann was...
- Joseph BonnetJoseph BonnetJoseph Bonnet was a French composer and organist.One of the major French pipe organ players, Joseph Bonnet was born in Bordeaux. He first studied with his father, an organist at St. Eulalie. At the age of 14, he became official organist, first at St. Nicholas and almost immediately at St. Michael...
- Théodore DuboisThéodore DuboisFrançois-Clément Théodore Dubois was a French composer, organist and music teacher.-Biography:Théodore Dubois was born in Rosnay in Marne. He studied first under Louis Fanart and later at the Paris Conservatoire under Ambroise Thomas. He won the Prix de Rome in 1861...
- César FranckCésar FranckCésar-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck was a composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life....
(born in Belgium) - Eugène GigoutEugène GigoutEugène Gigout was a French organist and a composer of European late-romantic music for organ.-Biography:Gigout was born in Nancy, and died in Paris....
- Alexandre GuilmantAlexandre GuilmantFélix-Alexandre Guilmant was a French organist and composer.- Short biography :Guilmant was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer...
- Louis James Alfred Lefébure-WélyLouis James Alfred Lefébure-WelyLouis James Alfred Lefébure-Wely was a French organist and composer.-Short Biography:Lefébure-Wely played a major role in the development of the French symphonic organ style and was a close friend of the organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, inaugurating many new Cavaillé-Coll organs.He began to...
- Henri MuletHenri MuletHenri Mulet was a French organist and composer. He was born on 17 October 1878 in Paris, France, and died on 20 September 1967 in Draguignan, France....
- Gabriel PiernéGabriel PiernéHenri Constant Gabriel Pierné was a French composer, conductor, and organist.-Biography:Gabriel Pierné was born in Metz in 1863. His family moved to Paris to escape the Franco-Prussian War. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, gaining first prizes for solfège, piano, organ, counterpoint and fugue...
- Camille Saint-SaënsCamille Saint-SaënsCharles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
- Charles TournemireCharles TournemireCharles Tournemire was a French composer and organist, notable partly for his improvisations, which were often rooted in the music of Gregorian chant...
- Louis VierneLouis VierneLouis Victor Jules Vierne was a French organist and composer.-Life:Louis Vierne was born in Poitiers, Vienne, nearly blind due to congenital cataracts, but at an early age was discovered to have an unusual gift for music. Louis Victor Jules Vierne (8 October 1870 – 2 June 1937) was a French...
- Charles-Marie WidorCharles-Marie WidorCharles-Marie Jean Albert Widor was a French organist, composer and teacher.-Life:Widor was born in Lyon, to a family of organ builders, and initially studied music there with his father, François-Charles Widor, titular organist of Saint-François-de-Sales from 1838 to 1889...
Modern
- Jehan AlainJehan AlainJehan Ariste Alain was a French organist and composer.-Biography:Alain was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the western suburbs of Paris, into a family of musicians. His father, Albert Alain was an enthusiastic organist, composer and organ-builder who had studied with Alexandre Guilmant and Louis...
- Jeanne DemessieuxJeanne DemessieuxJeanne Marie-Madeleine Demessieux , was a French organist, pianist, composer, and pedagogue.-Biography:...
- Marcel DupréMarcel DupréMarcel Dupré , was a French organist, pianist, composer, and pedagogue.-Biography:Marcel Dupré was born in Rouen . Born into a musical family, he was a child prodigy. His father Albert Dupré was organist in Rouen and a friend of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, who built an organ in the family house when...
- Maurice DurufléMaurice DurufléMaurice Duruflé was a French composer, organist, and pedagogue.Duruflé was born in Louviers, Eure. In 1912, he became chorister at the Rouen Cathedral Choir School, where he studied piano and organ with Jules Haelling...
- Rolande FalcinelliRolande FalcinelliRolande Falcinelli was a French organist, pianist, composer, and pedagogue.-Biography:Rolande Falcinelli entered the Paris Conservatory in 1932, where her teachers were noted pianist and pedagogue Isidor Philipp and Abel Estyle , Marcel Samuel-Rousseau , Simone Plé Caussade , Henri Büsser , and...
- André Fleury
- Jean-Jacques GrunenwaldJean-Jacques GrunenwaldJean-Jacques Grunenwald , was a French organist, composer, architect, and pedagogue.-Life and work:Jean-Jacques Grunenwald was born in 1911 in Cran-Gevrier, Haute-Savoie. He studied at the Paris Conservatory, where he received first prizes in organ and composition...
