Talk:List of piano composers

Content
Is this list meant to be comprehensive? --Toccata quarta (talk) 12:18, 4 June 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm really not sure... To be honest, I have a LOT of questions about this list. Right now I'm working on a more detailed list, primarily because the list isn't really very beneficial. If someone wanted to know who the most significant early 20th-century piano composers were, this list tells them NOTHING.  I'm working on a sortable list for the 20th Century section right now that is at least slightly more informative, found here.  There's also the issue of how to define each period.  Trying to fit a composer into say, an "early 20th century category", or "20th century" vs "modern" is sticky and controversial.  I'm thinking it might be best to simply give an explanation at the beginning of each section.  Thoughts? --Cjeads1988 (talk) 23:00, 5 June 2012 (UTC)

Significance/Influence
I am aware that any given composer's significance is up to debate--even relatively little-known composers are exalted by their fans, while some quite influential composers are dismissed out-of-hand by their detractors. But is there any way we can give these lists SOME sort of ease of use? I fail to see the purpose in a list of composers (particularly a somewhat comprehensive list) without some way to sort through the list and discern some relevant information. Perhaps even a simple recognition of their supposed significance within the Western canon could be good, even while acknowledging that canon's relatively severe flaws and limitations. --Cjeads1988 (talk) 23:51, 5 June 2012 (UTC)

Sortable List (trial run)
I've inserted a sort of trial run of a sortable list for 20th-century composers (I essentially took the 20th-century list already present, with a bit of additional information)... although it still needs to be fleshed out QUITE a bit. I'd love for there to be an additional column with some sort of significance factor (see above section)

Could it be beneficial to link to a list of their piano compositions on IMSLP? I've done that for just a couple of composers... It seems that it could be handy, largely because this whole page is specifically focused on composers of piano music. Otherwise, the viewer must then go to IMSLP, find the composer, and then go through the somewhat burdensome process of culling out the compositions not for piano (which is more challenging than it should be).

Thoughts? Is this type of list a good idea? I fail to see what a bare list does to help the average searcher... there's no way to process the information. But maybe this is information-overload. --Cjeads1988 (talk) 23:52, 5 June 2012 (UTC)

Bach? Scarlatti?
This may be a silly initial question, but I imagine that a necessary condition of being included in a list of piano composers is being a composer who has composed music for the piano, correct? Assuming this is the case, why are there some composers who did not compose for the piano, but are included in this list?--2601:586:C201:642A:440F:476F:A771:E152 (talk) 21:55, 24 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Bach's The Musical Offering was certainly written for fortepiano, and there is some evidence that Scarlatti may have intended some of his sonatas for the fortepiano as well. Double sharp (talk) 14:18, 5 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Bach wrote the Musical Offering with the piano in mind, yes, since it was commissioned by King Frederick on the occasion of the instrument's appearance at his court. But the compositions don't reflect much interest in the piano. "Some evidence" of Scarlatti's intentions does not make him a "piano composer."
 * Anyway, the point of the question is being missed. This is a large list of baroque composers who wrote keyboard works, and most of them - Couperin, Handel - were only barely aware of the piano. Purcell died before the piano was invented. The list is just a random list of baroque keyboard composers, that doesn't seem to have been written thoughtfully in relation to the topic. Nadibautista (talk) 15:55, 8 January 2024 (UTC)
 * I agree; none of these are "piano composers" in any normal sense. I suggest simply removing the "Baroque" section (are there any exceptions?). Imaginatorium (talk) 16:44, 8 January 2024 (UTC)
 * One alternative would be to remove the Baroque section to its own page "harpsichord composers" but most of that music is now performed on piano. Another alternative might be to change the name of this page - List of Clavier Composers (obscure wording), List of Keyboard Composers (does that include organs and synthesizers?, List of Composers of Music Most Often Played on Piano (sure trips lightly off the tongue). I don't have a favorite, but am hoping my flailing around sparks a better suggestion from someone. MGFotiades (talk) 05:06, 8 May 2024 (UTC)

fats waller notes
in the same article of Fats Waller, it is stated that Waller is a jazz pianist, --Milton Fine (talk) 17:54, 7 August 2019 (UTC)