Chronological list of French classical composers

The following is a chronological list of classical music composers who lived in, worked in, or were citizens of France.

Medieval

• Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377)
• Brent Falso (fl. 1312– 1368)
• Vincent Visee (fl. 1200– 1280)

Renaissance

• Guillaume Dufay (c. 1397-1474)
• Gilles Binchois (c. 1400-1460)
• Loÿset Compère (c. 1445–1518)
• Josquin des Prez (c. 1450–1521) born near Franco-Flemish border
• Pierre de La Rue (c. 1452–1518)
• Claudin de Sermisy (c. 1490–1562)
• Nicolas Gombert (c. 1495 – c. 1560)
• Ninot le Petit (fl. c. 1500–1520)
• Claude Gervaise (fl. 1540 – 1560)

Baroque

• Étienne Moulinié (c. 1600 – after 1669)
• Jacques Champion de Chambonnières (c. 1601–1672)
• Denis Gaultier (1603–1672)
• François Dufault (before 1604 – c. 1672)
• Jacques de Gouy (c. 1610 – after 1650)
• Michel Lambert (1610–1696)
• Louis Couperin (c. 1626–1661)
• Jean-Henri d'Anglebert (1629–1691)
• Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)
• Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe (c. 1640 – c. 1700)
• Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643–1704)
• Marin Marais (1656–1728)
• Michel Richard Delalande (1657–1726)
• André Campra (1660–1744)
• Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665–1729)
• Jean-Féry Rebel (1666–1747)
• Michel Pignolet de Montéclair (1667–1737)
• François Couperin (1668-1733)
• Louis Marchand (1669–1732)
• Louis de Caix d'Hervelois (c. 1670 – c. 1760)
• Antoine Forqueray (1671–1745)
• Nicolas de Grigny (1672–1703)
• Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (1676–1749)
• Jean-François Dandrieu (c. 1682–1738)
• Jean-Joseph Mouret (1682–1738)
• Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
• Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (1689–1755)
• Louis-Claude Daquin (1694–1772)
• Jean-Marie Leclair (1697–1764)
• Jean-Marie Leclair the younger (1703–1777)
• Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer (c. 1705–1755)
• Louis-Gabriel Guillemain (1705–1770)
• Michel Corrette (1707–1795)
• Jean-Joseph de Mondonville (1711–1772)

Classical era

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)
• François-André Danican Philidor (1726–1795)
• François Joseph Gossec (1734–1829)
• Nicolas Dalayrac (1753-1809)
• Jean-Baptiste Bréval (1753–1823)
• Étienne Méhul (1763–1817)
• Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766–1831)
• Louis-Emmanuel Jadin (1768–1853)
• Hyacinthe Jadin (1776–1800)

Romantic

• Charles Simon Catel (1773–1830)
• François-Adrien Boieldieu (1775–1834)
• Jacques Féréol Mazas (1782–1849)
• Daniel Auber (1782–1871)
• Nicolas-Charles Bochsa (1789–1856)
• Ferdinand Hérold (1791–1833)
• Fromental Halévy (1799–1862)
• Adolphe Adam (1803–1856)
• Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)
• Ambroise Thomas (1811–1896)
• Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813–1888)
• Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély (1817–1869)
• Charles Dancla (1817–1907)
• Charles Gounod (1818–1893)
• Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)
• Charles-Louis Hanon (1819–1900)
• Pauline Viardot (1821-1910)
• César Franck (1822-1890)
• Édouard Lalo (1823–1892)
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
• Léo Delibes (1836–1891)
• Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911)
• Théodore Dubois (1837-1924)
• Georges Bizet (1838–1875)
• Emmanuel Chabrier (1841–1894)
• Jules Massenet (1842–1912)
• Claude-Paul Taffanel (1844-1908)
• Charles-Marie Widor (1844–1937)
• Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
• Henri Duparc (1848–1933)
• Benjamin Godard (1849–1895)
• Vincent d'Indy (1851–1931)
• André Messager (1853-1929)
• Ernest Chausson (1855–1899)
• Cécile Chaminade (1857–1944)
• Mélanie Bonis (1858-1937)
• Gustave Charpentier (1860–1956)

Modern/Contemporary

• Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
• Maurice Emmanuel (1862–1938)
• Gabriel Pierné (1863–1937)
• Guy Ropartz (1864–1955)
• Paul Dukas (1865–1935)
• Albéric Magnard (1865–1914)
• Erik Satie (1866–1925)
• Charles Koechlin (1867–1950)
• Albert Roussel (1869-1937)
• Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
• Charles Tournemire (1870–1939)
• Florent Schmitt (1870-1958)
• Henri Büsser (1872-1973)
• Déodat de Séverac (1872–1921)
• Jean Roger-Ducasse (1873-1954)
• Reynaldo Hahn (1874–1947)
• Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
• Henriette Renié (1875-1956)
• Gabriel Dupont (1878-1914)
• André Caplet (1878-1925)
• Jean Cras (1879-1932)
• Philippe Gaubert (1879-1941)
• Maurice Delage (1879-1961)
• Marcel Tournier (1879-1951)
• Joseph Canteloube (1879–1957)
• Paul Le Flem (1881–1984)
• Edgard Varèse (1883–1965)
• Marcel Dupré (1886–1971)
• Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979)
• Louis Durey (1888–1979)
• Jacques Ibert (1890–1962)
• Marcel Grandjany (1891-1975)
• Arthur Honegger (1892–1955)
• Darius Milhaud (1892–1974)
• Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983)
• Lili Boulanger (1893-1918)
• Jean Rivier (1896–1987)
• Francis Poulenc (1899–1963)
• Georges Auric (1899–1983)
• Henri Sauguet (1901-1989)
• Henri Tomasi (1901-1971)
• Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986)
• Claude Arrieu (1903-1990)
• Manuel Rosenthal (1904–2003)
• Eugene Bozza (1905–1991)
• André Jolivet (1905–1974)
• Jean Langlais (1907-1991)
• Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)
• Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur (1908–2002)
• Jean Martinon (1910–1976)
• Paule Maurice (1910-1967)
• Jehan Alain (1911-1940)
• Alfred Desenclos (1912-1971)
• Jean Françaix (1912–1997)
• Maurice Ohana (1913-1992)
• Henri Dutilleux (born 1916)
• Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001)
• Pierre Boulez (born 1925)
• Jean-Michel Damase (born 1928)
• Pierre Max Dubois (1930-1995)
• Claude Bolling (born 1930)
• Yves Prin (born 1933)
• Gilbert Amy (born 1936)
• Gérard Grisey (1946-1998)
• Tristan Murail (born 1947)
• Pascal Dusapin (born 1955)
• Yann Tiersen (born 1970)