Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer born on June 17, 1818, and died on October 18, 1893. He wrote twelve operas, with Faust (1859) being the most famous. His opera Roméo et Juliette (1867) is also still performed today.
Léo Delibes
Clément Philibert Léo Delibes (French: [klemɑ̃ filibɛʁ leo dəlib]; 21 February 1836 – 16 January 1891) was a French Romantic composer, most famous for his ballets and operas. His works include the ballets Coppélia (1870) and Sylvia (1876), as well as the opera Lakmé (1883), which features the well-known “Flower Duet.” Born into a musical family, Delibes entered France’s most respected music school, the Conservatoire de Paris, at age twelve. He studied under several teachers, including Adolphe Adam.
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach ( / ˈ ɒ f ən b ɑː x / ; 20 June 1819 – 5 October 1880) was a composer, cellist, and theater manager born in Germany but later lived in France. He is best known for writing nearly 100 operettas between the 1850s and 1870s, as well as an unfinished opera called The Tales of Hoffmann. His work influenced many later composers, including Franz von Suppé, Johann Strauss II, and Arthur Sullivan.
Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Urbain Fauré was born on May 12, 1845, and died on November 4, 1924. He was a French composer, organist, pianist, and teacher. He was one of the most important French composers of his time, and his music influenced many composers in the 20th century.
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (UK: /ˈsæ̃sɒ̃ (s)/, US: /sæ̃ˈsɒ̃ (s)/, French: [ʃaʁl kamij sɛ̃sɑ̃(s)]) was a French composer, organist, conductor, and pianist from the Romantic era. His most famous works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Second Piano Concerto (1868), the First Cello Concerto (1872), Danse macabre (1874), the opera Samson and Delilah (1877), the Third Violin Concerto (1880), the Third (“Organ”) Symphony (1886), and The Carnival of the Animals (1886). Saint-Saëns began performing publicly at age ten.
César Franck
César Auguste Jean Guillaume Hubert Franck was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in present-day Belgium on December 10, 1822. He died on November 8, 1890. He was born in Liège, which was part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands at the time.
Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (Russian: Михаил Иванович Глинка, romanized: Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka, IPA: [mʲɪxɐˈil ɨˈvanəvʲɪdʑ ˈɡlʲinkə]; 1 June [O.S. 20 May] 1804 – 15 February [O.S. 3 February] 1857) was the first Russian composer to become well-known in Russia.
Alexander Borodin
Alexander Borodin (November 12, 1833 – February 27, 1887) was a Russian composer and chemist with Georgian and Russian heritage. He was part of a group of five composers known as “The Five,” who aimed to create classical music with a distinctly Russian style. Borodin is most famous for his symphonies, two string quartets, the symphonic poem In the Steppes of Central Asia, and his opera Prince Igor.
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( / m ʊ ˈ s ɔːr ɡ s k i , – ˈ z ɔːr ɡ -/ ; Russian: Модест Петрович Мусоргский, romanized: Modest Petrovich Musorgsky; IPA: [mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj]; 21 March [O.S. 9 March] 1839 – 28 March [O.S. 16 March] 1881) was a Russian composer and part of a group called “The Five.” He helped shape Russian music during the Romantic period and worked to create a musical style that was distinctly Russian, often choosing to ignore traditional Western music rules.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was born on March 18, 1844, and died on June 21, 1908. He was a Russian composer and a member of a group called The Five. His most famous orchestral works—Capriccio Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade—are often performed and are part of the classical music collection.