Music History

By bsfailor
  • Period: 500 to 1450

    Medieval Period

    Music in the church was for the "lower minds" to better connect with the worship. The first music notation system was introduced (Neumatic Notation). The Mass Ordinary was introduced for the first time. Seven Liberal Arts: (Geometry, Arithmatic, Astronomy, Music, Grammer, Rhetoric, & Logic) Troubadours/Trouveres (traveling bands) played a large part in spreading music and culture wherever they traveled. Music is mostly transcribed early music in triple meter. Polyphony & Gothic Heights
  • 1030

    Guido of Arezzo Micrologus

    This was the introduction to the 4-line staff. This made relative pitch and sight singing possible, using the new staff. Introduces the Guidonian Hand (I.e, Solfège).
  • Period: 1098 to 1179

    Hildegard of Bingen

  • 1323

    Ars Nova Treatise

    This treatise created a standard for notating music. The introduction of time signatures, the breve, and semibreve.
  • Period: 1450 to

    Renaissance Period

  • 1485

    Josquin’s Ave Maria ... virgo serena Motet

  • 1529

    Martin Luther Chorale Ein feste burg

    Translated to "A mighty fortress"
  • 1538

    Arcadelt Madrigal Il bianco e dolce cigno

  • 1567

    Palestrina Pope Marcellus Mass

    His setting exemplifies the intelligibility of the text which was one of the principles of reform. His music saved Polyphonic church music from being banished.
  • 1572

    Victoria Missa O magnum mysterium

  • Giovanni Gabrieli Sacrae Symphoniae

    In Venice, Italy, these are a monumental collection reflecting the power and esteem of the Venetian state.
  • Period: to

    Baroque

  • Monteverdi's L’Orfeo

    Revised in 1615.
  • Period: to

    First Public Concerts in England

  • Period: to

    J.S. Bach

  • Antonio Vivaldi's L’Estro Armonico

    Vivaldi introduced the idea of the modern-day orchestral setup and compositional techniques.

  • Rameau's Traité de l’harmonie

    Treatise on Harmony.

  • Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier volume 1

    24 Preludes and Fugues
    Experiments with Equal Temperament.
  • Period: to

    Franz Joseph Haydn

  • Handel's Messiah

  • Period: to

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

    Composer, Conductor, and performer; famous in France.
    Compared to the level of Mozart.
  • Period: to

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  • Period: to

    Industrial Revolution

    Technology transformed the Western economy from agriculture to manufacturing.
    Other industries followed, including instrument-making firms.
    Pianos were now affordable for most middle-class families.
  • Period: to

    Viennese Classical

  • Period: to

    Ludwig Van Beethoven

    The most revolutionary musician ever. A true product of his time. Helped inspire music to be the way that it is today.
  • Period: to

    Niccolò Pananini

    One of the most influential figures of the 19th century

  • Mozart's Don Giovanni

  • Period: to

    The French Revolution

    Inspired Enlightenment ideas of Equality for all.
    French Government supported Opéra

  • Haydn's Symphony No. 94 "Surprise"

  • Period: to

    1st Period

    Assimilates the Viennese Classical Style.
  • Period: to

    Napoleon Bonaparte

    1804, crowned himself emperor.
  • Period: to

    Romantic

  • Period: to

    2nd Period

    Infuses works with a new level of drama and expression that leads to Romanticism
    Works become longer and more complex
  • Period: to

    Hector Berlioz

    "Radically Original"

  • Symphony No. 5 in C minor

  • Period: to

    3rd Period

    Introspective and abstract works that few understood during that time.

  • Paganini 24 Caprices Op. 1

  • Symphony No.9 in D minor "Choral"

    One hour in length.
    "Ode to Joy"

  • String Quartet in C-sharp minor

    Seven Movements!
  • Period: to

    Edmond Dédé

  • Symphonie fantastique

    "Episodes in an Artist's Life"

  • Mussorgsky "Pictures at an Exhibition" (Piano)

    Written and premiered in 1874.
    Pictures is a suite of ten piano pieces, also including a promenade theme.

  • Bizet "Carmen"

    Premiered in 1875 in Paris, France.

  • Wagner "Der Ring des Nibelungen"

    Premiered in 1876. Consisted of a cycle of four dramas. These were: Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), and Siegfried Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods.

  • Brahm's symphony no. 4

    Premiered in Germany in 1885

  • Mahler "Symphony no. 1

    Simply because of the third movement's confusion, it received such harsh criticism, that it was later removed from the work by Mahler after its third performance in Weimar, also being omitted from the first publication in 1899.

  • Dvorak Symphony no. 9

    Premiered in Carnegie Hall, New York.

  • Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag (published)

  • Mahler Symphony No. 1 (Premiere)

  • Jean Sibelius' Finlandia (premiere)

  • Period: to

    Modern

  • Claude Debussy's Voiles from Préludes Book 1

  • Arnold Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire

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

  • Arnold Schönberg's Piano Suite, Op.25

  • Louis Armstrong's "Hotter Than That"

  • George and Ira Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm" (published)

  • Shostakovich Symphony No.5 premiere

  • Prokofiev Alexander Nevsky (film)

  • Duke Ellington's Cottontail

  • Olivier Messiaen's Quatuor pour le fine du temps

  • Bela Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra

  • Copland Appalachian Spring

  • Period: to

    Post Modern

  • John Cage's 4’33’’

  • Edward Varese Poeme Electronique

  • Miles Davis Kind of Blue

  • George Crumb's Ancient Voices of Children

  • John Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine