Contemporary foreign composers of the 21st century list. About the project. Children's contemporary composers

Greatest Composers world of all times: lists in chronological and alphabetical order, reference books and works

100 Great Composers of the World

List of composers in chronological order

1. Josquin Despres (1450 –1521)
2. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525 –1594)
3. Claudio Monteverdi (1567 –1643)
4. Heinrich Schütz (1585 –1672)
5. Jean Baptiste Lully (1632 –1687)
6. Henry Purcell (1658 –1695)
7. Arcangelo Corelli (1653 –1713)
8. Antonio Vivaldi (1678 –1741)
9. Jean Philippe Rameau (1683 –1764)
10. George Handel (1685 –1759)
11. Domenico Scarlatti (1685 –1757)
12. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 –1750)
13. Christoph Willibald Gluck (1713 –1787)
14. Joseph Haydn (1732 –1809)
15. Antonio Salieri (1750 –1825)
16. Dmitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky (1751 –1825)
17. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 –1791)
18. Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770 –1826)
19. Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778 –1837)
20. Nicollo Paganini (1782 –1840)
21. Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791 –1864)
22. Carl Maria von Weber (1786 –1826)
23. Gioachino Rossini (1792 –1868)
24. Franz Schubert (1797 –1828)
25. Gaetano Donizetti (1797 –1848)
26. Vincenzo Bellini (1801 –1835)
27. Hector Berlioz (1803 –1869)
28. Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804 –1857)
29. Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809 –1847)
30. Fryderyk Chopin (1810 –1849)
31. Robert Schumann (1810 –1856)
32. Alexander Sergeevich Dargomyzhsky (1813 –1869)
33. Franz Liszt (1811 –1886)
34. Richard Wagner (1813 –1883)
35. Giuseppe Verdi (1813 –1901)
36. Charles Gounod (1818 –1893)
37. Stanislav Moniuszko (1819 –1872)
38. Jacques Offenbach (1819 –1880)
39. Alexander Nikolaevich Serov (1820 –1871)
40. Cesar Frank (1822 –1890)
41. Bedřich Smetana (1824 –1884)
42. Anton Bruckner (1824 –1896)
43. Johann Strauss (1825 –1899)
44. Anton Grigorievich Rubinstein (1829 –1894)
45. Johannes Brahms (1833 –1897)
46. ​​Alexander Porfirievich Borodin (1833 –1887)
47. Camille Saint-Saens (1835 –1921)
48. Leo Delibes (1836 –1891)
49. Mily Alekseevich Balakirev (1837 –1910)
50. Georges Bizet (1838 –1875)
51. Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (1839 –1881)
52. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 –1893)
53. Antonin Dvorak (1841 –1904)
54. Jules Massenet (1842 –1912)
55. Edvard Grieg (1843 –1907)
56. Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 –1908)
57. Gabriel Fauré (1845 –1924)
58. Leos Janacek (1854 –1928)
59. Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov (1855 –1914)
60. Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev (1856 –1915)
61. Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857 –1919)
62. Giacomo Puccini (1858 –1924)
63. Hugo Wolf (1860 –1903)
64. Gustav Mahler (1860 –1911)
65. Claude Debussy (1862 –1918)
66. Richard Strauss (1864 –1949)
67. Alexander Tikhonovich Grechaninov (1864 –1956)
68. Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov (1865 –1936)
69. Jean Sibelius (1865 –1957)
70. Franz Lehár (1870 –1945)
71. Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin (1872 –1915)
72. Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninov (1873 –1943)
73. Arnold Schoenberg (1874 –1951)
74. Maurice Ravel (1875 –1937)
75. Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (1880 –1951)
76. Bela Bartok (1881 –1945)
77. Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky (1881 –1950)
78. Igor Fedorovich Stravinsky (1882 –1971)
79. Anton Webern (1883 –1945)
80. Imre Kalman (1882 –1953)
81. Alban Berg (1885 –1935)
82. Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev (1891 –1953)
83. Arthur Honegger (1892 –1955)
84. Darius Milhaud (1892 –1974)
85. Carl Orff (1895 –1982)
86. Paul Hindemith (1895 –1963)
87. George Gershwin (1898 –1937)
88. Isaac Osipovich Dunaevsky (1900 –1955)
89. Aram Ilyich Khachaturian (1903 –1978)
90. Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich (1906 –1975)
91. Tikhon Nikolaevich Khrennikov (born in 1913)
92. Benjamin Britten (1913 –1976)
93. Georgy Vasilievich Sviridov (1915 –1998)
94. Leonard Bernstein (1918 –1990)
95. Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin (born in 1932)
96. Krzysztof Penderecki (born 1933)
97. Alfred Garievich Schnittke (1934 –1998)
98. Bob Dylan (b. 1941)
99. John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (b. 1942)
100. Sting (born 1951)

