Chronological list of English classical composers
Encyclopedia
The following is a chronological list of classical music
composers living and working in England
, or originating from England.
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
composers living and working in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, or originating from England.
Medieval
- GodricGodric of FinchaleSaint Godric of Finchale was an English hermit, merchant and popular medieval saint, although he was never formally canonized. He was born in Walpole in Norfolk and died in Finchale in County Durham, England....
(c. 1065–1170) - W. de WycombeW. de WycombeW. de Wycombe was an English composer and copyist of the Medieval era. He was precentor of the priory of Leominster in Herefordshire...
(fl. c. 1275–1279) - John HanboysJohn HanboysJohn Hanboys, also John Hamboys and possibly J. de Alto Bosco , was an English Renaissance composer and musical theorist, highly regarded in his own country, although the details of his life are unclear.-Biography:...
(14th century); may be J. de Alto Bosco (fl. c. 1370) - Johannes AlanusJohannes AlanusJohannes Alanus was an English composer. He wrote the motet Sub arturo plebs/Fons citharizancium/In omnem terram. Also attributed to him are the songs "Min frow, min frow" and "Min herze wil all zit frowen pflegen", both lieds, and "S'en vos por moy pitié ne truis", a virelai...
(14th century; died 1373?) - AleynAleynAleyn was an English composer. Two of his works survive in the Old Hall Manuscript, one a Gloria , the other a Sarum Agnus Dei discant , later scratched out, which is ascribed to W. Aleyn. If this inscription is correct, the conflation of this composer and Johannes Alanus, who wrote Sub Arturo...
(fl. c. 1400) - BytteringBytteringByttering was an English composer during the transitional period from Medieval to Renaissance styles. Five of his compositions have survived, all of them in the Old Hall Manuscript.A possible identification of Byttering with a Thomas Byteryng has been made...
(fl. c. 1410–1420) - PycardPycardPycard, also spelt Picard and Picart was an English or French Medieval and Renaissance transitionary composer....
(fl. c. 1410) - Roy HenryRoy HenryRoy Henry was an English composer, almost certainly a king of England, probably Henry V, but also possibly Henry IV...
(fl. c. 1410)
Renaissance
- Leonel PowerLeonel PowerLeonel Power was an English composer of the late Medieval and early Renaissance eras. Along with John Dunstaple, he was one of the major figures in English music in the early 15th century.-Life:...
(c. 1370/1385–1445) - John Dunstaple (c.1390–1453)
- John PlummerJohn PlummerJohn Plummer was an English composer who flourished during the reign of Henry VI of England....
(c. 1410–c. 1483) - Henry AbyngdonHenry AbyngdonHenry Abyngdon, Abingdon or Abington was an English ecclesiastic and musician, perhaps the first to receive a university degree in music.-Biography:...
(c. 1418–1497) - William HauteWilliam HawteSir William Hawte was an English composer about whom little is known. He was knighted in 1465, and is represented in a number of manuscript choirbooks that survive to this day...
(c. 1430–1497) - Robert Morton (c. 1430–after 1479)
- Richard HygonsRichard HygonsRichard Hygons was an English composer of the early Renaissance. While only two compositions of this late 15th century composer have survived, one of them, a five-voice setting of the Salve Regina Marian antiphon, has attracted interest from musicologists because of its close relationship to...
(c. 1435–c. 1509) - Walter FryeWalter FryeWalter Frye was an English composer of the early Renaissance.-Life:Nothing certain is known about his life. He may have been a "Walter Cantor" at Ely Cathedral between 1443 and 1466, and he may have been the Walter Frye who joined the London Parish Clerks in 1456; he also may have been the Walter...
(fl. c. 1443–c. 1474) - Gilbert BanesterGilbert BanesterGilbert Banester was an English composer. Possibly a native of London, he was Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal beginning in 1478. His works are found in a number of Tudor manuscript collections of church music, including the Pepys Manuscript; there is also an antiphon by his hand in...
(c. 1445–1487) - Walter LambeWalter LambeWalter Lambe was an English composer.His works are well represented in Eton Choirbook. Also Lambeth and Caius Choirbook include his works.-List of works in Eton Choirbook:* Ascendit Christus...
(c. 1450–c. 1504) - John BrowneJohn Browne (composer)John Browne is first among the composers of the Eton Choirbook both in size of contribution and excellence of achievement. It is astonishing that work of such exceptional interest should be known to us only from the Eton Choirbook, even given the paucity of late fifteenth- and early...
(b. 1453?; fl. c. 1490) - Robert FayrfaxRobert FayrfaxRobert Fayrfax was an English Renaissance composer, considered the most prominent and influential of the reigns of Kings Henry VII and Henry VIII of England.-Biography:...
(1464–1521) - Richard DavyRichard DavyRichard Davy was a Renaissance composer, organist and choirmaster, one of the most represented in the Eton Choirbook.-Biography:...
(c. 1465–1538?) - William Cornysh the youngerWilliam CornyshWilliam Cornysh the Younger was an English composer, dramatist, actor, and poet.-Life:...
(1468–1523) - Robert Johnson (c.1470–after 1554)
- Thomas AshewellThomas AshwellThomas Ashwell or Ashewell was an English composer of the Renaissance. He was a skilled composer of polyphony, and may have been the teacher of John Taverner....
(c. 1478–after 1513) - John RedfordJohn RedfordJohn Redford was a major English composer and organist of the Tudor period.From about 1525 he was organist at St Paul's Cathedral and choirmaster there from 1534. Many of his works are represented in the Mulliner Book...
(c. 1486–1547) - Nicholas LudfordNicholas LudfordNicholas Ludford was an English composer of the Tudor period. He is known for his festal masses, which are preserved in two early-16th-century choirbooks, the Caius Choirbook at Caius College, Cambridge, and the Lambeth Choirbook at Lambeth Palace, London, along with those of the older composer...
(c. 1490–1557) - John TavernerJohn TavernerJohn Taverner was an English composer and organist, regarded as the most important English composer of his era.- Career :...
(1495–1545) - Christopher TyeChristopher TyeChristopher Tye was an English composer and organist, who studied at Cambridge University and in 1545 became a Doctor of Music both there and at Oxford.He was choirmaster of Ely Cathedral from about 1543 and also organist there from 1559...
(c. 1505–c. 1572) - Thomas TallisThomas TallisThomas Tallis was an English composer. Tallis flourished as a church musician in 16th century Tudor England. He occupies a primary place in anthologies of English church music, and is considered among the best of England's early composers. He is honoured for his original voice in English...
(c. 1505–1585) - John Merbecke (c. 1510–c. 1585)
- John Sheppard (c. 1515–1559)
- William Mundy (c. 1528–before 1591)
- Robert ParsonsRobert Parsons (composer)Robert Parsons was an English composer.Although little is known about the life of Robert Parsons, it is likely that in his youth he was a choir boy, as until 1561 he was an assistant to Richard Bower, Master of the Children Choristers of the Chapel Royal.Parsons was appointed Gentleman of the...
(c. 1535–1572) - Robert WhiteRobert White (composer)Robert White probably born in Holborn, a district of London, was a catholic English composer whose liturgical music to Latin texts is considered particularly fine...
(c. 1538–1574) - William ByrdWilliam ByrdWilliam Byrd was an English composer of the Renaissance. He wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard and consort music.-Provenance:Knowledge of Byrd's biography expanded in the late 20th century, thanks largely...
(c. 1540–1623) - Anthony HolborneAnthony HolborneAnthony Holborne was a composer of English consort music during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.-Life:Holborne entered Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1562. He was admitted to the Inner Temple Court in 1565. Holborne married Elisabeth Marten on 14 June 1584. On the title page of both his books he...
(c. 1545–1602) - John MundyJohn Mundy (composer)John Mundy was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the Renaissance period.-Life and works:...
(c. 1555–1630) - Thomas MorleyThomas MorleyThomas Morley was an English composer, theorist, editor and organist of the Renaissance, and the foremost member of the English Madrigal School. He was the most famous composer of secular music in Elizabethan England and an organist at St Paul's Cathedral...
(1557–1653) - Peter PhilipsPeter PhilipsPeter Philips was an eminent English composer, organist, and Catholic priest exiled to Flanders...
(c. 1560–1628) - William BradeWilliam BradeWilliam Brade was an English composer, violinist, and viol player of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras, mainly active in northern Germany. He was the first Englishman to write a canzona, an Italian form, and probably the first to write a piece for solo violin.-Biography:Little is known...
