Great Composers!
by willi-beckenlehner | created - 24 Oct 2011 | updated - 28 May 2022 | Public
1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Soundtrack | Amadeus
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart grew up in Salzburg under the regulation of his strict father Leopold who also was a famous composer of his time. His abilities in music were obvious even when Mozart was still young so that in 1762 at the age of six, his father took him with his elder sister on a concert ...
Favorite composer of Lex Luthor in the Superman Movies!
2. Richard Wagner
Soundtrack | Watchmen
Richard Wagner was a German composer best known for his operas, primarily the monumental four-opera cycle "Der Ring des Nibelungen". He was born Wilhelm Richard Wagner on May 22, 1813, in Leipzig, Germany. He was the ninth child in the family of Carl Wagner, a police clerk. Richard was only six ...
Flight of the Valkyres in Apocalypse Now and Rango!
3. George Frideric Handel
Soundtrack | Children of Men
Born February 23 1685 in Halle, Germany, he was christened "Georg Friederich Händel" but always signed his name "Georg Friedrich Händel". His father intended for him to go into law, but Händel studied music clandestinely and was eventually allowed to study under an organist. He achieved some ...
4. Antonio Vivaldi
Soundtrack | Runaway Train
Being the son of a violinist Vivaldi started playing the violin himself early in his life. In 1703 he became priest and in 1716 the director of a conservatory of the church in Venice. Being a famous violinist he gave concerts all over Europe also composing a lot of violin concerts and other string ...
5. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Soundtrack | Smurfs
Pyotr (Peter) Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born on May 7, 1840, in Votkinsk, Vyatka region, Russia. He was the second of six children (five brothers and one sister). His father, named Ilya Chaikovsky, was a mining business executive in Votkinsk. His father's ancestors were from Ukraine and Poland. His ...
6. Ludwig van Beethoven
Soundtrack | Elysium
Beethoven was the child of a Flamian musician family and became a member of the electoral orchestra of Bonn in 1783. In 1787 he studied at Mozart's in Vienna and in 1792 he moved all to Vienna becoming a student of Joseph Haydn. The Vienna High Society loved him as a piano player as well as as ...
7. John Williams
Composer | Jurassic Park
As one of the best known, awarded, and financially successful composers in US history, John Williams is as easy to recall as John Philip Sousa, Aaron Copland or Leonard Bernstein, illustrating why he is "America's composer" time and again. With a massive list of awards that includes over 52 Oscar ...
Mastermind!
8. Jerry Goldsmith
Composer | L.A. Confidential
Born on February 10, 1929, Jerry Goldsmith studied piano with Jakob Gimpel and composition, theory, and counterpoint with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He also attended classes in film composition given by Miklós Rózsa at the Univeristy of Southern California. In 1950, he was employed as a clerk ...
Sounds of Magic!
9. Danny Elfman
Music_department | The Nightmare Before Christmas
As Danny Elfman was growing up in the Los Angeles area, he was largely unaware of his talent for composing. It wasn't until the early 1970s that Danny and his older brother Richard Elfman started a musical troupe while in Paris; the group "Mystic Knights of Oingo-Boingo" was created for Richard's ...
Housecomposer of Tim Burton!
10. Hans Zimmer
Composer | Gladiator
German-born composer Hans Zimmer is recognized as one of Hollywood's most innovative musical talents. He featured in the music video for The Buggles' single "Video Killed the Radio Star", which became a worldwide hit and helped usher in a new era of global entertainment as the first music video to ...
Master of Music!
11. David Arnold
Soundtrack | Casino Royale
David Arnold was born on January 23, 1962 in Luton, England, UK. He is a composer and actor, known for Casino Royale (2006), Independence Day (1996) and Godzilla (1998). He has been married to Ellie Pole since June 8, 1996. They have three children.
12. Klaus Badelt
Composer | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Composer Klaus Badelt started his musical career writing and producing music for dozens of highly successful movies and commercials in his native Germany. In 1998, Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer invited him to move his musical home to Media Ventures in Santa Monica, CA. Since then, Klaus has ...
13. Miklós Rózsa
Composer | Ben-Hur
A child prodigy, Miklos Rózsa learned to play the violin at the age of five and read music before he was able to read words. In 1926, he began studying at the Leipzig Conservatory where he was considered a brilliant student. He obtained his doctorate in music in 1930. Moving to Paris the following ...