MASTERPIECES OF CLASSICAL MUSIC

The most famous composers in the world

List of composers in alphabetical order

Professional The composer (I have to emphasize), as is known, is the main figure in musical activity at all times.

The best representatives of this profession (along with poets and artists) have always been the spokesman for the progressive thoughts and aspirations of their generation and society as a whole. But sometimes composer's creative ideas run so far ahead that they cause quite understandable misunderstanding on the part of their contemporaries, especially on the part of ordinary people. It should be recognized that the work of artists (in in a broad sense this word) is still an elite art, although it belongs to the people, as the famous saying goes.

Each era puts forward its representatives, who fill everything with themselves and their activities. cultural space. And the point here, of course, is not their quantity. Therefore, I set out to find out for myself who they are among those alive today, and to what extent their activities accumulate everything and everyone around them.

The list of outstanding contemporary Russian composers I have compiled does not claim the right to be called definitive and the only correct one. Therefore, I invite everyone to participate and reflect on this topic.

Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin

According to many, after the death of Dmitry Shostakovich in 1975, it was Rodion Shchedrin that the world musical community began to consider the most significant and interesting Soviet composer. I think this is true. But to complete the assessment, it is necessary to imagine the time itself in which the so-called “ferment of minds” took place.

Both in those years and today, the musical composing community is torn apart by the confrontation between supporters of pure academicism and the so-called avant-garde.

R. Shchedrin in to a greater extent can be attributed in spirit and creative style to an academician, although he was always interested in modern trends (in terms of compositional technique) and tried, where appropriate, to apply them in his work.

But nevertheless, over time, Alfred Schnittke, Edison Denisov and Sofya Gubaidulina (the so-called “dissident composers”) became the rulers of the thoughts of creative youth.

And the question is not who is better or worse, but that many saw in this open self-expression a kind of protest against the existing socio-political system.

Of the three composers I listed above, Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina is currently alive. In my opinion, this outstanding female composer deserves to be included in this list.

Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina

S. Gubaidulina is one of the major and profound composers of our time. In her work we feel the desire for an organic unification of the properties of the art of the West and the East, the influence of ideas of a spiritual and religious order. One can even argue that through faith she comes to the meaning of creativity. Here is a quote characterizing her views: “I am religious Orthodox man and I understand religion literally as re-ligio - the restoration of the connection between life and the height of ideal attitudes and absolute values, the constant recreation of the legato of life. Life tears a person apart. He must restore his integrity - this is religion. Apart from spiritual restoration, there is no greater reason for composing music" ( cit. by: V. Kholopova. Sofia Gubaidulina. Guide to works. M., 2001. P. 3-4).

Sergei Mikhailovich Slonimsky

A universally recognized classic of our time, he is certainly one of the brightest representatives of the St. Petersburg school of composers.

The qualities of a composer, musicologist and teacher are successfully intertwined in him. Here you can also add his innate intelligence.