(1560–1630) - John BullJohn Bull (composer)John Bull was an English composer, musician, and organ builder. He was a renowned keyboard performer of the virginalist school and most of his compositions were written for this medium.-Life:...
(c. 1562–1628) - John DowlandJohn DowlandJohn Dowland was an English Renaissance composer, singer, and lutenist. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep" , "Come again", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe" and "In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and has...
(1563–1626) - Giles FarnabyGiles FarnabyGiles Farnaby was an English composer and virginalist of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.-Life:Giles Farnaby was born about 1563, perhaps in Truro, Cornwall, England or near London. His father, Thomas, was a Cittizen and Joyner of London, and Giles may have been related to Thomas Farnaby , the...
(c. 1563–1640) - William Leighton (c. 1565–1622)
- Thomas CampionThomas CampionThomas Campion was an English composer, poet and physician. He wrote over a hundred lute songs; masques for dancing, and an authoritative technical treatise on music.-Life:...
(1567–1620) - Tobias HumeTobias HumeTobias Hume was a Scottish composer, viol player and soldier.Little is known of his life. Some have suggested that he was born in 1569 because he was admitted to the London Charterhouse in 1629, a pre-requisite to which was being at least 60 years old, though there is no certainty over this...
(1569?–1645) - John CoprarioJohn Cooper (composer)John Cooper , also known as Giovanni Coprario or Coperario, was an English composer, viol player and lutenist....
(John Cooper; Giovanni Coperario) (1570–1626) - John Farmer (c. 1570–c. 1601)
- Thomas Lupo (1571–1627)
- Martin PeersonMartin PeersonMartin Peerson was an English composer, organist and virginalist...
(1571/1573–1650) - John WardJohn Ward (composer)John Ward was an English composer who was a contemporary of John Dowland.Born in Canterbury, John Ward was a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral. He went to London where he served Sir Henry Fanshawe both as an attorney in the Exchequer and as a musician. Ward married and had three children...
(1571–1638) - Daniel BachelerDaniel Bachelerthumb|right|250px|Daniel Bacheler from an engraving by [[Thomas Lant]] of the funeral procession of Sir Philip Sidney in 1586Daniel Bacheler, also variously spelt Bachiler, Batchiler or Batchelar, was an English lutenist and composer...
(1572–1618) - Thomas TomkinsThomas TomkinsThomas Tomkins was an English composer of the late Tudor and early Stuart period. In addition to being one of the prominent members of the English madrigal school, he was a skilled composer of keyboard and consort music, and the last member of the English virginalist school.-Life:Tomkins was born...
(1572–1656) - Ellis GibbonsEllis GibbonsEllis Gibbons was a composer and one of the older brothers of Orlando Gibbons.His father William was one of the Oxford town waits, but moved to Cambridge between the birth and christening of Orlando...
(1573–1603) - John WilbyeJohn WilbyeJohn Wilbye , was an English madrigal composer. The son of a tanner, he was born at Brome, Suffolk, near Diss, and received the patronage of the Cornwallis family. It is thought that he accompanied Elizabeth Cornwallis to Hengrave Hall near Bury St...
(1574–1638) - John BennetJohn BennetJohn Bennet was a composer of the English madrigal school. His madrigals include All creatures now as well as Weep, O Mine Eyes. The latter is a homage to John Dowland, using part of Dowland's most famous piece, Flow my Tears, also known in its pavane form as Lachrymae Antiquae.- Media :-External...
(c. 1575–after 1614) - Alfonso Ferrabosco the youngerAlfonso Ferrabosco the youngerAlfonso Ferrabosco the younger was an English composer and viol player of Italian descent. He straddles the line between the Renaissance and Baroque eras.-Biography:...
(c. 1575–1628) - Thomas WeelkesThomas WeelkesThomas Weelkes was an English composer and organist. He became organist of Winchester College in 1598, moving to Chichester Cathedral. His works are chiefly vocal, and include madrigals, anthems and services.-Life:Weelkes was baptised in the little village church of Elsted in Sussex on 25...
(1576–1623) - Richard DeringRichard DeringRichard Dering — also Deering, Dearing, Diringus, etc. — was an English Renaissance and Baroque composer. Despite being English, he lived and worked most of his life in the Spanish-dominated South Netherlands owing to his Roman Catholic faith.-Biography:Dering was likely a Protestant in England...
(c. 1580–1630) - Michael EastMichael East (composer)Michael East was an English organist and composer. He was a nephew of London music publisher Thomas East , although, once it was thought that he was his son....
(c. 1580–1648) - Thomas FordThomas Ford (composer)Thomas Ford was an English composer, lutenist, viol player and poet.He was attached to the court of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of James I, who died in 1612...
(c. 1580–1648) - Orlando GibbonsOrlando GibbonsOrlando Gibbons was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods...
(1583–1625) - Robert Johnson (1583–1633)
- Thomas Robinson (c. 1588–after 1609)
Baroque
- Nicholas LanierNicholas LanierNicholas Lanier, sometimes Laniere was an English composer, singer, lutenist and painter....
(1588–1666) - Richard MicoRichard MicoRichard Mico was an English composer. He was born in Taunton, Somerset, the eldest of threesons of Walter Mico. The family, originally called "Micault", had immigrated to England as French Huguenots several generations earlier...
(1590–1661) - John JenkinsJohn Jenkins (composer)John Jenkins , English composer, was born in Maidstone, Kent, and died at Kimberley, Norfolk.Little is known of his early life. The son of Henry Jenkins, a carpenter who occasionally made musical instruments, he may have been the "Jack Jenkins" employed in the household of Anne, Countess of Warwick...
(1592–1678) - Henry LawesHenry LawesHenry Lawes was an English musician and composer.He was born at Dinton in Wiltshire, and received his musical education from John Cooper, better known under his Italian pseudonym Giovanni Coperario, a famous composer of the day...
(1595–1662) - John HiltonJohn Hilton (composer)John Hilton was an English early baroque composer. He is best known for his books Ayres or Fa-Las for Three Voices and Catch That Catch Can.- Life :...
(1599–1657) - William LawesWilliam LawesWilliam Lawes was an English composer and musician.-Life and career:Lawes was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire and was baptised on 1 May 1602...
(1602–1645) - Christopher SimpsonChristopher SimpsonChristopher Simpson was an English musician and composer, particularly associated with music for the viola da gamba.-Life:Simpson was born between 1602 and 1606, probably at Egton, Yorkshire...
(c. 1602/1606–1669) - William ChildWilliam ChildWilliam Child was an English composer and organist.Born in Bristol, William Child was a chorister in the cathedral under the direction of Elway Bevin. In 1630 he began his lifetime association with St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, becoming first a lay-clerk and, from 1632, Master of the...
(1606–1697) - Henry CookeHenry CookeHenry Cooke was an English composer, actor and singer. At the outbreak of the English Civil War he was a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal and joined the Royalist cause, in the service of which he rose to the rank of Captain...
(1615–1672) - Christopher GibbonsChristopher GibbonsChristopher Gibbons was an English composer and organist. He was the second son, and first surviving child of the composer Orlando Gibbons.As a child, Gibbons sang in the Chapel Royal under the direction of Nathaniel Giles...
(1615–1676) - Matthew LockeMatthew Locke (composer)Matthew Locke was an English Baroque composer and music theorist.-Biography:As a boy, Locke was trained in the choir of Exeter Cathedral, under Edward Gibbons, the brother of Orlando Gibbons...
(c. 1621–1677) - John BanisterJohn Banister (composer)John Banister was an English musical composer and violinist.-Early life:Banister was the son of one of the waits of the parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, and that profession he at first followed...
(c. 1624/1630–1679) - Pelham Humphrey (1647–1674)
- Michael WiseMichael WiseMichael Wise was an English organist and composer. He sang as a child in the choir of the Chapel Royal and served as a countertenor in St George's Chapel, Windsor from 1666 until, in 1668, he was appointed Organist and Choirmaster at Salisbury Cathedral...
(1647–1687) - John BlowJohn BlowJohn Blow was an English Baroque composer and organist, appointed to Westminster Abbey in 1669. His pupils included William Croft, Jeremiah Clarke and Henry Purcell. In 1685 he was named a private musician to James II. His only stage composition, Venus and Adonis John Blow (baptised 23 February...
