Music History Timeline

By josephmoore845
  • Period: 500 to 1450

    Medieval Period

    Middle Ages
  • Period: 990 to 1050

    Guido of Arezzo

  • 1030

    Micrologus (Little Treatise)

    Guido of Arezzo
    Guido of Arezzo's Little treatise led the way for innovations in music including the 4-line staff, relative pitch, sight-singing, solmization, and the hexachord system.
  • Period: 1098 to 1179

    Hildegard of Bingen

  • Period: 1315 to 1375

    Ars Nova

    Replaces the Ars Antiqua
  • 1323

    Ars Nova Treatise

    The treatise gave way to Developments of time and probation including the use of the duple meter as well as the notation of musical rhythms.
  • Period: 1450 to

    Renaissance Period

  • Period: 1450 to 1521

    Josquin des Perz

  • Period: 1483 to 1546

    Martin Luther

  • 1485

    Ave Maria...Virgo Serena

    Josquin des Prez's Motet
  • 1529

    Ein feste burg ist unser gott (A mighty fortress is our god)

    Martin Luther
  • Period: 1535 to

    Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

  • 1538

    Il bianco e dolce cigno

    Arcadelth madrigal
  • Period: 1548 to

    Tomás Luis de Victoria

  • 1567

    Pope Marcellus mass

    Palestrina
    Pope Marcellus's mass went on to be a model for generations after and is even used in modern-day textbooks as the ideal example of counterpoint.
    There is even a Legend about the piece that it demonstrated that sacred words could be intelligible in polyphonic music with six voices.

  • Missa o Magnum Mysterium

    Victoria

  • Sonata pian'e forte

    Gabrieli
    This piece was written at the St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy. This piece was significant for two reasons it was the first to specify notation for instruments as well as the creation of the "Sonata" a song for instruments which translated in Italian means "sounded".
  • Period: to

    Baroque Period

  • L' Orfeo

    L' Orfeo written by Claudio Monteverdi is significant to the history of music primarily because it was the first opera to enter the standard repertory.
    -Music was not published til 1609
    -revised 1615

  • First public concert series

    The first public concert series begins in England in the year 1672.
  • Period: to

    Johann Sebastian Bach (J.S. Bach)

  • Op.3 L'estro Armonico (Harmonic Inspiration)

    L'estro Armonico (Harmonic Inspiration) was written by Antonio Vivaldi and published by Etienne Roger in Amsterdam.
    This work holds significance in history because it elevated violin playing, established Vivaldi's style of three contrasting movements (fast-slow-fast) and, pioneered a new use of the ritornello form.

  • Traité de L'Harmonie (Treatise on Harmony)

    Traité de l'harmonie (Treatise on Harmony) was written by Jean-Philippe Rameau.
    His treatise on harmony is known as the most influential of all theoretical works on music theory and is the basis on which we teach modern functional harmony.

  • Das wohltemperierte Klavier vol. 1 (The well-tempered Clavier)

    The well-tempered clavier was written by J.S. Bach. Originally written to assist in the education of young musicians, The well-tempered clavier was the first collection of music written in all major and minor keys. The well-tempered clavier also established the basis of equal temperament which allowed a single keyboard to be tuned in such a way that it could play in all 24 keys.
  • Period: to

    Franz Josef Haydn

  • The Messiah

    The Messiah written by George Frederic Handel was completed in 1741, however did not premiere until 1742 during lent in Dublin.
    The Messiah is an oratorio that outlines the story of the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ the son of god in the Christian religion as well as the "second coming".
  • Period: to

    Schubert Erlkönig

  • Period: to

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  • Period: to

    Viennese Classical Period

    Classical Period (ca.1730-ca.1800)
    separated into two different sections
    -Early Classical (1730-1770)
    -Viennese Classical (1770-1800)
  • Period: to

    Joseph Bologne Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges Director of Concert des Amateurs

    Joseph Bologne is known as one of France's best composers, conductors, and violinists. Known as "Le Mozart Noir" although history states that Mozart was actually Jealous of Bologne. Bologne joined the orchestra first as the first violinist but, eventually took over as director in 1773. During this time the "concert des amateurs" came to be known as one of the finest orchestras in Europe.

  • Don Giovanni

    Don Giovanni is an opera written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  • Haydn's Symphony No.94 "Surprise"

  • Period: to

    Symphony No.5 in C minor Beethoven

  • Nicolo Paganini 24 Caprices for Violin, op.1

    Publication date

  • Berlioz Symphonie fantastique

  • Period: to

    Frederic Chopin Mazurkas Op.7

  • Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel Das Jahr

  • Period: to

    Louis Moreau Gottschalk Souvenir de Porto Rico

  • Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition

  • Bizet Carmen

  • Mahler Symphony No.1

  • Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen

    Premiere Date

  • Brahms' Symphony No.4

    Premiere Date

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

  • Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag

  • Jean Sibelius' Finlandia

  • Claude Debussy's Voiles” from Préludes Book 1

  • Arnold Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire

  • Igor Stravinsky's Le sacre du Printemps

  • Arnold Schönberg's Piano Suite, Op.25

  • Duke Ellington's Cottontail

  • Louis Armstrong's "Hotter Than That"

  • George and Ira Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm"

  • Shostakovich Symphony No.5 premi

  • Prokofiev Alexander Nevsky

  • Olivier Messiaen's Quatuor pour le fine du temps

  • Bela Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra

  • Copland Appalachian Spring

  • John Cage's 4’33’’

  • Edward Varese Poeme Electronique

  • Miles Davis Kind of Blue

  • George Crumb's Black Angels

  • John Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine