List of French composers

=Born 1300–1550=

* Guillaume de Machaut (1300–1377)
* Guillaume Dufay (?1397–1474)
* Loÿset Compère (c.1445–1518)
* Josquin Desprez (c.1450–1521) born near Franco-Flemish border
* Pierre de La Rue (c.1460–1518)
* Claudin de Sermisy (c.1490–1562)
* Nicolas Gombert (c.1495–c.1560) born in Flanders
* Ninot le Petit (c.1500–1520)

Born 1550–1700

* Étienne Moulinié (c.1600–after1669)
* Jacques Champion de Chambonnières (c.1601–1672)
* Denis Gaultier (1603–1672)
* Jacques de Gouy (c.1610-after 1650)
* Michel Lambert (1610–1696)
* Louis Couperin (c.1626–1661)
* Jean-Henri d'Anglebert (1629–1691)
* Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687) Baroque composer, first significant composer of French opera
* Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe (c.1640–c.1700)
* Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643–1704)
* Marin Marais (1656–1728)
* Michel Richard Delalande (1657–1726)
* André Campra (1660–1744)
* Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665–1729)
* Jean-Féry Rebel (1666–1747)
* Michel Pignolet de Montéclair (1667–1737)
* François Couperin (1668–1733)
* Louis Marchand (1669–1732)
* Louis de Caix d'Hervelois (ca.1670-ca.1760)
* Antoine Forqueray (1671–1745)
* Nicolas de Grigny (1672–1703)
* Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (1676–1749)
* Jean-François Dandrieu (1682–1738)
* Jean-Joseph Mouret (1682–1738), Baroque composer, known today for his 'Rondeau' (theme song to the TV show Masterpiece Theatre)
* Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764), Baroque composer, wrote "Les Indes galantes"
* Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (1689–1755)
* Louis-Claude Daquin (1694–1772)
* Jean-Marie Leclair (1697–1764), significant Baroque era composer

Born 1700–1800

* Jean-Marie Leclair the younger (1703-1777)
* Louis-Gabriel Guillemain (1705-1770)
* Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer (1705–1755) born in Italy
* Jean-Joseph Mondonville (1711–1772)
* Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1787) abandoned musical composition for philosophy
* François-André Danican Philidor (1726–1795)
* François Joseph Gossec (1734–1829)
* Jean-Baptiste Bréval (1753–1823)
* Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766–1831), composer known for his 42 études used by violin students
* Louis Emmanuel Jadin (1768–1853)
* Charles Simon Catel (1773–1830)
* François-Adrien Boieldieu (1775–1834)
* Hyacinthe Jadin (1776–1800)
* Daniel Auber (1782–1871), opera composer, well known in his time, but rarely performed today
* Jacques-Fereol Mazas (1782–1849), 18th century violinist and composer
* Nicolas-Charles Bochsa (1789–1856) [http://bochsa.site.voila.fr] , composer best known today for his studies and exercises for the harp.
* Ferdinand Herold (1791–1833), composer best known for his operas, notably Zampa, and the ballet La Fille Mal Gardée
* Fromental Halévy (1799–1862)

