Music History Timeline

  • Period: 500 to 1450

    Medieval Period

    Took place from 500-1450
  • 800

    Charlemagne

    Charlemagne ruled as holy emperor from 800-814. Around 500-600 songs were established during his reign. That amount later expanded to around 3000.
  • 1030

    Guido of Arezzo's: Micrologus

    Guido of Arezzo himself lived from around 990-1050. He created his Micrologus (Little Treatise) in 1030. This was an innovation at the time because it contained outlines of singing and teaching practice of Gregorian Chant. Also it had important discussion on polyphonic music. Guido of Arezzo also was the first to describe a hexachord. A hexachord is a six not series exhibited in a scale or tone row.
  • 1098

    Hildegard of Bingen

    Born: September 16th 1098
    Died: September 17th 1179
  • 1163

    Notre Dame School Polyphony

    The Notre Dame Cathedral was built in 1163 and was used as a school for composers of polyphonic writing. Leonin (1163-1190) was the first significant composer of polyphonic organum and was the earliest member of the school. His first extensive repertory of composed polyphony was called Magnus Liber Organi. Later came another composer named Perotin. Perotin (1190-1225) was known for his ars ars antiqua music style.
  • 1170

    Troubadour/ trobairitz

    The troubadours and trobairitz were active from 1170-1348. They were not around after the black death hit in 1348 due to the mass spread disease that killed around 25 million people. (Trobairitz are the female troubadours)
  • 1280

    Franco of Cologne/Ars Cantus Mensurabilis

    ca. 1280
    Creation of consonant and dissonant intervals
    Consonance
    - Perfect: Unison, octave
    - Intermediate: Fourth and Fourth
    - Imperfect: Major and minor thirds
    Dissonances
    - Imperfect: minor seventh, major sixth, whole tone
    - Perfect: minor sixth, semitone, tritone, major seventh
  • 1300

    Guillaume de Machaut

    Born: 1300
    Death: 1377
    Continued troubadour/ trouvere tradition
    4- roundeau style
    Cantilena style
  • 1323

    Ars Nova Treatise

    The Ars Nova Treatise was written by a composer named Philippe De Vitry. In his work he makes use of his innovation in rhythmic notation. Primarily in triple he made use of smaller note values to introduce more variation. The treatise itself began around 1323.
  • 1325

    Francesco Landini

    Francesco Landini was born in 1325 and died in 1397. He was an Italian composer who wrote exclusively secular music. His innovation was the creation of the Landini cadence. A Landini cadence is when the sixth degree of a scale is inserted between the leading tone and its resolution on the tonic. It is used by many during the polyphony of the 15th century. He also made use of muica ficta in his writing to avoid tritones.
  • 1440

    Gutenberg Printing Press

  • Period: 1450 to

    Renaissance

  • 1515

    Josquin’s Missa Pangue Lingua

  • 1529

    Martin Luther’s Ein feste burg

  • 1538

    Arcadelt Il bianco e dolce cigno

  • 1562

    Palestrina Pope Marcellus Mass

  • 1580

    Concerto delle Donne

    ca. 1580-88
    A musical group based in Ferrara, Italy known for musical innovation of the concerto delle donne was the multiplication of the ornamented upper voices
  • Sonata pian’e forte

  • Period: to

    Baroque Period

  • Monteverdi's L’Orfeo

  • First Public Concerts in England

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    (1685-1750)
    - Bach was one of the most notable composers from this time period.
    - Most known for his compositions of Art of Fugue, the Brandenburg Concertos, and the Goldberg Variations, and for vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor.
  • Handel

    (1685-1759)
    He was born on the same year as Bach and both were very famous composers but never met. He spent most of his career in London.
  • Purcell's Dido and Aeneas

  • Antonio Vivaldi's L’Estro Armonico

  • Brandenburg Concertos

  • Rameau's Traité de l’harmonie

  • The Well-Tempered Clavier volume 1

  • Period: to

    Pre Classical Period

  • Franz Joseph Haydn

    (1732-1809)
    One of the biggest composers of the classical era who wrote 107 symphonies, 26 operas, 83 string quartets, 45 piano trios, 62 piano sonatas, and 14 masses.
  • Handel's Messiah

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

    (1745-1799)
  • WA Mozart

    (1756-1791)
    -Toured in (1762-1781)
    - Lived in Salzburg (1774-1781)
    - In Vienna (1781-1791)
  • Beethoven

    (1770-1827)
  • Period: to

    Viennese Classical Era

  • Haydn's op.33 String Quartets

    This was dedicated to the Grand Duke Paul of Russia
  • Mozart's Piano Concerto No.23

    Mozart's piano concerto was composed in 1786 and published in 1800. This was Mozart's most intimate concerto. He also removed trumpets and added oboes and clarinets for a darker sound.
  • Mozart's Don Giovanni

  • Haydn's London Symphonies

    (1791-1795)
    This demonstrates how Mozart influenced Haydn.
    This marked when trumpets became independent and basses separated from cellos.
  • Franz Schubert

    (1797-1828)
    - Late classical/Early romantic
  • Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor

    It is one of the best-known compositions in classical music and one of the most frequently played symphonies. First performed in Vienna's Theater an der Wien in 1808.
  • Schubert's Erlkönig

    It depicts the death of a child assailed by a supernatural being, the Erlkönig, translated as “Elf King”, though the eponymous character is clearly some kind of demon or 'fairy king'.
  • Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia

  • Niccolo Paganini 's 24 Caprices for Unaccompanied Violin, op.1

  • Schubert's Symphony No.8 “Unfinished”

    Schubert's Eighth Symphony is sometimes called the first Romantic symphony due to its emphasis on the lyrical impulse within the dramatic structure of Classical sonata form.
  • Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique

  • Frederic Chopin Mazurkas Op.7

    The Mazurkas, Op. 7 are a set of five mazurkas by Frédéric Chopin.
  • Robert Schumann: Carnaval

  • Fanny Mendelssohn - Hensel: Das Jahr

  • Clara Wieck Schumann: "Liebst du um Schönheit"

  • Berlioz Treatise on Instrumentation

  • Felix Mendelssohn: Bartholdy - Violin Concerto in E minor, Op.64

  • Verdi 's La traviata

  • Louis Moreau Gottschalk's Souvenir de Porto Rico

  • Wagner's Tristan und Isolde

  • Mussourgsky's Boris Godunov

  • Bizet's Carmen

  • Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen

  • Brahms' Symphony No.4

  • Mahler's Symphony No.1

  • Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker

  • Dvorak's Symphony No.9 “New World"

  • Debussy's Prélude à l’aprés midi d’un faune

  • Maple Leaf Rag

  • Jean Sibelius' Finlandia

  • Puccini's Madama Butterfly

  • Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire

    Premiered on October 16th, 1912
    Schönberg's instrumentation consisting of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano was super important in the 20th and 21st centuries.
  • Stravinsky's Le sacre du Printemps

  • Schönberg's Piano Suite, Op.25

    Composed between 1921-1923
    This was a 12 tone piece written for the piano.
  • George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue

    Before writing this Gershwin was asked to compose a concerto-like piece for an all-jazz concert. This resulted in the creation of this piece.
  • Louis Armstrong's "Hotter Than That"

    Recorded December 13, 1927
    Louis Armstrong performed this with is group the Hot Five. This piece had a New Orleans jazz style to it that audiences loved.
  • Shostakovich Symphony No.5 premiere

  • Prokofiev Alexander Nevsky

  • Ellington's Cottontail

    Composed in 1940
    This piece is based on Gershwin's piece called "I Got Rythm"
    Originally it was only an instrumental work but later, Ellington added lyrics.
  • Olivier Messiaen's Quatuor pour le fine du temps

  • Copland Appalachian Spring

  • Bela Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra

    Premiered on December 1st, 1944
    This is a five-movement orchestra piece that one of Bartók's most well-known works.
  • John Cage's 4’33’’

  • Edgar Varese Poeme Electronique

  • Miles Davis Kind of Blue

  • George Crumb's Black Angels

  • John Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine