This is a list of notable and representative Polish composers. Note: This list should contain notable composers, best with an existing article on Wikipedia. If a notable Polish composer is missing and without an article, please add the name here. Henryk Mikołaj Górecki Polish composer

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

* Wincenty z Kielczy (before 1200-c. 1261) *

Mikołaj z Radomia Mikołaj Radomski, also called Mikołaj z Radomia and Nicholas of Radom, was an early 15th-century Polish composer. He was connected with the court of Władysław Jagiełło and wrote polyphonic music renowned for its expression of religious contemp ...

(15th century) * Piotr z Grudziądza (c. 1400-c. 1480)

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

Sebastian z Felsztyna Sebastian z Felsztyna (also Sebastian de Felstin, Roxolanus z Felsztyna, Sebastian Herburt) (14801490? – after 1543) was a Polish composer and music theorist, regarded as the greatest Polish composer of the early 16th century. Life He was proba ...

(c. 1480/1490-after 1543) *

Nicolaus Cracoviensis Nicolaus Cracoviensis (or Mikołaj z Krakowa) was a 16th-century Polish composer. Not much is known about his life. His name appears in the Kraków University archives as organist at the Kraków court. The biggest part of his compositions is con ...

(1st half of the 16th century) * Wacław z Szamotuł (c. 1526-1560) * Mikołaj Gomółka (1535-1591) *

Marcin Leopolita Marcin Leopolita (also Marcin z Lwowa; 1537) was one of the most eminent Polish composers of the 16th century. He attended the Jagiellonian University (Collegium Maius) and may have studied under the Polish composer Sebastian z Felsztyna and Jan ...

(c. 1540-c.1589) *

Cyprian Bazylik Cyprian Bazylik (c. 1535 in Sieradz Sieradz ( la, Siradia, yi, שעראַדז, שערעדז, שעריץ, german: 1941-45 Schieratz) is a city on the Warta river in central Poland with 40,891 inhabitants (2021). It is the seat of the Sieradz C ...

(c.1535-c. 1600) * Jan z Lublina (late 15th century-1540) * Jakub Polak (1540-1605) * Sebastian Klonowic (c. 1545-1602) * Krzysztof Klabon (c. 1550-after 1616) * Wojciech Długoraj (1557-1619) * Diomedes Cato (c. 1570-c. 1603)

Baroque

Mikołaj Zieleński Mikołaj Zieleński (Zelenscius, fl. 1611) was a Polish composer, organist and ''Kapellmeister'' to the primate Baranowski, Archbishop of Gniezno. Neither the date of his birth nor of his death are known; documents from Płock Cathedral state he w ...

(1st half of the 17th century) *

Adam Jarzębski Adam Jarzębski (c. 1590 in Warka – c. 1648 in Warsaw) was an early Baroque Polish composer, violinist, poet, and writer. The first documented mention of Jarzębski was in 1612, when he became a member of the chapel of John Sigismund, Elector of ...

(c. 1590-1649) *

Franciszek Lilius Franciszek (Franciscus) Lilius (c. 1600 – 1657) was a Polish composer, a descendant of the Italian Giglis family. He significantly contributed to the musical culture of Warsaw in the 17th century. In 1630, he moved to Kraków, where he remaine ...

(c. 1600-1657) * Marcin Mielczewski (1600-1651) *

Bartłomiej Pękiel Bartłomiej Pękiel (; fl. from 1633; d. ca. 1670) was a Polish composer of baroque music. Biography The writer and composer Johann Mattheson claimed that the composer was German and his name is sometimes recorded as "Peckel". Pękiel served the ...

(1633-ca.1670) *

Jacek Różycki Jacek Hyancithus Różycki (also Rozycki, Rożycki, Rositsky, Ruziski; first name also Hyacinthus, ?Sebastian; c.1635 – 1703/1704 (precise date unknown)) was a Polish composer of Baroque music. Różycki was born in Łęczyca. He began his musi ...

