Chronological list of French classical composers

The following is a chronological list of classical music composers who lived in, worked in, or were citizens of France.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

## Medieval[edit]

* Leonin (c. 1150 – 1201)
* Perotin (1160 – 1230)
* Adam de la Halle (1240 – 1287)
* Philippe de Vitry (1291 – 1361)
* Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300 – 1377)

## Renaissance[edit]

* Guillaume Dufay (c. 1397 – 1474)
* Gilles Binchois (c. 1400 – 1460)
* Loÿset Compère (c. 1445 – 1518)
* Josquin des Prez (c. 1450 – 1521), born near Franco-Flemish border
* Pierre de La Rue (c. 1452 – 1518)
* Jean Mouton (c. 1459 – 1522)
* Antoine Brumel (c. 1460 – 1512/1513)
* Clément Janequin (c. 1485 – 1558)
* Claudin de Sermisy (c. 1490 – 1562)
* Nicolas Gombert (c. 1495 – c. 1560)
* Ninot le Petit (fl. c. 1500 – 1520)
* Pierre de Manchicourt (c. 1510 – 1564)
* Claude Gervaise (fl. 1540 – 1560)
* Jean Titelouze (c. 1562/63 – 1633)

## Baroque[edit]

* Pierre Guédron (c. 1570 – c. 1620)
* Antoine Boësset (1586–1643)
* Étienne Moulinié (c. 1599 – after 1669)
* Jacques Champion de Chambonnières (c. 1601 – 1672)
* Denis Gaultier (1603–1672)
* François Dufault (before 1604 – c. 1672)
* Jacques de Gouy (c. 1610 – after 1650)
* Michel Lambert (1610–1696)
* Louis Couperin (c. 1626 – 1661)
* Jean-Henri d'Anglebert (1629–1691)
* Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687)
* Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe (c. 1640 – c. 1700)
* Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643–1704)
* Robert de Visée (c. 1655 – 1732/1733)
* Marin Marais (1656–1728)
* Michel Richard Delalande (1657–1726)
* André Campra (1660–1744)
* Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665–1729)
* Jean-Féry Rebel (1666–1747)
* Michel Pignolet de Montéclair (1667–1737)
* François Couperin (1668–1733)
* Louis Marchand (1669–1732)
* Louis de Caix d'Hervelois (c. 1670 – c. 1760)
* Gaspard Corrette (1671–before 1733)
* Antoine Forqueray (1671–1745)
* Nicolas de Grigny (1672–1703)
* Jacques-Martin Hotteterre (1674–1763)
* Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (1676–1749)
* Jean-François Dandrieu (c. 1682 – 1738)
* Jean-Joseph Mouret (1682–1738)
* Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764)
* François d'Agincourt (1684–1758)
* Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (1689–1755)
* Louis-Claude Daquin (1694–1772)
* Jean-Marie Leclair the elder (1697–1764)
* François Francoeur (1698–1787)
* Michel Blavet (1700–1768)
* Christophe Moyreau (1700–1774)
* Jean-Marie Leclair the Younger (1703–1777)
* Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer (c. 1705 – 1755)
* Louis-Gabriel Guillemain (1705–1770)
* Michel Corrette (1707–1795)
* Jean-Joseph de Mondonville (1711–1772)

## Classical era[edit]

* Jacques Duphly (1715–1789)
* François-André Danican Philidor (1726–1795)
* Joseph Touchemoulin (1727–1801)
* François Joseph Gossec (1734–1829)
* André Grétry (1741–1813)
* Simon Le Duc (1742–1777)
* Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745–1799)
* Nicolas Dalayrac (1753–1809)
* Jean-Baptiste Bréval (1753–1823)
* Ignaz Pleyel (1757–1831)
* Jean-François Lesueur (1760–1837)
* Olivier Aubert (1763–c.1830)
* Étienne Méhul (1763–1817)
* Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766–1831)
* Louis-Emmanuel Jadin (1768–1853)
* Charles Simon Catel (1773–1830)
* Pierre Rode (1774–1830)
* François-Adrien Boieldieu (1775–1834)
* Hyacinthe Jadin (1776–1800)
* Pauline Duchambge (1778–1858)
* Jacques Féréol Mazas (1782–1849)