- Jean GuillouJean GuillouJean Victor Arthur Guillou is a French composer, organist, pianist, and pedagogue.-Life:Following autodidactic studies in piano and organ performance, Guillou became organist at the church St. Serge in Angers at age 12. From 1945-1955, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Marcel Dupré,...
- Naji HakimNaji HakimNaji Subhy Paul Irénée Hakim is a Lebanese-French organist, composer, and improviser. He studied under Jean Langlais, and succeeded Messiaen as organist at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris.-Biography:...
(born in Lebanon) - Jean LanglaisJean LanglaisJean Langlais was a French composer of modern classical music, organist, and improviser.- Biography :Jean Langlais was born in La Fontenelle , a small village near Mont St Michel, France...
- Gaston LitaizeGaston LitaizeGaston Gilbert Litaize was a French organist and composer. Considered one of the 20th century masters of the French organ, he toured, recorded, worked at churches, and taught students in and around Paris...
- Olivier MessiaenOlivier MessiaenOlivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
- Daniel RothDaniel Roth (organist)Daniel François Roth , is a French organist, composer, and pedagogue.-Biography:Roth began his musical training at the conservatory in his home town, Mulhouse with Professeur Joseph Victor Meyer...
Renaissance
- Vincenzo BellavereVincenzo BellavereVincenzo Bellavere was an Italian composer of the Venetian School...
- Girolamo CavazzoniGirolamo CavazzoniGirolamo Cavazzoni was an Italian organist and composer, son of Marco Antonio Cavazzoni. Little is known about his life except that he worked at Venice and Mantua, and published two collections of organ music...
- Girolamo DirutaGirolamo DirutaGirolamo Diruta was an Italian organist, music theorist, and composer. He was famous as a teacher, for his treatise on counterpoint, and for his part in the development of keyboard technique, particularly on the organ...
- Andrea GabrieliAndrea GabrieliAndrea Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organist of the late Renaissance. The uncle of the somewhat more famous Giovanni Gabrieli, he was the first internationally renowned member of the Venetian School of composers, and was extremely influential in spreading the Venetian style in Italy as...
- Giovanni GabrieliGiovanni GabrieliGiovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organist. He was one of the most influential musicians of his time, and represents the culmination of the style of the Venetian School, at the time of the shift from Renaissance to Baroque idioms.-Biography:Gabrieli was born in Venice...
- Luzzasco LuzzaschiLuzzasco LuzzaschiLuzzasco Luzzaschi was an Italian composer, organist, and teacher of the late Renaissance. He was born and died in Ferrara, and despite evidence of travels to Rome it is assumed that Luzzaschi spent the majority of his life in his native city.As a pupil of Cipriano de Rore, Luzzaschi developed...
- Giovanni de MacqueGiovanni de MacqueGiovanni de Macque was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque, who spent almost his entire life in Italy...
- Ascanio MayoneAscanio MayoneAscanio Mayone was an Neapolitan composer and harpist. He trained as a pupil of Giovanni de Macque in Naples, and worked at Santissima Annunziata there as organist from 1593 and maestro di cappella from 1621; he was also organist at the royal chapel from 1602...
- Claudio MeruloClaudio MeruloClaudio Merulo was an Italian composer, publisher and organist of the late Renaissance period, most famous for his innovative keyboard music and his ensemble music composed in the Venetian polychoral style. He was born in Correggio and died in Parma...
- Rocco RodioRocco RodioRocco Rodio was an Italian Renaissance composer and theorist, best known for his sacred works and keyboard ricercares.-Biography:...
- Antonio ValenteAntonio ValenteAntonio Valente was an Italian Renaissance organist and composer. He was blind from childhood and served as organist of Sant'Angelo a Nilo in Naples in 1565–80...
- Adrian WillaertAdrian WillaertAdrian Willaert was a Flemish composer of the Renaissance and founder of the Venetian School. He was one of the most representative members of the generation of northern composers who moved to Italy and transplanted the polyphonic Franco-Flemish style there....
(born in what is now Belgium)
Baroque
- Girolamo FrescobaldiGirolamo FrescobaldiGirolamo Frescobaldi was a musician from Ferrara, one of the most important composers of keyboard music in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. A child prodigy, Frescobaldi studied under Luzzasco Luzzaschi in Ferrara, but was influenced by a large number of composers, including Ascanio...
- Tarquinio MerulaTarquinio MerulaTarquinio Merula was an Italian composer, organist, and violinist of the early Baroque era. Although mainly active in Cremona, stylistically he was a member of the Venetian school...
