examples:
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Victor Herbert
United States musician and composer and conductor noted for his comic operas (1859-1924)
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Yoko Ono
United States musician (born in Japan) who married John Lennon and collaborated with him on recordings (born in 1933)
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Carl Orff
German musician who developed a widely used system for teaching music to children (1895-1982)
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Saint Ambrose
(Roman Catholic Church) Roman priest who became bishop of Milan; the first Church Father born and raised in the Christian faith; composer of hymns; imposed orthodoxy on the early Christian church and built up its secular power; a saint and Doctor of the Church (340?-397)
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Johann Sebastian Bach
German baroque organist and contrapuntist; composed mostly keyboard music; one of the greatest creators of western music (1685-1750)
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Samuel Barber
United States composer (1910-1981)
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Bela Bartok
Hungarian composer and pianist who collected Hungarian folk music; in 1940 he moved to the United States (1881-1945)
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Ludwig van Beethoven
German composer of instrumental music (especially symphonic and chamber music); continued to compose after he lost his hearing (1770-1827)
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Vincenzo Bellini
Italian composer of operas (1801-1835)
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Alban Berg
Austrian composer in Schoenberg's twelve-tone music system (1885-1935)
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Irving Berlin
United States songwriter (born in Russia) who wrote more than 1500 songs and several musical comedies (1888-1989)
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Louis-Hector Berlioz
French composer of romantic works (1803-1869)
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Leonard Bernstein
United States conductor and composer (1918-1990)
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Georges Bizet
French composer best known for his operas (1838-1875)
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Marc Blitzstein
United States pianist and composer of operas and musical plays (1905-1964)
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Ernest Bloch
United States composer (born in Switzerland) who composed symphonies and chamber music and choral music and a piano sonata and an opera (1880-1959)
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Aleksandr Porfirevich Borodin
Russian composer (1833-1887)
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Pierre Boulez
French composer of serial music (born in 1925)
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Johannes Brahms
German composer who developed the romantic style of both lyrical and classical music (1833-1897)
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Lord Britten of Aldeburgh
major English composer of the 20th century; noted for his operas (1913-1976)
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Max Bruch
German composer (1838-1920)
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Anton Bruckner
Austrian organist and composer of romantic music (1824-1896)
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William Byrd
English organist and composer of church music; master of 16th century polyphony; was granted a monopoly in music printing with Thomas Tallis (1543-1623)
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John Milton Cage Jr.
United States composer of avant-garde music (1912-1992)
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Hoagland Howard Carmichael
United States songwriter (1899-1981)
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Carlos Chavez
Mexican composer of nationalistic works using themes from Indian folk music (1899-1978)
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Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Cherubini
Italian composer of church music and operas (1760-1842)
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Frederic Francois Chopin
French composer (born in Poland) and pianist of the romantic school (1810-1849)
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George Michael Cohan
United States songwriter and playwright famous for his patriotic songs (1878-1942)
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Aaron Copland
United States composer who developed a distinctly American music (1900-1990)
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Arcangelo Corelli
Italian violinist and composer of violin concertos (1653-1713)
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Francois Couperin
French composer of music for organ and a member of a family of distinguished organists (1668-1733)
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Sir Noel Pierce Coward
English dramatist and actor and composer noted for his witty and sophisticated comedies (1899-1973)
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Karl Czerny
Austrian virtuoso pianist and composer of many works for the piano; studied with Beethoven and was a teacher of Liszt (1791-1857)
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Claude Achille Debussy
French composer who is said to have created Impressionism in music (1862-1918)
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Clement Philibert Leo Delibes
French composer of operas (1836-1891)
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Frederick Delius
English composer of orchestral works (1862-1934)
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Antoine Domino
United States rhythm and blues pianist and singer and composer (born in 1928)
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Gaetano Donizetti
Italian composer of operas (1797-1848)
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John Dowland
English lutenist and composer of songs for the lute (1563-1626)
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Paul Dukas
French composer (1865-1935)
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Antonin Dvorak
Czech composer who combined folk elements with traditional forms (1841-1904)
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Bob Dylan
United States songwriter noted for his protest songs (born in 1941)
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Sir Edward William Elgar
British composer of choral and orchestral works including two symphonies as well as songs and chamber music and music for brass band (1857-1934)
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Georges Enesco
Romanian violinist and composer (1881-1955)
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Manuel de Falla
Spanish composer and pianist (1876-1946)
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Arthur Fiedler
popular United States conductor (1894-1979)
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Stephen Collins Foster
United States songwriter whose songs embody the sentiment of the South before the American Civil War (1826-1864)
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Cesar Franck
French composer and teacher who influenced a generation of composers (1822-1890)
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George Gershwin
United States composer who incorporated jazz into classical forms and composed scores for musical comedies (1898-1937)
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Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka
Russian composer (1804-1857)
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Christoph Willibald von Gluck
German composer of more than 100 operas (1714-1787)
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Benjamin David Goodman
United States clarinetist who in 1934 formed a big band (including black as well as white musicians) and introduced a kind of jazz known as swing (1909-1986)
