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Constantine declares Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. The spread of Christianity in the western world spurred the development of European music.
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Pope Gregory the Great codifies and collects the chant, which is used in Roman Catholic services and is named the Gregorian chant in his honor
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Guido of Arezzo, an Italian monk, develops a system for learning music by ear. Voice students often use the system, called solfge, to memorize their vocal exercises. In the 19th century, solf ge developed into the tonic sol-fa system used today.
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The Renaissance begins. This rebirth favors the simplistic virtues of Greek and Roman Classic styles, moves from polyphony to one harmonized melody and sees the increased importance and popularity of secular music. Josquin Desprez, is a leading composer of the Renaissance. He worked for ducal courts in Italy and France, at the Sistine Chapel and for kings Louis XI and Louis XII.
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In Pope Pius IV's Counter-Reformation, he restores church music to its pure vocal form by eliminating all instruments except the organ, any evidence of secularism, harmony and folk melody. Giovanni Da Palestrina satisfies the pope's rigid requirements and creates a new spiritual style that legend says ?saved polyphony? when he writes Pope Marcellus Mass, his most famous and enchanting piece.
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In Italian music, castration emerges as a way of preserving high male singing voices. St. Paul's dictum prohibited women from singing on stage and in churches. The practice becomes commonplace by 1574.
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A group of musicians and intellectuals gather in Count Giovanni de Bardi's camerata (salon) and discuss and experiment with music drama. It is during this period that opera is born. Jacopo Peri's Dafne, the first Italian opera, is produced in 1598 and Euridice in 1600.
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The Baroque period, characterized by strict musical forms and highly ornamental works, begins in Europe. This period signals the end of the Renaissance
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Italian master composer Claudio Monteverdi writes the opera Orfeo, Favola in Musica, a work deemed to be a prime example of the early Baroque musical form
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Francesca Caccini, who most historians say is the first female composer, finishes the opera-ballet La Liberazione di Ruggiero, which is performed at a reception for Wladyslaw IV of Poland.
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The first comic opera, Chi Soffre Speri by Virgilio Mazzocchi and Marco Marazzoli, premieres in Rome
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The first signed Stradivarius violins emerge from Antonio Stradivari's workshop in Cremona, Italy.
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Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederick Handel are born. They become principal classical composers of the Baroque period. Bach, who fathers 20 children, explores musical forms associated with the church and Handel works as a dramatic composer
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Vivaldi becomes violin master at Venice's La Pieta orphanage. He writes more then 400 concertos for La Pieta in his 35-year service there
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Bach dies. The end of the Baroque period is often seen in conjunction with his death. The highly ornate style of the Baroque period gives rise to the more simple, clarified styles of the Classical period, which sees the emergence of symphonies and string quartets