Born 1800–1880

* Adolphe Adam (1803–1856)
* Hector Berlioz (1803–1869), composer famous for his programmatic symphony, the "Symphonie Fantastique"
* Ambroise Thomas (1811–1896)
* Louis Antoine Jullien (1812–1860, famous eccentric conductor and composer of light music
* Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813–1888), Romantic era composer and pianist
* Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wely (1817–1869)
* Charles Dancla (1817–1907), 19th century violin teacher and composer
* Charles Gounod (1818–1893), composer, best known for his opera "Faust"
* Jean-Henri Ravina (1818–1906)
* Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880), French operetta and opera composer, known for "The Tales of Hoffmann" and "Orpheus in the Underworld"
* Charles-Louis Hanon (1819–1900), French piano pedagogue
* Edouard Lalo (1823–1892), Romantic composer remembered primarily for his "Symphonie Espagnole" for violin and orchestra
* Adolphe Blanc (1828–1885)
* Jean-Baptiste Accolay (1833–1900), 19th century violin teacher and composer
* Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921), Romantic composer perhaps best known for "The Carnival of the Animals"
* Léo Delibes (1836–1891), composer known for his "Coppelia", "Sylvia", and "Lakmé"
* Georges Bizet (1838–1875), Romantic composer famous for his opera "Carmen"
* Emmanuel Chabrier (1841–1894)
* Jules Massenet (1842–1912), Romantic composer best known for "Meditation" from his opera "Thaïs"
* Charles-Marie Widor (1844–1937), Romantic composer, noted for his works for the organ
* Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924), Romantic composer, known for his chamber music and a requiem among other pieces
* Henri Duparc (1848–1933)
* Benjamin Godard (1849–1895)
* Vincent d'Indy (1851–1931)
* Ernest Chausson (1855–1899)
* Alfred Bruneau (1857–1934)
* Cécile Chaminade (1857–1944)
* Guy d'Hardelot (c.1858–1936)
* Gustave Charpentier (1860–1956), composer best known for his opera "Louise"
* Claude Debussy (1862–1918), 20th century composer, his music is often described as impressionist, although he dismissed the term, wrote 'Clair de Lune' from "Suite bergamasque"
* Gabriel Pierné (1863–1937)
* Paul Dukas (1865–1935), late Romantic composer known today for his piece of program music, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"
* Erik Satie (1866–1925), 20th century modernist and impressionist composer, known for his "Gymnopedies"
* Charles Koechlin (1867–1950)
* Claude Terrasse (1867–1923)
* Jean-Baptiste Lemire (1867–1945)
* Albert Roussel (1869–1937)
* Florent Schmitt (1870–1958)
* Charles Tournemire (1870–1939)
* Louis Vierne (1870–1937)
* Déodat de Séverac (1872–1921)
* Henri Büsser (1872–1973)
* Reynaldo Hahn (1874–1947)
* Maurice Ravel (1875–1937), 20th century piano and orchestra composer in the impressionist and neoclassicist styles, noted for his "Daphnis et Chloé", "Bolero", and "Ma Mère l'Oye" (Mother Goose) suite
* André Caplet (1878-1925), Great friend of Debussy responsible for orchestrating some of his works, including Children's Corner. Survived a gas attack in the trenches during the First World War.

Born 1880-

Les Six

* Louis Durey (1888–1979)
* Arthur Honegger (1892–1955)
* Darius Milhaud (1892–1974)
* Germaine Tailleferre (1892–1983), the female member of Les Six, her "Jeux de Pleine Aire" caused Satie to call her his "musical daughter"
* Georges Auric (1899–1983)
* Francis Poulenc (1899–1963)

Others

* Paul Le Flem (1881–1984)
* Edgard Varèse (1883–1965) became American
* Marcel Dupré (1886–1971)
* Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979)
* Jacques Ibert (1890–1962)
* Lili Boulanger (1893–1918), the first French female composer to win the Prix de Rome, with her cantata "Faust and Helena"
* Maurice Journeau (1898-1999)
* Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986)
* Andre Jolivet (1905–1974)
* Eugène Bozza (1905–1991)
* Jean Langlais (1907–1991)
* Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992), 20th century modernist composer
* Gaston Litaize (1909–1991)
* Paule Maurice (1910–1967)
* Jehan Alain (1911–1940)
* Alfred Désenclos (1912–1971)
* Jean Françaix (1912–1997)
* Charles Trenet (1913–2001), composer of French songs, including "La Mer", "Douce France", "La Folle Complainte" and "Je Chante"
* Henri Dutilleux (1916- )
* Raymond Gallois-Montbrun (1918–1994)
* Jeanne Demessieux (1921–1968)
* Claude Pascal (1921- )
* Jeanine Rueff (1922–1999)
* Pierre Boulez (1925- )
* Jean-Michel Damase (1928- )
* Gilbert Amy (1936-)
* Jean-Claude Risset (1936-)
* Jean-Claude Amiot (1939- )
* Gérard Grisey (1946–1998)
* Max Méreaux (1946- )
* Jean-Christian Michel (1938- )
* Jacques-Louis Monod (1927- )
* Tristan Murail (1947- )
* Joseph-François Kremer (1954- )
* Nigel Keay (1955- )
* Eryck Abecassis (1956- )
* Éric Serra (1959-)
* Jean-Yves Malmasson (1963- )
* Laurent Laffineur (1968- )
* Fabien Lévy (1968- )
* Yann Tiersen (1970- )
* Walter Taieb (1973- )
* Maxime Rodriguez (1975- )
* Sebastien Beranger (1977- )