Note: The term
classical music has been used broadly to describe many eras which do not fit the label. Initially the term specifically meant 1730–1820 (the
Classical period), but for this list the period from the
Baroque period to the modern era will be included in this section. This is because Renaissance and especially Medieval music tends to be dominated, in the West, by Catholic religious music. •
Mateo Albéniz, Spanish composer and priest. •
Johann Christian Bach, son of J. S. Bach, converted to Catholicism and wrote much Catholic liturgical and sacred music. •
Ludwig van Beethoven, his sacred music includes the famous
Missa solemnis and
Mass in C major. •
Hector Berlioz, though an agnostic, Berlioz wrote a famous
Requiem as well as another mass and a Te Deum. •
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, known in part for the
Rosary Sonatas also called the
Mystery Sonatas. •
František Brixi, eighteenth-century Czech composer. He wrote some 290 church compositions and was
Kapellmeister of
St. Vitus Cathedral. •
Severo Bonini,
Benedictine and Baroque composer of sacred music. •
Anton Bruckner, Austrian late Romantic composer most famous for his symphonies. Devoutly Catholic, he wrote at least seven Masses and much other Catholic sacred music. •
Francesca Caccini, Italian early Baroque female composer. Composed some motets. •
Francesco Cavalli, Italian early Baroque composer of operas and some sacred music, including a requiem mass. •
Marc-Antoine Charpentier, French Baroque composer. Composed several masses and other sacred music. •
Luigi Cherubini, late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Italian composer of operas and sacred music. He composed 11 masses •
Salvatore Di Vittorio, Italian neoclassical composer and conductor •
Gaetano Donizetti, most famous as composer of operas, he also composed some sacred music including two Masses. •
Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer, most famous for the
New World Symphony. A devout Catholic, his sacred compositions include a
Requiem, the
Mass in D major,
Stabat Mater and Te Deum. •
Edward Elgar, devoutly Catholic English composer of nineteenth and early twentieth century. His most famous religious work is
The Dream of Gerontius whose text is a poem by
Cardinal Newman •
Gabriel Fauré, nineteenth century French composer. Although his religious views are obscure, he was a renowned church organist, and composed a significant amount of Catholic sacred music, including of a famous
Requiem Mass. •
César Franck, nineteenth-century French composer, most famous for his Symphony in D. Composer of
Panis Angelicus. •
Paolo Giorza •
Christoph Willibald Gluck, knighted by
Pope Benedict XIV, was important in the history of opera, but wrote only a few pieces of sacred music. •
Charles Gounod, French composer whose religious music includes a very famous setting of the Ave Maria and
Inno e Marcia Pontificale. •
Henryk Górecki, late twentieth century Polish composer, most famous for his Third Symphony. Also has composed Catholic sacred music. •
Pietro Guglielmi, In 1793 he became maestro di cappella at
St Peter's, Rome. •
Johann Michael Haydn, younger brother of Joseph Haydn, and prolific composer of sacred music, including 47 masses. •
Joseph Haydn, great Austrian composer of the Classical period. Credited with inventing the symphony. Also composed 14 Masses (including the Mass in Time of War), 2
Te Deums and a
Stabat Mater. Very devout, often prayed the rosary when he had trouble composing. Teacher of both Mozart and Beethoven. •
Zoltán Kodály, twentieth century Hungarian composer. Composed a Missa Brevis, a Te Deum, and Psalmus Hungaricus. •
Guglielmo Enrico Lardelli An Italian-Australian who composed secular and liturgical works. •
Franz Liszt, famed pianist and Romantic composer, mostly of piano works. He became a Franciscan tertiary. Composed much sacred music, including 5 masses. •
Antonio Lotti, made his career at
St Mark's Basilica and composed numerous Masses. •
Wolfram Menschick (1937–2010) who composed more than 30 masses and other liturgical music. •
Olivier Messiaen, twentieth century French composer. "Many of his compositions depict what he termed 'the marvellous aspects of the faith', drawing on his unshakeable Roman Catholicism." •
