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Answer: Antonio Vivaldi

Vivaldi (1678-1741) was ordained a priest, but he gained more fame as a musician and composer. His first dated composition is from 1705 and he left us over 500 concerti, 90 sonatas, 46 operas, sacred music, cantatas and sinfonias. His best known work is "I Quattro Stagione" ("The Four Seasons"), and I've copied the first two bars of "Primavera" ("Spring"). "The Four Seasons" was probably composed between 1718 and 1720, and the sheet music was first published in 1725. The wrong answers are also composers who used the word spring in the title of at least one of their compositions: "Appalachian Spring" (1944) by Copland, "The Rite of Spring" (1913) by Stravinsky and "On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring" (1912) by Delius.

Answer: Johann Sebastian Bach

JS Bach (1685-1750) was a prolific composer and organist. Many of his over 1 000 compositions cannot be accurately dated. This is also the case for this "Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565" - a composition that has been ascribed to a young Bach (around 1705-1710), a middle-aged Bach (around 1730-1735) or even some other, later composer. Parts of this work seem to modern for a Baroque composer, but then again most of it resembles other works by Johann Sebastian Bach.
The first annotations of this work in sheet music were made by one of Bach's students, perhaps between 1735 and 1740 (the first sheet music was not dated either). The first date we know for sure this composition existed, was the date of publication of sheet music in 1833.
Franck composed a "Chorale in A minor" for organ in 1890. Saint-Saens left us an Organ Symphony in C minor in 1886. And Messiaen composed "La Nativité du Seigneur" ("The Lord's Nativity") in 1935 for organ.

Answer: Handel's "Messiah"

George Frederic Handel (1685-1759) was born in Germany, went to Italy in 1703 and ended up in England in 1712. He composed over 40 operas and 25 oratorios, besides cantatas and other works. The oratorio "The Messiah" was first performed in 1742 and was based upon several books of the Bible. The first part contains Isaiah's prophecies and scenes from the Nativity, the second part is dedicated to Christ's adult life and death, and the third part contains the promise of eternal life in heaven. The second part ends with the choir "Hallelujah", and next to this question you'll find the first few notes sung by the sopranos in this choir.
Tradition has the audience rise from their chairs to this choir, as King George II would have done at one of the performances in London.
Joseph Haydn's "Die Schöpfung" ("Creation) (1797-1798) deals only with the first chapters of the book Genesis. Alessandro Scarlatti composed (perhaps in 1708) an oratorio based on the passion stories as recorded in the gospels. Louis Spohr left us an oratorio "Die Letzten Dinge" ("The Last Judgment", 1826) inspired by the book of Revelation.

Answer: The Fifth

Ludwig von Beethoven (1770-1827) completed nine symphonies, besides over 700 other compositions. But his symphonies are perhaps the best known of his oeuvre.
Ta ta ta taa, ta ta ta taa... is the typical motive of the Fifth Symphony (1808). Beethoven's secretary Anton Schindler created the urban legend that Beethoven would have asserted that these few notes indicate Fate knocking at the door, while one of Beethoven's pupils compared it to the song of a yellowhammer woodpecker. But Schindler's version is responsible for the nickname of Beethoven's Fifth: the "Schiksal Symphonie" in German or "Fate Symphony" in English.
Beethoven's Third Symphony has been dubbed the "Eroica". The composer intended to dedicate this symphony to Napoleon Bonaparte, but refrained from this idea - perhaps because his patron (the Austrian prince Lobkowitz) did not approve, perhaps because Beethoven did not like Napoleon's move to become a French Emperor.
Beethoven's Sixth Symphony ("Pastorale") was first performed on the same night as his Fifth.
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony ("Choral Symphony") ends with the well-known chorus "Ode an die Freude" ("Ode To Joy").

Answer: Frederic Chopin

If you watch the rhythm closely, you may decipher these as the first notes to Chopin's "Marche Funèbre" ("Funeral March"), completed in 1837 but first performed in 1839 as part of piano sonata nr 2.
Chopin (1810-1849) wrote mainly for piano solo. His piano sonata nr 2 received mixed reviews, but the "Funeral March" has always enjoyed popularity.
In Girault's movie "Le Gendarme et les Extra-Terrestres" (1979), Louis de Funès and others tap a spoof of the "Funeral March" on their heads, implying that the French police men would have no brains.
Wieniawski (1835-1880) was a Polish violinist and composer, perhaps best known for his first polonaise.
Penderecki (1933-2020) was another Polish composer. You may have heard his "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima".
Gorecki (1933-2010) gained fame outside his birth country Poland with his Symphony nr 3 ("Symphony of Sorrowful Songs").

