20th Century – Detailed
Twentieth-Century Composers (1900 – 1975)
If you are a student of Music History or Composition, here is a more detailed list of composers you should know from this period.
Name | Birth | Death | Nationality | Representative Pieces |
Antheil, George ML410 .A638 | 1900 | 1959 | American | Ballet Mecanique (12 pianos, percussion, chamber) |
Babbitt, Milton | 1916 | 2011 | American | Whirled Series (saxophone & piano) Homily (snare drum) |
Barber, Samuel ML410 .B23 | 1910 | 1981 | American | Adagio for Strings (check out original String Quartet) Knoxville Summer 1915 (soprano & orchestra) Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance (orchestra) Three Essays for Orchestra |
Bartók, Béla ML410 .B26 | 1881 | 1945 | Hungarian | Six string quartets (all) Mikrokosmos (piano solos) Sonata for Two Pianos & Percussion Music for Strings, Percussion, & Celeste Miraculous Mandarin (orchestra) |
Berg, Alban ML410 .B47 | 1885 | 1935 | Austrian | Lyric Suite (string quartet) Wozzeck (opera) Violin Concerto (violin & orchestra) |
Bernstein, Leonard ML410 .B566 | 1918 | 1990 | American | West Side Story (musical) Mass (a theatre piece) Serenade (violin & orchestra) Jeremiah Symphony (orchestra) Chichester Psalms (chorus & orchestra) On the Waterfront (film score) |
Boulez, Pierre ML410 .B773 | 1925 | French | Pli selon pli (soprano & orchestra) Structures (2 pianos) La marteau sans maitre (alto & chamber group) | |
Britten, Benjamin ML410 .B853 | 1913 | 1976 | English | War Requiem (chorus, soloists & orchestra) Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (narrator & orchestra) Peter Grimes (opera) |
Cage, John ML410 .C24 | 1912 | 1992 | American | Sonatas & Interludes for Prepared Piano Aria (with or without Fontana Mix) (voice with tape) 4’33” (piano solo) Imaginary Landscape No. 4 (12 analog radios) |
Carter, Elliott ML410 .C3293 | 1908 | 2012 | American | Eight Etudes and a Fantasy (woodwind quartet) Concerto for Orchestra (orchestra) Second String Quartet (string quartet) |
Childs, Barney | 1926 | 2000 | American | A Box of View (woodwind quintet) Trombone Sonata |
Copland, Aaron ML410 .C756 | 1900 | 1990 | American | Appalachian Spring (both 13 player and full orchestra) Third Symphony (orchestra) Piano Variations (piano solo) Organ Symphony (organ & orchestra) |
Cowell, Henry | 1897 | 1965 | American | Banshee (piano solo) Aeolian Harp (piano solo) |
Debussy, Claude ML410 .D28 | 1862 | 1918 | French | Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (orchestra) Preludes Books I & II (piano) Pelleas et Mellisande (opera) |
Ellington, Duke ML410 .E44 | 1899 | 1974 | American | Anatomy of a Murder (film score) Black, Brown, and Beige (jazz symphony) |
Feldman, Morton | 1926 | 1987 | American | String Quartet Rothko Chapel (chamber & vocals) |
Foss, Lukas | 1922 | 2009 | German-American | String Quartet No. 1 Baroque Variations (orchestra) |
Franchetti, Arnold | 1911 | 1993 | Italian-American | Married Men Go to Hell (opera) Three Italian Masques (octet) |
Gershwin, George ML410 .G288 | 1898 | 1937 | American | Porgy and Bess (opera) Rhapsody in Blue (piano & orchestra) Cuban Overture (orchestra) An American in Paris (orchestra) |