- Bernardo PasquiniBernardo Pasquiniright|thumb|Bernardo PasquiniBernardo Pasquini was an Italian composer of opera and church music.He was born at Massa in Val di Nievole . He was a pupil of Antonio Cesti and Loreto Vittori...
- Giovanni SalvatoreGiovanni SalvatoreGiovanni Salvatore was a Neapolitan composer and organist.Salvatore is thought to have studied under Giovanni Maria Sabino and Erasmo Bartoli at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini in Naples. He was first organist of Saints Severino and Sossio, then maestro di cappella at San Lorenzo Maggiore...
- Alessandro ScarlattiAlessandro ScarlattiAlessandro Scarlatti was an Italian Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. He was the father of two other composers, Domenico Scarlatti and Pietro Filippo Scarlatti.-Life:Scarlatti was born in...
- Domenico ScarlattiDomenico ScarlattiGiuseppe Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He is classified as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style...
- Bernardo StoraceBernardo StoraceBernardo Storace was an Italian composer. Almost nothing is known about his life; his only surviving collection of music contains numerous variation sets and represents a transitory stage between the time of Girolamo Frescobaldi and that of Bernardo Pasquini.-Life:Very little is known about his...
- Giovanni Maria TrabaciGiovanni Maria TrabaciGiovanni Maria Trabaci was an Italian composer and organist. He was a prolific composer, with some 300 surviving works preserved in more than 10 prints, and was especially important for his keyboard music....
- Domenico ZipoliDomenico ZipoliDomenico Zipoli was an Italian Baroque composer. He became a Jesuit in order to work in the Reductions of Paraguay where his musical expertise contributed to develop the natural musical talents of the Guaranis...
Romantic
- Marco Enrico BossiMarco Enrico BossiMarco Enrico Bossi was an Italian organist, composer, improviser and pedagogue.-Life:Bossi was born in Salò, a town in the province of Brescia, Lombardy, into a family of musicians. His father, Pietro, was organist at Salò Cathedral, which has a one-manual organ built by Fratelli Serassi from 1865...
- Giovanni Morandi (composer)Giovanni Morandi (composer)Giovanni Morandi was a romantic Italian organist and composer.-organ music:*Sonate per gli organi moderni *Sonate per gli organi moderni *Sonate per gli organi moderni...
- Oreste RavanelloOreste RavanelloOreste Ravanello was an Italian composer and organist.- Biography :Oreste Ravanello studied organ and composition at the Liceo Musicale in Venice before he was appointed organist of the San Marco Cathedral at the age of seventeen...
- Pietro YonPietro YonPietro Alessandro Yon was an Italian-born organist who made his career in the United States.Yon was born in Settimo Vittone, , and studied at the conservatories of both Milan and Turin, also attending the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome...
Romantic
- Konstanty GorskiKonstanty GorskiKonstanty Antoni Gorski was a Polish composer, violinist, organist and music teacher.-Life:...
- Stanisław MoniuszkoStanisław MoniuszkoStanisław Moniuszko was a Polish composer, conductor and teacher. His output includes many songs and operas, and his musical style is filled with patriotic folk themes of the peoples of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...
- Feliks NowowiejskiFeliks NowowiejskiFeliks Nowowiejski was a Polish composer, conductor, concert organist, and music teacher. Nowowiejski was born in Wartenburg in East Prussia, German Empire...
- Władysław Żeleński
Modern
- Grażyna BacewiczGrazyna BacewiczGrażyna Bacewicz was a Polish composer and violinist. She is only the second Polish female composer to have achieved national and international recognition, the first being Maria Szymanowska in the early 19th century.- Life :Bacewicz was born in Łódź...
- Karol HławiczkaKarol HławiczkaKarol Hławiczka was a Polish composer, pianist, teacher and Chopinologist.He was born in Ustroń to Andrzej Hławiczka, teacher and musicologist. His family later relocated to Cieszyn. After graduation from high school Hławiczka went to Vienna to study law...
- Jan Adam Maklakiewicz
- Marian SawaMarian SawaMarian Sawa was a Polish composer, organist, improviser, musicologist, and pedagogue.-Biography:...
- Bolesław Szabelski
- Aleksander TansmanAlexandre TansmanAlexandre Tansman was a Polish-born composer and virtuoso pianist. He spent his early years in his native Poland, but lived in France for most of his life...
Romantic
- Dudley BuckDudley BuckDudley Buck was an American composer, organist, and writer on music. He published several books, most notably the Dictionary of Musical Terms and Influence of the Organ in History, which was published in New York in 1882. He is best known today for his organ composition, Concert Variations on the...
