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The Medieval Period introduced music notation for the very first time.
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Guido of Arezzo, who invented Solmization and the Hexachord System, wrote his book "Micrologus" to teach about the 4-line staff, relative pitch, and sight singing.
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The first prominent female composer in known existence.
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The Ars Nova Treatise, written by Phillipe de Vitry, includes innovations in musical rhythms and notation. This would become the basis for modern music notation we use to this day.
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This compositional piece would go on to be the standard for counterpoint.
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First, Gabrieli's wrote that "pian" (piano) was soft and "forte" was loud within his compositions. He also had dedicated lines for each instrument to read within the composition.
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This is the estimated time when Beethoven 5th symphony was first performed, which would go on to be his most iconic piece of work.
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This horrifying poem converted master composition for a solo vocalist was created by Franz Schubert. Schubert perfectly capture different emotions such as confusion, terror, and even an eerily version of happiness, which was uncommon to do at the time.
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Pagini, the violin virtuoso that was rumored to be in league with the Devil himself, is known as one of the best violinists in recorded history, mainly for his technical prowess that was unmatched during his peak. These 24 caprices display his unique compositional style and prestigious skill level.
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Chopin to this day is considered one of the greatest piano performers and composers. His unique melodic ideas and high difficulty compositions are one of a kind and represent the limits of what even the best pianists can play.
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This was the radically original composer Hector Berlioz's most recognizable piece he composed. It was one of the first "programmatic", or chronologically based compositions, to exist. This was done by telling the story of Hamlet through the music itself.
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The sister to Felix Mendelssohn, she composed this piece through the inspiration of the 12 months of the year.
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Gottschalk was one of the first American born, specifically from New Orleans, composers to have his music to become popularized across the globe. "Souvenir de Porto Rico" in particular was an iconic celebratory dance-like piece that was adored by both young partiers and distinguished pianists for its technical yet jubilant feel.
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One of the most iconic opera pieces to this day, this piece by Georges Bizet was based on a novel Prosper Mérimée
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Wagner's complete concert cycle of four music dramas was premiered this year
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In this premier, Wagner's piece had 4 cycles of music. This included Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Die Walküre, (The Valkyrie), Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods).
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With 30 themes and variations, this piece was the pinnacle of modern composition at its time, showing off his prestige in a variety of styles.
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With 30 variations, this piece written in E minor used a ternary form with each variation including a developing variation titled Schonberg.
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Known as the symphony of the end of the century, this created the story of a funeral march of a hunter, presented by animals he intended to hunt.
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This composition was inspired by sounds from America while working as the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America from 1892 to 1895.
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One of the most iconic pieces by the King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin
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This piece paid homage to his home country, and after premiering at the Helsinki Philharmonic Society, it would go on to be his most famous piece.
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A set of 12 pieces for solo piano, arguably some of his most popular works.
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The first popular piece to use 12 tone harmony and the "Sprechstimme" vocal style, it began the uproar of a new kind of new music that would be called "Radical Modernism".
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This piece was the pinnacle of the emerging music subgenre "Neo-Classicism".
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One of Schönberg's most iconic pieces, it was in direct relation of the more experimental approach that Picasso used in his art (they were inspired by each other). This would arguably create some of the most expressive music to date at the time.
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This piece by Louis Armstrong began than transcension of jazz into mainstream media as became popular not only in clubs and bars, but on the radio as well.
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This piece would become the foundation for most standards in early jazz.
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One of the first of Ellington's many iconic piece
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With the help of Serge Koussevitzky, conductor of the Boston Symphony, they commissioned this piece in honor of his deceased wife. By creating the fusion of "high end" music with "peasant music", using experimental harmonies liker quarter harmonies, and even palindromes in music, he created one of the most innovated yet still accessible pieces of music of the 20th century.
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An experimental piece that pushed the boundaries of what constituted as music.
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Written for the 1958 Phillips Pavillion at the Brussells' World Fair.
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The album that would go on to popularize modal jazz.
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