(1649–1708) - William TurnerWilliam Turner (composer)William Turner was a composer and countertenor of the Baroque era. A contemporary of John Blow and Henry Purcell, he is best remembered for his verse anthems, of which over forty survive...
(1651–1740) - Henry PurcellHenry PurcellHenry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
(1659–1695) - Daniel PurcellDaniel PurcellDaniel Purcell was an English composer, the younger brother of Henry Purcell.As a teenager, Daniel Purcell joined the choir of the Chapel Royal, and in his mid-twenties he became organist of Magdalen College, Oxford. He began to compose while at Oxford, but in 1695 he moved to London to compose...
(1664–1717) - Johann Christoph PepuschJohann Christoph PepuschJohann Christoph Pepusch , also known as John Christopher Pepusch and Dr Pepusch, was a German-born composer who spent most of his working life in England....
(John Christopher Pepusch) (1667–1742) - John Eccles (1668–1735)
- Henry Eccles (1670–1742)
- Jeremiah ClarkeJeremiah ClarkeJeremiah Clarke was an English baroque composer and organist.Thought to have been born in London around 1674, Clarke was a pupil of John Blow at St Paul's Cathedral. He later became organist at the Chapel Royal...
(c. 1674–1707) - John WeldonJohn Weldon (musician)John Weldon was an English composer.Born at Chichester in the south of England, he was educated at Eton, where he was a chorister, and later received musical instruction from Henry Purcell...
(1676–1736) - William CroftWilliam CroftWilliam Croft was an English composer and organist.Croft was born at the Manor House, Nether Ettington, Warwickshire. He was educated at the Chapel Royal, under the instruction of John Blow, and remained there until 1698. Two years after this departure, he became organist of St. Anne's Church, Soho...
(1678–1727) - William CorbettWilliam Corbett (composer)William Corbett was an English composer, violinist, and concert performer. The Director of New Theater from 1700, Corbett was appointed orchestra director of King's Theatre, The Haymarket in 1705 and became a member of the Royal Orchestra in 1709.In 1716, he was appointed Director of the King's...
(1680–1748) - Thomas RoseingraveThomas RoseingraveThomas Roseingrave was an Irish musician and organist.-Early years:He was born at Winchester but spent his early years in Dublin, studying music with his father, Daniel Roseingrave. In 1707 he entered Trinity College but failed to complete his degree...
(1688–1766) - William BabellWilliam BabellWilliam Babell was an English musician, composer and prolific arranger of vocal music for harpsichord.-Life:...
(1689/1690–1723) - Robert WoodcockRobert WoodcockRobert Woodcock was an English marine painter, musician, and composer who lived during the Baroque period. He is notable for having published the earliest known flute concertos, and the earliest known English oboe concertos.Robert Woodcock Robert Woodcock (bap. October 9, 1690 – died April...
(c. 1690–1728) - Maurice GreeneMaurice Greene (composer)Maurice Greene was an English composer and organist.- Biography :Born in London, the son of a clergyman, Greene became a choirboy at St Paul's Cathedral under Jeremiah Clarke and Charles King...
(1696–1755) - Richard JonesRichard Jones (composer)Richard Jones was an English composer and violinist.Jones's first publication appeared in 1720, a solo cantata While in a Lovely Rurall Seat. He was associated with the Drury Lane Theater Orchestra in London possibly as early as 1723; according to John Hawkins , in 1730 he succeeded Stefano...
(late 17th century–1744)
Classical era
- Thomas ChilcotThomas Chilcot-Life: Thomas Chilcot of Bath, Somerset was born in the West of England in or about 1707. Records of his birth, like most other records from his life, are now lost. Thomas was educated at Bath Charity School, whose headmaster, Henry Dixon, had a strong interest in church music...
(c. 1707–1766) - Charles AvisonCharles AvisonCharles Avison – 10 May 1770) was an English composer during the Baroque and Classical periods. He was a church organist at St John The Baptist Church in Newcastle and at St. Nicholas's Church...
(1709–1770) - Thomas Arne (1710–1778)
- William Boyce (1711–1779)
- John StanleyJohn Stanley (composer)Charles John Stanley was an English composer and organist.-Biography:Stanley, who was blind from an early age, studied music with Maurice Greene and held a number of organist appointments in London, such as St Andrew's, Holborn from 1726...
(1712–1786) - James NaresJames NaresJames Nares was an English composer of mostly sacred vocal works, though he also composed for the harpsichord and organ....
(1715–1783) - William Walond (1719–1768)
- John GarthJohn Garth (composer)John Garth was an English composer, born in Harperley, near Witton-le-Wear, Co. Durham.-Life:On 23 June 1742 Garth became a freemason at the lodge meeting at the The Bird and Bush in Saddler Street, Durham....
(1721–1810) - Charles BurneyCharles BurneyCharles Burney FRS was an English music historian and father of authors Frances Burney and Sarah Burney.-Life and career:...
(1726–1814) - Capel BondCapel BondCapel Bond was an English organist and composer.He was born in Gloucester, the son of William Bond and the younger brother of painter and japanner Daniel Bond . He received his education at the Crypt school with his uncle, Rev...
(1730–1790) - Thomas Sanders DupuisThomas Sanders DupuisThomas Sanders Dupuis, Mus. Doc. was a composer and organist of French extraction, born in London. He succeeded William Boyce at the Chapel Royal, and was regarded as one of the best organists of his day....
(1733–1796) - Thomas Linley the elder (1733–1795)
- Benjamin CookeBenjamin CookeBenjamin Cooke was an English composer, organist and teacher.Cooke was born in London and named after his father, a music publisher based in Covent Garden...
(1734–1793) - John BennettJohn Bennett (composer)John Bennett was an English organist and composer.-Biography:Very little is known about him. The date of his birth is unknown. He died in September 1784, after serving as organist at St. Dionis Backchuch Fenchurch, London for over thirty years. He was a pupil of Johann Christoph Pepusch...
(c. 1735–1784) - Philip Hayes (1738–1797)
- William HerschelWilliam HerschelSir Frederick William Herschel, KH, FRS, German: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel was a German-born British astronomer, technical expert, and composer. Born in Hanover, Wilhelm first followed his father into the Military Band of Hanover, but emigrated to Britain at age 19...
(1738–1822) - Michael ArneMichael ArneMichael Arne was an English composer, harpsichordist, organist, singer, and actor. He was the son of composer Thomas Arne and lauded soprano Cecilia Young, the latter of which belonged to the famous Young family of musicians of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries...
(1740/1741–1786) - Samuel ArnoldSamuel Arnold (composer)Samuel Arnold was an English composer and organist.Arnold was born in London , and began writing music for the theatre in about 1764. A few years later he became director of music at the Marylebone Gardens, for which much of his popular music was written...
(1740–1802) - Samuel WebbeSamuel WebbeSamuel Webbe was an English composer.Born in Minorca in 1740, Webbe was brought up in London. His father died when he was still a baby and his mother returned to London where she raised Webbe in difficult circumstances. At the age of eleven he was apprenticed to a cabinet maker, and during the...
(1740–1816) - James HookJames Hook (composer)James Hook was an English composer and organist.-Life and musical career:He was born in Norwich, the son of James Hook, a razor-grinder and cutler. He displayed a remarkable musical talent at an early age, playing the harpsichord by the age of four and performing concertos in public at age six...
(1746–1827) - William ShieldWilliam ShieldWilliam Shield was an English composer, violinist and violist who was born in Swalwell near Gateshead, the son of William Shield and his wife, Mary, née Cash.-Life and musical career:...
(1748–1829) - John Stafford SmithJohn Stafford SmithJohn Stafford Smith was a British composer, church organist, and early musicologist. He was one of the first serious collectors of manuscripts of works by Johann Sebastian Bach....
(1750–1836) - John MarshJohn Marsh (composer)John Marsh was an English music composer, born in Dorking, England. A lawyer by training, he is known to have written at least 350 compositions, including at least 39 symphonies...
(1752–1828) - Thomas Linley the youngerThomas Linley the youngerThomas Linley the younger was the eldest son of the composer Thomas Linley the elder and his wife Mary Johnson. He was one of the most precocious composers and performers that have been known in England, and became known as the "English Mozart".-Early life:Linley's abilities were apparent from a...
(1756–1778) - Stephen StoraceStephen StoraceStephen Storace was an English composer. His sister was the famous opera singer Nancy Storace. He was born in London in the Parish of St Marylebone to an English mother and Italian father...
