Chronological list of American classical composers

The following is a chronological list (by year of birth) of American composers of classical music.

Baroque

• John Tufts (1689–1750)
• Charles Theodore Pachelbel (1690–1750)^[1][2]
• Thomas Walter (1696–1725)^[3][4]

Classical era

• Jeremiah Dencke (1725–1795)
• Philip Phile (c. 1734–1793)
• James Lyon (1735–1794)
• Johannes Herbst (1735–1812)
• Francis Hopkinson (1737–1791)
• William Selby (1738–1798)
• John Antes (1740–1811)
• Peter Valton (1740–1784)^[5]
• Amos Bull (1744–1825)
• Samuel Capen (1745–1809)^[6][7]
• Victor Pelissier (1745–c. 1820)^[8][9]
• William Billings (1746–1800)
• Oliver Brownson (1746–1815)
• Simeon Jocelin (1746–1823)
• Johann Friedrich Peter (1746–1813)
• Justin Morgan (1747–1798)
• Raynor Taylor (1747–1825)
• Lewis Edson Sr. (1748–1820)
• Andrew Law (1749–1821)
• Elias Mann (1750–1825)
• David Moritz Michael (1751–1827)
• Supply Belcher (1751–1836)
• Abraham Wood (1752–1804)
• Jacob French (1754–1817)
• Asahel Benham (1754–1803)^[10]
• Solomon Chandler (1756–c. 1804)^[11]
• John Christopher Moller (1755–1803)
• Alexander Reinagle (1756–1809)^[12]
• Daniel Read (1757–1836)
• Issachar Bates (1758–1837)
• Amariah Hall (1758–1827)^[13]
• Timothy Swan (1758–1842)
• Timothy Olmstead (1759–1848)
• Lucius Chapin (1760–1842)^[14][15]
• Ezra Goff (1760–1828)^[16]
• Edward French (1761–1845)^[6][17]
• Jacob Kimball Jr. (1761–1826)
• Nehemiah Shumway (1761–1843)
• Elijah Griswold (1762–1844)^[18]
• Samuel Adams Holyoke (1762–1820)
• Jeremiah Ingalls (1764–1838)
• Oliver Holden (1765–1844)
• Nathaniel Billings (1768–1853)^[19]
• Benjamin Carr (1768–1831)
• Amzi Chapin (1768–1835)
• Nahum Mitchell (1769–1853)
• Ebenezer Child (1770–1866)
• James Hewitt (1770–1827)^[1][20][2]
• Warwick Palfray (1770–1843)^[21]
• Thomas Temple (1770–1815)^[17][22]
• Daniel Belknap (1771–1815)
• Lewis Edson Jr. (1771–1845)^[23]
• Joseph Herrick (1772–1807)^[24][25]
• Joel Harmon, Jr. (1773–1833)^[26][27]
• John Cole (1774–1855)
• Benjamin Holt (1774–1861)^[28]
• Joseph Funk (1778–1862)
• Merit Woodruff (1780–1799)^[29]
• John Bray (1782–1822)^[30]
• Elkanah Dare (1782–1826)
• Philip Antony Corri (1784–1832)

Romantic era

• Eliakim Doolittle (1772–1850)
• Stephen Jenks (1772–1856)
• Oliver Shaw (1779–1848)
• Anthony Philip Heinrich (1781–1861)
• Thomas Hastings (1784–1872)
• Francis Johnson (1792–1844)
• Lowell Mason (1792–1872)^[31]
• Charles Zeuner (1795–1857)
• Joseph Brackett, Jr. (1797–1882)
• Henry K. Oliver (1800–1885)^[32]
• Francis Boott (1813–1904)
• William Henry Fry (1813–1864)
• Henry F. Williams (1813–c. 1903)