Along with his outstanding colleague (now, unfortunately, deceased) Boris Ivanovich Tishchenko defines the face of not only St. Petersburg, but also Russian musical culture.

Shirvani Ramazanovich Chalaev

A composer with a distinct creative individuality, a passionate fan of folk art.

After B. Bartok, I don’t know of another composer who would have collected and deciphered such a number folk songs. This is a real creative feat!

He is exactly the composer who, by his example, showed the path along which music should develop in modern national schools of composition.

The disc you hold in your hands is unique in its own way. For the first time in a quarter of a century, works by Moscow composers of the middle generation, whose works largely determine the face of today's Russian music, are collected on one disc. Despite all the stylistic differences, these authors are united by the fact that four of them are professors at the Moscow Conservatory, and the fact that all these works were recorded by an ensemble with which they have been collaborating for a long time and fruitfully. This is "Studio" New music"under the direction of Igor Dronov. Compositions by Yuri Vorontsov and Vladimir Tarnopolsky were written especially for this ensemble. All works are published on CD for the first time.

Vladimir Tarnopolsky
Chevengur for voice and ensemble to texts by Andrei Platonov (2001)

Chevengur was commissioned by Westdeutsche Rundfunk and dedicated to its first performers - Svetlana Savenko, Igor Dronov and the Studio of New Music ensemble. For me, Platonov is one of the greatest Russian writers. He reflected with piercing authenticity the spontaneous irrationalism of Russian consciousness and the entire Russian history of the twentieth century. A deep existential breakdown is captured in his novel not only at the level of plot, but also in the very structure of language - every Platonic word is extremely material, it is born through overcoming the colossal resistance of inert linguistic matter.

Following Platonov, I tried to overcome the clichéd timbre roles of instruments, composing new, non-classical sound spectrums. It was important for me to overcome the dividing line between the word, voice and instrumental timbre, so that the instruments “speak”, and the voice sounds like an instrument, so that the phonemes of words are freely distributed between them.

I wanted to recreate Plato’s idea of ​​animate a thing (“living” Plato’s locomotive) and reproduce the moments of complete merging of a person with a working mechanism. I was looking for an opportunity to convey musical means Plato’s feeling of universal loss and melancholy, similar to that heard in the final quasi-soldier’s song “... it’s a shame to live, and it’s sad to die.” These words of Platonov became for me a kind of formula for our entire history.

Vladimir Tarnopolsky

Faraj Karaev
Three Bagatelles (2003)

Three bagatelles are nothing more than... Three bagatelles. The light concert pieces, written over several hot days in August 2003, have the same number of bars with the same meter changes and the same quasi-harmonic “grid”. These are peculiar ornamental variations, each of which could be called 1. Normal legati, 2. Strange glissandi and 3. Gay staccati. In the code, movement goes beyond the boundaries of form, taking on increasingly indistinct outlines - up to complete nonsense.

Faraj Karaev

Yuri Vorontsov
Buffatore (2011)

Buffatore is translated from Italian as glass blower. The idea for the essay was born from a fleeting episode that happened during a trip to Italy several years ago. My wife and I were in Venice for only one day. It was autumn. I think it was mid-October. It rained all day. Water was absolutely everywhere. The small workshop of a Venetian glassblower amazed with the dominance of two other elements - fire and air. The miracle of the birth of fragile glass was accompanied by the grinding of inflated bellows, heavy gusts of flame, the clanging of many metal devices and the playfully performed hard physical work of the Master.

Yuri Vorontsov

Alexander Vustin
Credo (2004)

Credo for instrumental ensemble with solo piano was written in 2004 by order of the French publishing house Le Chant du Monde for a concert dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the birth of Edison Denisov. I, however, did not seek to reproduce the features of the ED style in this essay; rather, this is a kind of conversation with him from “my own positions.” This is a small, 10-minute statement piece, a kind of symbol of creative faith. At the end, at the crest of development, the timbre of a bass electric guitar appears. Credo is dedicated to the first performers - Mikhail Dubov and Alexey Vinogradov in memory of Edison Denisov.

