home
Menu
Create
Random
0
0
0
thumbnail

100 Most Popular Composers

Name the 100 most popular composers (by surname) on classical music website arkivmusic.com
(#) refers to recordings available on the website as of Feb. 1, 2019
Nationality, and the first letter of each composer's surname are given as clues
Quiz by
kiwirage
Rate:
Last updated: November 13, 2024
You have not attempted this quiz yet.
More quiz info >>
First submittedJuly 18, 2018
Times taken16,894
Average score44.0%
Rating4.94
Report this quizReport
Quiz and answer stats >>
Friends stats >>
15:00
Enter answer here
0
 / 100 guessed
The quiz is paused. You have remaining.
Scoring
You scored / = %
This beats or equals % of test takers also scored 100%
The average score is
Your high score is
Your fastest time is
Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats ...
 
 
#
Composer
German
B
6894
Johann Sebastian Bach
Austrian
M
6380
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
German
B
5347
Ludwig van Beethoven
German
B
3956
Johannes Brahms
Austrian
S
3674
Franz Schubert
Russian
T
3161
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
German
S
2966
Robert Schumann
German
H
2688
Georg Friedrich Händel
Italian
V
2675
Giuseppe Verdi
German
M
2551
Felix Mendelssohn
French
D
2543
Claude Debussy
Polish
C
2473
Frédéric Chopin
Hungarian
L
2236
Franz Liszt
Austrian
H
2212
Joseph Haydn
French
R
2038
Maurice Ravel
Italian
V
1935
Antonio Vivaldi
German
W
1935
Richard Wagner
German
S
1815
Richard Strauss
Czech
D
1782
Antonín Dvořák
Italian
P
1658
Giacomo Puccini
Russian
P
1596
Sergei Prokofiev
Russian
R
1560
Sergei Rachmaninov
Russian
S
1548
Dmitri Shostakovich
French
S
1497
Camille Saint-Saëns
Italian
R
1488
Gioachino Rossini
Austro-Bohemian
M
1334
Gustav Mahler
French
F
1300
Gabriel Fauré
Russian
S
1237
Igor Stravinsky
French
B
1211
Georges Bizet
Norwegian
G
1209
Edvard Grieg
Italian
D
1056
Gaetano Donizetti
English
B
1043
Benjamin Britten
French
G
995
Charles Gounod
English
E
972
Edward Elgar
French
M
962
Jules Massenet
Hungarian
B
958
Béla Bartók
Finnish
S
932
Jean Sibelius
American
G
931
George Gershwin
German
T
903
Georg Philipp Telemann
French
F
869
César Franck
English
V
850
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Austrian
B
838
Anton Bruckner
Austrian
S
835
Johann Strauss Jr.
Russian
M
824
Modest Mussorgsky
French
B
821
Hector Berlioz
Russian
R
814
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
English
P
805
Henry Purcell
French
P
796
Francis Poulenc
Spanish
F
694
Manuel de Falla
German
W
676
Carl Maria von Weber
 
 
#
Composer
American
B
648
Leonard Bernstein
Italian
B
610
Vincenzo Bellini
American
C
606
Aaron Copland
Italian
S
602
Domenico Scarlatti
Brazilian
V
596
Heitor Villa-Lobos
American
B
583
Samuel Barber
German
H
583
Paul Hindemith
Italian
M
578
Claudio Monteverdi
Austrian
G
573
Christoph W. Gluck
Russian
S
557
Alexander Scriabin
Spanish
A
553
Isaac Albeniz
Italian
P
532
Niccolò Paganini
French
O
531
Jacques Offenbach
Italian
M
512
Pietro Mascagni
French
S
509
Erik Satie
English
B
504
William Byrd
Spanish
G
504
Enrique Granados
English
H
503
Gustav Holst
Italian
L
494
Ruggero Leoncavallo
Czech
J
477
Leoš Janáček
Czech
S
470
Bedřich Smetana
Austrian
K
418
Fritz Kreisler
Spanish
R
411
Joaquin Rodrigo
German
P
402
Johann Pachelbel
Italian
R
401
Ottorino Respighi
Russian
B
384
Alexander Borodin
Danish
N
381
Carl Nielsen
English
W
375
William Walton
French
R
374
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Austro-Hungarian
L
368
Franz Léhar
Italian
B
370
Luigi Boccherini
Soviet Armenian
K
370
Aram Khachaturian
French
D
357
Léo Delibes
German
B
353
Max Bruch
American
I
353
Charles Ives
Italian
C
352
Arcangelo Corelli
Italian
A
346
Tomaso Albinoni
Russian
G
345
Alexander Glazunov
Estonian
P
321
Arvo Pärt
Spanish
S
277
Pablo de Sarasate
Austro-Hungarian
K
275
Erich Korngold
Swiss
B
262
Ernest Bloch
English
D
227
Frederick Delius
Mexican
P
223
Manuel Ponce
Austrian
H
206
Johann Nepomuk Hummel
English
A
189
Malcolm Arnold
German
B
188
Johann Christian Bach
Italian-French
L
143
Jean-Baptiste Lully
French
M
122
Marin Marais
Finnish
R
105
Einojuhani Rautavaara
Save Your Stats
Your Next Quiz
Basic Orchestral Instruments
What are the basic strings, brass, and woodwind instruments found in most pieces of music performed by a symphony orchestra?
Musical Instruments by Picture #1
Can you identify these 20 musical instruments?
Questions in Music
How many roads must a man walk down, before you call him a man? Try to name the musical acts who asked these questions.
2010s Songs - Sudden Death
On each row, there is one song that was released in the 2010s and two songs that weren't. Guess the song from the 2010s.
20 Comments
panscedar
+1
Level 67
Jul 18, 2018
Rimsky-Korsakov wouldn't work.

