History of Music Timeline

By nwalla25
  • Period: 500 to 1450

    Medieval Period

  • Period: 1025 to 1028

    Guido of Arezzo's formulation of the Solmization System

  • Period: 1098 to 1179

    Hildegard of Bingen

  • 1320

    Ars Nova Treatise

    The innovations of the Ars Nova centered around rhythm and its notation, including the following: the polyphonic art song as the most important new genre, the debate of the inclusion of duple (imperfect) meter, the introduction of isorhythm, and the notation of musical rhythm.
  • Period: 1450 to

    Renaissance Period

  • 1529

    Martin Luther Chorale Ein feste burg

  • 1538

    Arcadelt Madrigal, Il bianco e dolce cigno

  • 1567

    Palestrina Pope Marcellus Mass

    This work became a model in counterpoint for generations after Palestrina, while still being a tool used to study counterpoint today. It also saved polyphony for the counter-reformation. Musicians refer to the Mass for the following rules: primarily stepwise melodic motion, leaps followed by stepwise motion, dissonances introduced in suspensions and resolved on strong beats, and the allowance of dissonances between beats if the moving voice is moving in stepwise motion.

  • Victoria Missa O magnum mysterium

  • Giovanni Gabrieli Sacrae Symphoniae

    The Sacrae Symphoniae book was a book full of concerted Latin motets for various small combinations of voices and instruments that were published in Venice.
  • Period: to

    Baroque Era

  • Monteverdi's L'Orfeo

  • The Start of the First Public Concerts in London

    Advertized in the London Gazette
  • Period: to

    J.S. Bach

  • Vivaldi's L'Estro Armonico

    Vivaldi wrote on commission and earned money for his compositions, including L'Estro Armonico. This proved the popularity of his pieces at the time and brought a new significance to composers. He showed that it could be a valid profession that could bring in an income. The title of the concerto also proves this; the name was given to the concerto to increase its popularity among buyers.

  • Rameau's Traité de l’harmonie

  • Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier volume 1

    The book contains twenty-four preludes and fugues in all keys in chromatic order. The book was designed to explore all of the keys and be able to play all of them on an instrument of tempered tuning.
  • Period: to

    Franz Joseph Haydn

  • Handel's Messiah

  • Period: to

    Viennese Classical Period

  • Period: to

    WA Mozart

  • Period: to

    Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges as director of Concerts des Amateurs

    He was an incredibly accomplished man, and according to John Adams, he was the most accomplished man in Europe. He was a man of color, so to achieve all he did while he was a person of color at that time was astonishing.

  • Mozart's Don Giovanni

  • Haydn's Symphony No. 94 "Surprise" Premiere Date

  • Premiere of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5

  • Schubert Erlkönig (composition date)

  • Publication of Nicolo Paganini 24 Caprices for Violin, op. 1

  • Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique (composition date)

  • Period: to

    Frederic Chopin Mazurkas Op. 7 (composition date range)

  • Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel Das Jahr (composition date)

  • Period: to

    Louis Moreau Gottschalk Souvenir de Porto Roco

  • Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (original piano version)

  • Bizet Carmen (Premiere Date)

  • Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen (premiere of complete cycle)

  • Brahms' Symphony No. 4 (Premiere Date)

  • Mahler Symphony No. 1 (premiere)

  • Dvorak Symphony No. 9 "From the New World"

  • Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag

  • Jean Sibelius' Finlandia Premiere

  • Period: to

    Claude Debussy's Voiles from Préludes Book 1

    Composition of Préludes book 1 was completed from December 1909 - February 1910

  • Arnold Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire

  • Igor Stravinsky's Le sacre du Printemps (premiere)

  • Period: to

    Arnold Schönberg's Piano Suite, Op. 25

  • Louis Armstrong's "Hotter Than That"

    Date of recording in Chicago

  • George and Ida Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm" (Published)

  • Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 Premiere

  • Prokofiev Alexander Nevsky (film)

  • Duke Ellington's Cottontail

  • Period: to

    Oliver Messian’s Quator pour or fine de temps

  • Bela Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra

  • Copland Appalachian Spring

  • John Cage’s 4’33”

  • Period: to

    Edward Varese Poeme Electronique

  • Miles Davis Kind of Blue

  • George Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children

  • John Adam’s Short Ride on a Fast Machine