Chronological list of French classical composers

The following is a chronological list of classical music composers who lived in, worked in, or were citizens of France.

Medieval

 * Leonin (c. 1150 – 1201)
 * Perotin (1160 – 1230)
 * Adam de la Halle (1240 – 1287)
 * Philippe de Vitry (1291 – 1361)
 * Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300 – 1377)

Renaissance

 * Guillaume Dufay (c. 1397 – 1474)
 * Gilles Binchois (c. 1400 – 1460)
 * Loÿset Compère (c. 1445 – 1518)
 * Josquin des Prez (c. 1450 – 1521), born near Franco-Flemish border
 * Pierre de La Rue (c. 1452 – 1518)
 * Jean Mouton (c. 1459 – 1522)
 * Antoine Brumel (c. 1460 – 1512/1513)
 * Clément Janequin (c. 1485 – 1558)
 * Claudin de Sermisy (c. 1490 – 1562)
 * Nicolas Gombert (c. 1495 – c. 1560)
 * Ninot le Petit (fl. c. 1500 – 1520)
 * Pierre de Manchicourt (c. 1510 – 1564)
 * Claude Gervaise (fl. 1540 – 1560)
 * Jean Titelouze (c. 1562/63 – 1633)

Baroque

 * Pierre Guédron (c. 1570 – c. 1620)
 * Antoine Boësset (1586–1643)
 * Étienne Moulinié (c. 1599 – after 1669)
 * Jacques Champion de Chambonnières (c. 1601 – 1672)
 * Denis Gaultier (1603–1672)
 * François Dufault (before 1604 – c. 1672)
 * Jacques de Gouy (c. 1610 – after 1650)
 * Michel Lambert (1610–1696)
 * Louis Couperin (c. 1626 – 1661)
 * Jean-Henri d'Anglebert (1629–1691)
 * Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687)
 * Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe (c. 1640 – c. 1700)
 * Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643–1704)
 * Robert de Visée (c. 1655 – 1732/1733)
 * Marin Marais (1656–1728)
 * Michel Richard Delalande (1657–1726)
 * André Campra (1660–1744)
 * Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665–1729)
 * Jean-Féry Rebel (1666–1747)
 * Michel Pignolet de Montéclair (1667–1737)
 * François Couperin (1668–1733)
 * Louis Marchand (1669–1732)
 * Louis de Caix d'Hervelois (c. 1670 – c. 1760)
 * Gaspard Corrette (1671–before 1733)
 * Antoine Forqueray (1671–1745)
 * Nicolas de Grigny (1672–1703)
 * Jacques-Martin Hotteterre (1674–1763)
 * Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (1676–1749)
 * Jean-François Dandrieu (c. 1682 – 1738)
 * Jean-Joseph Mouret (1682–1738)
 * Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764)
 * François d'Agincourt (1684–1758)
 * Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (1689–1755)
 * Louis-Claude Daquin (1694–1772)
 * Jean-Marie Leclair the elder (1697–1764)
 * François Francoeur (1698–1787)
 * Michel Blavet (1700–1768)
 * Christophe Moyreau (1700–1774)
 * Jean-Marie Leclair the Younger (1703–1777)
 * Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer (c. 1705 – 1755)
 * Louis-Gabriel Guillemain (1705–1770)
 * Michel Corrette (1707–1795)
 * Jean-Joseph de Mondonville (1711–1772)

Classical era

 * Jacques Duphly (1715–1789)
 * François-André Danican Philidor (1726–1795)
 * Joseph Touchemoulin (1727–1801)
 * François Joseph Gossec (1734–1829)
 * André Grétry (1741–1813)
 * Simon Le Duc (1742–1777)
 * Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745–1799)
 * Nicolas Dalayrac (1753–1809)
 * Jean-Baptiste Bréval (1753–1823)
 * Ignaz Pleyel (1757–1831)
 * Jean-François Lesueur (1760–1837)
 * Olivier Aubert (1763–c.1830)
 * Étienne Méhul (1763–1817)
 * Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766–1831)
 * Louis-Emmanuel Jadin (1768–1853)
 * Charles Simon Catel (1773–1830)
 * Pierre Rode (1774–1830)
 * François-Adrien Boieldieu (1775–1834)
 * Hyacinthe Jadin (1776–1800)
 * Pauline Duchambge (1778–1858)
 * Jacques Féréol Mazas (1782–1849)

