# 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)
* Thomas Walter (1696–1725)

## 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)
* Amos Bull (1744–1825)
* Samuel Capen (1745–1809)
* Victor Pelissier (1745–c. 1820)
* 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)
* Solomon Chandler (1756–c. 1804)
* John Christopher Moller (1755–1803)
* Alexander Reinagle (1756–1809)
* Daniel Read (1757–1836)
* Issachar Bates (1758–1837)
* Amariah Hall (1758–1827)
* Timothy Swan (1758–1842)
* Timothy Olmstead (1759–1848)
* Lucius Chapin (1760–1842)
* Ezra Goff (1760–1828)
* Edward French (1761–1845)
* Jacob Kimball Jr. (1761–1826)
* Nehemiah Shumway (1761–1843)
* Elijah Griswold (1762–1844)
* Samuel Adams Holyoke (1762–1820)
* Jeremiah Ingalls (1764–1838)
* Oliver Holden (1765–1844)
* Nathaniel Billings (1768–1853)
* Benjamin Carr (1768–1831)
* Amzi Chapin (1768–1835)
* Nahum Mitchell (1769–1853)
* Ebenezer Child (1770–1866)
* James Hewitt (1770–1827)
* Warwick Palfray (1770–1843)
* Thomas Temple (1770–1815)
* Daniel Belknap (1771–1815)
* Lewis Edson Jr. (1771–1845)
* Joseph Herrick (1772–1807)
* Joel Harmon, Jr. (1773–1833)
* John Cole (1774–1855)
* Benjamin Holt (1774–1861)
* Joseph Funk (1778–1862)
* Merit Woodruff (1780–1799)
* John Bray (1782–1822)
* 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)
* Charles Zeuner (1795–1857)
* Joseph Brackett, Jr. (1797–1882)
* Henry K. Oliver (1800–1885)
* 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)
* 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)
* 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)
* Harvey Worthington Loomis (1865–1930)
* Maurice Arnold Strothotte (1865–1937)
* Harry Burleigh (1866–1949)
* Laurent Dubuclet (1866–1909)
* Swan Hennessy (1866–1929)
* Carl Valentin Wunderle (1866–1944)
* Amy Beach (1867–1944)
* 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)
* 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)
* 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)
* 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)
* 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)
* 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)
* 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)
* 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)
* 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)
* 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)
* 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)
* Lukas Foss (1922–2009)
* 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)
* 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)
* 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)
* 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)