Music History By Matthew Langford Jan 1, 1163 Léonin Jan 1, 1200 Pérotin Jan 1, 1250 Cathedral of Notre Dame Built in Paris Construction started in 1163 Dec 20, 1291 Philippe de Vitry Dec 20, 1300 Guillaume de Macaut Jan 1, 1450 Josquin des Prez Jan 1, 1525 Giovanni Palestrina Dec 20, 1542 Galileo Galilei Jan 1, 1543 William Byrd Jan 1, 1549 Tomás Luis de Victoria Jan 1, 1553 Giovanni Gabrieli Dec 20, 1564 Shakespeare Jan 1, 1567 Claudio Monteverdi Jan 1, 1583 Girolamo Frescobaldi Jan 1, 1585 Heinrich Schütz Dec 20, 1607 Monteverdi, Orfeo Dec 19, 1619 Barbara Strozzi Dec 20, 1623 Blaise Paschal Dec 20, 1637 Buxtehude Dec 20, 1642 Isaac Newton Dec 19, 1653 Arcangelo Corelli Dec 20, 1653 Johann Pachelbel Dec 19, 1659 Henry Purcell Dec 19, 1665 Elizabeth de La Guerre Dec 19, 1678 Antonio Vivaldi Dec 19, 1683 Jean-Philippe Rameau Dec 19, 1685 Johann Sebastian Bach Dec 19, 1685 Domenico Scarlatti Dec 19, 1685 George Frideric Handel Dec 20, 1710 Pergolesi Dec 19, 1714 Christoph Willibald Gluck Dec 19, 1714 C.P.E. Bach Dec 19, 1717 Johann Stamitz Dec 19, 1722 Bach: Well Tempered Clavier, I Dec 20, 1729 Bach: St. Matthew Passion Dec 19, 1732 Franz Joseph Haydn Dec 19, 1756 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Dec 20, 1769 James Watt, Steam Engine Dec 19, 1770 Ludwig van Beethoven Dec 20, 1776 Declaration of Independence Dec 20, 1782 Nicolo Paganini Dec 19, 1786 Weber Dec 20, 1786 Mozart: Marriage of Figaro Dec 20, 1789 French Revolution Dec 19, 1792 Gioachino Rossini Dec 19, 1797 Franz Schubert Dec 19, 1801 Bellini Dec 19, 1803 Hector Berlioz Dec 20, 1803 Beethoven: Erioca Dec 19, 1804 Glinka Dec 20, 1804 Napoleon: Emperor of France Dec 19, 1809 Felix Mendelssohn Dec 19, 1810 Robert Schumann Dec 19, 1810 Frédéric Chopin Dec 19, 1811 Franz Liszt Dec 19, 1813 Verdi Dec 19, 1813 Wagner Dec 20, 1830 Revolution in France Dec 19, 1833 Johannes Brahms Dec 19, 1838 Bizet Dec 19, 1839 Modest Mussorgsky Dec 20, 1839 Invention of Photography Dec 19, 1840 Tchaikovsky Dec 19, 1841 Antonin Dvoark Dec 19, 1845 Fauré Dec 19, 1848 Duparc Dec 19, 1860 Hugo Wolf Dec 19, 1860 Gustav Mahler Dec 20, 1861 Start of Civil War Dec 20, 1861 Unification of Italy Dec 19, 1862 Debussy Dec 19, 1864 Richard Struass Dec 20, 1867 Frank Lloyd Wright Dec 20, 1871 Verdi: Aida Dec 19, 1872 Scriabin Dec 19, 1873 Rachmaninoff Dec 19, 1874 Schoenberg Dec 19, 1875 Ravel Dec 20, 1876 Bell: Invention of Telephone Dec 20, 1879 Albert Einstein Dec 19, 1881 Bartok Dec 20, 1881 Pablo Picasso Dec 20, 1881 Pablo Picasso Dec 19, 1882 Stravinsky Dec 19, 1882 Stravinsky Dec 19, 1883 Webern Dec 19, 1885 Alban Werg Dec 19, 1891 Prokofiev Dec 20, 1895 Paul Hindemith Dec 20, 1896 Howard Hanson Dec 19, 1897 Cowell Dec 19, 1900 Aaron Copland Dec 19, 1906 Shostakovich Dec 20, 1908 Messiaen Dec 20, 1912 John Cage Dec 19, 1913 Britten Dec 20, 1914 Start of WWI Dec 20, 1917 Russian Revolution Dec 20, 1925 Boulez Dec 20, 1929 George Crumb Dec 20, 1929 Great Depression Dec 19, 1933 Penderecki Dec 20, 1934 Schnittke Dec 20, 1936 Steve Reich Dec 20, 1937 Philip Glass Dec 20, 1939 Start of WWII Dec 20, 1979 Albert Einstein