| Name |
Other Names |
Birthyear |
Deathyear |
Notes |
| Somers, Harry Stewart |
Somers, Harry |
1925 |
1999 |
One of the most influential and innovative contemporary Canadian composers of the past century. He composed both orchestral and operatic and vocal works. |
| Somervell, Arthur |
|
1863 |
1937 |
English composer, and after Hubert Parry one of the most successful and influential writers of art song in the English music renaissance of the 1890s-1900s. |
| Somerville, R. |
Somerville, Reginald |
1867 |
1948 |
English composer and actor. He is known for writing many drawing-room ballads such as "God Sends the Night", "Yestereve", "Zaida: A Song of the Desert" and "The Lark and the Nightingale", as well as a handful of operas. |
| Somma, B. |
Somma , Bonaventura |
1893 |
1960 |
Italian Romantic composer, conductor and organist. He was Mestro at Shrine of the Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei (1911), organist at the Waldesian Evangelical Church of Rome and for many years Maestro of San Luigi dei Francesi. |
| Sommerfeldt, Øistein |
|
1919 |
1994 |
Norwegian composer, musicologist and conductor. |
| Sondheim, Stephen |
Sondheim, Stephen Joshua |
1930 |
|
American composer and lyricist known for more than a half-century of contributions to musical theatre. His best-known works as composer and lyricist include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods. He wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy. |
| Sontonga, Enoch |
Sontonga, Enoch Mankayi |
1873 |
1905 |
composer of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika (God Bless Africa) in 1897 from then Cape Colony (now part of Eastern Cape province), which has been part of the South African national anthem since 1994. It was the official anthem of the African National Congress since 1925 and is still the national anthem of Tanzania and Zambia. It was also sung in Zimbabwe and Namibia for many years. |
| Sophocles, |
|
|
|
Ancient Greek playwright, born 496 BC, died 406 BC. |
| Soriano, Francesco |
|
1549 |
1621 |
Italian composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most skilled members of the Roman School in the first generation after Palestrina. |
| Sorley, C.H. |
Sorley , Charles Hamilton |
1895 |
1915 |
British poet of World War I. Sorley's last poem was recovered from his kit after his death, and includes some of his most famous lines: When you see millions of the mouthless dead Across your dreams in pale battalions go |
| Sosa, Pablo |
|
1933 |
|
Argentinian composer and liturgical musician. He also gives classes in choral direction at the National Conservatory of Argentina. |
| Sour, Robert |
|
1906 |
1985 |
lyricist and composer, and the president of Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI). Sour wrote the lyrics to the ballad "Body and Soul". In partnership with Una Mae Carlisle (1915–1956), he also composed lyrics for the song "Walkin' by the River", Sour composed music and lyrics for both film and theater |
| Sowande, Fela |
Sowande, Olufela (Fela) Obafunmilayo |
1905 |
1987 |
Nigerian musician and composer. Considered the father of modern Nigerian art music, Sowande is perhaps the most internationally known African composer of works in the European "classical" idiom. |
| Spaeth, Sigmund |
|
1885 |
1965 |
American musicologist who traced the sources and origins of popular songs to their folk and classical roots. Presenting his findings through books, lectures, liner notes, newspapers, radio and television, he became known as The Tune Detective. |
| Spafford, Horatio G. |
Spafford, Horatio Gates |
1828 |
1888 |
American lawyer, best known for penning the Christian hymn It Is Well With My Soul, following a family tragedy in which four of his daughters died. |
| Spance, Lewis |
Spance, Lewis Low |
|
|
Lyricist |
| Sparks, Randy |
Sparks, Lloyd A. |
|
|
American musician, singer-songwriter and founder of The New Christy Minstrels and The Back Porch Majority. |
| Sparrow-Simpson, J. |
Rev. Sparrow-Simpson, John |
1859 |
1952 |
English clergyman famous for as the librettist of John Stainer's Crucifixion. |
| Speaks, Oley |
|
1874 |
1948 |
American composer and songwriter. He began to write songs, many with religious themes. In 1907, he wrote On the Road to Mandalay using the words of Rudyard Kipling's poem "Mandalay", which sold over one million copies |
| Specht, Judy L. |
|
1943 |
|
Canadian composer, performer and educator. Her compositions include concert works for keyboard, chamber ensembles, orchestra, solo voice and chorus, and music for the stage, including an operetta. |
| Spector, Phil |
Harvey, Phil; Spector, Harvey Phillip |
1939 |
|
American record producer, songwriter, and the originator of the Wall of Sound production method. At the height of his career, Spector was a pioneer of the 1960s girl-group sound, and produced more than twenty-five Top 40 hits from 1960 to 1965, writing or co-writing many of them |
| Spence, Lewis |
Spence , James Lewis Thomas Chalmers |
1874 |
1955 |
Scottish journalist, poet and author. Over his long career, he published more than forty books, many of which remain in print to this day. |
| Spencer, E. Mordaunt |
Spencer, Edward Mordaunt |
|
|
19th Century London poet and Lyricist, best known for Rose of Tralee |
| Spencer, Williametta |
|
1932 |
|
American composer, college professor, organist and pianist. |
| Spenser, Edmund |
|
1552 |
1599 |
English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of nascent Modern English verse, and is often considered one of the greatest poets in the English language. |
| Spevacek, Linda |
|
1945 |
|
American composer of modern choral music with over 1,000 published compositions and arrangements, and has authored seven choral collections, five piano books and six vocal collections |
| Spewack, Bella |
Cohen, Bella |
1899 |
1990 |
Writer and Lyricist |
| Spewack, Samuel |
|
1899 |
1971 |
Writer and Lyricist |
| Spicer, Paul |
|
1952 |
|
English composer, conductor and organist |
| Spicker, Max |
|
1858 |
1912 |
German American organist, conductor and composer. Spicker eventually became an editor for G. Schirmer, editing such collections as the four-volume Anthology of Sacred Song and the five-volume Operatic Anthology. In their day, both publications became standard anthologies for young singers. As a composer, most of his works were for solo voice or chorus, although he did complete several larger works |