while all these different schools of thought were coming and going there were still some composers who managed to keep to a more traditional path and find new ways to use tonality in their music. the greatest figure in british music was benjamin britten who was an eclectic composer (i.e. he took ideas from many different people). two other great composers were michael tippett and william walton, who each developed their own style. in america there were composers such as samuel barber, roy harris and alan hovhaness. in germany paul hindemith was one of the most important composers. like kurt weill, he often wrote music which had a political purpose, but weill's music is more jazz-inspired.