LibGuides: Composers You Should Know: Medieval

Notable Medieval Composers (500 - 1430)

If you wish to be generally familiar with classical music, here is a short list of composers you should know from this period:

Name	Birth	Death	Nationality	Representative Pieces
Bingen, Hildegard von	1098	1179	German	Ordo Virtutum (liturgical drama) Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum (song cycle)	CDs Scores
de Vitry, Phillipe	1291	1361	French	Motets in Roman de Fauvel Motets in Ars Nova (music theory book)	CDs
Dunstable, John ML410 .D933	~1390	1453	English	Missa Rex seculorum (mass) motets	Scores
Landini, Francesco	~1325	1397	Italian	147 ballate (in the Squarcialupi Codex)	CDs Scores
Machaut, Guillaume de ML410 .G966	~1300	1377	French	Messe de Nostre Dame (mass) Motets, Ballades, and Virelai	CDs Scores

If you are a student of Music History or Composition, here is a more detailed list of composers you should know from this period:

Name	Birth	Death	Nationality	Representative Pieces
Abelard, Peter	1079	1142	French	O quanta qualia (hymn) Planctus Jacob super filios suos (hymn)
Adam de la Halle	~1237	1288	French	Le Jeu de Robin et Marion (musical play)	Scores
Binchois, Gilles	~1400	1460	French	Triste plaisir et douloureuse joye (rondeau)	CDs Scores
Bingen, Hildegard von	1098	1179	German	Ordo Virtutum (liturgical drama) Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum (song cycle)	CDs Scores
de Vitry, Phillipe	1291	1361	French	Motets in Roman de Fauvel Motets in Ars Nova (music theory book)	CDs
Dunstable, John ML410 .D933	~1390	1453	English	Missa Rex seculorum (mass) motets	Scores
Jacopo da Bologna	fl1340	1386?	Italian	Non al suo amante (madrigal)	CDs
Landini, Francesco	~1325	1397	Italian	147 ballate (in the Squarcialupi Codex)	CDs Scores
Léonin	1135	1201	French	Magnus Liber (organum)	CDs
Machaut, Guillaume de ML410 .G966	~1300	1377	French	Messe de Nostre Dame (mass) Motets, Ballades, and Virelai	CDs Scores
Pérotin	1160	1225	French	Viderunt omnes (organum)	CDs Scores
Piero, Maestro	~1300	1350+	Italian	Cavalcando con un giovine accorto (madrigal)
Power, Leonel	~1370/85	1445	English	Alma redemptoris mater (mass antiphon) Mass (in the Old Hall Manuscript)	Scores
Tuotilo	~850	~915	Irish	an Easter drama
Vogelweide, Walther von der	~1170	~1230	German	Palästinalied (song) Unter der Linden (song)
Yared	505	571	Ethiopian	The Book of Zimare (liturgical chants)