List of symphony composers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Among composers who have composed symphonies are (listed in chronological order of birth):

• Giuseppe Torelli, Italian composer of the Sinfonie à 2–4 (1687), considered by somebody to be the first real symphonies,^{[citation needed]} though they are only chamber works with one to three melodic instruments plus bass.
• Andrea Zani (1696–1757), Italian composer of the earliest securely dated symphonies (part of his op. 2, published in 1729).
• Giovanni Battista Sammartini (around 1701-1775), Italian composer of at least 67 symphonies.
• Antonio Brioschi (fl. c. 1725–1750), was an Italian symphony composer who wrote at least twenty-six symphonies.
• William Boyce (1710-1779), whose opus 2 is a set of eight "symphonies", although they started life as overtures to other works.
• Ignaz Holzbauer (1711-1783), Austro-German composer of 69 symphonies.
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788), son of Johann Sebastian Bach, composer of around 20 symphonies.
• Georg Christoph Wagenseil (1715-1777)
• Georg Matthias Monn (1717-1750), whose symphony in D of 1740 is the first to include a minuet as a third movement.
• Johann Stamitz (1717-1757), the first composer to regularly include a minuet as the third movement of his symphonies.
• Wenzel Raimund Birck (1718-1763)
• Leopold Mozart (1719-1787), who wrote symphonies in which he included thrillingly incorporated French horns.
• Karl Friedrich Abel (1725-1787), active in London.
• Franz Xaver Pokorny (1729–1794), Bohemian composer of about 140 symphonies, 104 of which were deliberately misattributed to other composers in 1796 by Theodor von Schacht.
• Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), one of the best known Classical composers of symphonies, he wrote 106 examples, combining wit and structural clarity (see the list of symphonies by Joseph Haydn and the Category of Haydn Symphonies).
• Franz Ignaz Beck (1734-1809), composer of about 25 symphonies (biography describes his symphonies especially as ahead of their time)
• François-Joseph Gossec (1734-1829), French composer of over 60 symphonies.
• Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782), son of Johann Sebastian Bach, active in London.
• Michael Haydn (1737-1806) the younger brother of Joseph Haydn was also a prolific composer and wrote forty symphonies
• Leopold Hoffmann (1738-1793)
• Johann Baptist Vanhal (1739-1813), Bohemian composer of at least 24 symphonies. [1]
• Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739-1799)
• Andrea Luchesi (1741-1801)
• Antonio Rosetti (c.1750-1792), Bohemian composer, wrote many symphonies, concertos (notably for horn), and vocal works.
• Muzio Clementi (1752-1832), Italian composer of symphonies.
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), one of the best known Classical symphonists. Writer of 41 such works, his last three reach the pinnacle of 18th century symphonic writing.
• Pavel Vranický (1756-1808), Bohemian composer of about fifty symphonies.
• Ignaz Pleyel (1757-1831) Austrian composer, in his time a famous pupil of Haydn.
• Étienne Méhul (1763-1817), French composer of at least four symphonies.
• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), often considered the greatest of all symphonists, he wrote 9 numbered symphonies plus sketches for a tenth - see Category of Beethoven symphonies.
• George Onslow (1784-1853), French composer of 4 symphonies in a style combining echoes of Beethoven and Schubert.
• Louis Spohr (1784-1859), well known as a symphonist in his day, though his 10 works in the genre are largely forgotten today.
• Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826), German composer, wrote 2 symphonies.
• Cipriani Potter (1792 - 1871), English composer of 9 symphonies.
• Franz Schubert (1797-1828), composer of 9 surviving symphonies, with the Symphony No. 8 (the Unfinished) and Symphony No. 9 (the Great) the largest in scale and best known.
• Franz Lachner (1803-1890) wrote 8 symphonies between 1828 & 1851. His 5th symphony won him the prize offered by the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musicfreunde in 1835.
• Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), best remembered for his Symphonie Fantastique, perhaps the first true programmatic symphony.
• Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), composer of 12 complete string symphonies (the 13th was left unfinished) and 5 numbered symphonies, sketches for a 6th (1847).
• Robert Schumann (1810-1856), who wrote 4 numbered symphonies, the last of which experimented with cyclic form.
• Franz Liszt (1811-1886), wrote 2 programmatic symphonies, the Faust Symphony and the Dante Symphony.
• Richard Wagner (1813–1883), German composer of 1 symphony.
• Sir William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875), English composer of 1 symphony.
• Robert Volkmann (1815-1883), German composer of 2 symphonies.
• Charles Gounod (1818-1893), French composer of 2 symphonies and a third for 9 wind instruments (Petite symphonie).
• César Franck (1822-1890), wrote 1 symphony best known for its use of cyclic form.
• Joachim Raff (1822-1882), Swiss-born German composer of 11 symphonies, several with programmatic elements, well known in his day, but now largely forgotten.