Ben Hur Soundtrack and much more!
14. Vangelis
Composer | Blade Runner
Vangelis was a composer and performer who worked almost exclusively with electronic instruments. With Jean-Michel Jarre and Mike Oldfield in the 1970s, Vangelis was a pioneer in the instrumental music and a main influence in the creation of the musical genre "new age," a style related to spiritual,...
Famous through 1492 and Chariots of Fire!
15. Mikis Theodorakis
Composer | Z
Mikis Theodorakis was born in the Greek island of Chios, in 1925. It was the same year that the other great composer of Greece was born in Xanthi, Manos Hatzidakis. He fought during the 2nd World War, and was captured at the city of Tripoli. He was tortured, but when he was set free, he joined the ...
Famous through Alexis Sorbas and Serpico!
16. Alexander Courage
Music_department | Star Trek
Alexander Courage was born on December 10, 1919 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Star Trek (1966), Jurassic Park (1993) and Star Trek: Generations (1994). He was married to Shirley Pumpelly. He died on May 15, 2008 in Pacific Palisades, California, USA.
Star Trek - The original Series and so on!
17. Basil Poledouris
Composer | RoboCop
Basil Poledouris was born on August 21, 1945 in Kansas City. He started taking piano lessons when he was 7 years old. Eventually, he went on to become a student at USC, where he studied the arts of directing, cinematography, editing, sound and, of course, music. It was also at USC he met John Milius...
Conan-Soundtrack!
18. Brian May
Composer | Mad Max
Brian May rates highly as one of the best film music composers in the history of Australian cinema. May's scores are distinguished by their full, rich and supremely melodic orchestration. Brian was born on July 28, 1934 in Adelaide, South Australia. He studied as a pianist, violinist and conductor ...
19. Henry Mancini
Soundtrack | Breakfast at Tiffany's
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, but brought up in Pennsylvania, where he played the flute in a local band, as a youth, before sending some arrangements to Benny Goodman. Goodman offered him a job and, after serving in WWII, he joined the rearranged Glenn Miller band. In 1952, he was given a two-week ...
Best Music - The Pink Panther-Theme!
20. Alan Silvestri
Composer | The Polar Express
In his ongoing, decades-long career as a composer, Alan Silvestri has blazed an innovative trail with his exciting and melodic scores, winning the applause of Hollywood and movie audiences the world over. With a credit list of over 100 films Silvestri has composed some of the most recognizable and ...
Back to the Future-Soundtrack etc.
21. Paul McCartney
Soundtrack | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sir Paul McCartney is a key figure in contemporary culture as a singer, composer, poet, writer, artist, humanitarian, entrepreneur, and holder of more than 3 thousand copyrights. He is in the "Guinness Book of World Records" for most records sold, most #1s (shared), most covered song, "Yesterday," ...
22. John Lennon
Actor | A Hard Day's Night
John Winston (later Ono) Lennon was born on October 9, 1940, in Liverpool, England, to Julia Lennon (née Stanley) and Alfred Lennon, a merchant seaman. He was raised by his mother's older sister Mimi Smith. In the mid-1950s, he formed his first band, The Quarrymen (after Quarry Bank High School, ...
23. Johann Sebastian Bach
Soundtrack | Minority Report
Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685, in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany, into a large and distinguished family of professional musicians. His father, named Johann Ambrosius Bach, was a violinist and trumpeter, employed by the city of Eisenach. His uncles were church organists, court ...
24. Richard Strauss
Soundtrack | 2001: A Space Odyssey
Richard Strauss was a German composer best known for symphonic poem 'Also sprach Zarathustra' (Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 1896) used as the music score in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by director Stanley Kubrick.
He was born Richard Georg Strauss on June 11, 1864, in Munich, Bavaria (now Germany). His ...
25. Johann Strauss
Soundtrack | 2001: A Space Odyssey
Johann Strauss (or Johann Strauss son), one of Austrian music's most famous names who studied music secretly against his father's will, later became the leader of his father's band and the indisputable "waltz king"; his waltz 'On the Beautiful Blue Danube', is the main theme in Stanley Kubrick's ...
King of Waltz!
26. Giuseppe Verdi
Soundtrack | Mad Max: Fury Road
Giuseppe Verdi was born Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi on October 10, 1813, in Le Roncole di Busseto, Parma, Italy. His parents were landowners and innkeepers. Young Verdi received his first organ lessons at the age of 7. He studied composition privately with Ferdinando Provesi in Busseto. At ...