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Charles Francois Gounod
French composer best remembered for his operas (1818-1893)
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George Percy Aldridge Grainger
United States composer (born in Australia) who lived in London and collected English folk songs (1882-1961)
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Edvard Hagerup Grieg
Norwegian composer whose work was often inspired by Norwegian folk music (1843-1907)
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Woodrow Wilson Guthrie
United States folk singer and songwriter (1912-1967)
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Jacques Francois Fromental Elie Halevy
French operatic composer (1799-1862)
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George Frederick Handel
a prolific British baroque composer (born in Germany) remembered best for his oratorio Messiah (1685-1759)
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William Christopher Handy
United States blues musician who transcribed and published traditional blues music (1873-1958)
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Franz Joseph Haydn
prolific Austrian composer who influenced the classical form of the symphony (1732-1809)
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Woodrow Charles Herman
United States jazz musician and bandleader (1913-1987)
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Paul Hindemith
German neoclassical composer and conductor who believed that music should have a social purpose (1895-1963)
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Charles Hardin Holley
United States rock star (1936-1959)
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Arthur Honegger
Swiss composer (born in France) who was the founding member of a group in Paris that included Erik Satie and Darius Milhaud and Francis Poulenc and Jean Cocteau (1892-1955)
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Engelbert Humperdinck
German composer of six operas and other incidental music (1854-1921)
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Jacques Francois Antoine Ibert
French composer (1890-1962)
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Charles Edward Ives
United States composer noted for his innovative use of polytonality (1874-1954)
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Joseph Joachim
Hungarian violinist and composer (1831-1907)
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Scott Joplin
United States composer who was the first creator of ragtime to write down his compositions (1868-1917)
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Aram Kachaturian
Armenian composer who incorporated oriental folk music (1903-1978)
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Jerome David Kern
United States composer of musical comedies (1885-1945)
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Aram Ilich Khachaturian
Russian composer (born in Armenia) whose works are romantic and reflect his interest in folk music (1903-1978)
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Sergei Aleksandrovich Koussevitzky
United States conductor (born in Russia) who was noted for performing the works of contemporary composers (1874-1951)
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Leonard Constant Lambert
English composer and conductor (1905-1951)
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Orlando di Lasso
Belgian composer (1532-1594)
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Huddie Leadbetter
United States folk singer and composer (1885-1949)
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Franz Lehar
Hungarian composer of light operas (1870-1948)
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John Lennon
English rock star and guitarist and songwriter who with Paul McCartney wrote most of the music for the Beatles (1940-1980)
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Franz Liszt
Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso (1811-1886)
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Baron Lloyd Webber of Sydmonton
English composer of many successful musicals (some in collaboration with Sir Tim Rice) (born in 1948)
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Frederick Loewe
United States composer (born in Austria) who collaborated with Lerner on several musicals (1901-1987)
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Jean Baptiste Lully
French composer (born in Italy) who was the court composer to Louis XIV and founded the national French opera (1632-1687)
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Edward MacDowell
United States composer best remembered as a composer of works for the piano (1860-1908)
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Gustav Mahler
Austrian composer and conductor (1860-1911)
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Jules Emile Frederic Massenet
French composer best remembered for his pop operas (1842-1912)
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Sir James Paul McCartney
English rock star and bass guitarist and songwriter who with John Lennon wrote most of the music for the Beatles (born in 1942)
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Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
German musician and romantic composer of orchestral and choral works (1809-1847)
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Gian Carlo Menotti
United States composer (born in Italy) of operas (born in 1911)
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Jakob Liebmann Beer
German composer of operas in a style that influenced Richard Wagner (1791-1864)
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Darius Milhaud
French composer of works that combine jazz and polytonality and Brazilian music (1892-1974)
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Alton Glenn Miller
United States bandleader of a popular big band (1909-1944)
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Claudio Monteverdi
Italian composer (1567-1643)
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Douglas Moore
United States composer of works noted for their use of the American vernacular (1893-1969)
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
prolific Austrian composer and child prodigy; master of the classical style in all its forms of his time (1756-1791)
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Modest Petrovich Moussorgsky
Russian composer of operas and orchestral works (1839-1881)
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Carl August Nielsen
Danish composer (1865-1931)
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Jacques Offenbach
French composer of many operettas and an opera (1819-1880)
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Roy Orbison
United States composer and rockabilly tenor popular in the 1950s (1936-1988)
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Eugene Ormandy
United States conductor (born in Hungary) (1899-1985)
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Seiji Ozawa
United States conductor (born in Japan in 1935)
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Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Italian composer (1526-1594)
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Walter Piston
United States neoclassical composer (1894-1976)
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Cole Albert Porter
United States composer and lyricist of musical comedies (1891-1946)
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Francis Poulenc
French pianist and composer (1899-1963)
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Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev
Russian composer of ballets and symphonies and operas (1891-1953)
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Giacomo Puccini
Italian operatic composer noted for the dramatic realism of his operas (1858-1924)