Ginastera, Alberto | 1916 | 1983 | Argentine | Danzas argentinas (piano) Piano Concerto No. 1 |
Gould, Morton ML410 .G695 | 1913 | 1996 | American | Stringmusic (orchestra) Fall River Legend (ballet) |
Grainger, Percy ML410 .G75 | 1882 | 1961 | Australian-American | Lincolnshire Posy (band) Country Gardens (piano) Train Music (piano or orchestra) |
Hanson, Howard | 1896 | 1981 | American | Symphony No. 2 “Romantic” Merry Mount (opera) |
Henze, Hans Werner | 1926 | 2012 | German | New Folk Songs and Shepherd’s Melodies (chamber ensemble) Das Wundertheater (opera) The Raft of Medusa (soloists, choir, & orchestra) |
Hindemith, Paul ML410 .H685 | 1895 | 1963 | German | Mathis der Maler (opera) Ludus Tonalis (piano solo) Symphonic Metamorphosis (orchestra) |
Holst, Gustav ML410 .H748 | 1874 | 1934 | English | The Planets (orchestra) 2 Suites for Military Band Evening-Watch (chorus and orchestra) |
Honegger, Arthur ML410 .H79 | 1892 | 1955 | Swiss / French | Pacific 231 (orchestra) Le Roy David (oratorio) |
Hovhaness, Alan | 1911 | 2000 | Armenian-American | Symphony No. 60 “To the Appalachian Mountains” (orchestra) And God Created Great Whales (orchestra & tape) |
Husa, Karel | 1921 | Czech-American | Music for Prague 1968 (orchestra – also transcribed for wind ensemble) String Quartet No. 3 | |
Ives, Charles ML410 .I94 | 1874 | 1954 | American | Third Symphony (orchestra) Unanswered Question (chamber orchestra) Concord Sonata (piano solo) General Booth Enters Heaven (voice & piano) |
Janáček, Leoš ML410 .J18 | 1854 | 1928 | Czech | Taras Bulba (orchestra) Glagolitic Mass (chorus and orchestra) |
Lehár, Franz ML410 .L42 | 1870 | 1948 | Austro-Hungarian | Gold and Silver (waltz for orchestra) The Merry Widow (opera) |
Luening, Otto ML410 .L947 | 1900 | 1996 | German-American | Low Speed (tape) Concertino (flute & orchestra) |
Lutoslawski, Witold ML410 .L965 | 1913 | 1994 | Polish | Piano Concerto (piano & orchestra) Concerto for Orchestra (orchestra) Jeux Vénitiens (Venetian Games) (chamber orchestra) |
Mayuzumi, Toshiro | 1929 | 1997 | Japanese | Nirvana Symphony (male chorus & orchestra) |
Menotti, Gian Carlo ML410 .M52 | 1911 | 2007 | Italian-American | Amahl and the Night Visitors (opera) The Saint of Bleecker Street (opera) |
Messiaen, Olivier ML410 .M595 | 1908 | 1992 | French | Turangalila Symphony (orchestra & ondes martenot) Quartet for the End of Time (chamber) Vingt Regards sur l’enfant-Jesus (piano solo) La Nativité du Seigneur (organ) |
Milhaud, Darius ML410 .M674 | 1892 | 1974 | French | La Création du Monde (ballet) Scaramouche (saxophone & orchestra) Saudades do Brasil (piano) |
Nono, Luigi | 1924 | 1990 | Italian | Il canto sospeso (soloists, chorus & orchestra) Intolleranza 1960 (opera) |
Orff, Carl ML410 .O65 | 1895 | 1982 | German | Carmina Burana (soloists, chorus & orchestra) |
Persichetti, Vincent | 1915 | 1987 | American | Symphony No. 6 (band) Flower Songs (choir & chamber orchestra) Hymns and Responses for the Church Year (choir) |
Pinkham, Daniel ML410 .P5 | 1923 | 2006 | American | Christmas Cantata (choir & orchestra) Versets (organ) |
Poulenc, Francis ML410 .P787 | 1899 | 1963 | French | Organ Concerto (organ & orchestra) Gloria (choir & orchestra) |