27. Gioachino Rossini
Soundtrack | Logan
As a son of a horn player and a singer Rossini was taught instruments early in his life. When he was older he went to the conservatory of Bologna for lessons. His first opera was such a big success that a lot of people wanted him to write more pieces. But nevertheless in 1816 his masterpiece "The ...
28. Felix Mendelssohn
Soundtrack | Babylon A.D.
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 1809 - 4 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonies, concertos, piano music, organ music and ...
29. Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Composer | The Adventures of Robin Hood
Erich Wolfgang Korngold was the son of a well-known music critic. A child prodigy, he accompanied his father in playing four-handed piano arrangements by the age of five. By the age of eleven he drew his first plaudits from enthusiastic Viennese audiences (including the emperor Franz Josef) with ...
30. Karel Svoboda
Composer | Tri orísky pro Popelku
Karel Svoboda was born on December 19, 1938 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was a composer and actor, known for Three Wishes for Cinderella (1973), Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea (1977) and How About a Plate of Spinach? (1977). He was married to Vendula ...
31. Michael Giacchino
Composer | Star Trek
Michael Giacchino is an American composer of music for films, television and video games.
Giacchino composed the scores to the television series Lost, Alias and Fringe, the video game series Medal of Honor and Call of Duty and many films such as The Incredibles (2004), Star Trek (2009), Up (2009), ...
32. James Horner
Music_department | Titanic
James Horner began studying piano at the age of five, and trained at the Royal College of Music in London, England, before moving to California in the 1970s. After receiving a bachelor's degree in music at USC, he would go on to earn his master's degree at UCLA and teach music theory there. He ...
33. Ennio Morricone
Composer | The Hateful Eight
A classmate of director Sergio Leone with whom he would form one of the great director/composer partnerships (right up there with Eisenstein & Prokofiev, Hitchcock & Herrmann, Fellini & Rota), Ennio Morricone studied at Rome's Santa Cecilia Conservatory, where he specialized in trumpet. His first ...
34. James Newton Howard
Music_department | King Kong
James Newton Howard attended the University of Southern California's music school, but dropped out to tour with Elton John, and eventually compose music for film and television. He started with Head Office (1985) in 1985. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards. He currently is a songwriter, ...
35. Howard Shore
Music_department | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Howard Shore is a Canadian composer, born in Toronto. He was born in a Jewish family. He started studying music when 8-years-old, and played as a member of bands by the time he was 13-years-old. He was interested in a professional career in music as a teenager. He studied music at the Berklee ...
36. Maurice Jarre
Composer | Lawrence of Arabia
Unlike many musicians who started to learn music while still in their childhood, Maurice Jarre was already late in his teens when he discovered music and decided to make a career in that field. Against his father's will, he enrolled at Conservatoire de Paris where he studied percussions, ...
37. Jean-Michel Jarre
Soundtrack | Nine 1/2 Weeks
Jean-Michel Jarre is a French composer, performer, music producer and designer. With Vangelis and Mike Oldfield in the 1970s, he is regarded as a pioneer in the electronic, synth-pop, ambient and New Age genres, as well as an organizer of spectacular outdoor events and concerts, which feature the ...
38. Christian Bruhn
Soundtrack | Er ist wieder da
Christian Bruhn is a composer and producer since 1958. He wrote several hits for German stars like Cornelia Froboess (Zwei kleine Italiener), Katja Ebstein, Freddy Quinn, Roy Black and Peter Alexander. But he wrote and composed also songs for international artist, like Swedish singer Siw Malmkvist ...
39. Martin Böttcher
Composer | Derrick
Böttcher was born 1927 in Berlin/Germany. After the second world war the young Böttcher began as solo guitarist at Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk. In the year 1955 he wrote the music for his first film Der Hauptmann und sein Held (1955). Already his next movie Teenage Wolfpack (1956), was a great ...
40. Brian May
Soundtrack | Flash Gordon
Brian May is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential, innovative, technically gifted and recognisable guitarists in the history of rock. He is also a prolific songwriter, responsible for writing or co-writing many international hits with Queen. He was educated at Hampton Grammar School ...
41. Elmer Bernstein
Composer | Far from Heaven
Elmer Bernstein was educated at the Walden School and New York University. He served in the US Army Air Corps in World War II, writing scores for the service radio unit. He also wrote and arranged musical numbers for Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band. A prolific and respected film music composer, ...
