List of Roman Catholic Church Musicians - Composers Who Wrote Catholic Sacred Music

Composers Who Wrote Catholic Sacred Music

Note: The term classical music has been used broadly to describe many eras which do not fit the label. Initially the term specifically meant 1730–1820 (the Classical period), but for this list the period from the Baroque period to the modern era will be included in this section. This is because Renaissance and especially Medieval music tends to be dominated, in the West, by Catholic religious music.

• Mateo Albéniz, Spanish composer and priest.
• Johann Christian Bach, son of J.S. Bach, converted to Catholicism and wrote much Catholic liturgical and sacred music.
• Ludwig van Beethoven, his sacred music includes the famous Missa solemnis and Mass in C major.
• Hector Berlioz, though an atheist, Berlioz wrote a famous Requiem as well as another mass and a Te Deum.
• František Brixi, eighteenth-century Czech composer. He wrote some 290 church compositions and was Kapellmeister of St. Vitus Cathedral.
• Severo Bonini, Benedictine and Baroque composer of sacred music.
• Anton Bruckner, Austrian late Romantic composer most famous for his symphonies. Devoutly Catholic, he wrote at least seven Masses and much other Catholic sacred music.
• Francesca Caccini, Italian early Baroque female composer. Composed some motets.
• Francesco Cavalli, Italian early Baroque composer of operas and some sacred music, including a requiem mass.
• Marc-Antoine Charpentier, French Baroque composer. Composed several masses and other sacred music.
• Luigi Cherubini, late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Italian composer of operas and sacred music. He composed 11 masses
• Gaetano Donizetti, most famous as composer of operas, he also composed some sacred music including two Masses.
• Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer, most famous for the New World Symphony. A devout Catholic, his sacred compositions include a Requiem, Mass in D major, Stabat Mater and Te Deum.
• Edward Elgar, devoutly Catholic English composer of nineteenth and early twentieth century. His most famous religious work is the The Dream of Gerontius whose text is a poem by Cardinal Newman
• Gabriel Fauré, nineteenth century French composer. Although his religious views are obscure, he was a renowned church organist, and composed a significant amount of Catholic sacred music, including of a famous Requiem Mass.
• César Franck, nineteenth-century French composer, most famous for his Symphony in D. Composer of Panis Angelicus.
• Christoph Willibald Gluck, Knighted by Pope Benedict XIV, was important in the history of opera, but wrote only a few pieces of sacred music.
• Charles Gounod, French composer whose religious music includes a very famous setting of the Ave Maria and Inno e Marcia Pontificale.
• Henryk Górecki - late twentieth century Polish composer, most famous for his Third Symphony. Also has composed Catholic sacred music.
• Pietro Guglielmi, In 1793 he became maestro di cappella at St Peter's, Rome.
• Johann Michael Haydn, younger brother of Joseph Haydn, and prolific composer of sacred music, including 47 masses.
• Joseph Haydn, great Austrian composer of the Classical period. Credited with inventing the symphony. Also composed 14 Masses (including the Mass in Time of War), 2 Te Deums and a Stabat Mater. Very devout, often prayed the rosary when he had trouble composing. Teacher of both Mozart and Beethoven.
• Zoltan Kodaly, twentieth century Hungarian composer. Composed a Missa Brevis, a Te Deum, and Psalmus Hungaricus.
• Franz Liszt, famed pianist and Romantic composer, mostly of piano works. He became a Franciscan tertiary. Composed much sacred music, including 5 masses.
• Antonio Lotti, Made his career at St Mark's Basilica and composed numerous Masses.
• Olivier Messiaen, twentieth century French composer. "Many of his compositions depict what he termed 'the marvellous aspects of the faith', drawing on his unshakeable Roman Catholicism."
• Claudio Monteverdi, Italian composer, famous from madrigals, and important in the transition from Renaissance to Baroque styles. Most well-known sacred piece is Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610 (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin) and was ordained in 1633
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composed 18 Masses including the Requiem Mass, the Coronation Mass, and the Great Mass in C minor, and much other sacred music, including Vespers, Ave Verum Corpus, and Exultate Jubilate.
• Arvo Pärt, late twentieth-century Estonian composer. Though Eastern Orthodox, his sacred music is primarily in Latin Catholic forms, including a Mass, Te Deum, and Stabat Mater.
• Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian Baroque composer who wrote one of the most famous settings of the Stabat Mater.
• Don Lorenzo Perosi, Catholic priest and Director of the Sistine Choir under five Popes.
• Francis Poulenc, Twentieth century French composer. His most famous sacred works are the Mass in G, a Gloria, a Stabat Mater, and Dialogues of the Carmelites.
• Licinio Refice, composed over 300 pieces of sacred music
• Georg Reutter, church composer.
• Josef Rheinberger, twelve Masses and a Stabat Mater.
• Gioacchino Rossini, one of the greatest composers of Italian Opera. Late in life wrote a famous Stabat Mater and the Petite messe solennelle
• Antonio Salieri, Italian composer of Classical period. Taught Mozart, Schubert, and Liszt. Composed operas and sacred music, including ten hymns and nine psalms.
• Alessandro Scarlatti, Italian Baroque composer, whose most notable sacred composition is the St. Cecelia mass.
• Domenico Scarlatti, Italian Baroque composer, his sacred music includes a well known Stabat Mater and Salve Regina.
• Franz Schubert, Great classical/early Romantic Austrian composer. Most famous for Lieder and symphonies. Also composed 6 masses and much other sacred music, including a famous Ave Maria (whose original text was a prayer to Mary, but not the famous hail Mary prayer). List of compositions by Franz Schubert
• Robert Schumann, German Romantic composer. Though Protestant, he composed a Mass in C minor and a Requiem Mass.
• Antonio Soler, Spanish priest and composer.
• Igor Stravinski, though an Eastern Orthodox Christian, Stravinski composed a notable Catholic Mass.
• Ralph Vaughan Williams, twentieth century English composer, an agnostic Anglican, who composed or arranged much Anglican Church music. He composed a few works in Catholic liturgical forms, including a Mass and a Te Deum.
• Giuseppe Verdi, though not religious, he wrote a few religious works, including his great Messa da Requiem.
• Antonio Vivaldi, called "The Red Priest" because of his hair. His religious music includes several large choral works (such as the Gloria), small solo motets, and hymnals con instrumenti.
• Carl Maria von Weber, German composer of Classical period, who wrote some sacred music that was popular especially in the nineteenth century.
• Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli, was appointed choir master of the Sistine Chapel in 1804.