• William Batchelder Bradbury (1816–1868)
• Justin Holland (1819–1887)
• Richard Storrs Willis (1819–1900)
• Isaac B. Woodbury (1819–1858)
• Victor-Eugène McCarty (1820–1881)^[33]
• George Frederick Root (1820–1895)
• George Frederick Bristow (1825–1898)
• Horace Weston (1825–1890)
• Stephen Foster (1826–1864)
• Edmond Dédé (1827–1903)
• Charles Lucien Lambert (1828–1896)
• J. C. D. Parker (1828–1916)
• Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829–1869)
• William Mason (1829–1908)
• Richard Hoffman (1831–1909)
• Charles Crozat Converse (1832–1918)
• Walter Kittredge (1834–1905)
• Samuel Snaër (1835–1900)^[34][35]
• Benjamin Johnson Lang (1837–1909)
• Frederic Archer (1838–1901)
• Sidney Lambert (1838–1905)
• Eugene Thayer (1838–1889)
• Dudley Buck (1839–1909)
• John Knowles Paine (1839–1906)
• Benjamin Dwight Allen (1841–1914)
• William W. Gilchrist (1846–1916)
• Silas G. Pratt (1846–1916)
• John Thomas Douglass (1847–1886)
• Frederick Grant Gleason (1848–1903)
• Thomas Greene Wiggins (1849–1908)
• Emma Roberto Steiner (1852–1929)
• Arthur Foote (1853–1937)
• Edwin Arthur Jones (1853–1911)
• George Whitefield Chadwick (1854–1931)
• John Philip Sousa (1854–1932)
• Johann H. Beck (1856–1924)
• George Strong (1856–1948)
• Arthur H. Bird (1856–1923)
• Humphrey John Stewart (1856–1932)
• Edgar Stillman Kelley (1857–1944)
• Henry Schoenefeld (1857–1936)
• Timothee Adamowski (1858–1943)
• Harry Rowe Shelley (1858–1947)
• Frank Van der Stucken (1858–1929)
• Victor Herbert (1859–1924)
• Reginald De Koven (1859–1920)
• Edward MacDowell (1860–1908)
• Charles Martin Loeffler (1861–1935)
• Arthur Batelle Whiting (1861–1936)
• Walter Damrosch (1862–1950)
• Henry Holden Huss (1862–1953)
• Ethelbert Nevin (1862–1901)
• Horatio Parker (1863–1919)
• Sidney Homer (1864?–1953)
• Jean Paul Kürsteiner (1864–1943)
• Frances Gotay (1865–1932)^[34][36]
• Harvey Worthington Loomis (1865–1930)
• Maurice Arnold Strothotte (1865–1937)
• Harry Burleigh (1866–1949)
• Laurent Dubuclet (1866–1909)^[34]
• Swan Hennessy (1866–1929)
• Carl Valentin Wunderle (1866–1944)
• Amy Beach (1867–1944)^[37]
• Margaret Ruthven Lang (1867–1972)
• Henry F. Gilbert (1868–1928)
• Charles Sanford Skilton (1868–1941)
• Will Marion Cook (1869–1944)
• Harry Lawrence Freeman (1869–1954)
• Victor Harris (1869–1943)

Modern/contemporary

• Scott Joplin (1867/68–1917)
• Joseph Carl Breil (1870–1926)
• Howard Brockway (1870–1951)
• Louis Coerne (1870–1922)
• Henry Eichheim (1870–1942)
• Frederick Converse (1871–1940)
• Henry Kimball Hadley (1871–1937)
• Arthur Nevin (1871–1943)^[38]
• Estelle Ricketts (1871–19??)