• Anton Bruckner (1824-1896), composer of 11 large-scale symphonies, including Nos. 00 and 0.
• Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894), composer of 6 symphonies, with the second, the Ocean, and the sixth being the best known (though neither as well known now as they were in Rubinstein's day).
• Georges Bizet (1833-1875), French composer remembered by his Opera Carmen, wrote 1 symphony at the age of 17; the second, Roma, is sometimes classified as a suite, though referred to as a symphony by the composer.
• Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), composer of 4 symphonies, considered to be the artistic heir of Beethoven. Regarded as one of the great symphonists of the Romantic period.
• Felix Draeseke (1835-1913), composer of the New German School wrote 4 symphonies.
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921), composer of 5 symphonies (three of which are numbered while the other two are not), of which the best known is the third, his Symphony n°3 with organ.
• Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), who wrote 6 numbered symphonies plus the Manfred Symphony.
• Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904), who wrote 9 symphonies, of which the most famous is the ninth (From the New World). He successfully combined Bohemian folk elements with large-scale structure.
• Vincent d'Indy (1851-1931), French composer of 3 symphonies.
• Ernest Chausson (1855-1899), French composer of 1 symphony and sketches for a second.
• Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934), completed 2 symphonies, with sketches for a third made into a performing version by Anthony Payne.
• Hans Rott (1858-1884), Austrian composer of a symphony (1879/1880), which features many stylistic similarities to the later symphonies of his friend and fellow student Gustav Mahler. A Symphony No.2 was planned.
• Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), completed 9 large-scale symphonies, plus an incomplete 10th - see Category of Mahler symphonies. His third symphony is his longest symphony at 95 minutes, and his eighth, the Symphony of a Thousand, premiered with over one thousand performers.
• Alberto Williams (1862–1952), Argentine composer of 9 symphonies.
• Felix Weingartner (1863-1942), composer of 7 symphonies and a sinfonietta.
• Carl Nielsen (1865-1931), composer of 6 symphonies.
• Albéric Magnard (1865-1914), composer of 4 symphonies.
• Jean Sibelius (1865-1957), composer of the Kullervo Symphony, and of 7 numbered symphonies (a No.8 was destroyed by the composer in 1929).
• Paul Dukas (1865-1931), Symphony in C.
• Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936), composer of 9 symphonies.
• Vasily Kalinnikov (1866-1901), Russian composer of 2 symphonies.
• Charles Koechlin (1867–1950), French composer of 5 symphonies.
• Albert Roussel (1869-1937), French composer of 4 symphonies.
• Florent Schmitt (1870-1958), French composer of 2 symphonies (the first a 'symphonie concertante') and one for strings (Janiana).
• Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927), Swedish composer of 2 symphonies, one disowned by him.
• Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942), Austrian composer of 3 symphonies, a Lyrische Symphonie for soprano, baritone and orchestra, a symphony in all but name called Die Seejungfrau (1902), and a Sinfonietta (1934).
• Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915), Russian composer of 3 symphonies; his two tone poems, composed after the 3 symphonies, are also sometimes classified as symphonies nos. 4 and 5.
• Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), composer of 9 symphonies.
• Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), composer of 3 symphonies in a late-Romantic style.
• Josef Suk (1874-1934), Czech composer of two symphonies - in E major opus 14, and in C minor (the Asrael Symphony, opus 27).
• Franz Schmidt (1874-1939), Austrian composer of 4 symphonies.
• Charles Ives (1874-1954), American composer of 4 symphonies, his 'Holiday Symphony' referred to as his 5th, and his 'Universe Symphony' later reconstructed.
• Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), Austrian composer of 2 chamber symphonies and several sketches for unpublished symphonies. Alban Berg thought of Schoenberg's tone poem Pelleas und Melisande (1902) as a symphony.
• Julián Carrillo (1875-1965), Mexican Composer, wrote 2 symphonies plus 3 atonal symphonies written in the "Thirteen Sound" technique.
• Richard Wetz (1875-1935), German late romantic composer of 3 symphonies
• Mieczysław Karłowicz (1876-1909), Polish composer of only one symphony, in e minor Op.7 "Rebirth" (1897).
• Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948), Italian-German composer of the Sinfonia da Camera (1901); an early composer in the genre of the 20th century chamber symphony.
• Havergal Brian (1876-1972), English composer of 32 symphonies, most of which he wrote in his seventies and eighties. His first symphony The Gothic is the largest one ever written.
• Artur Kapp (1878-1952), Estonian composer. Generally considered to be one of the founders of Estonian symphonic music.
• Franz Schreker (1879-1934), Austrian composer of the Chamber Symphony.
• Nikolai Myaskovsky (1881-1950), Soviet composer (moved from Poland at a very young age) and composer of 27 symphonies.