42. John Barry
Soundtrack | Out of Africa
John Barry was born in York, England in 1933, and was the youngest of three children. His father, Jack, owned several local cinemas and by the age of fourteen, Barry was capable of running the projection box on his own - in particular, The Rialto in York. As he was brought up in a cinematic ...
43. Bedrich Smetana
Soundtrack | Spider-Man: Far from Home
A musical prodigy, Smetana was encouraged and trained by his father. His move to Prague in 1843 was disheartening when he was unable to generate interest in his abilities; however, he did form a friendship with Liszt, and dedicated several of his works to him. He opened a music school and performed...
44. Maurice Ravel
Soundtrack | Rashômon
Maurice Ravel was born on March 7, 1875 in Ciboure, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France. He was a composer, known for Rashomon (1950), Basic (2003) and Stalker (1979). He died on December 28, 1937 in Paris, France.
45. Joseph Haydn
Soundtrack | Minority Report
Haydn had a hard childhood: at six years old he had to work as a boy singer in a choir and after his voice broke he had to earn his money by playing dance music and serving as a butler. Becoming famous for his compositions Haydn was employed as "Kapellmeister" by Fuerst Esterhazy in Eisenstadt in ...
46. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Soundtrack | Smurfs
Rimsky-Korsakov was a navy officer but soon discovered his love for music. Since 1861 he belonged to the group of Balakirew but later he returned to the traditional way of composing. He combined uniquely the Russian folk songs with the music of the Orthodox Church. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the first ...
47. Gustav Mahler
Soundtrack | Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu
Gustav Mahler is largely considered one of the most talented symphonic composers of the late 19th Century and early 20th Century. His musical output comprised mainly of symphonic and song cycles requiring mammoth orchestras and often choruses. Sadly, Mahler never experienced popularity as a ...
48. Johannes Brahms
Soundtrack | Grosse Pointe Blank
German Romantic composer Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg in 1833 and died in Vienna, Austria in 1897. A perfectionist, he often compared himself unfavorably to composers such as Beethoven and ended up destroying many compositions without their ever being heard. While basically conservative, he ...
49. Antonín Dvorák
Soundtrack | Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu
Antonin Dvorak was a son of butcher, but he did not follow his father's trade. While assisting his father part-time, he studied music, and graduated from the Prague Organ School in 1859. He also was an accomplished violinist and violist, and joined the Bohemian Theatre Orchestra, which was under ...
50. Edvard Grieg
Soundtrack | Smurfs
Edvard Hagerup Grieg (Greig) was born on on June 15, 1843, in Bergen, Norway. His father, named Alexander Greig (originally McGregor), was English consul of Scottish origin. His mother, named Gesine Hagerup, was an educated pianist. Grieg grew up among three sisters and an elder brother. He began ...
51. Michael Kamen
Soundtrack | Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Michael Kamen was born on April 15, 1948 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Don Juan DeMarco (1994) and X-Men (2000). He was married to Sandra Keenan. He died on November 18, 2003 in London, England, UK.
52. Anton Bruckner
Soundtrack | Ne le dis à personne
Anton Bruckner was born on September 4, 1824 in Ansfelden, Upper Austria, Austrian Empire [now Austria]. He was a composer, known for Tell No One (2006), Bronson (2008) and Thirteen Days (2000). He died on October 11, 1896 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria].
53. Franz von Suppé
Soundtrack | Sullivan's Travels
Franz von Suppé was born on April 18, 1819 in Spalato, Dalmatia, Austrian Empire [now Split, Croatia]. He was a writer and composer, known for Sullivan's Travels (1941), Beetlejuice (1988) and Stolen Kisses (1929). He died on May 21, 1895 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria].
54. Leopold Mozart
Soundtrack | The Story of Us
Leopold Mozart was born on November 14, 1719 in Augsburg, Holy Roman Empire [now Bavaria, Germany]. He was married to Anna Maria Pertl. He died on May 28, 1787 in Salzburg, Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg, Holy Roman Empire [now Salzburg, Austria].
55. Bill Conti
Soundtrack | Rocky
Bill Conti was born on April 13, 1942 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for Rocky (1976), For Your Eyes Only (1981) and The Karate Kid Part II (1986). He is married to Shelby Cox. They have two children.
