Chronological list of German classical composers

The following is a chronological list of classical music composers who lived in, worked in, were German citizens, or who grew up and made their careers in Germany.

Medieval

 * Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179)

Renaissance

 * Caspar Othmayr (1515–1553)
 * Valentin Haussmann (c. 1560 – c. 1613–14)
 * Hans Leo Hassler (1564–1612)

Baroque

 * Michael Praetorius (1571–1621)
 * Andreas Hakenberger (1574–1627)
 * Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672)
 * Samuel Scheidt (1587–1653)
 * Johann Schop (1590–1667)
 * Johann Jakob Froberger (1616–1667)
 * Kaspar Förster (1616–1673)
 * Heinrich Schwemmer (1621–1696)
 * Johann Caspar Kerll (1627–1693)
 * Georg Caspar Wecker (1632–1695)
 * Adam Krieger (1634–1666)
 * Johann Philipp Krieger (1649–1725)
 * Johann Krieger (1651–1735)
 * Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706)
 * Johann Kuhnau (1660–1722)
 * Christian Friedrich Witt (1660–1717)
 * Giovanni Henrico Albicastro (1660–1730)
 * Franz Xaver Murschhauser (1663–1738)
 * Georg Caspar Schürmann (1672/1673–1751)
 * Georg Friedrich Kauffmann (1679–1735)
 * Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767)
 * Johann David Heinichen (1683–1729)
 * Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
 * George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)
 * Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1687–1750)
 * Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688–1758)
 * Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (1690–1749)
 * Johann Christian Hertel (1697–1754)
 * Johann Joachim Quantz (1697–1773)
 * Johann Gottlieb Graun (1703–1771)
 * Carl Heinrich Graun (1704–1759)

Classical era

 * Johan Agrell (1701–1765)
 * Johann Ernst Eberlin (1702–1762)
 * Johann Gottlieb Janitsch (1708–c. 1763)
 * Christoph Schaffrath (1709–1763)
 * Wilhelm Friedmann Bach (1710–1784)
 * Frederick II of Prussia (1712–1786)
 * Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713–1780)
 * Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788)
 * Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787)
 * Gottfried August Homilius (1714–1785)
 * Johann Schobert (1720?–1767)
 * Bernhard Joachim Hagen (1720–1787)
 * Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht (1722–1794)
 * Carl Friedrich Abel (1723–1787)
 * Johann Wilhelm Hertel (1727–1789)
 * Hermann Friedrich Raupach (1728–1778)
 * Florian Leopold Gassmann (1729–1774)
 * Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
 * Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732–1795)
 * Johann Christian Fischer (1733–1800)
 * Johann Christian Bach (1735–1782)
 * Anton Schweitzer (1735–1787)
 * Johann Gottfried Eckhardt (1735–1809)
 * Johann Michael Haydn (1737–1806)
 * Johann Christoph Oley (1738–1789)
 * Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel (1738–1822)
 * Ernst Eichner (1740–1777)
 * Anton Zimmermann (1741–1781)
 * Roman Hoffstetter (1742–1815)
 * Johann Peter Salomon (1745–1815)
 * Johann Wilhelm Hässler (1747–1822)
 * Joseph Schuster (1748–1812)
 * Emanuel Aloys Förster (1748–1823)
 * Theodor von Schacht (1748–1823)
 * Johann Friedrich Edelmann (1749–1794)
 * Peter Winter (1754–1825)
 * Joseph Martin Kraus (1756–1792)
 * Franz Johannes Gleißner (1759–1818)
 * Franz Danzi (1763–1826)
 * Simon Mayr (1763–1845)

Romantic/Post-romantic

 * Peter Anton Kreusser (1765–1831)
 * Franz Xaver Kleinheinz (1765–1832)
 * Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
 * Peter Hänsel (1770–1831)
 * Friedrich Jeremias Witt (1770–1836)
 * Ferdinand Ries (1784–1838)
 * Louis Spohr (1784–1859)
 * Friedrich Wilhelm Michael Kalkbrenner (1785–1849)
 * Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826)
 * Johann Peter Pixis (1788–1874)
 * Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791–1864)
 * Heinrich Marschner (1795–1861)
 * Johann Carl Gottfried Löwe (1796–1869)
 * Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847)
 * Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
 * Otto Nicolai (1810–1849)
 * Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
 * Ferdinand Hiller (1811–1885)
 * Emilie Mayer (1812–1883)
 * Julius Rietz (1812–1877)
 * Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
 * Friedrich Robert Volkmann (1815–1883)
 * Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880)
 * Clara Schumann (1819–1896)
 * Peter Cornelius (1824–1874)
 * Carl Reinecke (1824–1910)
 * Albert Dietrich (1829–1908)
 * Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
 * Franz Wohlfahrt (1833–1884)
 * Max Bruch (1838–1920)
 * Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839–1901)
 * August Friedrich Martin Klughardt (1847–1902)
 * Philipp Scharwenka (1847–1917)
 * Fritz Seitz (1848–1918)
 * Engelbert Humperdinck (1854–1921)
 * Paul Klengel (1854–1935)
 * Max Wagenknecht (1857–1922)
 * Julius Klengel (1859–1933)
 * Richard Strauss (1864–1949)
 * Paul Lincke (1866–1946)
 * Ferdinand Küchler (1867–1937)
 * Hans Pfitzner (1869–1949)
 * Max Reger (1873–1916)

Modern/Post-modern/Contemporary

 * Richard Wetz (1875–1935)
 * Eduard Künneke (1885–1953)
 * Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886–1954)
 * Rudi Stephan (1887–1915)
 * Carl Orff (1895–1982)
 * Paul Hindemith (1895–1963)
 * Herbert Eimert (1897–1972)
 * Kurt Weill (1900–1950)
 * Werner Egk (1901–1983)
 * Stefan Wolpe (1902–1972)
 * Boris Blacher (1903–1975)
 * Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905–1963)
 * Martin Scherber (1907–1974)
 * Berthold Goldschmidt (1903–1996)
 * Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1918–1970)
 * Fritz Geißler (1921–1984)
 * Bertold Hummel (1925–2002)
 * Hans Werner Henze (1926–2012)
 * Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007)
 * Helmut Lachenmann (born 1935)
 * Aribert Reimann (1936–2024)
 * Michael von Biel (born 1937)
 * Hans-Joachim Hespos (1938–2022)
 * Nicolaus A. Huber (born 1938)
 * Johannes Fritsch (1941–2010)
 * Wolfgang Rihm (born 1952)
 * Hans-Jürgen von Bose (born 1953)
 * Alexander Schubert (born 1979)