(1625/35-1703/04) *

Stanisław Sylwester Szarzyński Stanisław Sylwester Szarzyński (floruit, fl. 1692–1713) was a Polish composer. Szarzyński was a Cistercian monk; virtually nothing else is known of his life. He may have been involved with the choir of the Collegiate Church at Lowicz, whe ...

(prob. 2nd half of the 17th century) *

Andrzej Siewiński Andrzej Siewiński (or Siwiński) (fl. 1725) was a Polish classical composer about whom little information survives. His only surviving work is a requiem A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) o ...

(died by 1726) * Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki (1665/67-1734)

18th and 19th centuries

* Michał Kazimierz Ogiński (1728-1800) *Jakub Gołąbek (c.1739-1789) *

Bazyli Bohdanowicz Bazyli Bohdanowicz (1740– 23 February 1817) was a Polish violinist and composer. He was a member of the orchestra in the Leopoldstädter Theater. He and his wife performed unconventional concerts in Vienna accompanied by their eight children. ...

(1740-1817) * Maciej Radziwiłł (1749-1800) * Wojciech Żywny (1756-1842) *Antoni Habel (1760-1831) * Michał Kleofas Ogiński (1765-1833) * Ludwig-Wilhelm Tepper de Ferguson (1768-1838) *

Józef Ksawery Elsner Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

(1769-1854) *

Franciszek Lessel Franciszek Lessel (1780 – 26 December 1838) was a Polish composer. Life Lessel was born in Puławy, Poland. His father, Wincenty Ferdynand Lessel, was a pianist and composer of Czech origin who served as his first teacher. In 1799 Francisz ...

(1780-1838) *

Franciszek Ścigalski Vincent Francis de Sales Ścigalski Blazej (29 January 1782 in Grodzisk Wielkopolski – August 27 or September 27 in 1846 in Gniezno) was a Polish composer , violinist and conductor.Elżbieta Dziębowska (red.): Encyklopedia muzyczna PWM. PWM, 1979 ...

(1782-1846) *

Karol Kurpiński Karol Kazimierz Kurpiński (March 6, 1785September 18, 1857) was a Polish composer, conductor and pedagogue. He was a representative of late classicism and a member of the Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning ( Polish: ''Towarzystwo Warszaw ...

(1785-1857) *

Maria Szymanowska Maria Szymanowska (Polish pronunciation: ; born Marianna Agata Wołowska; Warsaw, 14 December 1789 – 25 July 1831, St. Petersburg, Russia) was a Polish composer and one of the first professional virtuoso pianists of the 19th century. She tour ...

(1789-1831) * Karol Lipiński (1790-1861) *

Franciszek Mirecki Franciszek (also spelled Franz) Wincenty, citing ''Polskie Archiwum Biograficzne (WBIS)'' Mirecki (1791–1862) was a Polish composer, music conductor, and music teacher. Mirecki was born March 31, 1791, at Kraków. His maternal grandfather was Do ...

(1791–1862) *

Feliks Horecki Felix Horetzky (originally: Feliks Horecki) (1 January 1796 – 6 October 1870) was a Polish guitarist, teacher and composer who spent most of his life in the United Kingdom. Life Horecki was born in Horyszów Ruski, Lublin Voivodeship, Habsbu ...

(1796–1870) *

Eduard Sobolewski Johann Friedrich Eduard Sobolewski (born Königsberg (Królewiec), October 1, 1804 or 1808Nicholas Slonimsky, ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians''. 6th edition, 1978, p. 1623. - died St. Louis, May 17, 1872) was a Polish-American violini ...

(1804-1872) *

Jan Nepomucen Bobrowicz Jan Nepomucen (de) Bobrowicz (12 May 1805 – 2 November 1881) was a Polish virtuoso guitarist, composer, music editor, and publisher. Franz Liszt called him "the Chopin of guitar". Life Bobrowicz was born in Kraków. He studied the guitar in Vi ...