• George Enescu (1881-1955), Romanian composer. Wrote 3 acknowledged and complete symphonies, 4 earlier ones and 2 later ones—the last two completed by Pascal Bentoiu—as well as a Chamber Symphony.
• Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), wrote 3 purely orchestral symphonies plus the Symphony of Psalms for chorus and orchestra; his Symphonies of Wind Instruments uses the word symphony in its old sense of "sounding together".
• Sir Arnold Bax (1883-1953), English composer of 7 symphonies.
• Anton Webern (1883-1945), Austrian Composer of 1 symphony (1928).
• Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886-1954), German composer of 3 symphonies, plus a Symphonic Concerto for Piano and Orchestra.
• Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), Brazilian composer of 12 symphonies.
• Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959), Czech composer of 6 symphonies.
• Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), Soviet composer of 7 symphonies, plus a Symphony-Concerto for Cello and Orchestra - see Category of Prokofiev symphonies.
• Arthur Honegger (1892-1955), Swiss-French composer of 5 symphonies.
• Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892–1988), British composer of 12 symphonies: 6 for piano solo, 3 for organ, and 3 for piano, organ, chorus and large orchestra (the second unfinished save for the piano part).
• Walter Piston (1894-1976), American composer of 8 symphonies
• Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942), Czech composer of 8 symphonies (the last two in short score).
• Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), German composer of several works with descriptive titles designated symphonies, of which the best known is Mathis der Maler, as well as the Symphony in E-flat of 1939 and the Symphony in B-flat for Concert Band.
• Howard Hanson (1896-1981), American composer of 7 symphonies (no. 1 Nordic, no. 2 Romantic – his most famous, no. 4 Requiem, no. 5 Sinfonia Sacra, and no. 7 Sea Symphony).
• Roger Sessions (1896-1985), American composer of 9 symphonies, all but the first two of which are written using some form of the twelve-tone technique.
• Viktor Ullmann (1898-1944), Czech Composer of 2 symphonies (1944, both are reconstructions from the short score of the Piano Sonatas No.5 and Piano Sonatas No.7 by Bernard Wulff).
• Hanns Eisler (1898-1962), German Composer of a Little Symphony (1932), a Chamber Symphony (1940) and a German Symphony for choir and orchestra (1930-1958).
• Roy Harris (1898-1979), American composer of 15 symphonies, of which Symphony No. 3 is by far the most famous.
• Pavel Haas (1899-1944), Czech Composer of an unfinished Symphony (1940/41, orchestration completed by Zdenek Zouhar).
• Carlos Chávez (1899-1978), Mexican composer of 6 symphonies, as well as a "Dance Symphony" Caballos de vapor (aka Horse Power), and a Sinfonía proletaria (proletarian symphony).
• Kurt Weill (1900-1950), German and later American composer of 2 symphonies
• Aaron Copland (1900-1990), American composer of 3 symphonies. The fourth movement of No. 3 is based on his famous Fanfare for the Common Man.
• Ernst Krenek (1900-1991), Austrian composer of 5 symphonies.
• Kurt Weill (1900-1950), German Composer of 2 symphonies.
• Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986), English composer of 11 symphonies.
• Sir William Walton (1902-1983), English composer of 2 symphonies.
• Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978), world-famous Armenian composer, wrote 3 symphonies.
• Cemal Reşit Rey (1904-1985), Turkish composer of 2 symphonies.
• Sir Michael Tippett (1905-1998), English composer of 4 symphonies.
• Eduard Tubin (1905-1982), Estonian composer of 10 symphonies.
• Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905-1963), German composer of 8 symphonies.
• Paul Creston (1906-1985), American composer of 6 symphonies.
• Benjamin Frankel (1906-1973), English composer of 8 symphonies.
• Janis Ivanovs (1906-1983), Latvian composer of 21 symphonies.
• Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), Soviet composer of 15 symphonies - see Category of Shostakovich symphonies.
• Antal Dorati (1906–1988), American conductor and composer of Hungarian birth, who wrote 2 symphonies.
• Camargo Guarnieri (1907–1993), Brazilian composer of 7 symphonies.
• Ahmet Adnan Saygun (1907-1991), Turkish composer of 5 symphonies.
• Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996), Danish composer of 13 symphonies, 4 symphonies for strings and 3 chamber symphonies (these seven works not discarded, but not included by him among the other 13).
• Samuel Barber, (1910-1981), American composer of 2 symphonies.
• William Schuman (1910-1992), American composer of 10 symphonies.
• Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975), American composer of 1 symphony (1940).
• Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000), American composer of 67 symphonies. Astonishingly, far from being the most prolific 20th-century symphonist (see, e.g., Rowan Taylor).
• Allan Pettersson (1911-1980), Swedish composer of 17 expressive symphonies.
• José Pablo Moncayo (1912–1958), Mexican composer of 2 symphonies (1944 and 1958, the latter unfinished), and a Sinfonietta (1945).
• Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), British composer of several symphonies, including A Simple Symphony for strings (1933–34), Sinfonia da Requiem (1939–40), a Spring Symphony (1948–49), and the Cello Symphony (1963), as well as a Sinfonietta (1932).
• Witold Lutosławski (1913-1994), Polish composer, wrote 4 symphonies.
• Irving Fine (1914–1962), American composer of one symphony.
• Sir Andrzej Panufnik (1914–1991), Polish composer of 10 symphonies.
• David Diamond (1915-2005), American composer of 11 symphonies.
• Henri Dutilleux (1916), French composer of 2 symphonies.
• Sven Einar Englund (1916-1999), Finnish composer of 7 symphonies.
• Rowan Taylor (1916-2005), American composer, considered the most prolific composer of all time, wrote 265 symphonies.
• Lou Harrison (1917-2003), American composer of 4 symphonies.
• Anthony Burgess (1917–1993), British novelist and composer of 3 symphonies, as well as a Petite symphonie pour Strasbourg (1988), and a Sinfonietta for Liana (1990).
• Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), American composer and conductor, composed 3 symphonies.
• Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996), Polish composer who emigrated to the Soviet Union, composer of 20 symphonies for full orchestra and 4 chamber symphonies.
• Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006), British composer of 9 symphonies.
• Fritz Geißler (1921-1984), German composer, wrote 11 symphonies.
• Robert Simpson (1921-1997), British composer, wrote 11 symphonies.
• Peter Mennin (1923-1983), American composer, wrote 9 symphonies.
• Luciano Berio (1925-2003) Italian composer of the famous Sinfonia (1968-69).
• Hans Werner Henze (born 1926), German Composer of 10 symphonies.
• Einojuhani Rautavaara (born 1929), Finnish composer of 8 symphonies.
• Malcolm Williamson (1931–2003), Australian composer of 7 numbered symphonies, as well as a Symphony for Organ (1960), a Sinfonia Concertante for 3 trumpets, piano and strings (1960–62), a Symphony for Voices (1962), and a Choral Symphony "The Dawn is at Hand" (1989).
• John Williams (born 1932), American Composer of a symphony (1966).
• Per Nørgård (born 1932), Danish composer of 5 symphonies.
• Krzysztof Penderecki (born 1933), Polish composer of 8 symphonies (as of 2005).
• Henryk Górecki (born 1933), Polish composer of 3 symphonies.
• Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998), Russian Composer of Symphonies, Nos.1-8 (1972-98).
• Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (born 1934), British Composer of a Sinfonia (1962), a Sinfonia Concertante (1982), a Sinfonietta (1983) and eight numbered symphonies (1976-2001).
• Giya Kancheli (born 1935), Georgian composer of 7 symphonies.
• Arvo Pärt (born 1935), composer of 3 symphonies (-1971)
• Philip Glass (born 1937), composer of 8 symphonies as of 2005.
• Richard Edward Wilson (born 1941), composer of 2 symphonies as of 2006.
• Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish composer of 6 symphonies (as of 2007)
• Ilayaraaja (born 1943), Indian composer of an oratorio titled, because it employs a symphony orchestra, Thiruvasagam in Symphony (Classical Collection of Hymns on Lord Shiva) for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (London, 1993).
• Hristo Spasov Tsanoff (born 1947), composer of 1 symphony.
• John Coolidge Adams (born 1947), composer of a Chamber Symphony (1992) and 3 other works, symphonies in all but name.
• Heinz Chur (born 1948), German composer of 4 symphonies (1978-1991).
• Glenn Branca (born 1948) avant-garde composer and guitarist who composes symphonies for orchestras of electric guitars and percussion.
• Alla Pavlova (born 1952), Russian composer of 5 symphonies (as of 2006)
• Oliver Knussen (born 1953), English Composer of 3 symphonies.
• John Kenneth Graham (born 1955), American composer of 4 symphonies, orchestral tableaux of American folklore and legend.
• Nigel Keay (born 1955), New Zealand composer of the Symphony in Five Movements (1996).
• Tan Dun (born 1957), Chinese composer of the Symphony 1997.
• Aaron Jay Kernis (born 1960), American composer of 2 symphonies.
• Michael Torke (born 1961), American composer of 1 symphony (1997).
• Joe Monzo (born 1962), American composer of 2 completed symphonies and an unfinished 3rd.
• Evgeni Kostitsyn (born 1963), Russian composer of 5 symphonies.
• Robert Steadman (born 1965), UK composer of 2 symphonies and a chamber symphony.
• Thomas Adès (born 1971), British Composer of the Chamber Symphony For Fifteen Players Op.2 (1991).
• Jay Greenberg (born 1991), American composer of at least five symphonies, who had a CD release of his music at age 14.