Roots of Johann Sebastian Bach

Heitor Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has globally become one of the most recognizable South American composers in music history. A prolific composer, he wrote many orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works, totaling over 2,000 pieces by his death in 1959. His music was influenced by both Brazilian folk music and stylistic elements from the European classical tradition, as exemplified by his Bachianas Brasileiras and his Chôros. His Etudes for classical guitar (1929), dedicated to Andrés Segovia, and his 5 Preludes (1940), dedicated to his spouse Arminda Neves d'Almeida, a.k.a. "Mindinha", are important works in the classical guitar repertory.

Giovanni Battista Draghi, usually referred to as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, was an Italian Baroque composer, violinist, and organist, leading exponent of the Baroque; he is considered one of the greatest Italian musicians of the first half of the 18th century and one of the most important representatives of the Neapolitan school.

Marin Marais was a French composer and viol player of the middle Baroque era. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with the master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for six months. In 1676 he was hired as a musician to the royal court of Versailles and was successful there, being appointed in 1679 as ordinaire de la chambre du roy pour la viole, a title he kept until 1725.