• Arthur Farwell (1872–1952)
• Rubin Goldmark (1872–1936)
• Edward Burlingame Hill (1872–1960)
• J. Rosamond Johnson (1873–1954)
• Daniel Gregory Mason (1873–1953)
• Mary Carr Moore (1873–1957)
• Fitzhugh Andrews (1873–1961)
• Anna Gardner Goodwin (1874–1959)
• Charles Ives (1874–1954)
• Bert R. Anthony (1876–1923)
• Frederick Ayres (1876–1926)
• John Alden Carpenter (1876–1951)
• Carl Ruggles (1876–1971)
• Mabel Wheeler Daniels (1877–1971)
• Blair Fairchild (1877–1933)
• George M. Cohan (1878–1942)
• Frank La Forge (1879–1953)
• Ernest Bloch (1880–1959)
• Arthur Shepherd (1880–1958)
• Clarence Cameron White (1880–1960)
• Charles Wakefield Cadman (1881–1946)
• James Reese Europe (1881–1919)
• Richard Hageman (1881–1966)
• Paul Hastings Allen (1882–1952)
• Marion Bauer (1882–1955)
• Seth Bingham (1882–1972)
• Robert Nathaniel Dett (1882–1943)
• Ralph Lyford (1882–1927)
• Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884–1920)
• Louis Gruenberg (1884–1964)
• Nora Holt (c. 1884–1974)
• Wallingford Riegger (1885–1961)
• Deems Taylor (1885–1966)
• John J. Becker (1886–1961)
• Edward Joseph Collins (1886–1951)
• Joseph Lamb (1887–1960)
• Florence Price (1887–1953)
• Ernst Toch (1887–1964)
• Philip Greeley Clapp (1888–1954)
• Hall Johnson (1888–1970)
• Artie Matthews (1888–1958)
• Philip James (1890–1975)
• Harold Morris (1890–1964)
• Frederick Jacobi (1891–1952)
• Edward Henry Margetson (1891–1962)^[39]
• Katherine K. Davis (1892–1980)
• Ferde Grofé (1892–1972)
• David Guion (1892–1981)
• Lawrence Benjamin Brown (1893–1972)
• Douglas Moore (1893–1969)
• Leo Ornstein (1893–2002)
• Bernard Rogers (1893–1968)
• John Laurence Seymour (1893–1986)
• Clarence Williams (1893?–1965)
• Robert Russell Bennett (1894–1981)
• Cecil Cohen (1894–1967)^[40]
• Edmund Jenkins (1894–1926)
• James P. Johnson (1894–1955)
• Jimmy McHugh (1894–1969)
• Walter Piston (1894–1976)
• Mark Wessel (1894–1973)
• Penman Lovinggood Sr (1895–1993)^[41]
• Carl McKinley (1895–1966)
• Leo Sowerby (1895–1968)
• William Grant Still (1895–1978)
• Howard Hanson (1896–1981)
• Leroy Robertson (1896–1971)
• Roger Sessions (1896–1985)
• Virgil Thomson (1896–1989)
• Jaromír Weinberger (1896–1967)
• Henry Cowell (1897–1965)
• Erich Korngold (1897–1957)
• Stanley R. Avery (1897–1967)
• Quincy Porter (1897–1966)
• Ernst Bacon (1898–1990)
• Avery Claflin (1898–1979)
• George Gershwin (1898–1937)
• Frederick Douglass Hall (1898–1982)^[42][43]
• Roy Harris (1898–1979)
• Radie Britain (1899–1994)
• William Levi Dawson (1899–1990)
• John Woods Duke (1899–1984)
• Duke Ellington (1899–1974)
• George Frederick McKay (1899–1970)
• Randall Thompson (1899–1984)
• George Antheil (1900–1959)
• Aaron Copland (1900–1990)
• Willis Laurence James (1900–1966)
• Ernst Krenek (1900–1991)
• Otto Luening (1900–1996)
• Elinor Remick Warren (1900–1991)
• Alfredo Antonini (1901–1983)
• Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901–1953)
• Harry Partch (1901–1974)
• John Wesley Work III (1901–1967)
• Celius Dougherty (1902–1986)
• John Vincent (1902–1977)
• Meredith Willson (1902–1984)
• Stefan Wolpe (1902–1972)
• Vernon Duke (1903–1969)
• Vittorio Giannini (1903–1966)
• Undine Smith Moore (1904–1989)
• Marc Blitzstein (1905–1964)
• Paul Creston (1906–1985)
