English composers for kids: ten to know

English classical music is known for choirs, folk songs, and grand marches. This list has ten English composers in order of birth, with a short story and one piece to hear for each. Seven of them have a full page on this site. Start with “Jupiter” from The Planets or The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra for a young child.

Ten English composers

1. Thomas Tallis (about 1505 to 1585)

Tallis wrote church music under four kings and queens of England. One of his pieces is for 40 voices, each with its own part. More than 300 years later, Vaughan Williams built a famous piece for strings on one of his tunes.

Hear: “If Ye Love Me,” two minutes for a small choir with no instruments.

2. William Byrd (about 1540 to 1623)

Byrd worked beside Tallis, and the queen gave the two of them the sole right to print music in England. He wrote for choirs and for the keyboard instruments of his day.

Hear: The Earl of Oxford’s March. He wrote it for keyboard, and brass groups often play it today.

3. Henry Purcell (1659 to 1695)

Purcell wrote music for the church, the royal court, and the theater. He died at 36. Read Purcell for kids.

Hear: The Rondeau from Abdelazer. Britten borrowed this tune for The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.

4. Arthur Sullivan (1842 to 1900)

Sullivan wrote the music for 14 comic operas, with words by W. S. Gilbert. They are full of quick, funny songs, and schools and theater groups still put them on.

Hear: The Major-General’s song from The Pirates of Penzance, a tongue twister set to music.

5. Edward Elgar (1857 to 1934)

Elgar taught himself to compose from the scores in his father’s music shop. He wrote the march that plays at graduation ceremonies. Read Elgar for kids.

Hear: Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1. Read the story of the graduation march.

6. Ethel Smyth (1858 to 1944)

Smyth wrote six operas at a time when few people believed a woman could write one. She joined the fight for women’s right to vote and wrote the marching song of that movement. Read Ethel Smyth for kids.

Hear: “The March of the Women.”

7. Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 to 1958)

Vaughan Williams collected more than 800 English folk songs and wove their sound into his own music. He wrote nine symphonies and music for films. Read Vaughan Williams for kids.

Hear: The Fantasia on Greensleeves.

8. Gustav Holst (1874 to 1934)

For most of his life, Holst was a school music teacher who composed on weekends and holidays. He wrote The Planets, a set of seven pieces for a large orchestra. Read Holst for kids.

Hear: “Jupiter” from The Planets. See The Planets guide.

9. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 to 1912)

His father came from Sierra Leone, in West Africa, and his mother was English. At 23, he wrote a piece for choir and orchestra that made him famous across Britain and America. Read Samuel Coleridge-Taylor for kids.

Hear: “Deep River,” his piano setting of a spiritual.

10. Benjamin Britten (1913 to 1976)

Britten wrote operas for grown-ups, and he also wrote a great deal of music for children to sing and play themselves. Read Britten for kids.

Hear: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, in a version with a narrator. See the listening guide.

Five more to hear

• John Dowland (1563 to 1626). He wrote songs to sing with a lute, an older relative of the guitar.
• George Frideric Handel (1685 to 1759). He was born in Germany, moved to London, and became a British subject. Read Handel for kids.
• Hubert Parry (1848 to 1918). Hear “Jerusalem,” which crowds in England sing at concerts and sports events.
• William Walton (1902 to 1983). Hear Crown Imperial, a march for a coronation.
• John Rutter (born 1945). He writes music for choirs, and his carols are sung each December.

A long gap

Purcell died in 1695. For about 200 years after that, the best-known composers at work in England came from other countries. Handel settled in London. Haydn and Mendelssohn came on long visits and were cheered by English audiences.

Sullivan’s comic operas were a hit in the theater. In the concert hall, Elgar ended the gap. After him came Vaughan Williams, Holst, and Britten.

English and British

England is one of the four nations of the United Kingdom. The others are Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The composers on this list were all born in England.

What to listen for in English music

Folk songs. Vaughan Williams traveled the countryside and wrote down the songs that older people remembered. He and his friend Holst both used folk tunes in their music.

Choirs. England’s cathedrals have trained singers for centuries. Much English music is written for voices.

Marches for great days. Coronations, royal weddings, and festivals all call for music, and English composers have supplied it.

A summer festival. Each summer, London holds eight weeks of concerts called the Proms. On the last night, the audience sings along.

Things to do together

Find the borrowed tune. Play Purcell’s Rondeau, and then the opening of The Young Person’s Guide. It is the same tune, 250 years apart.

Pick a planet. Play one minute each of “Mars,” “Venus,” and “Jupiter.” Ask which planet your child would visit.

Tongue twister. Play the Major-General’s song. Then say a tongue twister as fast as you can.

Forty voices. Count 40 objects onto a table. That is one for each singer in the piece by Tallis.

Make a timeline. Write the ten names and birth years on cards and put them in order.

Print and play

Fill in a composer study notebook page for each composer you hear. Print the fact sheets for Holst and Britten, and the orchestra seating chart to use with The Young Person’s Guide.

For more lists by country, read Italian composers for kids and American composers for kids. For more composers by era, see classical composers for kids.