56. Randy Newman
Soundtrack | The Princess and the Frog
Randy Newman is an American film composer and singer who is well-known for composing The Princess and the Frog, Meet the Parents and various Pixar films including the Toy Story, Monsters, Inc and Cars franchises as well as A Bug's Life. He wrote iconic songs such as "Short People", "You've Got A ...
57. Sergei Prokofiev
Soundtrack | Children of Men
Prokofiev was a multi-talented man and an innovative composer. He learned piano from his mother and chess from his father. He always had a chess set on his piano, and was able to play against the chess champions of his time. He studied music with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, graduated with highest ...
58. Leonard Bernstein
Soundtrack | New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts
Renowned composer ("West Side Story", "Candide", "On The Town"), conductor, arranger, pianist, educator, author, TV/radio host, educated at the Boston Latin School and Harvard University (BA) with Walter Piston. Edward Burlingame Hill and A. Tillman Merritt. He studied piano with Helen Coates, ...
59. Giorgio Moroder
Soundtrack | Top Gun
Giorgio Moroder was born on April 26, 1940 in Urtijëi, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy. He is a composer and actor, known for Top Gun (1986), Over the Top (1987) and Flashdance (1983).
60. Harold Faltermeyer
Soundtrack | Beverly Hills Cop
Harold Faltermeyer was born on October 5, 1952 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany. He is a composer, known for Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Top Gun (1986) and Beverly Hills Cop II (1987). He was previously married to Karin Faltermeyer.
61. Dimitri Tiomkin
Soundtrack | High Noon
Dimitri Tiomkin was a Russian Jewish composer who emigrated to America and became one of the most distinguished and best-loved music writers of Hollywood. He won a hallowed place in the pantheon of the most successful and productive composers in American film history, earning himself four Oscars ...
62. Michel Legrand
Composer | The Thomas Crown Affair
Michel Legrand is a three-time Academy Award-winning French composer, conductor and pianist who composed over 200 film and television scores as well as recorded over a hundred albums of jazz, popular and classical music.
He was born on February 24, 1932, in Becon-les-Bruyeres, in the Paris suburbs, ...
63. Rolf A. Wilhelm
Composer | Die feuerrote Baronesse
Rolf A. Wilhelm was born on June 23, 1927 in Munich, Germany. Rolf A. was a composer, known for Die feuerrote Baronesse (1959), Dr. Mabuse vs. Scotland Yard (1963) and Der Zigeunerbaron (1962). Rolf A. was married to Helga Neuner. Rolf A. died on January 17, 2013 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.
64. Cat Stevens
Soundtrack | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Cat Stevens was born on July 21, 1948 in London, England, UK. He is a music artist and composer, known for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Almost Famous (2000) and Rushmore (1998). He has been married to Fawzia Ali since September 9, 1979. They have five children.
Make the songs for "Harold and Maud"!
65. Stu Phillips
Composer | Knight Rider
Stu Phillips was born on September 9, 1929 in the USA. He is a composer and actor, known for Knight Rider (1982), Argo (2012) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016).
Composer from the Battlestar Galactica-Soundtrack and many more!
66. Claude Debussy
Soundtrack | Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Claude Debussy was born in St. Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, France. His father was a salesman and kept a china shop. His mother was a seamstress. Some traumatizing events in his childhood caused him a depression and he never spoke about his early years. Later he could not compose without having his...
67. Frédéric Chopin
Soundtrack | The Avengers
Frédéric François Chopin was born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, on March 1, 1810, in Zelazowa Wola, Masovia region, Duchy of Warsaw, Poland. His father, named Mikolaj (Nicolas) Chopin, was a Frenchman who came to Poland from Lorraine, and eventually became professor at Warsaw Lyceum. His mother, ...
68. Patrick Doyle
Composer | Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Patrick Doyle is a classically trained composer.
His first film score, the acclaimed adaptation of "Henry V" with Kenneth Branagh for Renaissance films was scored in 1989. He has subsequently worked with Kenneth Branagh, a long time collaborator on numerous pictures including "Dead Again", "Much Ado...
69. Wyatt McClure
Actor | I See You
Wyatt McClure is an actor from Cleveland, OH. He is a recurring character "Billy Sparks" on the CBS Series, Young Sheldon. He can also be seen in an episode of Alex Inc as Angelo Pizza. Wyatt has credits that include feature films "Psychos," "Glass Jaw," and the "Terror of Hallow's Eve." He can ...
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