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The Most Famous

COMPOSERS from Brazil

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This page contains a list of the greatest Brazilian Composers. The pantheon dataset contains 1,216 Composers, 9 of which were born in Brazil. This makes Brazil the birth place of the 24th most number of Composers behind Netherlands and Slovakia.

Top 9

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

Photo of Heitor Villa-Lobos

1. Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887 - 1959)

With an HPI of 66.43, Heitor Villa-Lobos is the most famous Brazilian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 48 different languages on wikipedia.

Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887 – November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known South American composer of all time. A prolific composer, he wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works, totaling over 2,000 works by his death in 1959. His music was influenced by both Brazilian folk music and stylistic elements from the European classical tradition, as exemplified by his Bachianas Brasileiras (Brazilian Bachian-pieces) and his Chôros. His Etudes for classical guitar (1929) were dedicated to Andrés Segovia, while his 5 Preludes (1940) were dedicated to his spouse Arminda Neves d'Almeida, a.k.a. "Mindinha". Both are important works in the classical guitar repertory.

Photo of Antônio Carlos Gomes

2. Antônio Carlos Gomes (1836 - 1896)

With an HPI of 53.62, Antônio Carlos Gomes is the 2nd most famous Brazilian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Antônio Carlos Gomes (Portuguese: [ɐ̃ˈtonju ˈkaʁluz ˈɡomis]; July 11, 1836 in Campinas – September 16, 1896 in Belém) was the first New World composer whose work was accepted by Europe. He was the only non-European who was successful as an opera composer in Italy, during the "golden age of opera", contemporary to Verdi and Puccini and the first composer of non-European lineage to be accepted into the Classic tradition of music.Younger than Verdi, yet older than Puccini, Carlos Gomes achieved his first major success in a time when the Italian audiences were eager for a new name to celebrate and Puccini had not yet officially started his career. After the successful premiere of Il Guarany, Gomes was considered the most promising new composer. Verdi said his work was an expression of "true musical genius". Liszt said that “it displays dense technical maturity, full of harmonic and orchestral maturity.”

Photo of Egberto Gismonti

3. Egberto Gismonti (1947 - )

With an HPI of 50.13, Egberto Gismonti is the 3rd most famous Brazilian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Egberto Amin Gismonti (born 5 December 1947) is a Brazilian composer, guitarist and pianist.

Photo of Ary Barroso

4. Ary Barroso (1903 - 1964)

With an HPI of 50.08, Ary Barroso is the 4th most famous Brazilian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Ary Evangelista de Resende Barroso (Portuguese pronunciation: [aˈɾi baˈʁozu]; 7 November 1903 – 9 February 1964) was a Brazilian composer, pianist, soccer commentator, and talent-show host on radio and TV. He was one of Brazil's most successful songwriters in the first half of the 20th century. Barroso also composed many songs for Carmen Miranda during her career.

Photo of Camargo Guarnieri

5. Camargo Guarnieri (1907 - 1993)

With an HPI of 49.48, Camargo Guarnieri is the 5th most famous Brazilian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Mozart Camargo Guarnieri (February 1, 1907 – January 13, 1993) was a Brazilian composer. Guarnieri was born in Tietê, São Paulo. He studied piano, composition, and conducting in São Paulo and Paris. His compositions received significant recognition in the United States during the 1940s, leading to conducting opportunities in major American cities. A key figure in the Brazilian national school, Guarnieri served as a conductor, a member of the Academia Brasileira de Música, and Director of the São Paulo Conservatório. His extensive oeuvre includes symphonies, concertos, operas, chamber music, piano pieces, and songs. Regarded by some as the most important Brazilian composer after Heitor Villa-Lobos, Guarnieri was awarded the Gabriela Mistral Prize shortly before his death.

Photo of Chiquinha Gonzaga

6. Chiquinha Gonzaga (1847 - 1935)

With an HPI of 49.47, Chiquinha Gonzaga is the 6th most famous Brazilian Composer.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Francisca Edwiges Neves Gonzaga, better known as Chiquinha Gonzaga (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʃiˈkiɲɐ ɡõˈzaɡɐ]; October 17, 1847 – February 28, 1935) was a Brazilian composer, pianist and the first woman conductor in Brazil.Chiquinha Gonzaga was the first pianist of "choro" and author of the first carnival march, "Ó Abre Alas" (1899). Her plays and operettas, such as Forrobodó and Jurití, were a great success with the public because they used elements of Brazilian popular culture of the time.

Photo of Alberto Nepomuceno

7. Alberto Nepomuceno (1864 - 1920)

With an HPI of 45.88, Alberto Nepomuceno is the 7th most famous Brazilian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Alberto Nepomuceno (July 6, 1864 – October 16, 1920) was a Brazilian composer and conductor.

Photo of Cláudio Santoro

8. Cláudio Santoro (1919 - 1989)

With an HPI of 44.69, Cláudio Santoro is the 8th most famous Brazilian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Cláudio Franco de Sá Santoro (23 November 1919 – 27 March 1989) was an internationally renowned Brazilian composer, conductor and violinist.

Photo of Alexandre Levy

9. Alexandre Levy (1864 - 1892)

With an HPI of 43.35, Alexandre Levy is the 9th most famous Brazilian Composer.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Alexandre Levy (10 November 1864 – 17 January 1892) was a Brazilian composer, pianist and conductor. Born in São Paulo, he pioneered a fusion of classical composition with Brazil's popular folk music and rhythms. Levy died prematurely at the age of 27, and is the first known musician to die at the infamous age. His hometown grants a prestigious award in his name. His Jewish family came from France and was musically active. His father founded the most important music business of the city and was himself clarinetist.Darius Milhaud, in his ballet Le Bœuf sur le toit, borrowed a theme from Levy's Tango Brasileiro.

Pantheon has 9 people classified as composers born between 1836 and 1947. Of these 9, 1 (11.11%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living composers include Egberto Gismonti. The most famous deceased composers include Heitor Villa-Lobos, Antônio Carlos Gomes, and Ary Barroso. As of April 2022, 2 new composers have been added to Pantheon including Alberto Nepomuceno and Cláudio Santoro.

Living Composers

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Deceased Composers

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Newly Added Composers (2022)

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Which Composers were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 8 most globally memorable Composers since 1700.