(1762–1796) - Matthew CamidgeCamidge familyThe Camidge family were a family who supplied York Minster with organists for 103 years. Its members were* John Camidge , in office 1756-1803...
(1764–1844) - John Addison (c. 1765–1844)
- Thomas AttwoodThomas Attwood (composer)Thomas Attwood was an English composer and organist.The son of a musician in the royal band, Attwood was born in London. At the age of nine he became a chorister in the Chapel Royal. In 1783 he was sent to study abroad at the expense of the Prince of Wales , who had been favourably impressed by...
(1765–1838) - Samuel WesleySamuel WesleySamuel Wesley was an English organist and composer in the late Georgian period. Wesley was a contemporary of Mozart and was called by some "the English Mozart."-Personal life:...
(1766–1837)
Romantic
- William CrotchWilliam CrotchWilliam Crotch was an English composer, organist and artist.Born in Norwich to a master carpenter he showed early musical talent . The three and a half year old Master William Crotch was taken to London by his ambitious mother, where he not only played on the organ of the Chapel Royal in St....
(1775–1847) - John FieldJohn Field (composer)John Field was an Irish pianist, composer, and teacher. He was born in Dublin into a musical family, and received his early education there. The Fields soon moved to London, where Field studied under Muzio Clementi...
(1782–1837) - Thomas AdamsThomas Adams (musician)Thomas Adams was an English organist and composer for organ.Born in London, Adams studied under Thomas Busby, and served as organist at several prominent London churches...
(1785–1858) - George PintoGeorge PintoGeorge Pinto was an English composer and keyboard virtuoso.-Family:He was baptized at St. Mary's, Lambeth on February 11, 1786 as George Sanders. Accounts of Pinto's life and character are tenuous. There seems to be no surviving correspondence, nor did he have any descendants preserving a family...
(1785–1806) - Cipriani PotterCipriani PotterPhilip Cipriani Hambly Potter was a British composer, pianist and educator.-Life and career:Born in London, the son of a piano teacher named Richard Huddleston Potter, Cipriani was named after his godmother...
(1792–1871) - John Goss (1800–1880)
- John Lodge EllertonJohn Lodge EllertonJohn Lodge Ellerton was an English composer of classical music.Ellerton was born in Cheshire with the name of John Lodge. According to the Dictionary of National Biography of 1889, he attended Rugby School and graduated with an MA from Brasenose College Oxford University in 1828...
(1801–1873) - Elias Parish AlvarsElias Parish AlvarsEli Parish was an English harpist and composer. He changed his name to Elias Parish Alvars, and sometimes used the pseudonym Albert Alvars in his publications....
(1808–1849) - Samuel Sebastian WesleySamuel Sebastian WesleySamuel Sebastian Wesley was an English organist and composer.-Biography:Born in London, he was the eldest child in the composer Samuel Wesley's second family, which he formed with Sarah Suter having separated from his wife Charlotte. Samuel Sebastian was the grandson of Charles Wesley...
(1810–1876) - George Alexander MacfarrenGeorge Alexander MacfarrenSir George Alexander Macfarren was an English composer.-Life:George Alexander Macfarren was born in London on 2 March 1813 to George Macfarren, a dancing-master, dramatic author, and journalist, and Elizabeth Macfarren, née Jackson. At the age of seven, Macfarren was sent to Dr...
(1813–1887) - William Christian SelléWilliam Christian SelléWilliam Christian Sellé DMus was a Victorian doctor of music, composer and for forty years Musician in Ordinary to her Majesty Queen Victoria.-Biography:...
(1813–1898) - Henry SmartHenry SmartHenry Thomas Smart was an English organist and composer.Smart was born in London, a nephew of the conductor Sir George Smart. He studied first for the law, but soon gave this up for music...
(1813–1879) - William Sterndale BennettWilliam Sterndale BennettSir William Sterndale Bennett was an English composer. He ranks as the most distinguished English composer of the Romantic school-Biography:...
(1816–1875) - Henry Charles LitolffHenry Charles LitolffHenry Charles Litolff was a piano virtuoso, composer of Romantic music and music publisher.Litolff was born in London, the son of a Scottish mother and an Alsatian father...
(1818–1891) - Edmund Chipp (1823–1886)
- Henry HilesHenry HilesHenry Hiles was an English composer, organist, writer, and music educator.Born in Shrewsbury, Hiles was the youngest of six sons. His eldest brother, John Hiles, was known as an arranger of organ music and for authoring several catechisms. He began studying the piano at the age of 4 and began...
(1826–1904) - John Baptiste CalkinJohn Baptiste CalkinJohn Baptiste Calkin was an English composer, organist and music teacher.Calkin got his musical education from his father James Calkin , a pianist, cellist and composer. From 1846 to 1853, he worked as an organist, preceptor and choirmaster at the St. Columba's College in Dublin...
(1827–1905) - George TolhurstGeorge TolhurstGeorge Tolhurst was an English composer, resident from 1852 to 1866 in Australia.Born in Maidstone, Kent, George emigrated to Melbourne with his father, where he practised as a teacher of music. He returned to England in 1866, and died in Barnstaple in 1877...
(1827–1877) - Francis Edward BacheFrancis Edward BacheFrancis Edward Bache was an English organist and composer.Born at Birmingham as the eldest of seven children of Samuel Bache, a well-known Unitarian minister, he studied with James Stimpson, Birmingham City Organist, and with violinist Alfred Mellon while being educated at his father's school...
(1833–1858) - Ebenezer ProutEbenezer ProutEbenezer Prout , was an English musical theorist, writer, teacher and composer, whose instruction, afterwards embodied in a series of standard works, underpinned the work of many British musicians of succeeding generations....
(1835–1909) - Joseph BarnbyJoseph BarnbySir Joseph Barnby , English musical composer and conductor, son of Thomas Barnby, an organist, was born at York. He was a chorister at York Minster from the age of seven, was educated at the Royal Academy of Music under Cipriani Potter and Charles Lucas, and was appointed in 1862 organist of St...
(1838–1896) - Alice Mary SmithAlice Mary SmithAlice Mary Smith, married name Alice Mary Meadows White was an English composer.Smith was born in London, the third child of a relatively well-to-do family. She showed aptitude for music from her early years and took lessons privately from William Sterndale Bennett and George Macfarren, publishing...
(1839–1884) - Sydney SmithSydney Smith (composer)Sydney Smith , was a leading English pianist and composer in Victorian England. Sydney Smith grew up in a family of musicians. His father was the head of a music school and often gave concerts with his two sons, Sydney and his brother Boyton.Smith was born in Dorchester, Dorset...
(1839–1889) - John StainerJohn StainerSir John Stainer was an English composer and organist whose music, though not generally much performed today , was very popular during his lifetime...
(1840–1901) - Michael MaybrickMichael MaybrickMichael Maybrick was an English composer and singer, best known under his pseudonym Stephen Adams as the composer of "The Holy City," one of the most popular religious songs in English.-Early life:...
(Stephen Adams) (1841–1913) - Arthur SullivanArthur SullivanSir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
(1842–1900) - Hubert ParryHubert ParrySir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words...
(1848–1918) - Arthur Goring ThomasArthur Goring ThomasArthur Goring Thomas was an English composer. He was the youngest son of Freeman Thomas and Amelia, daughter of Colonel Thomas Frederick.He was born at Ratton Park, Sussex, and educated at Haileybury College...
(1850–1892) - Frederick CorderFrederick CorderFrederick Corder was an English composer and music teacher.-Biography:Corder was born in Hackney, the son of Micah Corder and his wife Charlotte Hill. He was educated at Blackheath Proprietary School and started music lessons, particularly piano, early. Later he studied with Henry Gadsby...
(1852–1932) - Frederic CowenFrederic Hymen CowenSir Frederic Hymen Cowen , was a British pianist, conductor and composer.-Early years:Cowen was born Hymen Frederick Cohen at 90 Duke Street, Kingston, Jamaica, the fifth and last child of Frederick Augustus Cohen and Emily Cohen née Davis. His siblings were Elizabeth Rose Cohen ; actress,...
(1852–1935) - Charles Villiers StanfordCharles Villiers StanfordSir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...
(1852–1924) - Bertram Luard-SelbyBertram Luard-SelbyBertram Luard-Selby was an English composer and cathedral organist. As an organist, he served in Salisbury Cathedral and Rochester Cathedral. As a composer, he wrote prolifically for the church, the concert-hall and the theatre.-Life and works:Luard-Selby was born at The Mote, Ightham, Kent...
