20 most famous and influential French composers of classical music

 Here are the 20 most famous and influential French composers of classical music from the 17th to the 20th century. I know, some composers might be missing in this list, so feel free to comment about the ones you think that they deserve a place in this list. Enjoy!

For those who are wondering: I have sorted the composers by the year of birth. That is why some pieces that have been written later may come earlier in the video. I plan to make a similar video for composers of other nationalities, but I do not know how long it will take. French classical music began with the sacred music of the Roman Catholic Church, with written records predating the reign of Charlemagne. It includes all of the major genres of sacred and secular, instrumental and vocal music. French classical styles often have an identifiably national character, ranging from the clarity and precision of the music of the late Renaissance music to the sensitive and emotional Impressionistic styles of the early 20th century. Important French composers include Pérotin, Machaut, Du Fay, Ockeghem, Josquin, Lully, Charpentier, Couperin, Rameau, Leclair, Grétry, Méhul, Auber, Berlioz, Alkan, Gounod, Offenbach, Franck, Lalo, Saint-Saëns, Delibes, Bizet, Chabrier, Massenet, Widor, Fauré, d'Indy, Chausson, Debussy, Dukas, Vierne, Duruflé, Satie, Roussel, Hahn, Ravel, Honegger, Milhaud, Poulenc, Auric, Messiaen, Françaix, Dupré, Dutilleux, Xenakis, Boulez, Guillou, Grisey, and Murail. During the early Christian era of the Middle Ages, sacred monophonic (only one voice) chant was the dominant form of music, followed by a sacred polyphonic (multi-voices) organum. By the thirteenth century, another polyphonic style called the motet became popular. During the Ars Nova era of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the trend towards writing polyphonic music extended to non-Church music. In the fifteenth century, more secular music emerged, such as the French chanson. In the late sixteenth-century, composers attempted to recreate Greek drama using a style called monody. In the seventeenth century, Italian opera styles such as opera seria, opera buffa were very important. This Italian opera was taken up in France, where Lully developed a French national opera style. In the seventeenth century, instrumental music developed a great deal, and vocal music was usually accompanied by a written bassline called the basso continuo. Instrumental works included keyboard suites, which were based on dance suites, sonatas, organ music, and music for small groups (trio sonatas) or orchestra (e.g., sinfonias and concerto grossos). Baroque music from the eighteenth century moved towards a simpler, lighter style of instrumental music. Later in the eighteenth century, the Classical style dominated, with the main forms being sonatas, symphonies, and string quartets... Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_... Here are the timestamps: 01) Louis Couperin: 00:24 02) Jean Baptiste Lully: 02:08 03) Marc-Antoine Charpentier: 03:41 04) Francois Couperin: 04:50 05) Jean-Philippe Rameau: 06:11 06) Hector Berlioz: 07:38 07) Charles Gounod: 09:25 08) Jacques Offenbach: 10:54 09) Edouard Lalo: 13:05 10) Camille Saint-Saens: 14:23 11) Leo Delibes: 16:06 12) Georges Bizet: 17:07 Mistake: He died in 1875!!! 13) Gabriel Faure: 18:11 14) Claude Debussy: 19:38 15) Erik Satie: 20:38 16) Maurice Ravel: 22:22 17) Lili Boulanger: 24:25 18) Francis Poulenc: 25:56 19) Olivier Messiaen: 28:11 20) Pierre Boulez: 30:06 And here are the recordings I used: 01)    • Louis Couperin - ...   02)    • Jean Baptiste Lul...   03)    • Marc-Antoine Char...   04)    • Quatrième Concert...   05)    • Rameau: Les indes...   06)    • Berlioz - Symphon...   07)    • J. S. Bach / C. G...   08)    • Orpheus in the Un...   09)    • Lalo: Symphonie E...   10)    • Danse macabre, Op...   11)    • Ballet Suite from...   12)    • Bizet - Carmen - ...   13)    • Gabriel Fauré - S...   14)    • Debussy: La Mer —...   15)    • Trois Gymnopédies...   16)    • Daphnis et Chloé ...   17)    • Lili Boulanger - ...   18)    • F. Poulenc SONATE...   19)    • Turangalîla Symph...   20)    • Le marteau sans m...   French anthem (intro/outro):    • France National A...   I do not own any of the recordings used in the video and do not plan to make any profits from this. Yet, if a copyright owner of any of these recordings wants me to delete this video, feel free to contact me. I will not hesitate to delete it because it is your copyright, not mine. This video is just for entertainment and education purposes!