Among the most prominent composers of the 20th century were Béla Bartók, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Giacomo Puccini, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Charles Ives, Edward Elgar, Arnold Schoenberg, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky,
Among the most prominent composers of the 20th century were Béla Bartók, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Giacomo Puccini, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Charles Ives, Edward Elgar, Arnold Schoenberg, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky,
在现代音乐之前，作为前继者的欧洲古典音乐家有巴尔托克、马勒、理查斯特劳斯、浦契尼、德布西、艾伍士、艾尔加、荀白克、拉赫曼尼诺夫、普罗高菲夫、史特拉汶斯基、萧士塔高维契、布瑞顿、柯普兰、尼尔森等人。