(1853–1918) - Frederic CliffeFrederic CliffeFrederic Cliffe was an English composer.-Life:As a youth, Cliffe showed a promising musical aptitude and was enrolled as a scholar of the National Training School for Music, the parent of the Royal College of Music, under its first Principal Arthur Sullivan.From 1884 to 1931 he held the post of...
(1857–1931) - Rosalind EllicottRosalind Ellicott-Life:Ellicott was born in Cambridge, the daughter of Charles Ellicott, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. Her father had no interest in music whatsoever; however it has been suggested that it was his position that enabled her to have some of her works performed at the Three Choirs Festival...
(1857–1924) - Edward ElgarEdward ElgarSir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
(1857–1934) - Isidore de LaraIsidore de LaraIsidore de Lara, born Isidore Cohen , was an English composer and singer. After studying in Italy and France, he returned to England where he taught for several years at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and became a well known singer and composer of art songs...
(1858–1935) - Ethel SmythEthel SmythDame Ethel Mary Smyth, DBE was an English composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement.- Early career :...
(1858–1944) - Basil HarwoodBasil HarwoodBasil Harwood was an English organist and composer.-Life:Basil Harwood was born in Woodhouse, Gloucestershire on 11 April 1859. His mother died in 1867 when Basil was eight. His parents were Quakers but his elder sister Ada, on reaching 21 in 1867, converted to the Anglican Church...
(1859–1949)
Modern/Contemporary
- Frederick DeliusFrederick DeliusFrederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
(1862–1934) - Edward GermanEdward GermanSir Edward German was an English musician and composer of Welsh descent, best remembered for his extensive output of incidental music for the stage and as a successor to Arthur Sullivan in the field of English comic opera.As a youth, German played the violin and led the town orchestra, also...
(1862–1936) - Liza LehmannLiza LehmannLiza Lehmann was an English operatic soprano and composer, known for her vocal compositions.-Biography:She was born Elisabetha Nina Mary Frederica Lehmann in London. Her father was the German painter Rudolf Lehmann and her mother was Amelia Chambers, a music teacher, composer and arranger...
(1862–1918) - Arthur SomervellArthur SomervellSir Arthur Somervell was an English composer, and after Hubert Parry one of the most successful and influential writers of art song in the English music renaissance of the 1890s-1900s....
(1863–1937) - Edwin LemareEdwin LemareEdwin Henry Lemare was an English organist and composer who lived the latter part of his life in the United States.-Biography:...
(1866–1934) - Granville BantockGranville BantockSir Granville Bantock was a British composer of classical music.-Biography:Granville Ransome Bantock was born in London. His father was a Scottish doctor. He was intended by his parents for the Indian Civil Service but was drawn into the musical world. His first teacher was Dr Gordon Saunders at...
(1868–1946) - Haldane StewartHaldane StewartHaldane Campbell Stewart was an English musician, composer and cricketer. He was organist and choirmaster of Magdalen College, Oxford, and a composer known for his liturgical music. Stewart played as a batsman for the Kent County Cricket team....
(1868–1942) - Walford Davies (1869–1941)
- Ralph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
(1872–1958) - Ethel BarnsEthel BarnsEthel Barns was an English violinist, pianist and composer. She was born in London and entered the Royal Academy of Music at age 13, where she studied with Emile Sauret for violin, Ebenezer Prout for composition and Frederick Westlake for piano.Barns made her debut as a violinist at The Crystal...
(1874–1948) - Gustav HolstGustav HolstGustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
(1874–1934) - Samuel Coleridge-TaylorSamuel Coleridge-TaylorSamuel Coleridge-Taylor was an English composer who achieved such success that he was once called the "African Mahler".-Early life and education:...
(1875–1912) - Donald Tovey (1875–1940)
- Havergal BrianHavergal BrianHavergal Brian , was a British classical composer.Brian acquired a legendary status at the time of his rediscovery in the 1950s and 1960s for the many symphonies he had managed to write. By the end of his life he had completed 32, an unusually large number for any composer since Haydn or Mozart...
(1876–1972) - William HurlstoneWilliam HurlstoneWilliam Yeates Hurlstone was an English composer who studied piano and composition at the Royal College of Music, after gaining a scholarship. His piano professors were Algernon Ashton and Edward Dannreuther...
(1876–1906) - Thomas DunhillThomas DunhillThomas Frederick Dunhill was an English composer and writer on musical subjects. He is best-known for his song-cycle The Wind among the Reeds.-Life and career:Thomas Dunhill was born in Hampstead, London...
(1877–1946) - Henry Balfour GardinerHenry Balfour GardinerHenry Balfour Gardiner was an English musician, composer, and teacher. Between his conventional education at Charterhouse School and New College, Oxford, where he obtained only a pass degree, Gardiner was a piano student at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt am Main where he was taught by Knorr...
(1877–1950) - Roger QuilterRoger QuilterRoger Quilter was an English composer, known particularly for his songs.-Biography:Born in Hove, Sussex, Quilter was a younger son of Sir William Quilter, 1st Baronet, who was a noted art collector...
(1877–1953) - Rutland BoughtonRutland BoughtonRutland Boughton was an English composer who became well known in the early 20th century as a composer of opera and choral music....
(1878–1960) - Joseph HolbrookeJoseph HolbrookeJoseph Charles Holbrooke was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was sometimes referred to as "the cockney Wagner".-Family:...
(1878–1958) - Frank BridgeFrank BridgeFrank Bridge was an English composer and violist.-Life:Bridge was born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903 under Charles Villiers Stanford and others...
(1879–1941) - Cyril ScottCyril ScottCyril Meir Scott was an English composer, writer, and poet.-Biography:Scott was born in Oxton, England to a shipper and scholar of Greek and Hebrew, and Mary Scott , an amateur pianist. He showed a talent for music from an early age and was sent to the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, Germany to...
(1879–1970) - Hamilton HartyHamilton HartySir Hamilton Harty was an Irish and British composer, conductor, pianist and organist. In his capacity as a conductor, he was particularly noted as an interpreter of the music of Berlioz and he was much respected as a piano accompanist of exceptional prowess...
(1879–1941) - John IrelandJohn Ireland (composer)John Nicholson Ireland was an English composer.- Life :John Ireland was born in Bowdon, near Altrincham, Manchester, into a family of Scottish descent and some cultural distinction. His father, Alexander Ireland, a publisher and newspaper proprietor, was aged 70 at John's birth...
(1879–1962) - Edgar BaintonEdgar BaintonEdgar Leslie Bainton was a British composer, most celebrated for his church music. Perhaps his most famous piece is the liturgical anthem And I saw a new heaven, but during recent years Bainton's other musical works - neglected for decades - have been increasingly often heard in the concert...
(1880–1956) - John FouldsJohn FouldsJohn Herbert Foulds was a British composer of classical music. Largely self-taught as a composer, he was one of the most remarkable and unjustly forgotten figures of the "British Musical Renaissance"....
(1880–1939) - Lord Berners (1883–1950)
- Arnold BaxArnold BaxSir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, KCVO was an English composer and poet. His musical style blended elements of romanticism and impressionism, often with influences from Irish literature and landscape. His orchestral scores are noted for their complexity and colourful instrumentation...
(1883–1953) - George DysonGeorge Dyson (composer)Sir George Dyson KCVO was a well-known English musician and composer. His son is the physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson and among his grandchildren are the science historian George Dyson and Esther Dyson...
(1883–1964) - York BowenYork BowenEdwin York Bowen was an English composer and pianist. Bowen’s musical career spanned more than fifty years during which time he wrote over 160 works. As well as being a pianist and composer, Bowen was a talented conductor, organist, violist and horn player...
(1884–1961) - George ButterworthGeorge ButterworthGeorge Sainton Kaye Butterworth, MC was an English composer best known for the orchestral idyll The Banks of Green Willow and his song settings of A. E...
(1885–1916) - Rebecca ClarkeRebecca Helferich ClarkeRebecca Clarke was an English classical composer and violist best known for her chamber music featuring the viola. She was born in Harrow and studied at the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music in London, later becoming one of the first female professional orchestral players...
(1886–1979) - Eric CoatesEric CoatesEric Coates was an English composer of light music and a viola player.-Life:Eric was born in Hucknall in Nottinghamshire to William Harrison Coates , a surgeon, and his wife, Mary Jane Gwynne, hailing from Usk in Monmouthshire...
