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 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)

• 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)