Romantic

 * Daniel Auber (1782–1871)
 * George Onslow (1784–1853)
 * Nicolas-Charles Bochsa (1789–1856)
 * Ferdinand Hérold (1791–1833)
 * Fromental Halévy (1799–1862)
 * Victor Magnien (1802–1885)
 * Adolphe Adam (1803–1856)
 * Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)
 * Louise Farrenc (1804–1875)
 * Louise Bertin (1805–1877)
 * Napoléon Coste (1805–1883)
 * Napoléon Henri Reber (1807–1880)
 * Auguste Pilati (1810–1877)
 * Félicien David (1810–1876)
 * Ambroise Thomas (1811–1896)
 * Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813–1888)
 * Eugène Louis-Marie Jancourt (1815–1901)
 * Jean-Chrisostome Hess (1816–1900)
 * François Bazin (1816–1878)
 * Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély (1817–1869)
 * Charles Dancla (1817–1907)
 * Charles Gounod (1818–1893)
 * Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880)
 * Charles-Louis Hanon (1819–1900)
 * Pauline Viardot (1821–1910)
 * César Franck (1822–1890)
 * Édouard Lalo (1823–1892)
 * Joseph Jean-Baptiste Laurent Arban (1825–1889)
 * Charles Delioux (1825–1915)
 * Joseph O'Kelly (1828–1885)
 * Georges Pfeiffer (1835–1908)
 * Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
 * Léo Delibes (1836–1891)
 * Alexandre Guilmant (1837–1911)
 * Théodore Dubois (1837–1924)
 * Georges Bizet (1838–1875)
 * Henri Ghys (1839–1908)
 * Emmanuel Chabrier (1841–1894)
 * Georges Lamothe (1842–1894)
 * Jules Massenet (1842–1912)
 * Claude-Paul Taffanel (1844–1908)
 * Charles-Marie Widor (1844–1937)
 * Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
 * Henri Duparc (1848–1933)
 * Benjamin Godard (1849–1895)
 * Clément Broutin (1851–1889)
 * Vincent d'Indy (1851–1931)
 * André Messager (1853–1929)
 * Ernest Chausson (1855–1899)
 * Alfred Bruneau (1857–1934)
 * Cécile Chaminade (1857–1944)
 * Jules Auguste Wiernsberger (1857–1925)
 * Mélanie Bonis (1858–1937)
 * Gustave Charpentier (1860–1956)

Modern/contemporary

 * Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
 * Maurice Emmanuel (1862–1938)
 * Gabriel Pierné (1863–1937)
 * Guy Ropartz (1864–1955)
 * Paul Dukas (1865–1935)
 * Albéric Magnard (1865–1914)
 * Erik Satie (1866–1925)
 * Charles Koechlin (1867–1950)
 * Jules Mouquet (1867–1946)
 * Albert Roussel (1869–1937)
 * Louis Vierne (1870–1937)
 * Charles Tournemire (1870–1939)
 * Florent Schmitt (1870–1958)
 * Henri Büsser (1872–1973)
 * Déodat de Séverac (1872–1921)
 * Jean Roger-Ducasse (1873–1954)
 * Reynaldo Hahn (1874–1947)
 * Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
 * Henriette Renié (1875–1956)
 * Armande de Polignac (1876–1962)
 * Louis Aubert (1877–1968)
 * Gabriel Dupont (1878–1914)
 * André Caplet (1878–1925)
 * Jean Cras (1879–1932)
 * Philippe Gaubert (1879–1941)
 * Maurice Delage (1879–1961)
 * Marcel Tournier (1879–1951)
 * Joseph Canteloube (1879–1957)
 * Paul Le Flem (1881–1984)
 * Edgard Varèse (1883–1965)
 * Henri Collet (1885–1951)
 * Marcel Dupré (1886–1971)
 * Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979)
 * Louis Durey (1888–1979)
 * Jacques Ibert (1890–1962)
 * Marcel Grandjany (1891–1975)
 * Darius Milhaud (1892–1974)
 * Germaine Tailleferre (1892–1983)
 * Lili Boulanger (1893–1918)
 * Marcel Lanquetuit (1894–1985)
 * Jean Rivier (1896–1987)
 * Francis Poulenc (1899–1963)
 * Georges Auric (1899–1983)
 * Henri Sauguet (1901–1989)
 * Henri Tomasi (1901–1971)
 * Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986)
 * Claude Arrieu (1903–1990)
 * Manuel Rosenthal (1904–2003)
 * Eugene Bozza (1905–1991)
 * André Jolivet (1905–1974)
 * Jean Langlais (1907–1991)
 * Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)
 * Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur (1908–2002)
 * Jean Martinon (1910–1976)
 * Paule Maurice (1910–1967)
 * Jehan Alain (1911–1940)
 * Alfred Desenclos (1912–1971)
 * Jean Françaix (1912–1997)
 * Maurice Ohana (1913–1992)
 * Henri Dutilleux (1916–2013)
 * Pierre Boulez (1925–2016)
 * Betsy Jolas (born 1926)
 * Jean-Michel Damase (1928–2013)
 * Pierre Max Dubois (1930–1995)
 * Claude Bolling (1930–2020)
 * Éliane Radigue (born 1932)
 * Yves Prin (born 1933)
 * Gilbert Amy (born 1936)
 * Jean-Pierre Leguay (born 1939)
 * Gérard Grisey (1946–1998)
 * Tristan Murail (born 1947)
 * Joël-François Durand (born 1954)
 * Pascal Dusapin (born 1955)
 * Pierre Pincemaille (1956–2018)
 * Nicolas Bacri (born 1961)
 * Marc-André Dalbavie (born 1961)
 * Sophie Lacaze (born 1963)
 * Thierry Escaich (born 1965)
 * Christophe Bertrand (1981–2010)