Meaning & use
composer
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablemusic
A person who creates new pieces of music, especially written works for orchestras, choirs, or other performers.
Grammar: Countable: a film composer, many composers.
Patterns
- a composer of something
- the composer of a piece
Mozart was a gifted composer from childhood.
The composer attended the first performance of her new symphony.
He works as a composer for television and video games.
Word forms
| plural | composers |
|---|
Common combinations
- classical composer
- Many classical composers wrote for the piano.
- film composer
- The film composer wrote a haunting main theme.
- gifted composer
- As a gifted composer, she wrote her first opera at nineteen.
- contemporary composer
- The festival features works by contemporary composers.
- composer and conductor
- He is both a composer and conductor.
Synonyms and how they differ
- songwriter
- Songwriter usually means someone who writes popular songs, often with lyrics, while composer suggests larger or more formal music.
- arranger
- An arranger adapts existing music for new instruments, but a composer creates the original piece.
- musician
- Musician is a broad term for anyone who plays or makes music, not necessarily someone who writes it.
- author
- Author can be used of a piece's creator but sounds like a writer of text, so composer fits music better.
Word family
- compose verb
- to write music or to make up a whole
- composition noun
- a piece of music or writing
- composed adjective
- calm and in control
- composure noun
- a calm state of mind
Commonly confused: composer or conductor? composer or computer?
composer vs conductor
A conductor leads an orchestra in performance, whereas the composer wrote the music being played.
composer vs computer
The two words look somewhat alike in a quick read; a composer writes music, a computer processes data.
Practice
The ___ of the opera sat in the audience on opening night, listening to his own music.
Choose one answer.
The composer is the one who wrote the music. A conductor leads the performance and a singer performs, but neither wrote it.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “composer”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.