• Ross Lee Finney (1906–1997)
• Miriam Gideon (1906–1996)
• Hubert Klyne Headley (1906–1996)
• Normand Lockwood (1906–2002)
• Willson Osborne (1906–1979)
• Louise Talma (1906–1996)
• David Tamkin (1906–1975)
• David Van Vactor (1906–1994)
• Franz Waxman (1906–1967)
• Burrill Phillips (1907–1988)
• Irene Britton Smith (1907–1999)
• Howard Swanson (1907–1978)
• Alec Wilder (1907–1980)
• Leroy Anderson (1908–1975)
• Elliott Carter (1908–2012)
• Herbert Franklin Mells (1908–1953)^[44]
• Zenobia Powell Perry (1908–2004)
• Halsey Stevens (1908–1989)
• John Verrall (1908–2001)
• Charles Naginski (1909–1940)
• Elie Siegmeister (1909–1991)
• Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
• Paul Bowles (1910–1999)
• William Schuman (1910–1992)
• Mark Oakland Fax (1911–1974)
• Bernard Herrmann (1911–1975)
• Alan Hovhaness (1911–2000)
• Gian Carlo Menotti (1911–2007)
• Julia Smith (1911–1989)
• Vladimir Ussachevsky (1911–1990)
• Wayne Barlow (1912–1996)
• Arthur Berger (1912–2003)
• John Cage (1912–1992)
• Don Gillis (1912–1978)
• Conlon Nancarrow (1912–1997)
• Hugo Weisgall (1912–1997)
• Milton Adolphus (1913–1988)
• Margaret Bonds (1913–1972)^[45]
• Henry Brant (1913–2008)
• Norman Dello Joio (1913–2008)
• Alvin Etler (1913–1973)
• Vivian Fine (1913–2000)
• Clare Grundman (1913–1996)
• Morton Gould (1913–1996)
• Jerome Moross (1913–1983)
• Gardner Read (1913–2005)
• Edgar Rogie Clark (1914–1978)^[46][47]
• Cecil Effinger (1914–1990)
• Irving Fine (1914–1963)
• Roger Goeb (1914–1997)
• Alexei Haieff (1914–1994)
• Gail Kubik (1914–1984)
• Frantz Casséus (1915–1993)
• David Diamond (1915–2005)
• Thomas Henderson Kerr (1915–1988)^[48][49]
• George Perle (1915–2009)
• Vincent Persichetti (1915–1987)
• Robert Strassburg (1915–2003)
• Milton Babbitt (1916–2011)
• Houston Bright (1916–1970)
• Merrill Leroy Ellis (1916–1981)
• Ellis B. Kohs (1916–2000)
• Ben Weber (1916–1979)
• Ruth Shaw Wylie (1916–1989)
• Edward T. Cone (1917–2004)
• Robert Erickson (1917–1997)
• Lou Harrison (1917–2003)
• Ulysses Kay (1917–1995)
• Robert Ward (1917–2013)
• Richard Yardumian (1917–1985)
• Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990)
• Howard Boatwright (1918–1999)
• George Rochberg (1918–2005)
• Joseph Willard Roosevelt (1918–2008)
• Jacob Avshalomov (1919–2013)
• Leon Kirchner (1919–2009)
• Paul Manz (1919–2009)
• Helen Tobias-Duesberg (1919–2010)
• William Cooper (1920–1993)^[50]
• Earl Kim (1920–1998)
• John La Montaine (1920–2013)
• Harold Shapero (1920–2013)
• Douglas Allanbrook (1921–2003)
• Jack Beeson (1921–2010)
• William Bergsma (1921–1994)
• Karel Husa (1921–2016)
• Andrew Imbrie (1921–2007)
• Ralph Shapey (1921–2002)
• Leo Smit (1921–1999)
• John Boda (1922–2002)
• Romeo Cascarino (1922–2002)
• Rachel Eubanks (1922–2006)^[51]
• Lukas Foss (1922–2009)^[52]
• David N. Johnson (1922–1987)
• Francis Thorne (1922–2017)
• George Walker (1922–2018)
• Leslie Bassett (1923–2016)
• Jean Eichelberger Ivey (1923–2010)
• Ursula Mamlok (1923–2016)
• Peter Mennin (1923–1983)
• Ned Rorem (1923–2022)
• Daniel Pinkham (1923–2006)
• Mel Powell (1923–1998)
• Mark Bucci (1924–2002)
• Ezra Laderman (1924–2015)
• Benjamin Lees (1924–2010)
• Julia Perry (1924–1979)
• Robert Starer (1924–2001)
• Tony Acquaviva (1925–1986)
