The Giants of 20th Century Classical Music

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They are assigned to the decade in which they produce their first significant works. Within each decade, they are listed according to my preference.

Note of 2020: this is a very old page, dating from the 1990s. Check this page for updated information.

1900s


Schoenberg
Skrjabin
Ives
Debussy

1910s


Bartok
Stravinsky
Prokofev
Webern
Ravel
Busoni
Bloch
Roussel
De Falla

1920s


Hindemith
Janacek
Berg
Varese
Honegger
Weill
Poulenc
Kodaly
Milhaud
Haba
Krenek
Gershwin

1930s


Sostakovic
Britten
Vaughan Williams
Orff
Martinu
Copland

1940s


Messiaen
Carter
Korngold
Boulez
Petrassi
Cage
Babbitt
Jolivet
Dallapiccola
Fortner
Martin
Khacaturian
Schuman
Malipiero
Wolpe

1950s


Stockhausen
Xenakis
Hovhaness
Feldman
Tippett
Kagel
Nono
Berio
Henze
Rochberg
Dutilleux
Menotti
Barraque
Schaeffer
Luening
Brown
Wolff
Hiller

1960s


Ligeti
Schnittke
Part
Davies
Takemitsu Toru
Riley
Penderecki
Harrison
Scelsi
Subotnick
Partch
Gerhard
Wuorinen
Barber
Pousseur
Oliveros
Birtwistle
Hartmann
Austin
Foss
Ginastera
Bussotti
Bernstein
Maderna
Donatoni
Harris
Maxfield
Moran

1970s


Rautavaara Einojuhani
Tubin
Monk
Gubaidulina
Del Tredici
Reich
Zimmermann
Crumb
Hovland Egil
Ferneyhough
Shchedrin Rodion
Norgard
Glass
Sciarrino
Gruber
Tavener
Mennin
Hanson
Adler Samuel
Roussakis
Dodge
Ussachevsky

1980s


Lutoslawski
Nyman
Zwilich
Aho Kalevi
Corigliano John
Torke Michael
Adams
Braga Santos
Gotkovsky Ida
Ashley Robert
Chambers Wendy
Kaipainen Jouni
Ruders Poul
Bolcom
Branca
Dutilleux
Machover

1990s


Gorecki
Finnissy
Rutter
Thomas Ades