(1805-1881) *

Wojciech Albert Sowiński Wojciech () is a Polish name, equivalent to Czech Vojtěch , Slovak Vojtech, and German Woitke. The name is formed from two components in archaic Polish: * ''wój'' (Slavic: ''voj''), a root pertaining to war. It also forms words like ''wojowni ...

(1805-1880) * Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński (1807-1867) * Mateusz Rudkowski (1809-1887) * Julian Fontana (1810-1869) * Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) *

Józef Władysław Krogulski Józef Władysław Krogulski (4 October 1815, in Tarnów, Poland – 9 January 1842, in Warsaw, Poland), was a Polish pianist, conductor, teacher, and composer. He first studied with his father, (1789–1859), and later studied with Józef Elsner ...

(1815-1842) * Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872) * Michał Bergson (1820-1898) *

Ignacy Krzyżanowski Ignacy Krzyżanowski (December 24, 1826 – February 10, 1905) was a Polish composer. Biography Krzyżanowski was born on December 24, 1826 in Opatów. He studied in Kraków with Franciszek Mirecki Franciszek (also spelled Franz) Wincenty, ci ...

(1826-1905) * Tekla Bądarzewska-Baranowska (1829-1861) * Theodor Leschetizky (1830-1915) * Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880) * Józef Wieniawski (1837-1912) * Władysław Żeleński (1837-1921) * Zygmunt Noskowski (1846-1909) * Maurycy Moszkowski (1854-1925) * Juliusz Zarębski (1854-1885) *

Stefan Krzyszkowski Stefan may refer to: * Stefan (given name) * Stefan (surname) * Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname * Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname * Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer * Stefan Heym, pseudonym of Germa ...

(1842-1896)

20th century and contemporary

Aleksander Michałowski Aleksander Michałowski (17 October 1938) was a Polish pianist, pedagogue and composer who, in addition to his own immense technique, had a profound influence upon the teaching of pianoforte technique, especially in relation to the works of Chop ...

(1851-1938) * Moritz Moszkowski (1854-1925) *

Natalia Janotha Natalia Janotha (8 June 18569 June 1932) was a Polish pianist and composer. Biography Natalia Janotha was born in Warsaw, Poland, the daughter of Juliusz Janotha, who was a composer and teacher at the Music Institute in Warsaw. She started piano ...

(1856-1932) * Timothee Adamowski (1858-1943) *

Konstanty Gorski Konstanty Antoni Gorski () (Lida, 13 June 1859 – 31 May 1924, Poznań) was a Polish composer, violinist, organist and music teacher.Józef Władysław Reiss Najpiękniejsza ze wszystkich jest muzyka polska - 1984 Page 155 "Konstanty Gorsk ...

(1859-1924) * Roman Statkowski (1859-1925) * Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1864-1941) *

Otton Mieczysław Żukowski Otton Mieczysław Żukowski (Bełz on the Sołokija, 8 March 1867 – 31 March 1942) was a Polish composer. He also worked as a publisher of music for male and mixed choirs.Józef Władysław Reiss ''Najpiękniejsza ze wszystkich jest muzyka polsk ...

(1867-1942) * Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938) * Emil Młynarski (1870-1935) * Zygmunt Denis Antoni Jordan de Stojowski (1870-1946) * Witold Maliszewski (1873-1939) * Mieczysław Karłowicz (1876-1909) *

Feliks Nowowiejski Feliks Nowowiejski (7 February 1877 – 18 January 1946) was a Polish composer, conductor, concert organist, and music teacher. Nowowiejski was born in Wartenburg (today Barczewo) in Warmia in the Prussian Partition of Poland (then admin ...

(1877-1946) * Grzegorz Fitelberg (1879-1953) * Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937) *

Ludomir Różycki Ludomir Różycki (; 18 September 1883 Warsaw – 1 January 1953 Katowice) was a Polish composer and conductor. He was, with Mieczysław Karłowicz, Karol Szymanowski and Grzegorz Fitelberg, a member of the group of composers known as '' Y ...

