Who are the greatest composers of each era of classical music?

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✅ Answers

to questions like this can only be ‘opinion’, as there are no criteria by which to define ‘greatest’. I will bite on this, however, citing the composers whom I feel epitomise their era, had the greatest impact on the music of their time and influenced music that came after them.

Medieval – Guillaume de Machaut (sometimes spelt ‘Machault’)
Renaissance (you left this out for some reason) – Orlando di Lasso (Orlandus Lassus)
Baroque – Johann Sebastian Bach
Classical – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Romantic – Richard Wagner
Modern/Contemporary )both words mean the same to me) – Witold Lutosławski
I would also have to demand an ‘honorable mention’ to those composers who straddled two musical eras and who helped propel music into new directions:

Medieval to Renaissance – Guillaume Dufay
Renaissance to Baroque – Claudio Monteverdi
Baroque to Classical – CPE Bach
Classical to Romantic – Ludwig van Beethoven
Romantic to Modern – Claude Debussy

I dont know any medieval however in my opinion the Rest are

Baroque – Vivaldi
Classical – Mozart and Beethoven
Romantic – Liszt and Tchaikovsky
Modern – Satie and Prokofiev

And im Sorry, but i Dont really know any contemporary

I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t know that many Medieval composer

Renaissance:Palestrina, Nicholas Gombert
Baroque:Bach, Handel
Classical:Mozart, Haydn
Romantic:Wagner, Beethoven
Modern:John Cage, Sibelius