Best Classical Music Playlists: Complete Composer Works

If you love immersing yourself in a single composer’s complete works, you’re in the right place.

We’ve gathered ten Spotify playlists featuring the complete works of ten iconic classical music composers: from Mozart and Beethoven to Mahler and Debussy.

Whether you’re studying with classical music in the background or planning a close listen with scores, these playlists will keep you busy for hours…or days!

Here, in reverse countdown order from shortest to longest playlist, is our list of playlists, along with our commentary on each.

Frédéric Chopin – 20 hours, 15 minutes

How long will it take to listen to this Chopin playlist: Less than a day

Maria Wodzińska: Chopin, 1836 (National Museum in Warsaw)

About Chopin: Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) is famous for his piano works that melded Parisian sophistication with Polish rhythms and dance harmonies.

Playlist title: “Complete works: Chopin”

Why this playlist:

This playlist was created by Maestro, Music, a site that offers online music lessons.
It is arranged by opus numbers, with works that do not have an opus number appearing at the end of the playlist.
Opus numbers are numbers given to a composer’s published works. So a composer’s Op. 1 is his or her earliest published composition (not necessarily the first he ever wrote).
Keep listening to this playlist until the end, because some famous works by Chopin were rescued from his papers after his death and don’t have opus numbers attached to them.

Claude Debussy – 32 hours, 21 minutes

How long will it take to listen to this Debussy playlist: 1 day and 9 hours

Claude Debussy

About Debussy: He didn’t like the term, but nowadays Claude Debussy (1862-1918) is known for his “Impressionist” music, synonymous with Belle Époque Paris.

Playlist title: “Debussy Complete Works Chronological”

Why this playlist:

This was assembled by an individual user, and not a business or record label, so proceed with caution.
It is arranged by L number. (Musicologist François Lesure gave Debussy’s works L numbers in 1977.)
L numbers are ordered chronologically, not by publication date. So if you use this playlist, you can enjoy listening to Debussy’s creative development between 1880 and his death in 1918.

Gustav Mahler – 45 hours, 54 minutes

How long will it take to listen to this Mahler playlist: 2 days and 7 hours

Gustav Mahler

About Mahler: Nowadays, Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) is widely considered to be the greatest late Romantic Era composer for orchestra. He is especially famous for his nine sprawling symphonies.

Playlist title: “Gustav Mahler Complete Works”

Why this playlist:

This was assembled by an individual user, and not a business or record label, so proceed with caution.
At the end of the playlist, there are historical recordings, piano transcriptions of Mahler’s orchestral works, etc., so a work may appear more than once, just arranged or recorded differently.
Aside from those extras at the end, the playlist is arranged in roughly chronological order.

Richard Wagner – 55 hours, 28 minutes

How long will it take to listen to this Wagner playlist: 2 days and 8 hours

Richard Wagner at the piano

About Wagner: Richard Wagner (1813-1883) revolutionised nineteenth-century opera. He introduced the idea of a Gesamtkunstwerk, or “total work of art”, in which music, literature, and visual art were combined together: a kind of foreshadowing of today’s movies or prestige dramas. Unfortunately, he was also infamously anti-Semitic and, after his death, co-opted by the Nazis.

Playlist title: “Richard Wagner – Complete Chronological Catalogue (WWV)”

Why this playlist:

This playlist was assembled by Ulysses Classical, the user who assembled the Brahms playlist.
The playlist is ordered by WWV, which stands for Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, or Catalogue of Wagner’s Works. It is ordered chronologically.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – 57 hours, 51 minutes

How long will it take to listen to this Tchaikovsky playlist: 2 days and 10 hours

Émile Reutling: Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky, ca. 1888

About Tchaikovsky: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) is one of the most popular Romantic Era composers, famous for his lush, evocative Russian sound. He died of cholera just a few days after conducting the first performance of his sixth symphony.

Playlist title: “Tchaikovsky Complete Works”

Why this playlist:

This playlist wasn’t assembled by a record label, so approach with caution. It’s possible there are still some missing works on it.
However, even if some minor works may be missing, most of Tchaikovsky’s output is here.
It is organised by genre, beginning with his symphonies, overtures, and ballets. You won’t get to hear his development chronologically unless you rearrange the playlist yourself.
However, it’s still wonderful to hear like kinds of works grouped together.

