Medieval and Renaissance composers (born 1300-1550)

• Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377)
• Guillaume Dufay (1400-1474)
• Josquin Desprez (c.1440-1521) born near Franco-Flemish border
• Pierre de La Rue (c.1460-1518)
• Nicolas Gombert (c.1495–c.1560) born in Flanders

Baroque composers (born 1550-1700)

• Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) born in Italy
• Jean-Henri d'Anglebert (1635-1691)
• Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)
• Marin Marais (1656-1728)
• André Campra (1660 -1744)
• Jean-Féry Rebel (1666-1747)
• François Couperin (1668-1733)
• Louis Marchand (1669-1732)
• Antoine Forqueray (1671-1745)
• Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703)
• Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (1676-1749)
• Jean-François Dandrieu (1682-1738)
• Jean-Joseph Mouret (1682-1738), Baroque composer, known today for his 'Rondeau' (theme song to the TV show Masterpiece Theatre)
• Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
• Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (1689-1755)
• Louis-Claude Daquin (1694-1772)
• Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764)

Classical era composers (born 1700-1800)

• Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer (1705-1755) born in Italy
• Jean-Joseph Mondonville (1711-1772)
• François-André Danican Philidor (1726-1795)
• Jean-Baptiste Breval (1753-1823)
• Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766-1831), composer known for his 42 études used by most violin students
• François-Adrien Boïeldieu (1775-1834)
• Daniel Auber (1782-1871), opera composer, well known in his time, but rarely performed today
• Jacques-Fereol Mazas (1782-1849), 18th century violinist and composer
• Nicolas-Charles Bochsa (1789-1856)^*, composer best known today for his studies and exercises for the harp.
• Fromental Halévy (1799-1862)

Romantic composers (born 1800-1880)

• Adolphe Adam (1803-1856)
• Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
• Ambroise Thomas (1811-1896)
• Louis-Antoine Jullien (1812-1860)^*
• Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888), Romantic era composer and pianist
• Charles Dancla (1817-1907)^*, 19th century violin teacher and composer
• Charles Gounod (1818-1893), composer, best known for his opera Faust
• Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), French operetta composer, known for The Tales of Hoffmann
• Edouard Lalo (1823-1892), Romantic composer remembered primarily for his Symphonie Espagnole for violin and orchestra
• Adolphe Blanc (1828–1885)
• Jean-Baptiste Accolay (1833-1900), 19th century violin teacher and composer
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921), Romantic composer perhaps best known for The Carnival of the Animals
• Leo Delibes (1836-1891), ballet composer known for his Coppelia, Sylvia, and Lakmé
• Georges Bizet (1838-1875), Romantic composer famous for his opera Carmen
• Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894)
• Jules Massenet (1842-1912), Romantic composer best known for "Meditation" from his opera Thaïs
• Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937), Romantic composer, noted for his works for the organ
• Gabriel Faure (1845-1924), Romantic composer, known for his chamber music and a requiem among other pieces
• Henri Duparc (1848-1933)
• Vincent d'Indy (1851-1931)
• Ernest Chausson (1855-1899)
• Alfred Bruneau (1857-1934)
• Claude Debussy (1862-1918), 20th century composer, his music is often described as impressionist, although he dismissed the term, wrote 'Clair de Lune' from Suite bergamasque
• Paul Dukas (1865-1935), late Romantic composer known today for his piece of program music, The Sorcerer's Apprentice
• Erik Satie (1866-1925), 20th century modernist and impressionist composer, known for his Gymnopedies
• Charles Koechlin (1867-1950)
• Claude Terrasse (1867-1923)
• Albert Roussel (1869-1937)
• Florent Schmitt (1870-1958)
• Charles Tournemire (1870-1939)
• Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
• Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947)
• Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), 20th century composer in the impressionist and neoclassicist styles

20th century composers (born 1880- )

Les Six

• Louis Durey (1888–1979)
• Arthur Honegger (1892–1955)
• Darius Milhaud (1892–1974)
• Germaine Tailleferre (1892–1983)
• Georges Auric (1899-1983)
• Francis Poulenc (1899–1963)

Other 20th century composers

• Edgar Varèse (1883-1965) became American
• Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979)
• Jacques Ibert (1890-1962)
• Lili Boulanger (1893-1918)
• Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986)
• Andre Jolivet (1905-1974)
• Jean Langlais (1907-1991)
• Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), 20th century modernist composer
• Jehan Alain (1911-1940)
• Jean Françaix (1912-1997)
• Henri Dutilleux (1916- )
• Pierre Boulez (1925- )
• Gérard Grisey (1946-1998)
• Max Méreaux (1946- )
• Tristan Murail (1947- )
• Jean-Thierry Boisseau (1949- )
• Joseph-François Kremer (1954- )
• Eric Serra (1959-)
• Jean-Yves Malmasson (1963- )

Lists of composers

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