Music History Timeline Project

By Sbrooke
  • 500 BCE

    Medieval Period

    500-1450 CE
  • 1030

    Guido of Arezzo's Micrologus

    The invention of the 4-line staff, relative pitch, and sight-singing syllables.
  • 1098

    Hildegard of Bingen

    1098-1179
  • 1323

    Ars nova treatise

    Introduced new note values. Began to divide into duple and triple meters.
  • 1450

    Renaissance Period

    1450-1600
  • 1485

    Josquin’s Ave Maria ... virgo serena Motet

  • 1529

    Martin Luther Chorale Ein feste burg (A Mighty Fortress..)

  • 1538

    Arcadelt Madrigal Il bianco e dolce cigno

  • 1567

    Palestrina Pope Marcellus Mass

    This is the most commonly acknowledged example of counter-point.

  • Victoria Missa O magnum mysterium

  • Gabrieli Sonata pian’e forte

    Located in St. Mark's Basilica.
    It is one of the first pieces to specify which instruments play which parts. It is also the first piece in history that designates dynamics.

  • Baroque

    1600-1750

  • Monteverdi's L’Orfeo

  • First Public Concerts in England

  • JS Bach

    1685-1750

  • Antonio Vivaldi's L’Estro Armonico

    The most influential publication of any music in the early 18th century.

  • Rameau's Traité de l’harmonie

    Became the basis for teaching functional harmony that is still used today.

  • Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier volume 1

    It was the first use of equal temperament.

  • PreClassical Period

    1730-1770

  • Franz Joseph Haydn

    1732-1809

  • Handel's Messiah

  • WA Mozart

    1756-1791

  • Viennese Classical Period

    1770-1800

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

    1773-1781
    US President John Adams called him “the most accomplished man in Europe”.

  • Mozart's Don Giovanni

  • Haydn's Symphony No. 94 "Surprise"

  • Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C minor

    1807-1808

  • Schubert Erlkönig

    Composed

  • Rossini Il Barbiere di Siviglia

  • Nicolo Paganini 24 Caprices for Violin, op.1

    First Publication

  • Berlioz Symphonie fantastique

    Composed

  • Frederic Chopin Mazurkas Op.7

    1830-1831

  • Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel Das Jahr

    Composed

  • Louis Moreau Gottschalk Souvenir de Porto Rico

    1857-1858

  • Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition

  • Bizet Carmen

  • Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen

  • Brahms' Symphony No.4

  • Mahler Symphony No.1

  • Claude Debussy “Voiles” from Préludes Book 1

  • Arnold Schönberg Pierrot Lunaire

  • Igor Stravinsky The Rite of Spring (premiere)

  • Manuel de Falla Homenaje (Homage)

  • George and Ira Gershwin “I Got Rhythm”

  • Margaret Bonds “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”

  • Dimitri Shostakovich Symphony No.5 premiere

  • Duke Ellington Cottontail

  • Aaron Copland Appalachian Spring

  • John Cage Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano

  • Miles Davis Kind of Blue

  • George Crumb Ancient Voices of Children

  • John Adams Short Ride in a Fast Machine