Alexander Vustin

Yuri Kasparov
Homage to Honegger for 9 performers (2005)

Dedication to Honegger is a rather unusual play for me. It’s unusual if only because in it I basically used thematic material that was not my own. I did something similar when I wrote the play “The Devil's Trills.” But that was in 1990, and then my main task was to write something that those unfamiliar with modern music a Soviet listener would be intrigued and captivated. In 2005, of course, I set a completely different task. My appeal to Honegger is not accidental. It's not just because I love his music. His book “I am a Composer” and his articles, Honegger’s pessimism, his intelligence and his caustic humor also made a strong impression on me during my formative years as a musician.

Among these melodies there is a tune for any mood: romantic, positive or sad, to relax and not think about anything or, conversely, to collect your thoughts.

Ludovico Einaudi

Italian composer and the pianist works in the direction of minimalism, often turns to ambient and skillfully combines classics with others musical styles. To a wide circle he is known for his atmospheric compositions that have become film soundtracks. For example, you probably recognize the music from the French film “1+1”, written by Einaudi.

Philip Glass/Philip Glass

Glass is one of the most controversial figures in the world modern classics, which is either praised to the skies or criticized to smithereens. He has been playing in his own band, the Philip Glass Ensemble, for half a century and has written music for more than 50 films, including The Truman Show, The Illusionist, Taste of Life and Fantastic Four. The melodies of the American minimalist composer blur the line between classical and popular music.

Max Richter

Author of numerous soundtracks, best film composer of 2008 according to the European Film Academy and post-minimalist. Won over critics with the first Memoryhouse album, in which Richter's music was superimposed on poetry readings, and subsequent albums used fiction. In addition to writing his own ambient compositions, he arranges works of classics: “The Four Seasons” by Vivaldi, in his arrangement, topped the charts classical music iTunes.

Giovanni Marradi

This creator instrumental music from Italy is not associated with sensational cinema, but is already known as a composer, virtuoso and experienced piano teacher. If you describe Marradi's music in two words, they would be "sensual" and "magical". His creations and covers will appeal to those who love retro classics: the notes of the last century are evident in the motifs.

Hans Zimmer

The famous film composer created musical accompaniment for many box-office films and cartoons, including “Gladiator”, “Pearl Harbor”, “Inception”, “Sherlock Holmes”, “Interstellar”, “Madagascar”, “The Lion King”. His star is on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and on his shelf are the Oscars, Grammys and Golden Globes. Zimmer's music is as varied as these films, but regardless of the tone, it touches the heartstrings.

Joe Hisaishi

Hisaishi is one of the most famous Japanese composers, having received four Japanese Academy Film Awards for best music to the film. He became famous for composing the soundtrack to Hayao Miyazaki's anime Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. If you are a fan of the works of Studio Ghibli or the films of Takeshi Kitano, then you probably admire Hisaishi's music. It is mostly light and light.

Ólafur Arnalds

This Icelandic multi-instrumentalist is just a boy compared to the listed masters, but by the age of 30 he had become a recognized neoclassicist. He recorded accompaniment for a ballet, won a BAFTA award for the soundtrack to the British TV series “Murder on the Beach” and released 10 studio albums. Arnalds' music is reminiscent of a harsh wind on a deserted seashore.

Lee Ru Ma's most famous works are Kiss the Rain and River Flows in You. The Korean New Age composer and pianist writes popular classics that are understandable to listeners on any continent, with any musical taste and education. His light and sensual melodies became the beginning of a love for piano music for many.

Dustin O'Halloran/Dustin O'Halloran

The American composer is interesting because he does not have music education, but at the same time writes the most pleasant and quite popular music. O'Halloran's tunes have been used in Top Gear and several films. Perhaps the most successful soundtrack album was for the melodrama “Like Crazy.”