Symphony

A symphony is an extended piece of music usually for orchestra and comprising several movements.

Composers of symphonies

Among composers who have composed symphonies are (listed in chronological order of birth):

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Giuseppe Torelli, Italian composer of the Sinfonia à 4, the first real symphony
• Giovanni Battista Sammartini (around 1701-1775), Italian composer
• Antonio Brioschi, Italian composer
• William Boyce (1710-1779), whose opus 2 is a set of eight "symphonies", although they started life as overtures to other works.
• Ignaz Holzbauer (1711-1783)
• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788), son of Johann Sebastian Bach, composer of around twenty symphonies
• Georg Christoph Wagenseil (1715-1777)
• Georg Matthias Monn (1717-1750), whose symphony in D of 1740 is the first to include a minuet as a third movement.
• Johann Stamitz (1717-1757), the first composer to regularly include a minuet as the third movement of his symphonies.
• Wenzel Raimund Birck (1718-1763)
• Leopold Mozart (1719-1787), who wrote symphonies in which he included thrillingly incorporated French horns.
• Carl Friedrich Abel (1725-1787), active in London
• Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), one of the best known Classical composers of symphonies, he wrote 106 examples (see the list of symphonies by Joseph Haydn and the Category of Haydn symphonies.).
• François-Joseph Gossec (1734-1829), French composer of over 60 symphonies.
• Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782), son of Johann Sebastian Bach, active in London
• Leopold Hoffmann (1738-1793)
• Johann Baptist Vanhal (1739-1813), Bohemian composer of at least 24 symphonies. http://www.haydn.dk/index.php
• Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739-1799)
• Antonio Rosetti (c.1750-1792), Bohemian composer, wrote many symphonies, concertos (notably for horn), and vocal works
• Muzio Clementi (1752-1832), Italian composer of symphonies
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), one of the best known Classical symphonists. The exact number of symphonies Mozart wrote is difficult to determine owing to problems with autenticating scores - traditional numbering credits him with 41 symphonies, though some of those are not by him, and there are several authentic works not included among those 41.
• Ignaz Pleyel (1757-1831) Austrian composer, in his time a famous pupil of Haydn.
• Étienne Méhul (1763-1817), French composer of at least four symphonies.
• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), considered one of the most important symphonists, he wrote nine numbered symphonies plus sketches for a tenth and the Battle Symphony - see Category of Beethoven symphonies.
• Georges Onslow (1784-1853), French composer of four symphonies in a style combining echoes of Beethoven and Schubert.
• Louis Spohr (1784-1859), well known as a symphonist in his day, though his ten works in the genre are largely forgotten today.
• Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826), German composer, wrote two symphonies.
• Franz Schubert (1797-1828), composer of nine surviving symphonies, with the Symphony No. 8 (the Unfinished) and Symphony No. 9 (the Great) the best known.
• Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), best remembered for his Symphonie Fantastique.
• Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), composer of 12 complete string symphonies (the 13th was left unfinished) and five numbered symphonies, sketches for a sixth (1847).
• Robert Schumann (1810-1856), who wrote four numbered symphonies plus two sketched movements for a fifth in G minor.
• Franz Liszt (1811-1886), wrote two programmatic symphonies, the Faust Symphony and the Dante Symphony.
• César Franck (1822-1890), wrote one symphony.
• Joachim Raff (1822-1882), composer of eleven symphonies, several with programmatic elements, well known in his day, but now largely forgotten.
• Anton Bruckner (1824-1896), composer of eleven symphonies, including Nos. 00 and 0.
• Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894), composer of six symphonies, with number two, the Ocean and number six, the Dramatic, the best known (though neither as well known now as they were in Rubinstein's day).
• Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), composer of four symphonies, considered to be the artistic heir of Beethoven. Regarded as one of the great symphonists of the Romantic period.
• Felix Draeseke (1835-1913), composer of the New German School wrote four symphonies.
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921), composer of five symphonies (three of which are numbered while the other two are not), of which the best known is number three, the Organ Symphony.
• Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), who wrote six numbered symphonies plus the Manfred Symphony.
• Antonín Dvo?ák (1841-1904), who wrote nine symphonies, of which the most famous in the ninth (From the New World).
• Ernest Chausson (1855-1899), French composer of a symphony. Sketches for a second.
• Edward Elgar (1857-1934), completed two symphonies, with sketches for a third made into a performing version by Anthony Payne.
• Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), completed nine large-scale symphonies, plus an incomplete tenth - see Category of Mahler symphonies.
• Carl Nielsen (1865-1931), composer of six symphonies.
• Jean Sibelius (1865-1957), composer of the Kullervo Symphony, and of seven numbered symphonies (a No.8 was destroyed by the composer in 1929).
• Vasily Kalinnikov (1866-1901), Russian composer of two symphonies.
• Albert Roussel (1869-1937), French composer of four symphonies.
• Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927), Swedish composer of two symphonies.
• Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942), Austrian composer of three symphonies, a symphony in all but name, 'Die Seejungfrau' (1902) and a Sinfonietta (1934).
• Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), composer of nine symphonies.
• Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), composer of three symphonies in a late-Romantic style.
• Josef Suk (1874-1934), Czech composer of the 'Asrael' Symphony.
• Charles Ives (1874-1954), American composer of four symphonies.
• Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), Austrian composer of two chamber symphonies, several sketches for symphonies. Alban Berg thought of the tone poem 'Pelleas und Melisande'(1902) as a symphony.
• Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948), Italian-German composer of the Sinfonia da Camera (1901); an early composer in the genre of the 20th century chamber symphony.
• Franz Schmidt (1874-1939), Austrian composer of four symphonies.
• Havergal Brian (1876-1972), English composer of 32 symphonies, most of which he wrote in his seventies and eighties.
• Franz Schreker (1879-1934), Austrian composer of the Chamber Symphony.
• Nikolai Myaskovsky (1881-1950), Soviet composer (moved from Poland at a very young age) and composer of 27 symphonies.
• George Enescu (1881-1955), Romanian composer. Wrote three acknowledged and complete symphonies, four earlier ones and two later ones the latter completed by Pascal Bentoiu.
• Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), wrote three purely orchestral symphonies plus the Symphony of Psalms for chorus and orchestra (his Symphonies of Wind Instruments uses the word symphony in its old sense of "sounding together").
• Anton Webern (1883-1945), Austrian Composer of a symphony (1928).
• Bohuslav Martin? (1890-1959), Czech composer of five symphonies.
• Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), Soviet composer of seven symphonies, plus a 'Symphony-Concerto for Cello and Orchestra'.
• Arthur Honegger (1892-1955), Swiss-French composer of five symphonies.
• Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942), Czech composer of eight symphonies (last two in short score).
• Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), German composer of several works with descriptive titles designated symphonies, of which the best known is Mathis der Maler, as well as the Symphony in E-flat of 1939 and the Symphony in B-flat for Concert Band.
• Howard Hanson (1896-1981), American composer of 7 symphonies (no. 1 Nordic, no. 2 Romantic his most famous, no. 4 Requiem, no. 5 Sinfonia Sacra, and no. 7 Sea Symphony).
• Roger Sessions (1896-1985), American composer of nine symphonies, all but the first two of which are written using some form of the twelve-tone technique.
• Viktor Ullmann (1898-1944), Czech Composer of two symphonies (1944, reconstructions from the short score of the Piano Sonatas No.5 and 7 by Bernard Wulff).
• Hanns Eisler (1898-1962), German Composer of a 'Little Symphony' (1932) and a 'German Symphony' (1930-1958).
• Roy Harris (1898-1979), American composer of 15 symphonies, of which Symphony No. 3 is by far the most famous.
• Pavel Haas (1899-1944), Czech Composer of an unfinished Symphony (1940/41, orchestration completed by Zdenek Zouhar).
• Aaron Copland (1900-1990), American composer of three symphonies. The fourth movement of No. 3 is based on his famous Fanfare for the Common Man.
• Ernst Krenek (1900-1991), Austrian composer of five symphonies.
• Kurt Weill (1900-1950), German Composer of two symphonies.
• Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986), English composer of eleven symphonies.
• William Walton (1902-1983), English composer of two symphonies.
• Michael Tippett (1905-1998), English composer of four symphonies.
• Eduard Tubin (1905-1982), Estonian composer of ten symphonies.
• Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905-1963), German composer of eight symphonies.
• Benjamin Frankel (1906-1973), English composer of eight symphonies.
• Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), Soviet composer of fifteen symphonies - see Category of Shostakovich symphonies.
• Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996), Danish composer of thirteen symphonies, four symphonies for strings and three chamber symphonies (these seven works not discarded, but not included by him among the other thirteen).
• William Schuman (1910-1992), American composer of ten symphonies.
• Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975), American composer of a symphony (1940).
• Allan Pettersson (1911-1980), Swedish composer of seventeen expressive symphonies.
• Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), British composer of several symphonies, including the Sinfonia da Requiem (1940) and the Cello Symphony (1963).
• Witold Lutos?awski (1913-1994), Polish composer, wrote four symphonies.
• David Diamond (born 1915), American composer of 11 symphonies.
• Lou Harrison (1917-2003), American composer of 4 symphonies.
• Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), American composer and conductor, composed 3 symphonies.
• Moisei Vainberg (1919-1996), Polish composer who emigrated to the Soviet Union, composer of 20 symphonies for full orchestra and four chamber symphonies.
• Robert Simpson (1921-1997), British composer, wrote 11 symphonies.
• Peter Mennin (1923-1983), American composer, wrote 9 symphonies.
• Luciano Berio (1925-2003) Italian composer of the famous Sinfonia (1968-69).
• Hans Werner Henze (born 1926), German Composer of 10 symphonies.
• Einojuhani Rautavaara (born 1929), Finnish composer of 8 symphonies.
• John Williams (born 1932), American Composer of a symphony (1966).
• Krzysztof Penderecki (born 1933), Polish composer of 8 symphonies (as of 2005).
• Henryk Gorecki (born 1933), Polish composer of three symphonies.
• Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998), Russian Composer of Symphonies, Nos.1-8 (1972-98).
• Peter Maxwell Davies (born 1934), British Composer of a Sinfonia (1962), a Sinfonia Concertante (1982), a Sinfonietta (1983) and eight numbered symphonies (1976-2001).
• Arvo Pärt (born 1935), composer of three symphonies (-1971)
• Philip Glass (born 1937), composer of eight symphonies up to 2005.
• John Coolidge Adams (born 1947), composer of a Chamber Symphony (1992) and three other symphonies in all but name.
• Ilayaraaja (born 1943), eminent Indian film composer
• Heinz Chur (born 1948), German composer of 4 symphonies (1978-1991).
• Oliver Knussen (born 1953), English Composer of three symphonies.
• Tan Dun (born 1957), Chinese composer of the Symphony 1997.
• Aaron Jay Kernis (born 1960), American composer of the two symphonies.
• Michael Torke (born 1961), American composer of a symphony (1997).
• Thomas Ades (born 1971) English Composer of the Chamber Symphony For Fifteen Players Op.2 (1991).