COMPOSERS from Belgium

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Belgian Composers of all time. This list of famous Belgian Composers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Belgian Composers.

1. Orlande de Lassus (1534 - 1594)

With an HPI of 73.87, Orlande de Lassus is the most famous Belgian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 54 different languages on wikipedia.

Orlando di Lasso (various other names; probably c. 1532 – 14 June 1594) was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with William Byrd, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and Tomás Luis de Victoria as one of the leading composers of the later Renaissance. Immensely prolific, his music varies considerably in style and genres, which gave him unprecedented popularity throughout Europe.

2. Guillaume Du Fay (1397 - 1474)

With an HPI of 70.04, Guillaume Du Fay is the 2nd most famous Belgian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 54 different languages.

Guillaume Du Fay ( dyoo-FEYE, French: [dy fa(j)i]; also Dufay, Du Fayt; 5 August 1397(?) – 27 November 1474) was a composer and music theorist of early Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered the leading European composer of his time, his music was widely performed and reproduced. Du Fay was well-associated with composers of the Burgundian School, particularly his colleague Gilles Binchois, but was never a regular member of the Burgundian chapel himself. While he is among the best-documented composers of his time, Du Fay's birth and family is shrouded with uncertainty, though he was probably the illegitimate child of a priest. He was educated at Cambrai Cathedral, where his teachers included Nicolas Grenon and Richard Loqueville, among others. For the next decade, Du Fay worked throughout Europe: as a subdeacon in Cambrai, under Carlo I Malatesta in Rimini, for the House of Malatesta in Pesaro, and under Louis Aleman in Bologna, where he was ordained priest. As his fame began to spread, he settled in Rome in 1428 as musician of the prestigious papal choir, first under Pope Martin V and then Pope Eugene IV, where he wrote the motets Balsamus et munda cera, Ecclesie militantis and Supremum est mortalibus. Amid Rome's finical and political disorder in the 1430s, Du Fay took a leave of absence from the choir to serve Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy. Du Fay returned to Italy in 1436, writing his most admired work, the complex motet Nuper Rosarum Flores, which celebrated the consecration of Filippo Brunelleschi's dome for the Florence Cathedral. He later joined the recently-moved papal court in Bologna, and was associated with the House of Este in Ferrara. For the next eleven years, Du Fay was in Cambrai serving Philip the Good, under whom he may have written now-lost works on music theory. After a brief return to both Savoy and Italy, Du Fay settled in Cambrai in 1458, where his focus shifted from song and motet, to composing English-inspired cyclic masses based on cantus firmus, such as the Missa Ave regina celorum, the Missa Ecce ancilla Domini, the Missa L'Homme armé and the Missa Se la face ay pale. During his final years in Cambrai, Du Fay wrote his now-lost requiem and both met and influenced the leading musicians of his time, including Antoine Busnois, Loyset Compère, Johannes Tinctoris and particularly, Johannes Ockeghem. Du Fay has been described as leading the first generation of European musicians who were primarily considered 'composers' by occupation. His erratic career took him throughout Western Europe, forming a 'cosmopolitan style' and an extensive oeuvre which included representatives of virtually every polyphonic genre of his time. Like Binchois, Du Fay was deeply influenced by the contenance angloise style of John Dunstaple, and synthesized it with a wide variety of other styles, including that of the famous Missa Caput, and the techniques of his younger contemporaries, Ockeghem and Busnois.

3. César Franck (1822 - 1890)

With an HPI of 69.88, César Franck is the 3rd most famous Belgian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 52 different languages.

César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck (French pronunciation: [sezaʁ oɡyst ʒɑ̃ ɡijom ybɛʁ fʁɑ̃k]; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in present-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands). He gave his first concerts there in 1834 and studied privately in Paris from 1835, where his teachers included Anton Reicha. After a brief return to Belgium, and a disastrous reception of an early oratorio Ruth, he moved to Paris, where he married and embarked on a career as teacher and organist. He gained a reputation as a formidable musical improviser, and travelled widely within France to demonstrate new instruments built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. In 1858, he became organist at the Basilica of St. Clotilde, Paris, a position he retained for the rest of his life. He became professor at the Paris Conservatoire in 1872; he took French nationality, a requirement of the appointment. After acquiring the professorship, Franck wrote several pieces that have entered the standard classical repertoire, including symphonic, chamber, and keyboard works for pipe organ and piano. As a teacher and composer he had a vast following of composers and other musicians. His pupils included Ernest Chausson, Vincent d'Indy, Henri Duparc, Guillaume Lekeu, Albert Renaud, Charles Tournemire and Louis Vierne.

4. Johannes Ockeghem (1410 - 1497)

With an HPI of 66.61, Johannes Ockeghem is the 4th most famous Belgian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 42 different languages.

Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1410 – 6 February 1497) was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of early Renaissance music. Ockeghem was the most influential European composer in the period between Guillaume Du Fay and Josquin des Prez, and he was—with his colleague Antoine Busnois—the leading European composer in the second half of the 15th century. He was an important proponent of the early Franco-Flemish School. Ockeghem was well associated with other leading composers of the time, and spent most of his career serving the French royal court under Charles VII, Louis XI and Charles VIII. Numerous poets and musicians lamented his death, including Erasmus, Guillaume Crétin, Jean Molinet and Josquin, who composed the well known Nymphes des bois for him. It is thought that Ockeghem's extant works represent only a small part of his entire oeuvre, including around 14 masses, 20 chansons and fewer than 10 motets—though the exact numbers vary due to attribution uncertainties. His better-known works include the canon-based Missa prolationum; the Missa cuiusvis toni, which can be sung in any mode; the chanson Fors seulement; and the earliest surviving polyphonic Requiem.

5. Jacob Obrecht (1457 - 1505)

With an HPI of 65.78, Jacob Obrecht is the 5th most famous Belgian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Jacob Obrecht (also Hobrecht; 1457/8 – late July 1505) was a Flemish composer of masses, motets and songs. He was the most famous composer of masses in Europe of the late 15th century and was only eclipsed after his death by Josquin des Prez. What little is known of Obrecht's origins and early childhood comes mostly from his motet Mille quingentis. He was the only son of Ghent city trumpeter Willem Obrecht and Lijsbette Gheeraerts. His mother died in 1460 at the age of 20, and his father in 1488 in Ghent. Details of his early education are sparse, but he probably learned to play the trumpet, like his father, and in so doing learned counterpoint and how to improvise over a cantus firmus. He is likely to have known Antoine Busnois at the Burgundian court, and certainly knew his music, since Obrecht's earliest mass shows close stylistic parallels with the elder composer. Scholar, composer and clergyman, Obrecht seems to have had a succession of short appointments, two of which ended in less than ideal circumstances. There is a record of his compensating for a shortfall in his accounts by donating choirbooks he had copied. Throughout the period he was held in the highest esteem both by his patrons and by his fellow composers. Tinctoris, writing in Naples, singles him out in a shortlist of contemporary master composers—all the more significant because he was only 25 when Tinctoris created his list, and on the other side of Europe. Erasmus served as one of Obrecht's choirboys around 1476. While most of Obrecht's appointments were in Flanders in the Low Countries, he made at least two trips to Italy, once in 1487 at the invitation of Duke Ercole d'Este I of Ferrara, and again in 1504. Ercole had heard Obrecht's music, which is known to have circulated in Italy between 1484 and 1487, and said that he appreciated it above the music of all other contemporary composers; consequently he invited Obrecht to Ferrara for six months in 1487. In 1504 Obrecht returned to Ferrara, but on the death of the Duke at the beginning of the next year he became unemployed. In what capacity he stayed in Ferrara is unknown, but he died in the outbreak of plague there just before 1 August 1505. Obrecht wrote mainly sacred music—masses and motets—and he also wrote some chansons. Combining modern and archaic elements, Obrecht's style is multi-dimensional. Perhaps more than those of the mature Josquin, the masses of Obrecht display a profound debt to the music of Johannes Ockeghem in the wide-arching melodies and long musical phrases that typify the latter's music. Obrecht's style is an example of the contrapuntal extravagance of the late 15th century. He often used a cantus firmus technique for his masses: sometimes he divided his source material up into short phrases; at other times he used retrograde versions of complete melodies or melodic fragments. He once even extracted the component notes and ordered them by note value, long to short, constructing new melodic material from the reordered sequences of notes. Clearly to Obrecht there could not be too much variety, particularly during the musically exploratory period of his early twenties. He began to break free from conformity to formes fixes, especially in his chansons. Of the formes fixes, the rondeau retained its popularity longest. However, he much preferred composing Masses, where he found greater freedom. Furthermore, his motets reveal a wide variety of moods and techniques. In his Missa Sub tuum presidium, the number of voice parts in the five movements increases from three in the Kyrie, to four in the Gloria, and so on up to seven in the Agnus Dei. The title chant is clearly heard in the top voice throughout the work, and five additional Marian chants are found in movements other than the Kyrie and Gloria: Ave preclara maris stella (Sequence verse 7, Soprano II, Credo), Aurea virga prime matris Eve (Sequence verse 9b, Soprano II and Tenor II, Sanctus), Aurea virga prime matrix Eve (Sequence verse 3b, Soprano II and Tenor I, Agnus Dei I & II), Regina caeli (Antiphon, Soprano II and Tenor I, Agnus Dei III), and Verbum bonum et suave (Sequence verse 3b, Alto I, Agnus Dei). His late four-voice mass, Missa Maria zart (tender Maria), tentatively dated to around 1504, is based on a devotional song popular in the Tyrol, which he probably heard as he went through the region around 1503 to 1504. Requiring more than an hour to perform, it is one of the longest polyphonic settings of the Mass Ordinary ever written and is considered among his finest works. Despite working at the same period, Obrecht and Ockeghem (Obrecht's senior by some 30 years) differ significantly in musical style. Obrecht does not share Ockeghem's fanciful treatment of the cantus firmus but chooses to quote it verbatim. Whereas the phrases in Ockeghem's music are ambiguously defined, those of Obrecht's music can easily be distinguished, though both composers favor wide-arching melodic structure. Furthermore, Obrecht splices the cantus firmus melody with the intent of audibly reorganizing the motives; Ockeghem, on the other hand, does this far less. Obrecht's procedures contrast sharply with the works of the next generation, who favored an increasing simplicity of approach (prefigured by some works of his contemporary Josquin). Although he was renowned in his time, Obrecht appears to have had little influence on subsequent composers; most probably, he simply went out of fashion along with the other contrapuntal masters of his generation. Flemish Masters, Virginia Arts Recordings, VA-04413, performed by Zephyrus, 2004. Includes the Obrecht Missa Sub tuum presidium, as well as motets by Willaert, Clemens non-Papa, Ockeghem, Des Prez, Mouton, and Gombert. Obrecht, Missa Maria zart, performed by the Tallis Scholars, directed by Peter Phillips, Gimell CDGIM 032, 1996. Jacob Obrecht. Chansons, Songs, Motets, Capilla Flamenca and Piffaro, Eufoda 1361, 2005 "Missa Sub Tuum Praesidium", The Clerks' Group, Gaudeamus, 2003. "Missa Malheur Me Bat", The Clerks' Group, Gaudeamus, 1998. "Missa de Sancto Donatiano", Cappella Pratensis, Fineline, 2009. "Jacob Obrecht", The Sound and the Fury, ORF, 2009. "Obrecht Masses", Beauty Farm, 2019, includes Missa Fortuna Desperata and Missa Maria Zart. Atlas, Allan W. 1998. Renaissance Music. New York: W.W. Norton. Reese, Gustav, 1959. Music in the Renaissance. New York: W.W. Norton. Sparks, Edgar H. 1975. Cantus Firmus in Mass and Motet: 1420–1520. New York: Da Capo Press. (Sparks, Edgar H. "Obrecht, Jacob" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1980 ed.) Sternfeld, F.W. 1973. Music from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. New York: Preager Publishers. Wegman, Rob C. 1994. Born for the Muses: The Life and Masses of Jacob Obrecht. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Wegman, Rob C. "Obrecht, Jacob", in New Grove Music Online Dictionary, accessed 20 November 2007. Obrecht biography and discography Free access to high-resolution images of manuscripts containing works by this composer from Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music MP3 files from Umeå Akademiska Kör Free scores by Jacob Obrecht in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)