(1886–1957) - Armstrong Gibbs (1889–1960)
- Ivor GurneyIvor GurneyIvor Bertie Gurney was an English composer and poet.-Life:Born at 3 Queen Street, Gloucester in 1890, the second of four children of David Gurney, a tailor, and his wife Florence, a seamstress, Gurney showed musical ability early...
(1890–1937) - Arthur BlissArthur BlissSir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, CH, KCVO was an English composer and conductor.Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army...
(1891–1975) - Herbert HowellsHerbert HowellsHerbert Norman Howells CH was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.-Life:...
(1892–1983) - Kaikhosru Shapurji SorabjiKaikhosru Shapurji SorabjiKaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was an English composer, music critic, pianist, and writer.-Biography:...
(1892–1988) - Eugene GoossensEugène Aynsley GoossensSir Eugene Aynsley Goossens was an English conductor and composer.-Biography:He was born in Camden Town, London, the son of the Belgian conductor and violinist Eugène Goossens and the grandson of the conductor Eugène Goossens...
(1893–1962) - Peter WarlockPeter WarlockPeter Warlock was a pseudonym of Philip Arnold Heseltine , an Anglo-Welsh composer and music critic. He used the pseudonym when composing, and is now better known by this name....
(1894–1930) - Ernest John MoeranErnest John MoeranErnest John Moeran was an English composer who had strong associations with Ireland .-Early life:...
(1894–1950) - Gordon JacobGordon JacobGordon Percival Septimus Jacob was an English composer. He is known for his wind instrument composition and his instructional writings.-Life:...
(1895–1984) - Alan BushAlan BushAlan Dudley Bush was a British composer and pianist. He was a committed socialist, and politics sometimes provided central themes in his music.-Personal life:...
(1900–1995) - Victor Hely-HutchinsonVictor Hely-HutchinsonChristian Victor Hely-Hutchinson was a British composer, born in Cape Town, Cape Colony ....
(1901–1947) - Gerald FinziGerald FinziGerald Raphael Finzi was a British composer. Finzi is best known as a song-writer, but also wrote in other genres...
(1901–1956) - Edmund RubbraEdmund RubbraEdmund Rubbra was a British composer. He composed both instrumental and vocal works for soloists, chamber groups and full choruses and orchestras. He was greatly esteemed by fellow musicians and was at the peak of his fame in the mid-20th century. The most famous of his pieces are his eleven...
(1901–1986) - William WaltonWilliam WaltonSir William Turner Walton OM was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera...
(1902–1983) - Lennox BerkeleyLennox BerkeleySir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley was an English composer.- Biography :He was born in Oxford, England, and educated at the Dragon School, Gresham's School and Merton College, Oxford...
(1903–1989) - Leighton LucasLeighton LucasLeighton Lucas was an English composer and conductor. Born into a musical family , he began his career as a dancer for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes...
(1903–1982) - Robin MilfordRobin MilfordRobin Milford was an English composer.- Biography :Milford was born in Oxford, son of Sir Humphrey Milford, publisher with Oxford University Press. He attended Rugby School from 1916 where his musical talent for the piano, flute and theory was recognised, and studied at the Royal College of Music...
(1903–1959) - Thomas PitfieldThomas PitfieldThomas Baron Pitfield was a British composer, poet, artist, engraver, calligrapher, craftsman, furniture builder and teacher....
(1903–1999) - Percy WhitlockPercy WhitlockPercy William Whitlock was an English organist and post-romantic composer.A student of Vaughan Williams at London's Royal College of Music, Whitlock quickly arrived at a musical idiom that combined elements of his teacher's output and that of Elgar...
(1903–1946) - Constant LambertConstant LambertLeonard Constant Lambert was a British composer and conductor.-Early life:Lambert, the son of Russian-born Australian painter George Lambert, was educated at Christ's Hospital and the Royal College of Music...
(1905–1951) - Walter LeighWalter LeighWalter Leigh was an English composer. Leigh is most famous for his Concertino for harpsichord and string orchestra, written in 1934. Other famous works include the overture Agincourt and The Frogs of Aristophanes for chorus and orchestra...
(1905–1942) - Alan RawsthorneAlan RawsthorneAlan Rawsthorne was a British composer. He was born in Haslingden, Lancashire, and is buried in Thaxted churchyard in Essex.-Career:...
(1905–1971) - William AlwynWilliam AlwynWilliam Alwyn, CBE, born William Alwyn Smith was an English composer, conductor, and music teacher.-Life and music:...
(1905–1985) - Michael TippettMichael TippettSir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE was an English composer.In his long career he produced a large body of work, including five operas, three large-scale choral works, four symphonies, five string quartets, four piano sonatas, concertos and concertante works, song cycles and incidental music...
(1905–1998) - Arnold CookeArnold CookeArnold Atkinson Cooke was a British composer.-Career:He was born at Gomersal, West Yorkshire into a family of carpet manufacturers. He was educated at Repton School and at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, where he read History, but he was already attracted to a career in music...
(1906–2005) - Eric FenbyEric FenbyEric William Fenby OBE was an English composer and teacher who is best known for being Frederick Delius's amanuensis from 1928 to 1934. He helped Delius realise a number of works that would not otherwise have been forthcoming....
(1906–1997) - Benjamin FrankelBenjamin FrankelBenjamin Frankel was a British composer. Frankel's most famous pieces include a cycle of five string quartets and eight symphonies as well as a number of concertos for violin and viola; his single best-known piece is probably the First Sonata for Solo Violin, which, like his concertos, resulted...
(1906–1973) - Elisabeth LutyensElisabeth LutyensElisabeth Lutyens, CBE was a significant English composer.- Early life and education :She was one of the five children of architect Sir Edwin Lutyens and his wife Emily, who was profoundly involved in the Theosophical Movement...
(1906–1983) - Roy DouglasRoy DouglasRoy Douglas is a British composer and arranger. He worked with Ralph Vaughan Williams and Richard Addinsell.-Works as composer:*Oboe quartet [1932]...
(born 1907) - Elizabeth MaconchyElizabeth MaconchyDame Elizabeth Violet Maconchy Le Fanu DBE was an English composer, most noted for her cycle of thirteen string quartets.-Biography:...
(1907–1994) - Stanley BateStanley Bate-Life:Bate received early training in music and had composed two operas by age twenty. He studied under Ralph Vaughan Williams, R.O. Morris, Gordon Jacob, and Arthur Benjamin, and then in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and in Berlin with Paul Hindemith. He wrote incidental music for performances at...
(1911–1959) - Phyllis TatePhyllis TatePhyllis Tate was an English composer known for forming unusual instrumentations in her compositions. Her musical style has been called avant-garde and she is recognized for appealing to amateur performers and children....
(1911–1987) - Benjamin BrittenBenjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
(1913–1976) - George LloydGeorge Lloyd (composer)George Walter Selwyn Lloyd was a British composer.-Early life:Of Cornish ancestry, Lloyd grew up in a family with great enthusiasm for music. He was mainly home-schooled because of rheumatic fever. He later studied violin with Albert Sammons and composition with Harry Farjeon. He was a student at...
(1913–1998) - William Lloyd WebberWilliam Lloyd WebberWilliam Southcombe Lloyd Webber was an English organist and composer.-Life and career:Lloyd Webber was born in London...
(1914–1982) - Humphrey SearleHumphrey SearleHumphrey Searle was a British composer.-Biography:He was born in Oxford where he was a classics scholar before studying — somewhat hesitantly — with John Ireland at the Royal College of Music in London, after which he went to Vienna on a six month scholarship to become a private pupil of Anton...
(1915–1982) - Denis ApIvorDenis ApIvorDenis ApIvor was a British composer. He belonged to the generation of modernists that included Humphrey Searle and Elisabeth Lutyens....
(1916–2004) - Bernard StevensBernard StevensBernard Stevens was a British composer.Born in London, Stevens studied English and Music at the University of Cambridge with E. J. Dent, then at the Royal College of Music with R.O. Morris and Gordon Jacob from 1937 to 1940...
(1916–1983) - Richard ArnellRichard ArnellRichard Anthony Sayer Arnell was an English composer of classical music. Arnell composed in all the established genres for the concert stage, and his list of works includes six completed symphonies and six string quartets.-Biography:Arnell was born in Hampstead, London...