Claudio Monteverdi, Italian composer, famous from madrigals, and important in the transition from Renaissance to Baroque styles. Most well-known sacred piece is
Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610 (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin) and was ordained in 1633 •
Stephen Moreno, Benedictine missionary to New Norcia in Australia who composed Masses published in Europe. •
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composed 18 Masses including the
Requiem Mass, the
Coronation Mass, and the
Great Mass in C minor, and much other sacred music, including Vespers,
Ave Verum Corpus, and
Exultate Jubilate. •
Arvo Pärt, late twentieth-century Estonian composer. Though Eastern Orthodox, his sacred music is primarily in Latin Catholic forms, including a Mass, Te Deum, and Stabat Mater. •
Jan Dismas Zelenka, Czech Baroque composer who is most appreciated for his complex Mass settings and harmonic and contrapuntal inventiveness. •
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian Baroque composer who wrote one of the most famous settings of the Stabat Mater. • Don
Lorenzo Perosi, Catholic priest and Director of the Sistine Choir under five Popes. •
Francis Poulenc, twentieth century French composer. His most famous sacred works are the Mass in G, a
Gloria, a Stabat Mater, and
Dialogues of the Carmelites. •
Licinio Refice, composed over 300 pieces of sacred music •
Georg Reutter, church composer. •
Josef Rheinberger, twelve Masses and a Stabat Mater. •
Gioachino Rossini, one of the greatest composers of Italian Opera. Late in life wrote a famous
Stabat Mater and the
Petite messe solennelle •
Antonio Salieri, Italian composer of Classical period. Taught Beethoven, Schubert, and Liszt. Composed operas and sacred music, including ten hymns and nine psalms. •
José Joaquim dos Santos, Portuguese Baroque composer almost exclusively of sacred music performed in Portugal and Brazil. •
Alessandro Scarlatti, Italian Baroque composer, whose most notable sacred composition is the St. Cecelia mass. •
Domenico Scarlatti, Italian Baroque composer, his sacred music includes a well known Stabat Mater and Salve Regina. •
Franz Schubert, great classical/early Romantic Austrian composer. Most famous for Lieder and symphonies. Also composed 6 masses and much other sacred music, including a famous Ave Maria (whose original text was a prayer to Mary, but not the famous Hail Mary prayer).
List of compositions by Franz Schubert •
Robert Schumann, German Romantic composer. Though Protestant, he composed a Mass in C minor and a Requiem Mass. •
Antonio Soler, Spanish priest and composer. •
Cassius Clement Stearns, American organist and composer, whose work included several settings of the Mass and of Vespers. •
Igor Stravinsky, though an Eastern Orthodox Christian, Stravinsky composed a notable Catholic Mass. •
Ralph Vaughan Williams, twentieth century English composer, an agnostic Anglican, who composed or arranged much Anglican Church music. He composed a few works in Catholic liturgical forms, including a Mass and a Te Deum. •
Giuseppe Verdi, though not religious, he wrote a few religious works, including his great
Messa da Requiem. •
Antonio Vivaldi, called "The Red Priest" because of his hair. His religious music includes several large choral works (such as the
Gloria), small solo motets, and hymnals
con instrumenti. •
Carl Maria von Weber, German composer of Classical period, who wrote some sacred music that was popular especially in the nineteenth century. •
Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli, appointed choir master of the
Sistine Chapel in 1804.
Roman School The
Roman School is a group of composers strongly linked to the Vatican and the
Council of Trent. Many of them were, or became, priests. Although much of their work is too early to be mentioned here it did survive into the early Baroque.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina is generally seen as the most famous member. As a list of members is in the article on the subject, repetition of names in it should be normally avoided, although Palestrina is notable enough to be in both.
21st Century Classical School There is a small but growing school of church composers, favoring a return to Catholic music that can be called "classical", writing original organ, choral, and vocal music that is often based on
Gregorian chant. ==Twentieth century and contemporary music==