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100 Most Popular Composers

Name the 100 most popular composers (by surname) on classical music website arkivmusic.com
(#) refers to recordings available on the website as of Feb. 1, 2019
Nationality, and the first letter of each composer's surname are given as clues
Quiz by kiwirage
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Last updated: March 24, 2024
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First submittedJuly 18, 2018
Times taken8,676
Average score44.0%
Rating4.87
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#
Composer
German
B
6894
Johann Sebastian Bach
Austrian
M
6380
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
German
B
5347
Ludwig van Beethoven
German
B
3956
Johannes Brahms
Austrian
S
3674
Franz Schubert
Russian
T
3161
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
German
S
2966
Robert Schumann
German
H
2688
Georg Friedrich Händel
Italian
V
2675
Giuseppe Verdi
German
M
2551
Felix Mendelssohn
French
D
2543
Claude Debussy
Polish
C
2473
Frédéric Chopin
Hungarian
L
2236
Franz Liszt
Austrian
H
2212
Joseph Haydn
French
R
2038
Maurice Ravel
Italian
V
1935
Antonio Vivaldi
German
W
1935
Richard Wagner
German
S
1815
Richard Strauss
Czech
D
1782
Antonín Dvořák
Italian
P
1658
Giacomo Puccini
Russian
P
1596
Sergei Prokofiev
Russian
R
1560
Sergei Rachmaninov
Russian
S
1548
Dmitri Shostakovich
French
S
1497
Camille Saint-Saëns
Italian
R
1488
Gioachino Rossini
Austro-Bohemian
M
1334
Gustav Mahler
French
F
1300
Gabriel Fauré
Russian
S
1237
Igor Stravinsky
French
B
1211
Georges Bizet
Norwegian
G
1209
Edvard Grieg
Italian
D
1056
Gaetano Donizetti
English
B
1043
Benjamin Britten
French
G
995
Charles Gounod
English
E
972
Edward Elgar
French
M
962
Jules Massenet
Hungarian
B
958
Béla Bartók
Finnish
S
932
Jean Sibelius
American
G
931
George Gershwin
German
T
903
Georg Philipp Telemann
French
F
869
César Franck
English
V
850
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Austrian
B
838
Anton Bruckner
Austrian
S
835
Johann Strauss Jr.
Russian
M
824
Modest Mussorgsky
French
B
821
Hector Berlioz
Russian
R
814
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
English
P
805
Henry Purcell
French
P
796
Francis Poulenc
Spanish
F
694
Manuel de Falla
German
W
676
Carl Maria von Weber
 
 
#
Composer
American
B
648
Leonard Bernstein
Italian
B
610
Vincenzo Bellini
American
C
606
Aaron Copland
Italian
S
602
Domenico Scarlatti
Brazilian
V
596
Heitor Villa-Lobos
American
B
583
Samuel Barber
German
H
583
Paul Hindemith
Italian
M
578
Claudio Monteverdi
Austrian
G
573
Christoph W. Gluck
Russian
S
557
Alexander Scriabin
Spanish
A
553
Isaac Albeniz
Italian
P
532
Niccolò Paganini
French
O
531
Jacques Offenbach
Italian
M
512
Pietro Mascagni
French
S
509
Erik Satie
English
B
504
William Byrd
Spanish
G
504
Enrique Granados
English
H
503
Gustav Holst
Italian
L
494
Ruggero Leoncavallo
Czech
J
477
Leoš Janáček
Czech
S
470
Bedřich Smetana
Austrian
K
418
Fritz Kreisler
Spanish
R
411
Joaquin Rodrigo
German
P
402
Johann Pachelbel
Italian
R
401
Ottorino Respighi
Russian
B
384
Alexander Borodin
Danish
N
381
Carl Nielsen
English
W
375
William Walton
French
R
374
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Austro-Hungarian
L
368
Franz Léhar
Italian
B
370
Luigi Boccherini
Soviet Armenian
K
370
Aram Khachaturian
French
D
357
Léo Delibes
German
B
353
Max Bruch
American
I
353
Charles Ives
Italian
C
352
Arcangelo Corelli
Italian
A
346
Tomaso Albinoni
Russian
G
345
Alexander Glazunov
Estonian
P
321
Arvo Pärt
Spanish
S
277
Pablo de Sarasate
Austro-Hungarian
K
275
Erich Korngold
Swiss
B
262
Ernest Bloch
English
D
227
Frederick Delius
Mexican
P
223
Manuel Ponce
Austrian
H
206
Johann Nepomuk Hummel
English
A
189
Malcolm Arnold
German
B
188
Johann Christian Bach
Italian-French
L
143
Jean-Baptiste Lully
French
M
122
Marin Marais
Finnish
R
105
Einojuhani Rautavaara
11 Comments
+1
Level 68
Jul 18, 2018
Rimsky-Korsakov wouldn't work.

Great quiz idea.

+1
Level 63
Jul 18, 2018
That's strange...it works for me. Glad you enjoyed the quiz!
+1
Level 73
Jul 19, 2018
Fine quiz! I have never learnt to spell Khachaturian’s name, while I love his music...
+2
Level 76
Sep 16, 2018
Now I know he's not spelt Saint-Seans… I'm surprised that Revueltas, Hovhaness and Górecki aren't here. Also Richard Harvey of Concerto Antico fame; I read somewhere he's called one of the best unknown composers, re which his absence here rather proves the point.
+1
Level 45
Jun 3, 2024
? I've barely heard of the composers you thought were on here. When you search "Revueltas" it tells you about stuffed corn cakes first! Hovhaness and Gorecki are both too modern to get on here
+1
Level 45
Jun 3, 2024
I'm more surprised that almost none of the atonal / twelve tone composers are here (maybe everyone hates them). Like the Second Viennese School (Schoenberg, Webern, Berg). Also I was hoping Messaien was on here since he was pretty prominent throughout the 20th century (but even he is probably too modern for people to enjoy).
+1
Level 67
Jun 25, 2020
Woah man, the 20th century always kills me. I'm so Beethoven centric it's hard to look to Stravinsky or contemporaries. haha
+2
Level 66
Jul 16, 2020
Loved this quiz. Laughing at myself for missing some that I have actually performed in public.....Resphigi, deFalla, Poulenc..

No list of this type should be expected to include every possible "suspect.". 'I plan to take it untimed to see if I can get them all (Well, except that Finnish guy at the end of the list!)

+2
Level 71
Sep 17, 2023
Rautavaara made really great music though!
+2
Level 30
Oct 8, 2022
Fantastic quiz! I'm a professional conductor and violist and I only managed to answer about half. Somehow I got Marin Marais, though!
+1
Level 30
Apr 14, 2024
My 2 Favorite Composers Are Beethoven, And Surprisingly, Pachelbel!