The following is a list of organ composers. As well as citing the most regarded composers of music for the pipe organ, this list includes important anonymous and early-music sources, as well as composers from under-researched regions and countries.
Much keyboard music of the late-medieval and Renaissance was often played interchangeably on organ, harpsichord, clavichord and the like, with the exception of liturgical music (Mass, Magnificat and Latin hymns versets, chorale settings, etc.) which are thought to have been played primarily on the organ. Several early sources clearly specify the use of organ in free works, such as the Ileborgh Tablature of 1448, which in the third praeambulum has the first-known indication for pedal notes.
Eras of composition are roughly categorized as follows:
- Medieval: before 1440
- Renaissance: 1440âÂÂ1600
- Baroque: 1600âÂÂ1750
- Classical: 1750âÂÂ1810
- Romantic: 1810âÂÂ1870
- Late Romantic: 1870âÂÂ1910
- 20th Century: 1910âÂÂ1990
- Millennial: after 1990 (composers born after 1960)
Tablatures, manuscripts, and printed music before 1580
- Robertsbridge Codex (c. 1360)
- Groningen University: Incunabulum No. 70 (late 14th C.) https://www.jstor.org/stable/1551fffc-9010-346b-aa60-f97341a6c673?seq=7?seq=7|jstor
- Codex Faenza (c. 1420)
- Ileborgh Tablature (1448)
- Lochamer-Liederbuch and Fundamentum Organisandi of Conrad Paumann (mid-15th century)
- Buxheimer Orgelbuch (1460/1470)
- Codex of Nikolaus Apel (c. 1500)
- Tabulaturen etlicher Lobgesang of Arnolt Schlick (1512) First known printed organ music
- Amerbach (Bonifacius) Tablatures of Hans Kotter (1513 and c. 1522) (includes music of Paul Hofhaimer)
- Fundamentbuch of Hans Buchner (early 16th C.)
- Frottole intabulate da sonare of Andrea Antico (1517)
- British Library: Royal Appendix MS 58 (early 16th C.) https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_Appendix_MS_58|RAMS58
- Venice: Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana ital. 1227 (early 16th C.) https://www.jstor.org/stable/763522|jstor
- Trent, Archivio di Stato Sezione tedesco Miscellanea codicetto 105 (includes music of Arnolt Schlick (c. 1521)
- Recerchari Motetti Canzoni of Marc'Antonio Cavazzoni (1523)
- Tablature of Leonhard Kleber (1524)
- St. Gallen: Tablature of Fridolin Sicher (sometime between 1517 and 1531)
- Organ tablatures of Pierre Attaingnant, in 7 Volumes (1531)
- Intavolatura cioè recercari, canzoni, himni, Magnificat...libro primo of Girolamo Cavazzoni (1543)
- Bergamo Organ Book, Bergamo, Italy (16th C.) https://www.jstor.org/stable/763743|jstor
- Krakow "Holy Ghost" Tablature, Poland (1548)
- Intavolatura d'organo, cioè misse, himni, Magnificat...libro secondo of Girolamo Cavazzoni (before 1549)
- The Tablature of Jan of Lublin [Johannes of Lublin], Poland (mid-16th C.)
- Castell'Arquato Manuscript (mid-16th C.) https://www.jstor.org/stable/1181d0b9-658a-32d8-825e-39614bed1089?seq=1|jstor
- Libro primero de la Declaración de instrumentos of Juan Bermudo (1549)
- Intavolatura Nova di Balli of Antonio Gardano [Gardane] (1551)
- Libro de cifra nueva para tecla, arpa, y vihuela of Luis Venegas de Henestrosa (1557)
- Klagenfurt Tablature (c. 1560) http://adartemmusicae.com/klagenfurt_en.html
- Arte de tañer fantasÃÂa of Tomás de Santa MarÃÂa (1565)
- The Mulliner Book (1570)
- Canzoni francese intavolate per sonar dâÂÂorgano and Tocate, Ricercari et Canzoni francese intavolate per sonar dâÂÂorgano of Sperindio Bertoldo (before 1571, publ. posthumously in 1591)
- Orgel oder Instrument Tabulatur of Elias Ammerbach (1571/revised and expanded 1583)
- Obras de música para tecla, arpa y vihuela of Antonio de Cabezón (1578)
- British Library: Add MS 29996 (16thâÂÂ17th C.) https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_29996|AddMS29996
Argentina
Australia
Austria
(see also Germany)
Belgium
(see also France)
Brazil
Canada
Chile
China
Croatia
Cuba
Czech Republic (Bohemia)
Denmark
Romantic
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Estonia
Romantic
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Finland
Romantic
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
France
(see also Belgium)
Renaissance
Baroque (French classical)
Late Classical
Romantic
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Germany
(See also Austria)
Renaissance
Baroque
Classical
Romantic
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Hungary
Romantic
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Israel
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Italy
Renaissance
Baroque
Classical
Romantic
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Japan
Korea
Latvia
Lithuania
Mexico
Netherlands
Renaissance
Baroque
Romantic
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Norway
Romantic
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Renaissance
Baroque
Classical
Romantic
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Portugal
(see also Spain)
Renaissance
Baroque
Classical
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Romania
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Russia
Romantic
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Slovakia
Romantic
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
South Africa
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Spain
(see also Portugal)
Renaissance
Baroque
Classical
Romantic
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Sweden
Baroque
Romantic
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Switzerland
Renaissance
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Renaissance
Baroque
Classical
Romantic
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
United States
Romantic
20thâÂÂ21st centuries
Uruguay
See also
External links
Biographical Dictionary of Organists, Composers for Organ and Organ Builders: <https://www.organ-biography.info/>
Sources
- A Directory of Composers for Organ by Dr. John Henderson, Hon. Librarian to the Royal School of Church Music, 2005, 3rd edition.
- Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Venetian Instrumental Music, from Gabrieli to Vivaldi. New York, Dover Publications, 1994.
- Christopher S. Anderson (Ed.), Twentieth-Century Organ Music. New York, Routledge, 2012,