Great quiz idea.

kiwirage
+1
Level 63
Jul 18, 2018
That's strange...it works for me. Glad you enjoyed the quiz!
TarsTarkas
+1
Level 74
Jul 19, 2018
Fine quiz! I have never learnt to spell Khachaturian’s name, while I love his music...
Jerry928
+2
Level 76
Sep 16, 2018
Now I know he's not spelt Saint-Seans… I'm surprised that Revueltas, Hovhaness and Górecki aren't here. Also Richard Harvey of Concerto Antico fame; I read somewhere he's called one of the best unknown composers, re which his absence here rather proves the point.
hypnoshroom
+1
Level 48
Jun 3, 2024
? I've barely heard of the composers you thought were on here. When you search "Revueltas" it tells you about stuffed corn cakes first! Hovhaness and Gorecki are both too modern to get on here
hypnoshroom
+1
Level 48
Jun 3, 2024
I'm more surprised that almost none of the atonal / twelve tone composers are here (maybe everyone hates them). Like the Second Viennese School (Schoenberg, Webern, Berg). Also I was hoping Messaien was on here since he was pretty prominent throughout the 20th century (but even he is probably too modern for people to enjoy).
rphxx
+1
Level 71
Apr 17, 2025
Yeah I was missing all of them aswell. I made a quiz about the most recommended classical composers on talkclassical, which includes a lot more modern composers, if you'd like to try :)
rphxx
+1
Level 71
Apr 17, 2025
Górecki is not too well known apart from his third Symphony (should be though!). Hovhaness is also not very well known, sadly. Also surprised about Revueltas.
xXViolaXx
+1
Level 67
Jun 25, 2020
Woah man, the 20th century always kills me. I'm so Beethoven centric it's hard to look to Stravinsky or contemporaries. haha
rphxx
+1
Level 71
Apr 17, 2025
There's not too many on here anyways.
marjobro
+2
Level 66
Jul 16, 2020
Loved this quiz. Laughing at myself for missing some that I have actually performed in public.....Resphigi, deFalla, Poulenc..

No list of this type should be expected to include every possible "suspect.". 'I plan to take it untimed to see if I can get them all (Well, except that Finnish guy at the end of the list!)

rphxx
+3
Level 71
Sep 17, 2023
Rautavaara made really great music though!
Zenon
+1
Level 41
Apr 24, 2025
Yeah maybe but Kodaly, Enescu and many others should be in it
wayboi
+2
Level 30
Oct 8, 2022
Fantastic quiz! I'm a professional conductor and violist and I only managed to answer about half. Somehow I got Marin Marais, though!
xdremdrake
+1
Level 30
Apr 14, 2024
My 2 Favorite Composers Are Beethoven, And Surprisingly, Pachelbel!
rphxx
+1
Level 71
Apr 17, 2025
Pachelbel wrote some really great organ works!! also great cantatas :)
chrisw439
+1
Level 69
Nov 13, 2024
Tried every variant of Britten I could possibly think of, except the correct one! Great quiz.
Gosudar
+1
Level 27
Apr 10, 2026
Great quiz. Korngold should probably be better labeled as Austro-Bohemian, he was born in Brno, Czechia.
caspianpunk
+1
Level 32
Apr 24, 2026
You have written Johann Christian Bach twice
kiwirage
+1
Level 63
Apr 24, 2026
No I haven’t
Copyright H Brothers Inc, 2008–2026
Contact Us | Go To Top | View Mobile Site | Site Map