Johannes Brahms – 59 hours, 19 minutes

How long will it take to listen to this Brahms playlist: 2 days and 12 hours

Johannes Brahms

About Brahms: Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was the great musical craftsman of the Romantic Era. His works are meticulously constructed and deeply emotional. He was a perfectionist, as evidenced by the fact that he spent 25 years writing his first symphony!

Playlist title: “Johannes Brahms – Complete Works (Op.1-122+WoOs+Appendix)”

Why this playlist:

It was created by Ulysses Classical, who has created dozens of classical playlists on Spotify.
As its title suggests, this playlist is arranged by opus number, creating a chronological order of works by publication date, with never-published works tacked on at the end.
If you want works grouped by genres, you’ll have to find another playlist or rearrange this one yourself.

Ludwig van Beethoven – 96 hours, 29 minutes

How long will it take to listen to this Beethoven playlist: 4 days and 5 hours

Christian Horneman: Ludwig van Beethoven, 1803 (Beethovenhaus Bonn)

About Beethoven: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was a revolutionary composer who reshaped nineteenth-century music, despite a long struggle with agonising tinnitus and hearing loss. He is famous for his symphonies, sonatas, chamber music, and vocal works.

Playlist: “Beethoven: The Complete Works by Warner Classics”

Why this playlist:

This playlist is ordered by genre, beginning with Beethoven’s nine symphonies arranged in chronological order, and continuing on in a like pattern with his piano concertos, overtures, piano sonatas, etc.
It was assembled by Warner Classics, a famous classical music label.

Johann Sebastian Bach – 170 hours, 38 minutes

How long will it take to listen to this Bach playlist: 7 days and 3 hours

Elias Gottlob Haussmann: J.S. Bach, 1746 (Bach-Archiv Leipzig)

About Bach: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) is widely considered to be the best composer of the Baroque era. He is famous for his exacting compositional technique and extraordinary productivity across countless genres. His sacred music is especially beloved.

Playlist: “JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH – COMPLETE WORKS”

Why this playlist:

This playlist wasn’t assembled by a record label, so again, approach with caution.
It’s possible there are still some missing works on this playlist. However, even if some works are missing, most of Bach’s output is here.
The playlist is arranged by BWV number. BWV stands for Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, or “Bach Works Catalogue” in English.
This classification system was first published in 1950, and it groups his works by genre, not chronologically.
Fun fact: it would be impossible to create an accurate chronological listing of Bach’s works, as we don’t have enough information about when each one was written.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – 188 hours, 21 minutes

How long will it take to listen to this Mozart playlist: 7 days and 21 hours

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

About Mozart: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) has become the most beloved composer of the Classical Era. He was also one of the most extraordinary child prodigies of all time. His prolific output spans concertos, symphonies, operas, chamber works, and piano pieces, despite the fact that he died tragically young, weeks before his 36th birthday.

Playlist: “Mozart – Complete Chronological Catalogue based on Köchel Catalogue”

Why this playlist:

In 1861, a musicologist named Ludwig Ritter von Köchel created a chronological list of Mozart’s music, assigning each work a “Köchel number.”
Nowadays, this makes it relatively easy for us to listen to a (more-or-less) chronological ordering of the 626 (!) works that Mozart wrote over the course of his life.
This playlist is arranged by Köchel number, so it is a chronological experience. It’s quite the journey to move from works that Mozart wrote as a five-year-old child prodigy to his masterful mature works.

Antonio Vivaldi – 209 hours, 14 minutes

How long will it take to listen to this Vivaldi playlist: 8 days and 18 hours

Antonio Vivaldi

About Vivaldi: Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) is most famous today for writing the Four Seasons for violin and orchestra. While Bach has come to be the best-known German composer of the Baroque Era, nowadays Vivaldi is the best-known Italian from the same period.

Playlist: “Antonio Vivaldi Complete (Updated)”

Why this playlist:

It was created by an individual and not an organisation, so be mindful that it may be incomplete. But with nearly nine solid days of music, you’ll have enough listening to stay busy!
These are arranged by RV numbers. RV stands for Ryom-Verzeichnis, a list of works created by musicologist Peter Ryom in 1973.
Ryom sorted Vivaldi’s known works by category, then instrumentation, then key, and then assigned sequential numbers within those parameters.
That’s why the Four Seasons, even though they were written in a group, have different RV numbers; they’re in different keys.