- Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179), early church music composer, wrote sacred works including her morality play with music Ordo Virtutum
- Caspar Othmayr (1515–1553), Renaissance composer
- Michael Praetorius (1571–1621), Baroque composer, organist and writer on music
- Andreas Hakenberger (1574–1627), Baroque composer
- Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672), Baroque composer and organist
- Samuel Scheidt (1587–1653), Baroque composer, organist and teacher
- Johann Schop (1590–1667), composer of violin music
- Johann Pachelbel (1653–1706), Baroque composer known for his Canon in D major
- Georg Caspar Schürmann (1672 or 1673-1751), Baroque composer
- Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767), Baroque composer with more than 800 credited works
- Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), Baroque composer, known for the Mass in B Minor and many other compositions
- George Frideric Handel (1685–1759), Baroque composer, wrote a significant amount of music for the church including Messiah
- Johan Agrell (1701–1765), Baroque/Classical composer of symphonies
- Johann Ernst Eberlin (1702–1762), organist and composer, a bridge between the Baroque and Classical eras
- Johann Gottlieb Graun (1703–1771), Baroque composer and violinist
- Carl Heinrich Graun (1704–1759), Baroque composer and tenor singer
- Christoph Schaffrath (1709–1763), chamber music composer, a bridge between the Baroque and Classical eras
- Frederick II of Prussia (1712–1786), king of Prussia, composer and flautist
- Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713–1780), Baroque composer and organist
- Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788), early Classical era composer
- Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787), early Classical era composer
- Gottfried August Homilius (1714–1785), church music composer, wrote passions, oratorios, and cantatas
- Carl Friedrich Abel (1723–1787), performer on the viola da gamba and Classical composer
- Florian Leopold Gassmann (1729–1774)[1], Classical composer of opera buffa
- Johann Christian Bach (1735–1782), 18th century composer in the Galante style
- Johann Gottlieb Janitsch (1708–c1763), musician at the court of Frederick II of Prussia, wrote 28 quadro sonatas
- Joseph Martin Kraus (1756–1792), Classical composer who moved to Sweden
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), son of Leopold, influential composer of operas, piano concertos, chamber music, symphonies, sacred works, and much else.
- Franz Danzi (1763–1826), Classical composer and noted cellist
- Simon Mayr (1763–1845), Classical era opera composer, rarely performed today
- Peter Anton Kreusser (1765-1831) Romantic composer,Paris, London, Munich
- Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), regarded by many as the first Romantic composer, famous mainly for his nine symphonies and five piano concerti, and other works
- Louis Spohr (1784–1859), Romantic composer of symphonies, operas, and other works
- Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826), composer who was a bridge between the Classical and Romantic styles, noted for Der Freischütz
- Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791–1864), Romantic era opera composer, known for Les Huguenots
- Johann Carl Gottfried Löwe (1796–1869), Romantic era composer of lieder
- Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847), Romantic composer, known for Wedding March from his music to A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Fanny Mendelssohn, sister of Felix Mendelssohn, pianist and composer
- Robert Schumann (1810–1856), Romantic composer, a significant lieder writer, also wrote many short piano pieces
- Richard Wagner (1813–1883), opera composer, made use of extreme chromaticism, known for Tristan und Isolde as well as the famous four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen
- Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (1814–1865), violinist and composer, considered by some the greatest violinist of his time after Paganini
- Friedrich Robert Volkmann (1815–1833)
- Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880), Romantic composer and cellist
- Clara Schumann (1819–1896), Romantic composer, wife of Robert and pianist who also wrote piano music, chamber music and songs
- Carl Reinecke (1824–1910), musician and composer
- Albert Dietrich (1829–1908), composer and conductor
- Johannes Brahms (1833–1897), Romantic composer, somewhat similar in style to Beethoven, known for his Hungarian Dances and Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn
- Franz Wohlfahrt (1833–1884), Romantic era violin teacher
- Max Bruch (1838–1920), Romantic era composer, today known mostly for his Violin Concerto No. 1
- August Friedrich Martin Klughardt (1847–1902), composer and conductor
- Philipp Scharwenka (1847-1917), composer and teacher
- Fritz Seitz (1848–1918), Romantic era violin teacher
- Max Wagenknecht (1857–1922), composer of organ and piano music
- Julius Klengel (1859–1933), cellist and composer
- Richard Strauss (1864–1949), late Romantic composer, known for Also Sprach Zarathustra, based on Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy
- Hans Pfitzner (1869–1949), composer and self-described anti-modernist
- Carl Orff (1895–1982), 20th century modernist composer
- Paul Hindemith (1895–1963), 20th century composer, conductor and theorist, developer of "Gebrauchsmusik"
- Martin Scherber (1907-1974), 20th century composer of three symphonies
- Berthold Goldschmidt (1903–1996)
- Bertold Hummel (1925–2002), 20th century modernist composer
- Hans Werner Henze (b. July 1, 1926), 20th Century modernist composer.
- Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007), 20th Century modernist composer.
- Wolfgang Rihm (b. 13 March 1952), 20th Century Post-Modernist composer.
- Hans-Jürgen von Bose (b. 24 December 1953), 20th Century Post-Modernist composer.
- Hans Zimmer (b. 12 September 1957), composer for over 100 film scores, notable for blending electronic music and orchestral arrangements
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