6. Adrian Willaert (1490 - 1562)

With an HPI of 65.54, Adrian Willaert is the 6th most famous Belgian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 35 different languages.

Adrian Willaert (c. 1490 – 7 December 1562) was a Flemish composer of High Renaissance music. Mainly active in Italy, he was the founder of the Venetian School. He was one of the most representative members of the generation of northern composers who moved to Italy and transplanted the polyphonic Franco-Flemish style there.

7. Eugène Ysaÿe (1858 - 1931)

With an HPI of 63.04, Eugène Ysaÿe is the 7th most famous Belgian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 38 different languages.

Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe (French: [øʒɛn iza.i]; 16 July 1858 – 12 May 1931) was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar".

8. André Grétry (1741 - 1813)

With an HPI of 62.99, André Grétry is the 8th most famous Belgian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 37 different languages.

André Ernest Modeste Grétry (French: [gʁɛtʁi]; baptised 11 February 1741; died 24 September 1813) was a composer from the Prince-Bishopric of Liège (present-day Belgium), who worked from 1767 onwards in France and took French nationality. He is most famous for his opéras comiques. His music influenced Mozart and Beethoven both of whom wrote variations on his works.

9. Gilles Binchois (1400 - 1460)

With an HPI of 62.93, Gilles Binchois is the 9th most famous Belgian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 36 different languages.

Gilles de Bins dit Binchois (also Binchoys; c. 1400 – 20 September 1460) was a Franco-Flemish composer of early Renaissance music. A central figure of the Burgundian School, Binchois and his colleague Guillaume Du Fay were deeply influenced by the contenance angloise style of John Dunstaple. His efforts in consolidating a 'Burgundian tradition' would be important for the formation of the Franco-Flemish School. One of the three most famous composers of the early 15th century, Binchois is often ranked behind Du Fay and Dunstable by contemporary scholars, but his works were still widely cited, emulated and used as source material after his death. Described by the musicologist Anthony Pryer as a "supreme miniaturist", he generally avoided large scale works, and is most admired for his shorter secular chansons. Despite this, it is thought that considerably more of his sacred music survives than secular music, creating a 'paradoxical image' of the composer. Reflecting on his style, the Encyclopædia Britannica comments that "Binchois cultivated the gently subtle rhythm, the suavely graceful melody, and the smooth treatment of dissonance of his English contemporaries".

10. Henri Vieuxtemps (1820 - 1881)

With an HPI of 62.39, Henri Vieuxtemps is the 10th most famous Belgian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps (French: [ɑ̃ʁi fʁɑ̃swa ʒɔzɛf vjøtɑ̃] 17 February 1820 – 6 June 1881) was a Belgian composer and violinist. He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century. He is also known for playing what is now known as the Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesù, a violin of superior workmanship.