Who was not an composer?

Answer 1

Charlemagne

Answer 2

Simply put, anyone from the musical eras preceding or following the Classical Era, i.e. "Early", "Renaissance", "Baroque" prior to it, and "Romantic", "Modern", "Contemporary" following it.

After Classical Era:

Basically given as any post-dating 1810/1820/1830. Some historians/critics stretch the beginning of "Romantic" (the era that followed "Classical") back to 1800, taking Beethoven and certain of his contemporaries as the beginning of Romantic. Others will find ongoing Classical output in other composers and push back the date of the Romantics as late as 1815 or 1820 (or even 1830 or 1840). Certainly from the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century you will hear strong Romanticism - some composers such as Mendelssohn and Schubert can be classified as Romantic throughout; others, like Beethoven, straddle the divide and indeed brought the onset of the next genre/era. Once you are through to composers such as Brahms, Robert Schumann, Wagner, Bruckner, you are certainly into Romantic territory.

Before Classical Era:

Similarly, anyone pre-dating the Classical period, i.e. still in the Baroque, or prior to that the Renaissance period, would not be a composer from the Classical era. Therefore, anyone roughly pre-dating 1750 would not be considered Classical. The names there would include Handel, Vivaldi, Locatelli, Tartini, Corelli, Geminiani, Arne, and of course the Bach dynasty upto and including Johann Sebastien (but excepting his "Classical" sons W.F., C.P.E. and J.C.). From periods before these, you might find Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, Rossi, Tallis, Striggio, Josquin, Allegri, Dunstable, Lassus.

Names from the Classical period, i.e. ones you would want to avoid, include Mozart (W.A. and L.), Gluck, Haydn (F.J. and M.), Boccherini, Linley, Herschel, the Benda's, Kraus, Vanhal, Gossec, Stamitz.

Answer 3

johann christian bach