The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Spanish Composers of all time. This list of famous Spanish 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 Spanish Composers.
With an HPI of 68.75, Joaquín Rodrigo is the most famous Spanish Composer. His biography has been translated into 45 different languages on wikipedia.
Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, 1st Marquess of the Gardens of Aranjuez (Spanish: [xoaˈkin roˈðɾiɣo]; 22 November 1901 – 6 July 1999), was a Spanish composer and a virtuoso pianist. He is best known for composing the Concierto de Aranjuez, a cornerstone of the classical guitar repertoire.
With an HPI of 68.37, Francisco Tárrega is the 2nd most famous Spanish Composer. His biography has been translated into 48 different languages.
Francisco de Asís Tárrega Eixea (21 November 1852 – 15 December 1909) was a Spanish composer and classical guitarist of the late Romantic period. He is known for such pieces as Capricho Árabe and Recuerdos de la Alhambra.
With an HPI of 67.87, Manuel de Falla is the 3rd most famous Spanish Composer. His biography has been translated into 49 different languages.
Manuel de Falla y Matheu (Spanish pronunciation: [maˈnwel de ˈfaʎa], 23 November 1876 – 14 November 1946) was an Andalusian Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century. He has a claim to being Spain's greatest composer of the 20th century, although the number of pieces he composed was relatively modest.
With an HPI of 65.90, Tomás Luis de Victoria is the 4th most famous Spanish Composer. His biography has been translated into 58 different languages.
Tomás Luis de Victoria (sometimes Italianised as da Vittoria; c. 1548 – c. 20–27 August 1611) was the most famous Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Orlande de Lassus as among the principal composers of the late Renaissance, and was "admired above all for the intensity of some of his motets and of his Offices for the Dead and for Holy Week". His surviving oeuvre, unlike that of his colleagues, is almost exclusively sacred and polyphonic vocal music, set to Latin texts. As a Catholic priest, as well as an accomplished organist and singer, his career spanned both Spain and Italy. However, he preferred the life of a composer to that of a performer.
With an HPI of 65.36, Enrique Granados is the 5th most famous Spanish Composer. His biography has been translated into 42 different languages.
Pantaleón Enrique Joaquín Granados Campiña (27 July 1867 – 24 March 1916), commonly known as Enrique Granados in Spanish or Enric Granados in Catalan, was a Spanish composer of classical music, and concert pianist from Catalonia, Spain. His most well-known works include Goyescas, the Spanish Dances, and María del Carmen.
With an HPI of 64.38, Nicola Porpora is the 6th most famous Spanish Composer. His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.
Nicola (or Niccolò) Antonio Giacinto Porpora (17 August 1686 – 3 March 1768) was an Italian composer and teacher of singing of the Baroque era, whose most famous singing students were the castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli. Other students included composers Johann Adolph Hasse, Matteo Capranica and Joseph Haydn.
With an HPI of 63.17, Jordi Savall is the 7th most famous Spanish Composer. His biography has been translated into 35 different languages.
Jordi Savall i Bernadet (Catalan: [ˈʒɔɾði səˈβaʎ i βəɾnəˈðɛt]; born 1 August 1941) is a Spanish conductor, composer and viol player. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for popularizing the viol family of instruments (notably the viola da gamba) in contemporary performance and recording. As a historian of early music his repertoire features everything from medieval, Renaissance and Baroque through to the Classical and Romantic periods. He has incorporated non-western musical traditions in his work; including African vernacular music for a documentary on slavery.
With an HPI of 59.95, Antonio Soler is the 8th most famous Spanish Composer. His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.
Antonio Francisco Javier José Soler Ramos, usually known as Padre ('Father', in the religious sense) Antonio Soler, known in Catalan as Antoni Soler i Ramos (baptized 3 December 1729 – died 20 December 1783) was a Spanish composer whose works span the late Baroque and early Classical music eras. He is best known for his many mostly one-movement keyboard sonatas.
With an HPI of 58.36, Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga is the 9th most famous Spanish Composer. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.
Juan Crisóstomo Jacobo Antonio de Arriaga y Balzola (27 January 1806 – 17 January 1826) was a Spanish Basque composer. He was nicknamed "the Spanish Mozart" after he died, because, like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, he was both a child prodigy and an accomplished composer who died young. They also shared the same first and second baptismal names; and they shared the same birthday (due to both having been born on the feast of St. John Chrysostom), 27 January (fifty years apart).
With an HPI of 57.38, Joaquín Turina is the 10th most famous Spanish Composer. His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.
Joaquín Turina Pérez (9 December 1882 – 14 January 1949) was a Spanish composer of classical music.
Pantheon has 35 people classified as composers born between 1500 and 1967. Of these 35, 4 (11.43%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living composers include Jordi Savall, Alberto Iglesias, and Vicente Amigo. The most famous deceased composers include Joaquín Rodrigo, Francisco Tárrega, and Manuel de Falla. As of April 2022, 3 new composers have been added to Pantheon including Diego Ortiz, Gaspar Cassadó, and Francisco Asenjo Barbieri.
1941 - Present
HPI: 63.17
1955 - Present
HPI: 51.44
1967 - Present
HPI: 42.98
1956 - Present
HPI: 39.00
1901 - 1999
HPI: 68.75
1852 - 1909
HPI: 68.37
1876 - 1946
HPI: 67.87
1548 - 1611
HPI: 65.90
1867 - 1916
HPI: 65.36
1686 - 1768
HPI: 64.38
1729 - 1783
HPI: 59.95
1806 - 1826
HPI: 58.36
1882 - 1949
HPI: 57.38
1809 - 1865
HPI: 56.75
1893 - 1987
HPI: 56.74
1640 - 1710
HPI: 56.67
1510 - 1570
HPI: 54.55
1897 - 1966
HPI: 53.29
1823 - 1894
HPI: 45.60
Which Composers were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 20 most globally memorable Composers since 1700.