Prokofiev, Sergei ML410 .P865 | 1891 | 1953 | Russian | Peter and the Wolf (orchestra & narrator) Third Piano Concerto (piano & orchestra) Fifth Symphony (orchestra) Scythian Suite (orchestra) Love for Three Oranges (opera) |
Rachmaninoff, Sergei ML410 .R12 | 1873 | 1943 | Russian | Piano Concerto No. 2 Symphony No. 3 in A Minor Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (choir) The Isle of the Dead (orchestra) |
Ravel, Maurice ML410 .R23 | 1875 | 1937 | French | Daphnis et Chloé (ballet) Bolero (orchestra) |
Respighi, Ottorino | 1879 | 1936 | Italian | La Fiamma (opera) The Pines of Rome (orchestra) |
Rochberg, George | 1918 | 2005 | American | String Quartet No. 3 Concord Quartets (Nos. 4-6) (string quartet) Symphony No. 2 (orchestra) |
Schoenberg, Arnold ML410 .S283 | 1874 | 1951 | Austrian-American | Verklärte Nacht (string sextet) Gurre-Lieder (soloists, chorus & orchestra) Pierrot Luniare (chamber with voice) Survivor from Warsaw (chamber orchestra w/narrator & men’s choir) Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 33a&b (piano) |
Schuman, William ML410 .S386 | 1910 | 1992 | American | A Free Song (cantata) New England Triptych (orchestra) |
Scriabin, Alexander ML410 .S5988 | 1872 | 1915 | Russian | Piano Sonata No. 7 “White Mass” Prometheus: The Poem of Fire (orchestra) |
Seeger, Ruth ML410 .S4446 | 1901 | 1953 | American | 2 Ricercari (voice & piano) String Quartet 1931 |
Sessions, Roger ML410 .S473 | 1896 | 1985 | American | String Quartet No. 1 When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d (cantata) The Black Maskers (orchestra) |
Shostakovich, Dmitri ML410 .S53 | 1906 | 1975 | Russian | Fifth Symphony (orchestra) Eighth String Quartet (string quartet) Piano Trio No. 2 in e minor (piano trio) |
Strauss, Richard ML410 .S93 | 1864 | 1949 | German | Der Rosenkavalier (opera) Salome (opera) Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks (orchestra) Death and Transfiguration (orchestra) Four Last Songs (voice and orchestra) |
Stravinksy, Igor ML410 .S932 | 1882 | 1971 | Russian | Firebird (ballet, orchestra) Petrushka (ballet, orchestra) Rite of Spring (ballet, orchestra) Histoire du Soldat (chamber) Symphony in C (orchestra) Symphony of Psalms (chorus & orchestra) In Memorium Dylan Thomas (chamber) Mass (choral) |
Takemitsu, Tōru ML410 .T134 | 1930 | 1996 | Japanese | November Steps (orchestra) Les Yeux Clos I & II (piano solo) Ran (soundtrack) |
Tippett, Michael ML410 .T467 | 1905 | 1998 | English | Concerto for Double String Orchestra A Child of Our Time (chorus and orchestra) |
Ussachevsky, Vladimir | 1911 | 1990 | Russian-American | 4 Studies (clarinet & tape) Sonic Contours (tape) |
Varèse, Edgard ML410 .V27 | 1883 | 1965 | French-American | Ionisation (percussion ensemble) Ameriques (orchestra) Poeme Electronique (multi-channel tape) Density 21.5 (flute solo) |
Villa-Lobos, Heitor ML410 .V76 | 1887 | 1959 | Brazilian | Bachianas Brasilieras (various combinations of instruments) String Quartet No. 6 |
Webern, Anton ML410 .W33 | 1883 | 1945 | Austrian | Five Pieces for Orchestra, op. 10 (orchestra) String Quartet, op. 28 (string quartet) Drei Lieder, op. 25 (voice & piano) |