The Most Famous

MUSICIANS from Austria

This page contains a list of the greatest Austrian Musicians. The pantheon dataset contains 3,175 Musicians, 24 of which were born in Austria. This makes Austria the birth place of the 18th most number of Musicians behind Spain, and Finland.

Top 10

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

1. Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886)

With an HPI of 81.56, Franz Liszt is the most famous Austrian Musician. His biography has been translated into 100 different languages on wikipedia.

Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic period. With a diverse body of work spanning more than six decades, he is considered to be one of the most prolific and influential composers of his era, and his piano works continue to be widely performed and recorded. Liszt achieved success as a concert pianist from an early age, and received lessons from esteemed musicians Carl Czerny and Antonio Salieri. He gained further renown for his performances during tours of Europe in the 1830s and 1840s, developing a reputation for technical brilliance as well as physical attractiveness. In a phenomenon dubbed "Lisztomania", he rose to a degree of stardom and popularity among the public not experienced by the virtuosos who preceded him. During this period and into his later life, Liszt was a friend, musical promoter and benefactor to many composers of his time, including Hector Berlioz, Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann and Richard Wagner, among others. Liszt coined the terms "transcription" and "paraphrase", and would perform arrangements of his contemporaries' music to popularise it. Alongside Wagner, Liszt was one of the most prominent representatives of the New German School, a progressive group of composers involved in the "War of the Romantics" who developed ideas of programmatic music and harmonic experimentation. Liszt taught piano performance to hundreds of students throughout his life, many of whom went on to become notable performers. He left behind an extensive and diverse body of work that influenced his forward-looking contemporaries and anticipated 20th-century ideas and trends. Among Liszt's musical contributions were the concept of the symphonic poem, innovations in thematic transformation and Impressionism in music, and the invention of the masterclass as a method of teaching performance. In a radical departure from his earlier compositional styles, many of Liszt's later works also feature experiments in atonality, foreshadowing developments in 20th-century classical music. Today he is best known for his original piano works, such as the Hungarian Rhapsodies, Années de pèlerinage, Transcendental Études, "La campanella", and the Piano Sonata in B minor.

2. Maria Anna Mozart (1751 - 1829)

With an HPI of 69.79, Maria Anna Mozart is the 2nd most famous Austrian Musician. Her biography has been translated into 43 different languages.

Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia "Marianne" Mozart (30 July 1751 – 29 October 1829), often nicknamed Nannerl, was a highly regarded musician from Salzburg, Austria. Already in her childhood, she established a remarkable reputation for herself across Europe as a child prodigy. However, her musical career was terminated by her parents, who forced her to stay in Salzburg and look for a future spouse. This did not stop her from utilizing her love and talent for music to teach the piano, as well as writing her own works, though no manuscripts are extant. Her younger brother Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was said to have been greatly influenced by her.

3. Baroness Mary Vetsera (1871 - 1889)

With an HPI of 68.87, Baroness Mary Vetsera is the 3rd most famous Austrian Musician. Her biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Baroness Marie Alexandrine "Mary" von Vetsera (19 March 1871 – 30 January 1889) was an Austrian noblewoman and the mistress of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria. Vetsera and the crown prince were found dead at his hunting lodge in Mayerling on 30 January 1889, following an apparent murder-suicide, which is known as the Mayerling incident.

4. Fritz Kreisler (1875 - 1962)

With an HPI of 64.40, Fritz Kreisler is the 4th most famous Austrian Musician. His biography has been translated into 41 different languages.

Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler (February 2, 1875 – January 29, 1962) was an Austrian-born American violinist and composer. One of the most noted violin masters of his day, and regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time, he was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing. Like many great violinists of his generation, he produced a characteristic sound which was immediately recognizable as his own. Although it derived in many respects from the Franco-Belgian school, his style is nonetheless reminiscent of the gemütlich (cozy) lifestyle of pre-war Vienna.

5. Karl Thomas Mozart (1784 - 1858)

With an HPI of 63.06, Karl Thomas Mozart is the 5th most famous Austrian Musician. His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Karl Thomas Mozart (21 September 1784 – 31 October 1858) was the second son and the elder of the two surviving sons of Wolfgang and Constanze Mozart. The other was Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart.

6. Joseph Joachim (1831 - 1907)

With an HPI of 63.02, Joseph Joachim is the 6th most famous Austrian Musician. His biography has been translated into 35 different languages.

Joseph Joachim (28 June 1831 – 15 August 1907) was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century. Joachim studied violin early, beginning in Buda at age five, then in Vienna and Leipzig. He made his debut in London in 1844, playing Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Concerto, with Felix Mendelssohn conducting. He returned to London many times throughout life. After years of teaching at the Leipzig Conservatory and playing as principal violinist of the Gewandhausorchester, he moved to Weimar in 1848, where Franz Liszt established cultural life. From 1852, Joachim served at the court of Hanover, playing principal violin in the opera and conducting concerts, with months of free time in summer for concert tours. In 1853, he was invited by Robert Schumann to the Lower Rhine Music Festival, where he met Clara Schumann and Brahms, with whom he performed for years to come. In 1879, he premiered Brahms' violin concerto with Brahms as conductor. He married Amalie, an opera singer, in 1863, who gave up her career; the couple had six children. Joachim quit service in Hanover in 1865, and the family moved to Berlin, where he was entrusted with founding and directing a new department at the Royal Conservatory, for performing music. He formed a string quartet, and kept performing chamber music on tours. His playing was recorded in 1903.

7. Anton Diabelli (1781 - 1858)

With an HPI of 62.83, Anton Diabelli is the 7th most famous Austrian Musician. His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

Anton (or Antonio) Diabelli (5 September 1781 – 8 April 1858) was an Austrian music publisher, editor and composer. Best known in his time as a publisher, he is most familiar today as the composer of the waltz on which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his set of thirty-three Diabelli Variations.

8. Maria Theresia von Paradis (1759 - 1824)

With an HPI of 60.32, Maria Theresia von Paradis is the 8th most famous Austrian Musician. Her biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Maria Theresia von Paradis (May 15, 1759 – February 1, 1824) was an Austrian musician and composer who lost her sight at an early age, and for whom her close friend Mozart may have written his Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major. She was also in contact with Salieri, Haydn, and Gluck.

9. Joe Zawinul (1932 - 2007)

With an HPI of 58.76, Joe Zawinul is the 9th most famous Austrian Musician. His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

Josef Erich Zawinul ( ZOV-in-əl; 7 July 1932 – 11 September 2007) was an Austrian jazz and jazz fusion keyboardist and composer. First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with Miles Davis and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion, a musical genre that combined jazz with rock. He co-founded the groups Weather Report and The Zawinul Syndicate. He pioneered the use of electric piano and synthesizer, and was named "Best Electric Keyboardist" twenty-eight times by the readers of DownBeat magazine.

10. Friedrich Gulda (1930 - 2000)

With an HPI of 58.65, Friedrich Gulda is the 10th most famous Austrian Musician. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Friedrich Gulda (German: [ˌfʁiːdʁɪç ˈɡʊlda] 16 May 1930 – 27 January 2000) was an Austrian pianist and composer who worked in both the classical and jazz fields.

People

Pantheon has 29 people classified as Austrian musicians born between 1751 and 2002. Of these 29, 6 (20.69%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Austrian musicians include Parov Stelar, Hubert von Goisern, and Madita. The most famous deceased Austrian musicians include Franz Liszt, Maria Anna Mozart, and Baroness Mary Vetsera. As of April 2024, 4 new Austrian musicians have been added to Pantheon including Hans Rosbaud, Hubert von Goisern, and Lumix.