One is that Thomas Tallis, the pre-eminent composer of the period, had a long life and almost none of his music can be dated with certainty to the five years of Mary's reign.

Henry Purcell, the pre-eminent composer of 17th-century Britain, wrote for countertenors and was a countertenor himself.

The large-scale work was received with general acclaim for its originality, charm and craftsmanship, and it established Elgar as the pre-eminent British composer of his generation.

Fuller Maitland regarded Stanford and Parry as the pre-eminent composers of the renaissance.

The exciting thing about a Berio concert is that it is a cultural event: one of the pre-eminent composers of his generation talking to our society.

Ravel was the pre-eminent French composer of that era, and he made a statement not just for French music, but for the whole of French culture, and for France itself.

It was Ellington, jazz's pre-eminent composer, arranger and bandleader, who re-integrated the soloist back into the ensemble, building full-scale orchestral arrangements on top of the individual voices of his soloists.

But it is also said that Paul Lukacs, the game's pre-eminent composer of single-dummy problems, composed it away from the table.

Already Bilash had emerged as a pre-eminent and prolific Ukrainian composer who had contributed immensely to variety of musical genres and styles.

His relative neglect today contrasts with the fact that he was one of the pre-eminent Japanese composers of his day.