• Robert Beadell (1925–1994)
• Caesar Giovannini (1925–2017)
• Richard Hoffmann (1925–2021)
• Frank Lewin (1925–2008)
• Kirke Mechem (born 1925)
• Robert Owens (1925–2017)
• Gunther Schuller (1925–2015)
• Hale Smith (1925–2009)
• Paul W. Whear (1925–2021)
• Edward Bland (1926–2013)
• Earle Brown (1926–2002)
• Charles Dewitt Coleman (1926–1991)^[53]
• Paul Cooper (1926–1996)
• Richard Faith (1926–2021)
• Morton Feldman (1926–1987)
• Carlisle Floyd (1926–2021)
• Lee Hoiby (1926–2011)
• Ben Johnston (1926–2019)
• Robert Hall Lewis (1926–1996)
• William O. Smith (1926–2020)
• David Tudor (1926–1996)
• Dominick Argento (1927–2019)
• John W. Downey (1927–2004)
• Donald Erb (1927–2008)
• Walter Hartley (1927–2016)
• Janet Maguire (1927–2019)
• Salvatore Martirano (1927–1995)
• Richard Maxfield (1927–1969)
• Gertrude Rivers Robinson (1927–1995)^[54]
• Richard Swift (1927–2003)
• Samuel Adler (born 1928)
• Ruth Anderson (1928–2019)
• T. J. Anderson (born 1928)
• James Cohn (1928–2021)
• Arthur Cunningham (1928–1997)
• Jacob Druckman (1928–1996)
• Nicolas Flagello (1928–1994)
• Robert Helps (1928–2001)
• Betty Jackson King (1928–1994)
• Thea Musgrave (born 1928)
• George Crumb (1929–2022)
• Leonard Kastle (1929–2011)
• Charles Knox (1929–2019)
• Robert Muczynski (1929–2010)
• André Previn (1929–2019)
• Cecil Taylor (1929–2018)
• Yehudi Wyner (born 1929)
• Muhal Richard Abrams (1930–2017)
• David Amram (born 1930)
• Robert Ashley (1930–2014)
• Larry Austin (1930–2018)
• Robert Cogan (1930–2021)
• Ornette Coleman (1930–2015)
• Frederick C. Tillis (1930–2020)
• David Baker (1931–2016)
• Frederick A. Fox (1931–2011)
• Richard Hundley (1931–2018)
• Alvin Lucier (1931–2021)
• Peter Westergaard (1931–2019)
• Donald Martino (1931–2005)
• Leslie Adams (born 1932)
• John D. Carter (1932–1981)^[55]
• Roland Hanna (1932–2002)
• Michael Horvit (born 1932)
• Leroy Jenkins (1932–2007)
• Marvin David Levy (1932–2015)
• Martin Mailman (1932–2000)
• Pauline Oliveros (1932–2016)
• Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932–2004)
• John Towner Williams (born 1932)
• Garland Anderson (1933–2001)
• Leonardo Balada (born 1933)
• Easley Blackwood, Jr. (born 1933)
• Pozzi Escot (born 1933)
• Morton Subotnick (born 1933)
• Robert T. Anderson (1934–2009)
• Benjamin Boretz (born 1934)
• Mario Davidovsky (1934–2019)
• Bernard Rands (born 1934)
• James Tenney (1934–2006)
• Fisher Tull (1934–1994)
• Richard Wernick (born 1934)
• Gerald Busby (born 1935)
• Samuel Jones (born 1935)
• John Elwood Price (1935–1995)
• Terry Riley (born 1935)
• Peter Schickele (born 1935)
• Charles Shere (1935–2020)
• Conrad Susa (1935–2013)
• La Monte Young (born 1935)
• Harold Budd (1936–2020)
• Stuart Dempster (born 1936)
• Steve Reich (born 1936)
• David Ward-Steinman (1936–2015)
• Robert Suderburg (1936–2013)
• Jan Bach (1937–2020)
• Randolph Coleman (born 1937)
• David Del Tredici (born 1937)
• Philip Glass (born 1937)
• Robert Moran (born 1937)
• Barry Vercoe (born 1937)
• Maryanne Amacher (1938–2009)
• William Bolcom (born 1938)
• David Borden (born 1938)
• Paul Chihara (born 1938)
• Gloria Coates (1938–2023)
• John Corigliano (born 1938)
• Alvin Curran (born 1938)
• John Harbison (born 1938)
• Frederic Rzewski (1938–2021)
• Gregory Short (1938–1999)
