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Romantic Era Composers (1820 – 1900)

If you are a student of Music History or Composition, here is a more detailed list of composers you should know from this period.

NameBirthDeathNationalityRepresentative Pieces
Beach, Amy
 ML410 .B36
18671944AmericanThree Browning Songs (voice and piano)
Gaelic Symphony (orchestra)
Berlioz, Hector
 ML410 .B5
18031869FrenchSymphonie Fantastique (orchestra)
Grand messe des mortes (requiem mass)
Bizet, Georges
 ML410 .B62
18381875FrenchCarmen (opera)
Borodin, Alexander18331887RussianPolovtsian Dances (from the opera Prince Igor)
In the Steppes of Central Asia (orchestra)
Brahms, Johannes
 ML410 .B8
18331897GermanLiebeslieder Waltzes (choir and piano 4 hands)
Violin Concerto
German Requiem (mass)
Bruckner, Anton
 ML410 .B88
18241896AustrianSymphony No. 4 “Romantic” (orchestra)
Te Deum (choir and orchestra)
Chabrier, Emmanuel
 ML410 .C393
18411894FrenchL’étoile (opera)
España (orchestra)
Chadwick, George Whitefield18541931AmericanSymphonic Sketches (orchestra)
String Quartet No. 4
Charpentier, Gustave18601956FrenchLa vie du poète (opera)
Impressions d’Italie (orchestra)
Chopin, Frédéric
 ML410 .C54
18101849PolishNocturnes (piano)
Mazurkas (piano)
Minute Waltz (piano)
Delibes, Léo18361891FrenchCoppélia (ballet)
Lakmé (opera)
Donizetti, Gaetano
 ML410 .D7
17971848ItalianLucia di Lammermoor (opera)
Dvořák, Antonín
 ML410 .D99
18411904CzechSymphony No. 9 “From the New World”
Rusalka (opera)
String Quartet no. 12 “American”
Elgar, Edward
 ML410 .E41
18571934EnglishPomp and Circumstance Marches (orchestra)
Enigma Variations (orchestra)
The Dream of Gerontius (voices and orchestra)
Fauré, Gabriel
 ML410 .F27
18451924FrenchPavane (piano or orchestra)
L’horizon chimérique (voice and piano)
Franchetti, Alberto18601942ItalianGermania (opera)
Franck, César
 ML410 .F82
18221890Belgian/FrenchSymphony in D Minor
Panis Angelicus (voice, harp, cello, and organ)
Glinka, Mikhail
 ML410 .G46
18041857RussianRuslan and Lyudmila (opera)
Kamarinskaya (orchestra)
Gottschalk, Louis Moreau
 ML410 .G68
18291869AmericanLa Bananier (piano)
A Night in the Tropics (Symphony No. 1) (orchestra)
Gounod, Charles
 ML410 .G7
18181893FrenchFaust (opera)
Ave Maria (voice and piano)
Grieg, Edvard
 ML410 .G9
18431907NorwegianPeer Gynt (orchestra)
Piano Concerto
Humperdinck, Engelbert18541921GermanHänsel und Gretel (opera)
Die Königskinder (melodrama and opera)
Kalinnikov, Vasily18661901RussianSymphony No. 1 in G Minor
Leoncavallo, Ruggiero
 ML410 .L517
18581919ItalianPagliacci (opera)
Liszt, Franz
 ML410 .L7
18111886HungarianHungarian Rhapsodies (piano)
Les Préludes (orchestra)
Marche Funèbre (piano)
Loewe, Carl17961869GermanHeinrich der Vogler (voice and piano)
MacDowell, Edward
 ML410 .M12
18601908AmericanWoodland Sketches (piano)
Piano Concerto No. 2
Mahler, Gustav
 ML410 .M23
18601911AustrianSymphony No. 5 (orchestra)
Symphony No. 9 (orchestra)
Kindertotenlieder (song cycle, voice and orchestra)
Massenet, Jules
 ML410 .M41
18421912FrenchManon (opera)
Thaïs (opera)
Mendelssohn, Felix
 ML410 .M5
18091847GermanA Midsummer Night’s Dream (orchestra)
Symphony No. 4 “Italian”
Songs Without Words (piano)
Mussorgsky, Modest
 ML410 .M97
18391881RussianPictures at an Exhibition (piano)
Boris Godunov (opera)
Night on Bald Mountain (orchestral arrangement)
Offenbach, Jacques
 ML410 .O41
18191880FrenchThe Tales of Hoffmann (opera)
Orpheus in the Underworld (opera)
La Périchole (operetta)
Paganini, Nicolò
 ML418 .P2
17821840ItalianCaprice No. 24 (violin)
Cantabile (violin)
Puccini, Giacomo
 ML410 .P89
18581924ItalianLa Bohème (opera)
Tosca (opera)
Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai
 ML410 .R52
18441909RussianCapriccio Espagnol (orchestra)
Flight of the Bumblebee (orchestra) (from the opera Tale of the Tsar)
Scheherazade (orchestra)
Rossini, Gioacchino
 ML410 .R8
17921868ItalianThe Barber of Seville (opera)
William Tell (opera)
Saint-Saëns, Camille
 ML410 .S15
18351921FrenchSymphony No. 3 “Organ” 
Danse Macabre (orchestra)
The Carnival of the Animals (chamber)
Sarasate, Pablo de18441908SpanishZigeunerweise (violin and piano)
Satie, Erik
 ML410 .S196
18661925FrenchGymnopédies (piano)
Gnossiennes (piano)
Schumann, Robert
 ML410 .S4
18101856GermanKinderszenen (piano)
Carnaval (piano)
Dichterliebe (song cycle)
Sibelius, Jean
 ML410 .S54
18651957FinnishFinlandia (orchestra)
Symphony No. 2 (orchestra)
Valse triste (orchestra)
Smetana, Bedřich
 ML410 .S63
18241884CzechMa Vlast (orchestra)
The Bartered Bride (opera)
Sousa, John Philip
 ML410 .S688
18541932AmericanThe Washington Post (march)
The Stars and Stripes Forever (march)
The Liberty Bell (march)
Strauss, Johann II
 ML410 .S91
18251899AustrianThe Blue Danube Waltz (orchestra)
Die Fledermaus (operetta)
Sullivan, Arthur
 ML410 .S95
18421900EnglishH.M.S. Pinafore (operetta)
Pirates of Penzance (operetta)
Overture di Ballo (orchestra)
Suppé, Franz von18191895AustrianLight Cavalry (esp. the Overture) (operetta)
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich
 ML410 .C4
18401893RussianThe Nutcracker (ballet)
Swan Lake (ballet)
1812 Overture (orchestra)
Eugene Onegin (opera)
Symphony No. 6 “Pathetique”
Verdi, Giuseppe
 ML410 .V4
18131901ItalianAida (opera)
Rigoletto (opera)
Requiem (mass)
Wagner, Richard
 ML410 .W1
18301883GermanThe Ring Cycle (4 operas)
Tristan und Isolde (opera)
Parsifal (opera)
Weber, Carl Maria von17861826GermanDer Freischütz (opera)
Konzertstück (Concert Piece) (piano)
Concertino for Horn and Orchestra
Widor, Charles-Marie
 ML410 .W648
18441937FrenchSymphony for Organ No. 5 (organ solo)
Wolf, Hugo
 ML410 .W8
18601903AustrianMörike-Lieder (voice and piano)