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Henry Purcell
English organist at Westminster Abbey and composer of many theatrical pieces (1659-1695)
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Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff
composer and piano virtuoso born in Russia (1873-1943)
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Jean-Philippe Rameau
French composer of operas whose writings laid the foundation for the modern theory of harmony (1683-1764)
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Maurice Ravel
French composer and exponent of Impressionism (1875-1937)
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Stephen Michael Reich
United States composer (born in 1936)
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Ottorino Respighi
Italian composer remembered for his symphonic poems (1879-1936)
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Nikolai Andreyevich Rimski-Korsakov
Russian composer of operas and orchestral works; often used themes from folk music (1844-1908)
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Richard Rodgers
United States composer of musical comedies (especially in collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein II and with Lorenz Hart) (1902-1979)
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Sigmund Romberg
United States composer (born in Hungary) who composed operettas (1887-1951)
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Giloacchino Antonio Rossini
Italian composer remembered for his operas (1792-1868)
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Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein
Russian composer and pianist (1829-1894)
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Charles Camille Saint-Saens
French pianist and composer (1835-1921)
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Erik Alfred Leslie Satie
French composer noted for his experimentalism and rejection of Romanticism (1866-1925)
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Artur Schnabel
United States composer (born in Austria) and pianist noted for his interpretations of the works of Mozart and Beethoven and Schubert (1882-1951)
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Arnold Schoenberg
United States composer and musical theorist (born in Austria) who developed atonal composition (1874-1951)
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Franz Seraph Peter Schubert
Austrian composer known for his compositions for voice and piano (1797-1828)
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Robert Alexander Schumann
German romantic composer known for piano music and songs (1810-1856)
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Clara Josephine Schumann
German pianist and composer of piano music; renowned for her interpretation of music, especially the music of her husband Robert Schumann (1819-1896)
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Aleksandr Nikolayevich Scriabin
Russian composer of orchestral and piano music (1872-1915)
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Andres Segovia
Spanish guitarist who made classical guitar a concert instrument (1893-1987)
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Roger Huntington Sessions
United States composer who promoted 20th century music (1896-1985)
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Arthur Jacob Arshawsky
United States clarinetist and leader of a swing band (1910-2004)
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Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich
Russian composer best known for his fifteen symphonies (1906-1975)
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Johan Julius Christian Sibelius
Finnish composer (1865-1957)
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Paul Simon
United States singer and songwriter (born in 1942)
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Bedrich Smetana
Czech composer (1824-1884)
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Stephen Sondheim
United States composer of musicals (born in 1930)
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John Philip Sousa
a United States bandmaster and composer of military marches (1854-1932)
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Leopold Antoni Stanislaw Stokowski
United States conductor (born in Britain) (1882-1977)
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Strauss the Elder
Austrian composer of waltzes (1804-1849)
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Strauss the Younger
Austrian composer and son of Strauss the Elder; composed many famous waltzes and became known as the `waltz king' (1825-1899)
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Richard Strauss
German composer of many operas; collaborated with librettist Hugo von Hoffmannsthal to produce several operas (1864-1949)
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Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky
composer who was born in Russia but lived in the United States after 1939 (1882-1971)
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Arthur Seymour Sullivan
English composer of operettas who collaborated with the librettist William Gilbert (1842-1900)
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George Szell
United States conductor (born in Hungary) (1897-1970)
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Thomas Tallis
English organist and composer of church and secular music; was granted a monopoly in music printing with William Byrd (1505-1585)
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Joseph Deems Taylor
United States composer and music critic (1885-1966)
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Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky
important Russian composer whose works are noted for their expressive melodies (1840-1893)
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Georg Philipp Telemann
German baroque composer (1681-1767)
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Virgil Garnett Thomson
United States composer who collaborated with Gertrude Stein (1896-1989)
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Arturo Toscanini
Italian conductor of many orchestras worldwide (1867-1957)
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Edgar Varese
United States composer (born in France) whose music combines dissonance with complex rhythms and the use of electronic techniques (1883-1965)
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Ralph Vaughan Williams
English composer influenced by folk tunes and music of the Tudor period (1872-1958)
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Guiseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi
Italian operatic composer (1813-1901)
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Heitor Villa-Lobos
Brazilian composer (1887-1959)
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Antonio Lucio Vivaldi
Italian baroque composer and violinist (1675-1741)
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Wilhelm Richard Wagner
German composer of operas and inventor of the musical drama in which drama and spectacle and music are fused (1813-1883)
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Bruno Walter
German conductor (1876-1962)
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Sir William Turner Walton
English composer (1902-1983)
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Baron Karl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber
German conductor and composer of romantic operas (1786-1826)
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Kurt Weill
German composer; collaborated with Bertolt Brecht (1900-1950)
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Hiram King Williams
United States country singer and songwriter (1923-1953)
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Hugo Wolf
Austrian composer (1860-1903)
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Sir Henry Joseph Wood
English conductor (1869-1944)