• Harvey Sollberger (born 1938)
• Joan Tower (born 1938)
• Charles Wuorinen (1938–2020)
• Jon Appleton (1939–2022)
• Tom Johnson (born 1939)
• Tomas Svoboda (born 1939)
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (born 1939)
• Margaret Brouwer (born 1940)
• Curtis Curtis-Smith (1941–2014)
• Philip Krumm (born 1941)
• Frank Proto (born 1941)
• Elizabeth Walton Vercoe (born 1941)
• Roger Lee Hall (born 1942)
• Meredith Monk (born 1942)
• Moshe Cotel (1943–2008)
• Jerry Hunt (1943–1993)
• Morten Lauridsen (born 1943)
• David Maslanka (1943–2017)
• Robert Morris (born 1943)
• Joseph Schwantner (born 1943)
• William Albright (1944–1998)
• Charles Amirkhanian (born 1945)
• Thomas Oboe Lee (born 1945)
• Thomas Pasatieri (born 1945)
• Gene Tyranny (born 1945)
• Judith Lang Zaimont (born 1945)
• Peter Lieberson (1946–2011)
• Marc Neikrug (born 1946)
• Robert Xavier Rodriguez (born 1946)
• Marilyn Shrude (born 1946)
• Jan Swafford (born 1946)
• John Coolidge Adams (born 1947)
• Roger Craig Vogel (born 1947)
• Gwyneth Walker (born 1947)
• Thomas Albert (born 1948)
• Richard Festinger (born 1948)
• Bernadette Speach (born 1948)
• William Ackerman (born 1949)
• Stephen Paulus (1949–2014)
• Christopher Rouse (1949–2019)
• Steven Stucky (1949–2016)
• James Adler (born 1950)
• Frank Ferko (born 1950)
• Michael Schelle (born 1950)
• Curt Cacioppo (born 1951)
• Craig Russell (born 1951)
• Roger Bourland (born 1952)
• Roger Briggs (born 1952)
• Robert Een (born 1952)
• Donal Fox (born 1952)
• John Luther Adams (born 1953)
• Martin Amlin (born 1953)
• Daniel Asia (born 1953)
• David Leisner (born 1953)
• Roberto Sierra (born 1953)
• Robert Beaser (born 1954)
• Michael Daugherty (born 1954)
• Brenda Hutchinson (born 1954)
• Bruce Adolphe (born 1955)
• David Conte (born 1955)
• Kyle Gann (born 1955)
• Craig Bohmler (born 1956)
• Richard Danielpour (born 1956)
• Kenneth Fuchs (born 1956)
• Michael Gandolfi (born 1956)
• Thomas Sleeper (born 1956)
• Michael Glenn Williams (born 1957)
• Miguel del Aguila (born 1957)
• Douglas Knehans (born 1957)
• Paul Moravec (born 1957)
• Mikel Rouse (born 1957)
• Juliana Hall (born 1958)
• Frank Ticheli (born 1958)
• Sebastian Currier (born 1959)
• Timothy Kramer (born 1959)
• Sidney Corbett (born 1960)
• Kamran Ince (born 1960)
• Thomas Hecht (born 1960)
• Cindy Cox (born 1961)
• Daron Hagen (born 1961)
• Edward Knight (born 1961)
• Lowell Liebermann (born 1961)
• Michael Torke (born 1961)
• Michael Abels (born 1962)
• Mark Adamo (born 1962)
• Jennifer Higdon (born 1962)
• Evan Chambers (born 1963)
• Augusta Read Thomas (born 1964)
• Evan Hause (born 1967)
• Christopher Theofanidis (born 1967)
• Gregory Mertl (born 1969)
• Peter Boyer (born 1970)
• Eric Whitacre (born 1970)
• Timothy Archambault (born 1971)
• Peter Askim (born 1971)
• Jason Wright Wingate (born 1971)
• Dan Coleman (born 1972)
• Gabriela Lena Frank (born 1972)
• Carter Pann (born 1972)
• John Mackey (born 1973)
• Yotam Haber (born 1976)
• Wayne Oquin (born 1977)
• Kirsten Broberg (born 1979)
• Scott Perkins (born 1980)
• Jessie Montgomery (born 1981)
• Nico Muhly (born 1981)
• Nicholas Urie (born 1985)
• Roger Zare (born 1985)
• Carlos Simon (born 1986)
• Michael Brown (born 1987)
• Conrad Tao (born 1994)