The Most Famous

Composers from Hungary

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This page contains a list of the greatest Hungarians Composers. The pantheon dataset contains 1,451 Composers, 17 of which were born in Hungary. This makes Hungary the birth place of the 15th most number of Composers behind Japan and Estonia.

Top 10 Composers

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Hungarians Composers of all time. This list of famous Hungarians 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 Hungarians Composers.

  1. #1
    Photo of Franz Lehár

    Franz Lehár

    1870 - 1948

    HPI 76.9249 langs

    Franz Lehár is most famous for his operettas, which include The Merry Widow and The Land of Smiles.

  2. #2
    Photo of Zoltán Kodály

    Zoltán Kodály

    1882 - 1967

    HPI 74.3649 langs
    Zoltán Kodály is most famous for his work in the field of music education. He was one of the first composers to incorporate folk music into...Read moreShow less

    Zoltán Kodály is most famous for his work in the field of music education. He was one of the first composers to incorporate folk music into his compositions.

  3. #3
    Photo of Emmerich Kálmán

    Emmerich Kálmán

    1882 - 1953

    HPI 73.9741 langs

    Emmerich Kálmán is most famous for his operettas, which are often considered the "golden age" of Viennese operetta.

  4. #4
    Photo of Miklós Rózsa

    Miklós Rózsa

    1907 - 1995

    HPI 67.9144 langs

    Miklós Rózsa is most famous for his work on the film scores for Ben-Hur, Spellbound, and Quo Vadis.

  5. #6
    Photo of Hans Richter

    Hans Richter

    1843 - 1916

    HPI 66.1127 langs

    Austrian-Hungarian orchestral and operatic conductor

  6. #7
    Photo of Karl Goldmark

    Karl Goldmark

    1830 - 1915

    HPI 65.3727 langs

    Hungarian-born Viennese composer (1830–1915)

  7. #8
    Photo of Ferenc Erkel

    Ferenc Erkel

    1810 - 1893

    HPI 64.3835 langs

    Hungarian composer, conductor and pianist (1810–1893)

  8. #9
    Photo of Joseph Kosma

    Joseph Kosma

    1905 - 1969

    HPI 63.8125 langs

    Hungarian-French composer (1905–1969)

  9. #10
    Photo of Hans Swarowsky

    Hans Swarowsky

    1899 - 1975

    HPI 63.4121 langs

    Austrian conductor and music educator (1899-1975)

People by Birth Decade

Browse notable Hungarians Composers grouped by birth decade. Each decade shows the top 10 by HPI; expand to see everyone.

Overlapping Lives

Which Composers were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 17 most globally memorable Composers since 1700.

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