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476
Fall of Rome
Signaled the start of the Medieval Era. -
Period: 476 to 1435
The Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, music was used extensively in the early church. There was also a flourishing popular-music culture from which we have significant examples. Melody is used primarily to convey words. Most composers were poets. -
Period: 480 to 524
Boethius
Roman writer and statesman; important as a music theorist with his "De institutione musica" -
900
Organum
Plainchant melody with an added melody. what resulted was a musically sung piece of parallel 4ths and 5ths; 3rds were dissonant and should not be used -
Period: 991 to 1050
Guido of Arezzo
Music theorist; he is credited with creating a system of precise pitch notation through lines and spaces on a staff; he advocated a method of sight-singing using syllables; his treatise, Micrologus, the earliest and best treatise on musical composition of chant and polyphony. -
Period: 1098 to 1179
Hildegard von Bingen
Composer of the first morality play; known as the Sybil of the Rhine; writer, composer, theologian; her counsel was sought after by rulers -
Period: 1130 to 1190
Ventadorn
Famous troubadour; perhaps the finest of the troubadour poets; very important musically to us because more of his music survives than any other 12th century poet. -
Period: 1135 to 1201
Leonin [Leoninus]
Master of organum purum at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris. -
Period: 1140 to 1212
Beatriz de Dia
Famous female troubadour; she has left us the only surviving melody by a female troubadour -
Period: 1160 to 1213
Brule
One of the earliest trouveres and most famous of poets; melodies show influence of Gregorian Chant. -
Period: 1170 to 1230
Vogelweide
Poet and Minnesinger; worked at the Viennese court; he wrote the earliest surviving minnesinger melody; his contemporaries considered him the leading composer and poet among Minnesinger. -
Period: 1180 to 1238
Perotin [Perotinus]
;Master of discant organum at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris; supposed student of Leonin; wrote 3 and 4-voice organum; his identity is regarded as speculative -
Period: 1190 to 1236
Reuental
Austrian Minnesinger; one of the earliest German poets; folk-like style; his works were the only Minnesinger songs printed in the Renaissance; sang in Vienna -
1200
The Medieval Motet
More text than chant; rhythmic: 6 rhythmic modes, then very complex; instrumental inclusion; texts in French, Latin, or both -
Period: 1245 to 1285
Adam de la halle
One of the last trouveres; wrote polyphony; studied in Paris -
Period: 1291 to 1361
Vitry
Known as the "inventor of a new art," French composer, poet, theorist, and bishop; established a new tradition of mensural notation. -
Period: 1300 to 1350
The Ars Nova in France
The New Art in France focused on new compositional techniques such as isorhythm and hocket. The most innovative accomplishments were in the area of rhythm. -
Period: 1300 to 1377
Machaut
The leading composer and poet of the Ars Nova; his importance and innovations are extraordinary -
Period: 1300 to 1390
The Trecento in Italy
The Trecento was a time of vigorous activity in Italy, as it was in France, with which there was a frequent interchange of musicians and influences. Distinguishing the period from the preceding century was an emphasis on secular song, especially love lyrics; much of the surviving music is polyphonic, but the influence of the troubadours who came to Italy, fleeing the Albigensian Crusade in the early 13th century, is evident. -
Period: 1320 to 1363
Firenze
Italian composer; ranks second in importance to Landini; priest -
Period: 1325 to 1397
Landini
Known for his cadences; virtuoso organist; blind from early age; most celebrated musical personality of the Trecento; also an instrument maker -
1340
The Black Death
The Bubonic plague killed over 75 million people in the 1340s -
Period: 1340 to 1386
Bologna
Italian composer; virtuoso harpist; theorist; teacher of Landini; wrote a treatise on notation -
Period: 1376 to 1445
Wolkenstein
Austrian poet and composer; used French notation; wrote polyphony; used German texts -
Period: 1380 to 1440
Cordier
French composer; he wrote in the older style and in the new modern ars subtilior; his rondeau, Belle bonne sage, was published in musical notation in the shape of a heart -
