Medieval/Renaissance

Beginning of Medieval Period

500

Boethius' "De institutione musica"

500

Boethius was a well regarded authority on music. He wrote his Fundamentals of Music towards the beginning of the sixth century. Boethius saw music as a science of numbers, and was heavily influenced by the Greek sources.

Boethius' types of music

500

Musica Mundana- Music of the Universe
Musica Humana- Human Music
Musica Instrumentalis- Instrumental Music

Oral Transmission

600

Most music before the 9th century was learned through hearing others perform, or sing them, because of the absence of musical notation. Oral transmission even stayed popular throughout the development of notation.

Pope Gregory I

604

604-590
Writer and organizer of plainchant. Pope Gregory I founded the first singing school in Rome, Schola Cantorum. Gregorian chant is named after him.

Gregorian Chant

675

Established by the late seventh century. A plainsong with a single vocal line in free rhythm and a restricted scale.

Organum

800

A polyphonic voice setting, expanding on an existing plainchant. First appearing in the 9th century.

Beginning of Notation

850

The first definitive reference to notation.

Neumes

850

Neumes were musical symbols that illustrated how a melody was to be sung. They depicted whether the melody was ascending or descending, and could sometimes illustrate rhythm.

Liturgical Drama

900

Dialogue added to liturgy

Goliard Songs

975

Latin song from the late tenth through thirteenth centuries., associated with wandering students and clerics known as goliards. Topics vary from religious and moral themes to satire and celebrations of love, spring, eating, drinking, and other earthly pleasures.

Guido of Arrezo

992

Italian Music Theorist

Standardization of the Mass

1011

Solmization

1026

Guido of Arrezo developed solmization and staff notation. His -solmization used the syllables "ut-re-mi-fa-so-la"

Hildegard of Bingen

1098

1098-1179
German Benedictine abbess and composer. There are more surviving chants from the Middle Ages by her than any other composer.

Conductus

1100

A type of Latin song with rhymed, rhythmical text. Normally sacred

Chanson de Geste

1100

"Song of Deeds" recounted the deeds of national heroes and sung to simple melodic formulas. French

Leonin

1150

1150-1201
First known composer of polyphonic organum.

Perotin

1155

1155-1200
Composer associated with the polyphonic organum and ars antiqua.

Isorhythmic Motet

1200

A form of motet based on a repeating rhythm called the talea. First appearing in the 13th century.

Motet

1200

A short piece of choral sacred music, typically polyphonic. First appeared in the 13th century

Vielle

1200

(fiddle) Medieval bowed instrument and predecessor of the Renaissance viol. Five strings tuned in fourths and fifths

Cantigas de Santa Maria

1270

A colllection of cantigas (songs) in honor of the Virgin Mary, prepared under the direction of King Alfonso el Sabio of Castile and Leon. 1270-1290

Phillipe de Vitry

1291

1291-1361
French composer and music theorist. Thought to be author of Ars Nova treatise.

Guillaume de Machaut

1300

1300-1377
Important composer and poet in fourteenth century France.

Ars Nova treatise

1320

"New Art"
Written by Phillipe de Vitry, demonstrates innovations in rhythmic notation characteristics.

Francesco Landini

1325

1325-1397
The leading composer of ballate and the foremost Italian musician of the fourteenth century

End of Medieval Period

1349

Start of the Renaissance

1350

John Dunstable

1390

1390-1453

Guillaume Du Fay

1397

1397-1474

Dissemination of Music Genres

1400

Mobility of musicians allowed musical styles and ideas to be developed across multiple countries

Counterpoint

1400

Counterpoint was an international style that focused on consonant harmonies such as thirds, sixths, and
perfect fifths. Dissonance was limited. Parallel fifths and octaves were avoided.

Four Voice Texture

1400

Previously only three voices were used. A fourth voice started becoming popular in the 1400's

Gilles De Bins (Binchois)

1400

1400-1460

Chansons

1400

Polyphonic settings of French secular poems originating in the fifteenth century.

Motet

1400

a polyphonic piece of choral music

Masses

1400

A sacred musical composition, often setting liturgy to music

Sackbut

1400

Early form of the trombone, popular in the fifteenth century

Johannes Okeghem

1420

1420-1497

Faburden

1430

A contrapuntal style in English music. A high voice sings a perfect fourth above a plainchant middle voice, with
a low voice singing primarily parallel third under that.

Antoine Busnois

1430

1430-1492

Josquin Desprez

1450

1450-1521

Cadence

1450

Major sixth between the cantus and the tenor that resolves outward to an octave.

Isorhythmic Motet

1450

The isorhythmic motet had nearly died out by 1450

Range in Mass

1450

Okeghem and Busnois extended the range of the voice parts in masses. Each voice extends at least a twelfth

Canon

1450

Music style where alternate musical lines are derived from one original music line. Alternate lines are created
using a "rule". Most commonly, a melodic line in a second voice will come in a certain number of beats after
the first, and same with any other voices.

Henricus Isaac

1450

1450-1517

Viola Da Gamba

1450

Developed by Spain in the mid-fifteenth century, and was the main bowed string instrument by the sixteenth
century

Jacob Obrecht

1458

1458-1505

Music Printing

1470

With use of the printing press, music became available to much more people. Printed music was no longer just
a luxury of the wealthy. This also allowed for notated instrumental music.

A Book on the Art of Counterpoint

1477

Johannes Tinctoris writes this book discussing counterpoint style and the use of new harmonies.

"Just" Intonation

1482

Bartolome Ramis proposed "just intonation". This was an attempt to make thirds and sixths perfectly tuned.

New Vocal Genres

1500

"villancico" in Spain
"frottola" and "madrigal" in Italy
"lute song" in England

New Instrumental Genres

1500

Because of notated instrumental music, many genres were allowed to be created. These included:
"variations", "prelude", "tocatta", "canzona", "sonata"

Lute

1500

The most popular household instrument by the sixteenth century

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

1526

1526-1594
Leading Italian composer of church music in the sixteenth century

Orlande de Lassus

1532

1532-1594

Metrical psalms

1539

Rhymed, strophic translations of vernacular set to a melody. Several issued by the Calvinist church in 1539.

William Byrd

1543

1543-1623

Polychoral motets

1550

Motets written for two or more choirs, becoming popular in the mid sixteenth century

Claudio Montiverdi

1567

1567-1643

Chorale

1575

A strophic poem in simple melody sung in unison. Originally and primarily used in the Lutheran Church.

End of Renaissance

1600