(1917–2009) - John GardnerJohn Gardner (composer)John Linton Gardner, CBE is an English composer of classical music.-Biography:Gardner was born in Manchester, England and brought up in Ilfracombe, North Devon. His father Alfred Linton Gardner was a local GP and amateur composer who was killed in action in the last months of the First World War....
(born 1917) - John W. DuarteJohn W. DuarteJohn William Duarte was a British composer, guitarist and writer.Duarte was born in Sheffield, England, but lived in Manchester from the age of 6...
(1919–2004) - Peter Racine FrickerPeter Racine FrickerPeter Racine Fricker was an English composer who lived in the United States for the last thirty years of his life....
(1920–1990) - Geoffrey BushGeoffrey BushGeoffrey Bush was a British composer, organist and scholar of 20th century English music.Geoffrey Bush was born in London, became a chorister at Salisbury Cathedral at the age of 8 and studied informally with the composer John Ireland...
(1920–1998) - Malcolm ArnoldMalcolm ArnoldSir Malcolm Henry Arnold, CBE was an English composer and symphonist.Malcolm Arnold began his career playing trumpet professionally, but by age thirty his life was devoted to composition. He was ranked with Benjamin Britten as one of the most sought-after composers in Britain...
(1921–2006) - Ruth GippsRuth GippsRuth Gipps was a British composer, oboist and pianist.-Biography:Ruth Gipps was born in Bexhill-on-Sea, England in 1921. She was something of a child prodigy, winning performance competitions in which she was considerably younger than the rest of the field -- and female, to boot...
(1921–1999) - Robert SimpsonRobert Simpson (composer)Robert Simpson was an English composer and long-serving BBC producer and broadcaster.He is best known for his orchestral and chamber music , and for his writings on the music of Beethoven, Bruckner, Nielsen and Sibelius. He studied composition under Herbert Howells...
(1921–1997) - Doreen CarwithenDoreen CarwithenDoreen Mary Carwithen was a British composer of classical and film music. She was also known as Mary Alwyn.-Biography:...
(1922–2003) - Peter WishartPeter Wishart (composer)Peter Charles Arthur Wishart was an English composer. Wishart was born in Crowborough. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris from 1947-1948 and taught at the Guildhall School of Music, Birmingham University, King's College London and Reading University where he was Professor of Music from 1977...
(1921–1984) - Raffaello de BanfieldRaffaello de BanfieldRaffaello de Banfield , correctly Raphael Douglas, Baron von Banfield Tripcovich, was a British-born composer.- Family :...
(1922–2008) - Stephen DodgsonStephen DodgsonStephen Dodgson is a British composer and broadcaster.- Biography :During World War II, he served in the Royal Navy. From 1947 to 1949, Dodgson studied at the Royal College of Music, where he later taught composition. In 1950, he visited Italy on a travelling scholarship, after which he taught in...
(born 1924) - Christopher ShawChristopher Shaw (composer)Christopher Shaw was a British composer. He lived in London and wrote principally choral music, of which the most notable example may be the cantata Peter and the Lame Man for soli, chorus and orchestra, recorded in 1976 by Argo Records along with three shorter pieces...
(1925–1995) - Wilfred JosephsWilfred Josephs-Life:Born in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, Wilfred Josephs had his first musical studies in Newcastle with Arthur Milner, and showed early promise, but was persuaded by his parents to take up a 'sensible' career. He subsequently became a dentist, qualifying as a Bachelor of Dental Surgery of the...
(1927–1997) - John JoubertJohn Joubert (composer)John Joubert is a British composer of South African descent, particularly of choral works. He has lived in Moseley, a suburb of Birmingham, England, for over 40 years. A music academic at the universities of Hull and Birmingham for 36 years, Joubert took early retirement in 1986 to concentrate on...
(born 1927) - Graham Whettam (1927–2007)
- Kenneth LeightonKenneth LeightonKenneth Leighton was a British composer and pianist. His compositions include much Anglican church music, and many pieces for choir and for piano as well as concertos, symphonies, much chamber music and an opera. He wrote a well-known setting of the Coventry Carol...
(1929–1988) - Alexander GoehrAlexander GoehrAlexander Goehr is an English composer and academic.Goehr was born in Berlin in 1932, the son of the conductor and Schoenberg pupil Walter Goehr. In his early twenties he emerged as a central figure in the Manchester School of post-war British composers. In 1955–56 he joined Oliver Messiaen's...
(born 1932) - Justin ConnollyJustin ConnollyJustin Connolly is a British composer and teacher.He was educated at Westminster School, and then briefly studied law at the Middle Temple before deciding on a career in music...
(born 1933) - Harrison BirtwistleHarrison BirtwistleSir Harrison Paul Birtwistle CH is a British contemporary composer.-Life:Birtwistle was born in Accrington, a mill town in Lancashire some 20 miles north of Manchester. His interest in music was encouraged by his mother, who bought him a clarinet when he was seven, and arranged for him to have...
(born 1934) - Peter Maxwell DaviesPeter Maxwell DaviesSir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
(born 1934) - Nicholas MawNicholas MawJohn Nicholas Maw was a British composer.-Biography:Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, Maw was the son of Clarence Frederick Maw and Hilda Ellen Chambers. He attended the Wennington School, a boarding school, in Wetherby in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was 14...
(1935–2009) - Richard Rodney BennettRichard Rodney BennettSir Richard Rodney Bennett, CBE is an English composer renowned for his film scores and his jazz performance as much as for his challenging concert works...
(born 1936) - Cornelius CardewCornelius CardewCornelius Cardew was an English experimental music composer, and founder of the Scratch Orchestra, an experimental performing ensemble. He later rejected the avant-garde in favour of a politically motivated "people's liberation music".-Biography:Cardew was born in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire...
(born 1936) - Colin MawbyColin MawbyColin Mawby is an English organist, choral conductor and composer.-Career:Mawby received his earliest musical education at Westminster Cathedral choir school, where he acted as assistant to George Malcolm at the organ from the age of 12. The boys performed 14 or 15 services a week and had 10 hours...
(born 1936) - David BedfordDavid BedfordDavid Vickerman Bedford , was an English composer and musician. He wrote and played both popular and classical music....
(born 1937) - Andrew CarterAndrew Carter (composer)Andrew Carter is an English composer, conductor and arranger.-Biography:Born in Wigston Magna, Leicestershire, Carter studied music at the University of Leeds, before moving to York and joining the choir at the Minster as a bass...
(born 1939) - Jonathan HarveyJonathan Harvey (composer)Jonathan Harvey is a British composer. He has held teaching positions at universities and music conservatories in Europe and the USA and is frequently invited to teach in summer schools around the world.-Life:...
(born 1939) - John McCabeJohn McCabe (composer)John McCabe CBE is an English composer and pianist.- Biography :John McCabe was born in Huyton, Liverpool, Merseyside. A prolific composer from an early age, he had written thirteen symphonies by the time he was eleven...
(born 1939) - Geoffrey BurgonGeoffrey BurgonGeoffrey Alan Burgon was a British composer notable for his television and film themes.-Life and career:Burgon was born in Hampshire in 1941, and taught himself the trumpet in order to join a jazz band at school...
(1941–2010) - Gavin BryarsGavin BryarsRichard Gavin Bryars is an English composer and double bassist. He has been active in, or has produced works in, a variety of styles of music, including jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, experimental music, avant-garde and neoclassicism.-Early life and career:Born in Goole, East...
(born 1943) - Brian FerneyhoughBrian FerneyhoughBrian John Peter Ferneyhough is an English composer. His music is characterized by the extensive use of complex rhythmic tuplet notation which features in all his works...
(born 1943) - Robin HollowayRobin HollowayRobin Greville Holloway is an English composer.-Early life:From 1952 to 1957, he was a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral...
(born 1943) - Bill Hopkins (1943–1981)
- John TavenerJohn TavenerSir John Tavener is a British composer, best known for such religious, minimal works as "The Whale", and "Funeral Ikos"...
(born 1944) - Michael NymanMichael NymanMichael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
(born 1944) - John RutterJohn RutterJohn Milford Rutter CBE is a British composer, conductor, editor, arranger and record producer, mainly of choral music.-Biography:Born in London, Rutter was educated at Highgate School, where a fellow pupil was John Tavener. He read music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the...
(born 1945) - Michael FinnissyMichael FinnissyMichael Finnissy is an English composer and pianist. His music is characterised by the range of extremes often found in his work; opposing binary structures are found commonly, often seen as juxtaposing textures, register and tempi...