Answer: Can-Can

The sarabande, the minuet and the bourrée were baroque dances, very unlikely to be called "wild" dances nowadays.
When comparing some sheet music for the dances in this question, one could find that a typical sarabande and a typical minuet were in 3 / 4 , while a typical bourrée was in 4 / 4. But the dance featured here is in 2 / 4, so it was a bit different.
The notes I've copied are a fragment of the sheet music to Offenbach's "Galop Infernal" from "Orphée aux Enfers" ("Orpheus in Hell", 1858) - better known as the "French Can-Can". Women dancing the baroque dances offered as a red herring might occasionally show some ankle, but women dancing the Can-Can show much more leg. Not to mention the urban legend that some female dancers performed the Can-Can without (proper) underwear...

Answer: "An der schoenen blauen Donau" ("Blue Danube")

No New Year's concerto in Vienna would be complete without "An der schönen blauen Donau" ("The Blue Danube", 1866) - a masterpiece by Johann Strauss Junior. (Nor may the "Radetzky March" by his father be omitted). These few bars I've written down indicate the start of the "Blue Danube".
Johann Strauss Junior (1825-1899) was a prolific composer, who left us over 500 dances (especially waltzes and polkas) as well as several operettas. Strauss was the one composer who popularized the waltz in Vienna, and each year the Vienna Philharmonic performs a New Year concert with many compositions by the family Strauss and their contemporary compatriots.
"Les Patineurs" ("The Skaters' Waltz", 1882) is a waltz by Emile Waldteufel. Peter Tchaikovsky included the "Waltz of the Flowers" in the ballet "The Nutcracker" (1892). And Dmitri Shostakovich included a waltz in his "Suite for Jazz Orchestra nr 2" (1938), which waltz was revived by André Rieu and his orchestra under the title "Second Waltz".

Answer: Edvard Grieg

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) composed this "Morgenstimmung" ("Morning Mood") in 1875 to accompany a performance of Henrik Ibsen's theatre play "Peer Gynt". The story is that Peer Gynt, a Norwegian salesman, ends up in Morocco and watches the sun rise over the desert. Meanwhile he is pondering how to return to his beloved Solvejg.
Grieg was a pianist and composer, especially known for "Peer Gynt" and his Piano Concerto. But he left us also three violin sonatas and a string quartet.
Mozart composed "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" in 1787. Humperdinck included an "Evening Prayer" in his opera "Hansel and Gretel" (1893). And Claude Debussy left us the "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune" ("Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun", 1894).

Answer: Edward Elgar

This choir out of "Pomp and Circumstances # 1" has the subtitle "Land of Hope and Glory". Elgar (1857-1934) composed the melody in 1901, and the lyrics were added the next year by Arthur Benson. It was included almost immediately in the Proms (Promenade Concerts) founded by Sir Henry Wood and sponsored by the BBC.
Elgar is best known for his "Enigma Variations" (1899) and his "Pomp and Circumstances" marches (1901). He also wrote two symphonies as well as several concerti for violin or for cello.
The red herrings were selected because they also have an alliterative name. Britten (1913-1976) is known for his operas ("Peter Grimes", "Death in Venice") and his "War Requiem". The American composer George Gershwin (1898-1937) made fame with "Rhapsody in Blue" and the opera "Porgy and Bess". And from Russia came Mussorgsky (1839-1881), with compositions as "Pictures at an Exhibition" and "Night on Bald Mountain".

Answer: Maurice Ravel

These few bars are the start of the "Boléro" by Ravel, a composition that is quite remarkable because at each repeat the volume is turned up (starting from pianissimo up till fortissimo) and more instruments are added.
A brief version of the "Boléro" accompanied the gold medal performance of figure skaters Torvill and Dean at the 1984 Winter Olympics. Movie buffs will also know the music (although played quite differently) from the comedy "10" (1979) starring Dudley Moore and Bo Derek.
Here I've included as red herrings some of the most bizarre classical compositions.
John Cage (1912-1992) created the longest piece of classical music, with "Organ 2/ASLSP". The performance started in 2001 and the last note is planned for 2640. Cage is also known for his composition "4'33", in which a musician takes the podium and plays - not a single note during 4 minutes and 33 seconds.
While many composers have imitated animal sounds, the best known is the "Cat Duet" ascribed to Rossini (1792-1868). The lyrics to this duet are simply "Meow" repeated several times in different tempi.
Stockhausen (1928-2007) created a classical string quartet - to be played in four flying helicopters, with one of the performers in each helicopter and the ensemble broadcast to the audience below.