- George Whitefield ChadwickGeorge Whitefield ChadwickGeorge Whitefield Chadwick was an American composer. Along with Horatio Parker, Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, and Edward MacDowell, he was a representative composer of what can be called the New England School of American composers of the late 19th century—the generation before Charles Ives...
- Arthur FooteArthur FooteArthur William Foote was an American classical composer, and a member of the "Boston Six." The other five were George Whitefield Chadwick, Amy Beach, Edward MacDowell, John Knowles Paine, and Horatio Parker.The modern tendency is to view Foote’s music as “Romantic” and “European” in light of the...
- Horatio ParkerHoratio ParkerHoratio William Parker was an American composer, organist and teacher. He was a central figure in musical life in New Haven, Connecticut in the late 19th century, and is best remembered as the teacher of Charles Ives....
- John Knowles PaineJohn Knowles PaineJohn Knowles Paine , was the first American-born composer to achieve fame for large-scale orchestral music.-Life:He studied organ, orchestration, and composition in Germany and toured in Europe for three years...
- Fela SowandeFela SowandeOlufela Obafunmilayo Sowande was a Nigerian musician and composer....
- Frank SpellerFrank SpellerFrank Newman Speller III, is an Associate Professor Emeritus of Organ at the University of Texas at Austin. He has appeared in recitals in Europe, the US, on National Public Radio, and in one national and three regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists.His organ and choral...
- Whitney Eugene ThayerWhitney Eugene ThayerWhitney Eugene Thayer was an American organist and composer.Thayer gave his first concert just after the installation of the new organ in the Boston Music Hall in 1863...
Modern
- William AlbrightWilliam Albright (musician)William Albright was an American composer, pianist and organist.Albright was born in Gary, Indiana, and began learning the piano at the age of five, and attended the Juilliard Preparatory Department , the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan , where he studied composition with...
- Samuel BarberSamuel BarberSamuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...
- Joseph W. ClokeyJoseph W. ClokeyJoseph Waddell Clokey was an educator, organist and composer of sacred and secular music in the first half of the 20th Century....
- Emma Lou DiemerEmma Lou DiemerEmma Lou Diemer is an American composer. Diemer has written many works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, keyboard, voice, chorus , and electronic media...
- David N. JohnsonDavid N. JohnsonDavid N. Johnson was an American organist, composer, educator, choral clinician, and lecturer....
- Paul ManzPaul ManzPaul Manz , was an American composer for choir and organ. His most famous choral work is the Advent motet "E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come", which has been performed at the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge, though its broadcast by the neighbouring Choir of St...
- Ned RoremNed RoremNed Rorem is a Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and diarist. He is best known and most praised for his song settings.-Life:...
- Stephen PaulusStephen PaulusStephen Paulus is an American composer, best known for his operas and choral music. His best-known piece is his 1982 opera The Postman Always Rings Twice, one of several operas he has written for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, which prompted The New York Times to call him "a young man on the road...
- Vincent PersichettiVincent PersichettiVincent Ludwig Persichetti was an American composer, teacher, and pianist. An important musical educator and writer, Persichetti was a native of Philadelphia...
- Daniel PinkhamDaniel PinkhamDaniel Rogers Pinkham, Jr. was an American composer, organist, and harpsichordist. Pinkham was one of America's most active composers during his lifetime...
- John Serry, Sr.John Serry, Sr.John Serry, Sr. was an accomplished concert accordionist virtuoso, arranger, composer, organist and educator who performed on the CBS Radio and CBS Television networks...
- Leo SowerbyLeo SowerbyLeo Sowerby , American composer and church musician, was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1946, and was often called the “Dean of American church music” in the early to mid 20th century.-Biography:...
- Richard ZarouRichard ZarouRichard Zarou is a contemporary composer of concert and film music and the host of the new music podcast "No Extra Notes". Zarou is from Centreville, VA and completed his undergraduate studies at Shenandoah University in Virginia...
See also
- Organ repertoireOrgan repertoireThe organ repertoire consists of music written for the organ. Because it is one of the oldest musical instruments in existence, written organ repertoire spans a time period almost as long as that of written music itself. The organ's solo repertoire is among the largest for any musical instrument...
- Organ (music)Organ (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
- Pipe organPipe organThe pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
- List of Anglican church composers
Sources
- A Directory of Composers for Organ by Dr. John Henderson,Hon. Librarian to the Royal School of Church Music 2005 3rd edition ISBN 0-9528050-2-2
- Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Venetian Instrumental Music, from Gabrieli to Vivaldi. New York, Dover Publications, 1994. ISBN 0-486-28151-5