(born 1946) - Giles SwayneGiles SwayneGiles Oliver Cairnes Swayne is a British composer.- Biography :Swayne is a cousin of Elizabeth Maconchy. He spent much of his childhood in Liverpool, and began composing at a young age...
(born 1946) - Paul PattersonPaul PattersonPaul Patterson is a British composer and Manson Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music.Patterson studied trombone and composition at the Royal Academy of Music. He returned there to become Head of Composition and Contemporary Music until 1997, when he became Manson Professor of...
(born 1947) - Michael BerkeleyMichael BerkeleyMichael Berkeley is a British composer and broadcaster on music.-Early life:His father was the composer Sir Lennox Berkeley...
(born 1948) - Diana BurrellDiana BurrellDiana Burrell is an English composer.-Life and career:She was born in Norwich and attended Norwich High School for Girls before studying music at Cambridge University. She began her career as a viola player, but soon became well known for her compositions and became a full-time composer.Her first...
(born 1948) - John CaskenJohn CaskenJohn Casken is an English composer, born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England.Casken read music at the University of Birmingham, studying composition and contemporary music with John Joubert and Peter Dickinson. He then went on to study in Poland with Andrzej Dobrowolski on a Polish government...
(born 1949) - Howard SkemptonHoward SkemptonHoward Skempton is a British composer and accordionist. Since the late 1960s, when he helped organize the Scratch Orchestra, he has been associated with the English school of experimental music...
(born 1949) - Judith BinghamJudith BinghamJudith Bingham is a British composer and mezzo-soprano singer.Born in Nottingham in 1952 and educated at High Storrs Grammar School for Girls in Sheffield, she attended the Royal Academy of Music , where her teachers were Malcolm MacDonald, Eric Fenby, Alan Bush and John Hall , and Jean...
(born 1952) - Oliver KnussenOliver KnussenOliver Knussen CBE is a British composer and conductor.-Biography:Oliver Knussen was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father, Stuart Knussen, was principal double bass of the London Symphony Orchestra. Oliver Knussen studied composition with John Lambert, between 1963 and 1969 and also received...
(born 1952) - Dominic MuldowneyDominic MuldowneyDominic Muldowney is a British composer.-Biography:He studied at the universities of Southampton and York , and took private lessons with Harrison Birtwistle. From 1974 to 1976 he was composer-in-residence to the Southern Arts Association...
(born 1952) - Robert SaxtonRobert Saxton-Biography:After early advice and encouragement from Benjamin Britten, Robert Saxton took private composition lessons with Elisabeth Lutyens. He went on to study with Robin Holloway at Cambridge University, with Robert Sherlaw Johnson as a post-graduate at Oxford University, and later with Berio....
(born 1953) - Richard BlackfordRichard BlackfordRichard Blackford is an English composer.- Biography :Richard Blackford studied composition with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music and conducting with Norman del Mar. He spent a number of years as Henze’s assistant in Italy, where he received his first commissions while immersed in the...
(born 1954) - Judith WeirJudith WeirJudith Weir CBE, is a British composer.-Biography:Her music has been appreciated by audiences and critics alike. She trained with John Tavener while still at school and subsequently with Robin Holloway at King's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1976...
(born 1954) - Ian VenablesIan VenablesIan Venables is a British composer of songs and chamber music.-Biography:Ian Venables was born in Liverpool in 1955 and was educated at Liverpool Collegiate Grammar School. He studied music with Professor Richard Arnell at Trinity College of Music, London and later with Andrew Downes, John Mayer...
(born 1955) - Sally BeamishSally BeamishSally Beamish is a British composer of chamber, vocal, choral and orchestral music. She has also worked in the field of music theatre, film and television, as well as composing for children and for her local community....
(born 1956) - Philip GrangePhilip GrangePhilip Grange is an English composer.Grange was born in London. He attended Peter Maxwell Davies’s classes at Dartington, and then took further, private, lessons with Davies while at The University of York, where he also studied composition with David Blake...
(born 1956) - Howard GoodallHoward Goodall210px|thumb|Howard Goodall at St. John the Baptist Church in Devon, United Kingdom, May 2009Howard Lindsay Goodall CBE is a British composer of musicals, choral music and music for television...
(born 1958) - Patrick HawesPatrick HawesPatrick Hawes is a British composer.He studied at St Chad's College, University of Durham before working as a teacher of music and English, being appointed composer in residence at Charterhouse School, where he produced a children's opera and several other choral works, some in partnership with...
(born 1958) - Jonathan DoveJonathan DoveJonathan Dove is a British composer of opera, choral works, plays, films, and orchestral and chamber music. He has arranged a number of operas for English Touring Opera and the City of Birmingham Touring Opera , including in 1990 a famous 18-player two-evening adaptation of Wagner's Der Ring des...
(born 1959) - Steve MartlandSteve MartlandSteve Martland is an English composer.-Life and Music :Martland was born in Liverpool, England and studied composition at Liverpool University and in the Netherlands with Louis Andriessen...
(born 1959) - George BenjaminGeorge Benjamin (composer)George William John Benjamin, CBE is a British composer of classical music. He is also a conductor, pianist and teacher....
(born 1960) - Mark-Anthony TurnageMark-Anthony TurnageMark-Anthony Turnage is a prolific English composer of classical music. His initial musical studies were with Oliver Knussen, John Lambert, and later with Gunther Schuller...
(born 1960) - David SawerDavid SawerDavid Sawer is a British composer of opera and choral, orchestral and chamber music.-Biography:Sawer was born in Stockport, England. He studied music at the University of York where he began composing for contemporary music-theatre pieces. He continued his studies with Mauricio Kagel in Cologne...
(born 1961) - Andrew Glover (born 1962)
- Graham FitkinGraham FitkinGraham Fitkin is a British composer, pianist and conductor. His compositions fall broadly into the minimalist and postminimalist genres...
(born 1963) - James WhitbournJames Whitbourn- Biography :James Whitbourn was born in Kent and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was a choral scholar and gained a degree in Music. His international reputation as a composer for concert hall and screen, developed from his early career as a programme maker at the BBC, during which...
(born 1963) - Colin MatthewsColin MatthewsColin Matthews OBE is an English composer of classical music.-Early life and education:Matthews was born in London in 1946; his older brother is the composer David Matthews. He read classics at the University of Nottingham, and then studied composition there with Arnold Whittall, and with Nicholas...
(born 1964) - Julian AndersonJulian AndersonJulian Anderson is a British composer and teacher of composition.-Biography:Anderson studied at Westminster School, then with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music, with Alexander Goehr at Cambridge University, privately with Tristan Murail in Paris, and on courses given by Olivier Messiaen,...
(born 1967) - Joe CutlerJoe CutlerJoe Cutler is a British composer who studied music at the Universities of Huddersfield and Durham, before a scholarship at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw, Poland. He has taught composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire since 2000, and since 2005 he has been the Head of Composition there...
(born 1968) - James Francis BrownJames Francis BrownJames Francis Brown is a British composer. He studied composition with the Viennese émigré Hans Heimler and then at the Royal Academy of Music, London....
(born 1969) - Patrick NunnPatrick NunnPatrick Nunn , is a British composer and educator.-Biography:Nunn read music at Dartington College of Arts studying under Frank Denyer between 1988 and 1991 taking additional tuition with Louis Andriessen at Dartington International Summer School and with Gary Carpenter at the Welsh College of...
(born 1969) - Thomas AdèsThomas AdèsThomas Adès is a British composer, pianist and conductor.-Biography:Adès studied piano with Paul Berkowitz and later composition with Robert Saxton at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London...
(born 1971) - Joby TalbotJoby TalbotJoby Talbot is a British composer.Born in Wimbledon, London, Talbot studied composition at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Brian Elias and Simon Bainbridge....
(born 1971) - Julian CochranJulian Cochranthumb|200px|Julian Cochran in 1998Julian Cochran is an English-born Australian composer.Cochran's earlier works show stylistic influences from Impressionist music and his later works are more noticeably influenced by Classical music and folk music of Eastern Europe...
(born 1974) - Sasha SiemSasha SiemSasha Siem is a British composer and singer-songwriter.-Musical Life:Siem has recently composed music for the London Symphony Orchestra, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, The London Sinfonietta, The Aldeburgh Festival, Opera North, Caius Choir Cambridge, The Rambert Dance Company The Royal Opera...
(born 1984)