## Romantic[edit]

* Daniel Auber (1782–1871)
* George Onslow (1784–1853)
* Nicolas-Charles Bochsa (1789–1856)
* Ferdinand Hérold (1791–1833)
* Fromental Halévy (1799–1862)
* Victor Magnien (1802–1885)
* Adolphe Adam (1803–1856)
* Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)
* Louise Farrenc (1804–1875)
* Louise Bertin (1805–1877)
* Napoléon Coste (1805–1883)
* Napoléon Henri Reber (1807–1880)
* Auguste Pilati (1810–1877)
* Félicien David (1810–1876)
* Ambroise Thomas (1811–1896)
* Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813–1888)
* Eugène Louis-Marie Jancourt (1815–1901)
* Jean-Chrisostome Hess (1816–1900)
* François Bazin (1816–1878)
* Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély (1817–1869)
* Charles Dancla (1817–1907)
* Charles Gounod (1818–1893)
* Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880)
* Charles-Louis Hanon (1819–1900)
* Pauline Viardot (1821–1910)
* César Franck (1822–1890)
* Édouard Lalo (1823–1892)
* Joseph Jean-Baptiste Laurent Arban (1825–1889)
* Charles Delioux (1825–1915)
* Joseph O'Kelly (1828–1885)
* Georges Pfeiffer (1835–1908)
* Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
* Léo Delibes (1836–1891)
* Alexandre Guilmant (1837–1911)
* Théodore Dubois (1837–1924)
* Georges Bizet (1838–1875)
* Henri Ghys (1839–1908)
* Emmanuel Chabrier (1841–1894)
* Georges Lamothe (1842–1894)
* Jules Massenet (1842–1912)
* Claude-Paul Taffanel (1844–1908)
* Charles-Marie Widor (1844–1937)
* Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
* Henri Duparc (1848–1933)
* Benjamin Godard (1849–1895)
* Clément Broutin (1851–1889)
* Vincent d'Indy (1851–1931)
* André Messager (1853–1929)
* Ernest Chausson (1855–1899)
* Alfred Bruneau (1857–1934)
* Cécile Chaminade (1857–1944)
* Jules Auguste Wiernsberger (1857–1925)
* Mélanie Bonis (1858–1937)
* Gustave Charpentier (1860–1956)

## Modern/contemporary[edit]

* Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
* Maurice Emmanuel (1862–1938)
* Gabriel Pierné (1863–1937)
* Guy Ropartz (1864–1955)
* Paul Dukas (1865–1935)
* Albéric Magnard (1865–1914)
* Erik Satie (1866–1925)
* Charles Koechlin (1867–1950)
* Jules Mouquet (1867–1946)
* Albert Roussel (1869-1937)
* Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
* Charles Tournemire (1870–1939)
* Florent Schmitt (1870-1958)
* Henri Büsser (1872-1973)
* Déodat de Séverac (1872–1921)
* Jean Roger-Ducasse (1873-1954)
* Reynaldo Hahn (1874–1947)
* Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
* Henriette Renié (1875-1956)
* Armande de Polignac (1876–1962)
* Louis Aubert (1877-1968)
* Gabriel Dupont (1878-1914)
* André Caplet (1878-1925)
* Jean Cras (1879-1932)
* Philippe Gaubert (1879-1941)
* Maurice Delage (1879-1961)
* Marcel Tournier (1879-1951)
* Joseph Canteloube (1879–1957)
* Paul Le Flem (1881–1984)
* Edgard Varèse (1883–1965)
* Henri Collet (1885–1951)
* Marcel Dupré (1886–1971)
* Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979)
* Louis Durey (1888–1979)
* Jacques Ibert (1890–1962)
* Marcel Grandjany (1891-1975)
* Darius Milhaud (1892–1974)
* Germaine Tailleferre (1892–1983)
* Lili Boulanger (1893–1918)
* Marcel Lanquetuit (1894–1985)
* Jean Rivier (1896–1987)
* Francis Poulenc (1899–1963)
* Georges Auric (1899–1983)
* Henri Sauguet (1901-1989)
* Henri Tomasi (1901-1971)
* Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986)
* Claude Arrieu (1903-1990)
* Manuel Rosenthal (1904–2003)
* Eugene Bozza (1905–1991)
* André Jolivet (1905–1974)
* Jean Langlais (1907-1991)
* Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)
* Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur (1908–2002)
* Jean Martinon (1910–1976)
* Paule Maurice (1910-1967)
* Jehan Alain (1911-1940)
* Alfred Desenclos (1912-1971)
* Jean Françaix (1912–1997)
* Maurice Ohana (1913-1992)
* Henri Dutilleux (1916–2013)
* Pierre Boulez (1925–2016)
* Betsy Jolas (born 1926)
* Jean-Michel Damase (1928–2013)
* Pierre Max Dubois (1930-1995)
* Claude Bolling (1930–2020)
* Éliane Radigue (born 1932)
* Yves Prin (born 1933)
* Gilbert Amy (born 1936)
* Jean-Pierre Leguay (born 1939)
* Gérard Grisey (1946-1998)
* Tristan Murail (born 1947)
* Joël-François Durand (born 1954)
* Pascal Dusapin (born 1955)
* Pierre Pincemaille (1956–2018)
* Nicolas Bacri (born 1961)
* Marc-André Dalbavie (born 1961)
* Sophie Lacaze (born 1963)
* Thierry Escaich (born 1965)
* Christophe Bertrand (1981-2010)

## See also[edit]

* Biography portal
* Classical music portal
* France portal
* Lists portal

* List of classical music composers by era
* List of French composers
* Classic 100 Music of France (ABC)