(1883-1953) * Apolinary Szeluto (1884-1966) * Anna Maria Klechniowska (1888-1973) *

Wiktor Labunski Wiktor may refer to: * Andrzej Wiktor (1931–2018), Polish malacologist *Wiktor Andersson (1887–1966), Swedish film actor * Wiktor Balcarek (1915–1998), Polish chess player *Wiktor Biegański (1892–1974), Polish actor, film director and scre ...

(1895-1974) * Jerzy Petersburski (1895-1979) *

Józef Koffler Józef Koffler (28 November 18961944) was a Polish composer, music teacher, musicologist and musical columnist. He was the first Polish composer living before the Second World War to apply the twelve-tone composition technique (dodecaphony). ...

(1896-1944) * Bolesław Szabelski (1896-1979) *

Tadeusz Szeligowski Tadeusz Szeligowski (13 September 1896 - 10 January 1963) was a Polish composer, educator, lawyer and music organizer. His works include the operas ''The Rise of the Scholars'', ''Krakatuk'' and ''Theodor Gentlemen'', the ballets ''The Peacock an ...

(1896-1963) * Zygmunt Białostocki (1897-1942) * Alexandre Tansman (1897-1986) * Bolesław Woytowicz (1899-1980) *

Alexander Lipsky Alexander Lipsky was an influential teacher as well as composer and arranger born in Warsaw, Poland in 1900. He attended Columbia University and studied composition and theory with Daniel Gregory Mason, Frank Ward and Franz Schreker Franz Sch ...

(1900-1985) *

Kazimierz Wiłkomirski Kazimierz Wiłkomirski; (September 1, 1900, Moscow - March 7, 1995, Warsaw) was a Polish cellist, composer and conductor. Son of Alfred Wiłkomirski, brother of Maria Wiłkomirska, Wanda Wiłkomirska and violinist Michael Wilkomirski. Graduate o ...

(1900-1995) * Bronisław Kaper (1902-1983) * Henryk Wars (1902-1977) * Roman Palester (1907-1989) * Zbigniew Turski (1908-1979) * Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) *

Roman Maciejewski Roman Maciejewski (28 February 1910 in Berlin, Germany – 30 April 1998 in Gothenburg, Sweden) was a Polish composer. His mother, Bronisława Maciejewska, was a talented violinist and music teacher who taught him to play piano. He studied in Ste ...

(1910-1998) * Stefan Kisielewski (1911-1991) * Władysław Szpilman (1911-2000) *

Irena Pfeiffer Irena Pfeiffer (1912–1996) was a Polish composer, conductor, and teacher. Personal life Pfeiffer attended the State Teachers' College in Kraków and at the Władysław Żeleński Music School. She completed the state examination in music and ...

(1912-1996) *

Witold Lutosławski Witold Roman Lutosławski (; 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szyma ...

(1913-1994) * Witold Rudziński (1913-2004) *

Daniel Sternberg Daniel Arie Sternberg (29 March 1913 – 26 August 2000) was a Polish conductor, pianist, composer, and educator. He lived and worked in Central and Eastern Europe until 1939, when he emigrated to the United States to escape World War II. Bi ...

(1913-2000) * Jerzy Wasowski (1913-1984) * Andrzej Panufnik (1914-1991) * Edward Olearczyk (1915-1994) * Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996) *

Janina Skowronska Janina Skowronska (February 8, 1920 - 1992) was a Polish composer who is best remembered for her arrangements of folk songs, and for creating ''Little Chopin'', a children’s musical based on the life and works of Frédéric Chopin, Frederic Chopi ...

(1920-1992) *

Witold Silewicz Witold Silewicz (18 May 1921 in Rajsko, Poland – 26 January 2007 in Vienna) was a Polish-Austrian composer and Double bass player, probably best known for his instrumental arrangement of the ''Happy Birthday to You'' tune for Woodwind Quin ...

(1921-2007) * Kazimierz Serocki (1922-1981) *

Henryk Czyż Henryk Czyż (; 16 June 1923 – 16 January 2003) was a Polish musician with a high reputation for conducting and teaching. He was born in Grudziądz. He was also a composer in his own right and wrote a number of books which are highly regard ...

