Talk:List of British classical composers

Arthur Benjamin
The criteria for ths list are: ... people born in the British Isles or of British citizenship who have worked or currently work in the classical music tradition.

Benjamin was neither born in the British Isles nor afaik did he ever abandon his Australian citizenship for British. The situation is a little complicated because, until 1949, all Australians were British subjects. There was no such thing as Australian citizenship till then. So he was born a British subject and became an Australian citizen in 1949, along with millions of other Australians, no matter where they may have been residing at the time. But he would always have described himself as an Australian, not a Briton. The other thing is that he lived much of his life in Britain, and died there. But I wonder if this makes him a "British composer". -- JackofOz (talk) 10:27, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

British Isles
This term includes all of the island of Ireland, which these days is split between Northern Ireland (a part of the UK) and the republic of Ireland. I'd be very surpised if composers from the republic would regard themselves as British, despite living in the "British" Isles. See Terminology of the British Isles for further details. -- JackofOz (talk) 10:27, 5 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I see it now says "Britain" where it previously said "British Isles". That's probably a step in the right direction, but it's still a little contentious.  Prior to 1707, "Britain" was a strictly geographic term.  From 1 May 1707 the Kingdom of Great Britain came into being via a merger of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland.  From then on, Britain was also a political term.  The Kingdom of Great Britain later became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.  Later still, the southern counties of the island of Ireland left, and what was left was retitled the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.  So, how do we treat people from southern Ireland who were born citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (and therefore "British"), but at some point in their lives ceased to be so.  There are also people like Henry Purcell, who was never British.  He died in 1695, a citizen of the Kingdom of England.  The Kingdom of Great Britain did not come into existence until 12 years after his death.  Yes, he was British if we mean this to mean anyone who lived in the island of Great Britain, but not otherwise.


 * One possible solution to this terminological issue is to simply rename the article "List of composers from the British Isles", and then their citizenship won't matter a jot. --  JackofOz (talk) 02:36, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

Change of title
Perhaps this article should be titled List of British composers (or something like that) instead of its current title. "Classical" refers to a specific period: Classical_period_(music). Quoting the article classical music, nowadays, the term "classical music" often refers to all "music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times."

However, technically, "classical music" refers to compositions produced between 1750 to 1825. (See Classical period (music).) I think it's a good idea to keep this article specific and change the title. Thoughts? ask123 (talk) 16:27, 9 June 2009 (UTC)


 * The term "classical" refers to the genre in which they write, not the period in which they lived. For example, we have categories such as Category:20th-century classical composers, etc, into which people like Peter Maxwell Davies and many others fit.  --  JackofOz (talk) 02:16, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

Regarding the title, it is a fact that technically 'Classical music' refers to a period in time, and within that time to a genre that follows a set of rules that are meant to take us back to an ideal in art from the Classical Antiquity, but we need not go into this; it is also a fact that 'classical' is used as an umbrella term for erudite music distinct from other genres, so there seems to be a tie?? However, if we use the generalistic title List of British Composers we need not worry because everyone who is into Classical music knows that composers imply erudite music, and also, creators of music in the 20th and 21st century outside erudite music do not even regard themselves as composers, but as creators, musicians, artists, pop artists, etc. So I urge the original writer of the list to change the title to List of British Composers- also it is very incomplete.GFlusitania (talk) 00:06, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

British or English, Scottish, Welsh
This list would be much less confusing and, perhaps, provocative to some, if it was renamed 'List of English classical composers' and then Scottish and Welsh people moved to separate lists. This would also prevent Irish composers born before Irish independence to prop up in this list, as they are already in the List of Irish composers and the Category:Irish classical composers. – Aklein62 (talk) 15:35, 9 April 2016 (UTC)