Period: 1386 to 1466
Donatello
Famous Italian Artist -
Period: 1390 to 1453
Dunstaple
The leading English composer; created a new consonant style of 3rds and 6ths that became the Renaissance style; many works destroyed during the English Reformation -
Period: 1397 to 1474
Du Fay
Franco-Flemish; the first important Renaissance composer; used older medieval cadences -
Period: 1400 to 1460
Binchois
Early Renaissance composer, often paired with Dufay in importance; served at the Court of the Duke of Burgundy -
Period: 1410 to 1497
Ockeghem
Bass singer; served 3 Kings; very respected; did not use much imitation; born in Northeastern France; important teacher -
Period: 1430 to
Renaissance
During the Renaissance, secular music became more popular and widespread. Polyphony was the primary texture in most genres. melodies were numerous and simultaneous, and therefore often obscured. The madrigal served as the vehicle for experimentation that helped lead into the Baroque style. -
Period: 1430 to 1492
Busnoys
His chansons represent a transition to a new Renaissance secular polyphony; widely known along with Ockeghem -
Period: 1435 to 1511
Tinctoris
Composer and music theorist: wrote about contemporary music; wrote the first dictionary of musical terms: diffinitorum musices -
Period: 1444 to 1510
Botticelli
Famous Italian artist -
Period: 1445 to 1518
Compere
Franco-Flemish composer, singer; worked in France and Italy; perhaps one of the earliest composers to use imitation prominently -
Period: 1450 to 1521
Prez
Considered by Martin Luther to be the "best of the composers of our time" and "the master of the notes;" he was said to have had no peer in music; French. -
Period: 1452 to 1518
Pierre de la Rue
Leading composer at the Burgundian court; never worked in Italy; very famous in his day; frequent use of canon and ostinato; preferred low sonorities -
Period: 1452 to 1519
Da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor and architect. -
Period: 1457 to 1505
Obrecht
Made important contributions to large-scale forms and their unity; Dutch; important composer of masses in Europe -
Period: 1466 to 1539
Petrucci
First music printer and publisher; preserved Renaissance music for us today -
Period: 1475 to 1564
Michelangelo
Famous Italian painter -
Period: 1480 to 1530
Verdelot
French; worked in Italian cities; important pioneer for madrigals; his early madrigals were often homorhythmic in style -
Period: 1483 to 1546
Martin Luther
German theologian and composer; he was the founder of the Lutheran Church -
Period: 1490 to 1545
Taverner
English; organist and choirmaster; influenced by the Lutheran faith; wrote for the Catholic liturgy; an important English composer in the first half of the 16th century -
Period: 1490 to 1562
Sermisy
French composer and singer; widely published in his day; many composers transcribed his music in his day -
Period: 1490 to 1562
Willaert
Complex, continuous polyphony; strong advocate of textual expression; studied with Jean Mouton; served in Italian courts; extraordinary teacher; worked in Venice at St. Marks Cathedral -
Period: 1525 to
Palestrina
Became an icon of Renaissance music for future generations; Roman style; responded to the requests of the council of Trent to reform Catholic church music; mostly contrapuntal liturgical music -
Period: 1540 to
Byrd
English; Catholic composer writing both Protestant and Catholic music in England; greatest English composer of his time -
Period: 1553 to
Vecchi
Italian composer; he is remembered as a pioneer of dramatic music in the 16th century; important pioneer in the genre of madrigal comedy -
Period: 1556 to
Calvisius
German music theorist, composer, teacher, and astronomer -
Period: 1561 to
Gesualdo
Known for his chromaticism; Neapolitan Prince of Venosa; leading composer of madrigals; extreme expressive intensity; Stravinsky was fascinated with his music; friends with the poet Tasso -
Period: 1564 to
Shakespeare
He lived into the early Baroque - many Renaissance-style songs wer composed for and used in his plays -
Period: 1564 to
Galileo
Famous scientist -
Period: 1571 to
Salmon
French composer and singer; on of the people credited with writing the first ballet, Ballet comique de la Reine in 1581 with composer, Beaulieu