(1923-2003) *

Krystyna Moszumańska-Nazar Krystyna Moszumańska-Nazar (5 September 1924,Lviv, now Ukraine – 27 September 2009, Kraków) was a Polish composer, music educator and pianist. She was born in Lwów, Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine), and after World War II studied at the State High ...

(1924-2009) * Włodzimierz Kotoński (1925-2014) *

Witold Szalonek Witold Szalonek (born in 1927 in Czechowice-Dziedzice, died in 2001 in Berlin) was a Polish composer. In 1949-56 he studied at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice. Following his first successes at international composers' competitions, h ...

(1927-2001) * Tadeusz Baird (1928-1981) *

Bogusław Schaeffer Bogusław Julian Schaeffer (also Schäffer) (6 June 1929 – 1 July 2019) was a Polish composer, musicologist, and graphic artist, a member of the avantgarde "Cracow Group" of Polish composers alongside Krzysztof Penderecki and others. Schaeffe ...

(born 1929) *

Józef Świder Józef Świder (born 19 August 1930 in Czechowice-Dziedzice, died 22 May 2014 in Katowice) was a Polish composer and music teacher. He graduated from the Academy of Music in Katowice (formerly PWSM – today Akademia Muzyczna), then continued h ...

(1930-2014) * Krzysztof Komeda (1931-1969) *

Andrzej Kurylewicz Andrzej Roman Kurylewicz (Polish pronunciation: ; 24 November 1932 – 12 April 2007), was a Polish composer, pianist, trombonist, trumpet player and conductor. His works range from serious music, including both chamber and orchestral music, to ...

(1932-2007) * Wojciech Kilar (1932-2013) * Henryk Górecki (1933-2010) * Krzysztof Penderecki (1933-2020) *

Aleksander Szeligowski Aleksander Robert Szeligowski (24 August 1934 – 4 May 1993) was a Polish composer, conductor, organist and pedagogue. He studied in Poznań and Warsaw, later working as assistant conductor for the Poznań Philharmonic. Son of Tadeusz Szeligowski ...

(1934-1993) * André Tchaikowsky (1935-1982) * Marek Stachowski (1936-2004) *

Marian Sawa Marian Sawa (January 12, 1937 in Krasnystaw – April 27, 2005 in Warsaw) was a Polish composer, organist, improviser, musicologist, and pedagogue. Biography Sawa graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, Poland in Feliks Rą ...

(1937-2005) * Zygmunt Konieczny (born 1937) * Zygmunt Krauze (born 1938) * Tomasz Sikorski (1939-1988) *

Andrzej Korzyński Andrzej Waldemar Korzyński (2 March 1940 – 18 April 2022) was a Polish composer whose work ranged from some of the biggest hits from the 1960s to the early nineties, a popular children's musical ("Akademia Pana Kleksa") and scores for some of ...

(born 1940) * Krzysztof Meyer (born 1943) * Joanna Bruzdowicz (born 1943) *

Marta Ptaszyńska Marta Ptaszyńska (born 29 July 1943) is a Polish composer, percussionist and professor of music at the University of Chicago. She has been described by the Polish Music Center of the University of Southern California as "one of the best known Poli ...

(born 1943) * Elżbieta Sikora (born 1943) *

Paweł Łukaszewski Paweł Łukaszewski (born 19 September 1968) is a Polish composer of choral music. He has won seven prestigious Fryderyk Awards. According to David Wordsworth, Łukaszewski is the best-known Polish composer of his generation in and out of Pola ...

(born 1945) *

Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil (born 16 July 1947) is a Polish composer and music educator. Life Grażyna Pstrokońska-Nawratil was born in Wroclaw, Poland. She studied composition at the State School of Music in Wrocław with Stefan Poradowski ...

(born 1947) *

Grażyna Krzanowska Grażyna Krzanowska (born 1 March 1952) is a Polish composer. She was born in Legnica, Poland, and studied composition with Tadeusz Natanson at the State High School of Music in Wroclaw, where she graduated in 1976. After completing her studies, ...

(born 1952) *

Jan A. P. Kaczmarek Jan Andrzej Paweł Kaczmarek (; born 29 April 1953) is a Polish composer. He has written scores for more than 70 feature films and documentaries, including '' Finding Neverland'' (2004), for which score he won an Oscar and a National Board of ...

(born 1953) *

Krzesimir Dębski Krzesimir Marcin Dębski (; born 26 October 1953 in Wałbrzych) is a Polish composer, conductor and jazz violinist. His music career as a musician has been that of a performer as well as composer of classical music, opera, television and featur ...

(born 1953) *

Paweł Szymański Paweł Szymański (born 28 March 1954 in Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish composer. When he was a student at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, Szymański studied composition under Włodzimierz Kotoński. Paweł later studied under Roman Hauben ...

(born 1954) * Zbigniew Preisner (born 1955) *

Zbigniew Karkowski Zbigniew Karkowski (born 14 March 1958 – 12 December 2013) was a Polish experimental musician and composer. Karkowski was born on 14 March 1958 in Krakow, Poland. He studied composition at the State College of Music in Gothenburg, Sweden, aesth ...

(1958-2013) * Piotr Moss (born 1949) * Michał Lorenc (born 1955) *

Jan Pogány Jan Pogany born 23 June 1960 in Kołobrzeg, Poland) is a Polish classical composer, conducting, conductor and cellist. His music adopts the romantic style and is a symbiosis of the modern form of romantic harmony and lyrical melodic line. Biog ...

(born 1960) * Hanna Kulenty (born 1961) *

Bettina Skrzypczak Bettina Skrzypczak (born 25 January 1963) is a Polish/Swiss composer. Biography Skrzypczak was born in Poznań, Poland. She studied piano at Bydgoszcz and music at the Academy of Music in Poznan. In 1985 she graduated with a degree in music theory ...

(born 1962) *

(born 1968) *

Piotr Rubik Piotr Rubik (Polish pronunciation: ; born 3 September 1968 in Warsaw) is a Polish composer of symphonic music, symphonic pop music for orchestra, film and theatre as well as conductor (music), conductor, music producer and vocalist. He gained natio ...

(born 1968) * Paweł Mykietyn (born 1971) *

Kasia Glowicka Kasia Glowicka (born Katarzyna Głowicka, October 12, 1977), also known as Katarina Glowicka, is a Polish composer and lecturer of computer music at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. Her body of musical work encompasses compositions for opera ...

(born 1977) *

Maciej Zieliński Maciej Zielinski (born March 29, 1971) is the award-winning Polish composer, arranger and music producer, known for his contemporary classical and film scores, songs and original television music. His contemporary classical music has been awar ...

(born 1971) * Marcel Chyrzyński (born 1971) * Abel Korzeniowski (born 1972) * Adam Sztaba (born 1975) *

Agata Zubel Agata Zubel (born 1978 in Wrocław, Poland) is a Polish composer and singer. Life Zubel is a graduate of Wrocław's Karol Szymanowski High School of Music (percussion and music theory) and the Karol Lipiński University of Music, where she st ...

(born 1978) *

Klaudia Pasternak Klaudia Pasternak (born 1980) is a Polish contemporary composer and opera conductor, who has twice been nominated for the prestigious Paszport Polityki (Policy Passport). Life Pasternak was born in Warsaw, Poland, to a musical family. At the ...

(born 1980) * Jagoda Szmytka (born 1982) *

Maciej Bałenkowski Maciej (Polish pronunciation: ) is a Polish given name, the etymological equivalent of Matthias. Its diminutive forms are Maciek, Maciuś. Namedays according to Polish calendar: 30 January, 24 February, 14 May Maciej may refer to: Arts and ente ...

(born 1993)

External links

Professor Adrian Thomas: Before Chopin (lecture)

Anna Harley (Maja Trochimczyk)
Schools of Polish Composers: A Quick Guide

What Makes a Composer Polish?
Polish

Composers A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...