Composer

Francesca Caccini (1587 – 1641) finished the opera-ballet La Liberazione di Ruggiero in 1625, which was performed at a reception for Wladyslaw IV of Poland. It is widely considered the first opera by a female composer.

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) is credited by the Guiness Book of World Records as the most prolific composer, having written over 3,000 compositions, including 1,000 church cantatas, as well as numerous other instrumental works.

Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges (December 25, 1745 – June 12, 1799) was the first Black composer of the classical era, conductor of the leading symphony orchestra in Paris, and a champion fencer. He has been referred to as “Black Mozart.”

Saint-Georges by Mather Brown, 1787

The first American composer is usually considered to be William Billings (1746-1800). A tanner by trade, he was a self-taught musician, who published his first collection of church music, the New England Psalm Singer in 1770. Despite his prominence, he was never able to make an adequate living and he died in abject poverty.

Florence Price was a groundbreaking African-American composer who overcame racism and sexism to achieve success in the classical music world. In 1932, Price entered her Symphony No. 1 in E minor  in the Rodman Wanamaker Competition. The symphony won first prize, and it was subsequently performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra  as part of the Century of Progress World's Fair. on June 15, 1933. The performance was a major event, and it helped to bring Price's music to the attention of a wider audience.

The composer for Looney Tunes cartoons, Carl W. Stalling, wrote an average of one complete episode score per week for 22 years.

The International Encyclopedia of Women Composers was written in 1981 partially in response to a comment by Thomas Beecham who said, "There are no women composers, never have been and possibly never will be".

Mamoru Samuragochi is a Japanese composer who claimed to be deaf and was known as the “digital-age Beethoven” and creator of the soundtracks for the video games Resident Evil: Dual Shock Ver. (1998) and Onimusha: Warlords (2001). But, it later turned out that all of his works in 18 years were actually written by a ghost writer. And his claims of deafness were fake.