History of Music I + II

By mparri33
  • Period: 500 to 1450

    Medieval Period

  • 1030

    Guido of Arezzo's "Micrologos"

    This piece Introduced four major ideas to musical transcription as well as playing:
    1. A 4 line staff
    2. Relative Pitch
    3. Sight Singing Syllables
    4. Indication of whether notes are flat or natural (rounded B meant flat, square B meant natural)
  • Period: 1098 to 1179

    Hildegard of Bingen

  • 1323

    Ars Nova Treatise

    The title meaning "New Art" as opposed to 'Ars Antiqua' which means "Old Art", this is the period in time (especially in France) where music began to prosper and become more publically understandable.
    During this period, we saw innovations such as understanding pitch intervals, as well as the ability to indicate time in sheet music.
  • Period: 1450 to

    Renaissance Period

  • 1485

    Josquin's "Ave Maria...virgo serena" Motet

  • 1529

    Martin Luther Chorale "Ein feste burg (A Mighty Fortress...)"

  • 1538

    Arcadelt Madrigal "Il bianco e dolce cigno"

  • 1567

    Palestrina "Pope Marcellus" Mass

    Dedicated to Pope Marcellus, by legend this piece was among the first to show that with 6 voices, sacred words could be intelligible.
  • 1572

    Victoria "Missa O magnum mysterium"

  • Gabrieli "Sonata pian'e forte"

    Prior to Gabrieli's sonata, you would have someone who sings in whatever range perform whichever part (between treble, alto, tenor, bass etc.). This piece (written in Venice, Italy) was the first in history to indicate which specific instrument is meant to play each part.
    This is also the first piece in history to indicate any dynamic contrast. Prior to this piece being written, a full song was either loud or soft from beginning to end, there were no indicative markings to get louder or softer.
  • Period: to

    Baroque

  • Monteverdi's L'Orfeo

    First Opera to enter the standard rep. Used expressive dissonance.

  • First Public Concert in England

  • Period: to

    Johann Sebastian Bach

  • Antonio Vivaldi's L'Estro Armonico

    Popularized the Italian Concerto throughout Europe

  • Rameau's Traite de l'harmonie

    The most influential theoretical work, which codified the practices of his contemporaries, particularly Corelli, and became the basis for teaching functional harmony that is still used today.

  • Bach's "The Well Tempered Clavier" Volume 1

    Demonstrated possibilities for playing in all keys using an instrument tuned in near-equal temperament
  • Period: to

    Pre-Classical Period

  • Period: to

    Franz Joseph Haydn

    Father of the symphony

  • Handel "Messiah" (Anointed One)

    Premiered in 1742 in Dublin during Lent. Rather than telling a story, presents a series of contemplations on Christian ideas. The texts extend from the prophecies of a Messiah to the ressurection.
  • Period: to

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  • Period: to

    Viennese Classical Period

  • Period: to

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

    He was one of the first significant African American musicians in history. Known as "Le Mozart noir", he was once a slave on Guadeloupe, made the orchestra in Paris one of the finest orchestras in Europe.

  • Mozart's Don Giovanni

    Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, overall a comic opera set in Seville, Spain. Sung in Italian and Based on the legend of Don Juan. Subtitled: "The Dissolute Man Punished"

  • Beethoven Symphony No. 5

  • Schubert: Erlkonig

  • Rossini: Barbiere di Siviglia

  • Nicolo Pagannini: 24 Caprices for Violin

    First complete publication
  • Period: to

    Frederic Chopin: Mazurkas

  • Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique

  • Fanny Mendelssohn-Hansel: Das Jar

  • Louis Moreau Gottschalk: Souvenir de Porto Rico

    Was important in the history of western music being that the entirety of the piece is based on rhythms Gottschalk heard from his trip through the Carribean

  • Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen

    This is a composition cycle based loosely on a saga of characters from the Nibelunglied.

  • Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition

  • Bizet: Carmen

    Bizet Composed this opera on a series of Spanish themes.

  • Brahms Symphony No.4

  • Mahler Symphony No. 1

  • Claude Debussy. "Voiles" from Preludes Book 1

    Melodies do not follow through, instead they tend to fade in and out.

  • Arnold Schoenberg: Pierro Lunaire

    a Song Cylce, taken from an expressionist Poetic Cycle by Albert Giraud composed in 1884

  • Igor Stravinsky: Rite of Spring (Premiere)

    Featured an intense riot.

  • George and Ira Gershwin: I Got Rhythm

    AABA Form
    The Gershwins were members of the Tin Pan Ally Jazz scene

  • Dimitri Shostakovich: Symphony no. 5 (Premiere)

    Featured a 30-minute standing ovation
    Composed in the style of Socialist Realism

  • Manuel de Falla: Homenaje

  • Duke Ellington: CottonTail

    In the form of a contrafact- this is an artists new melody over a previously written harmony by another artist- CottonTail features a new melody over "I Got Rhythm" by the Gerswhins.

  • Margaret Bonds: The Negro Speaks of Rivers

    Dedicated to Maria Anderson
    --an intense spiritual recalling the various homelands of the negro across the world.

  • Aaron Copeland: Appalacian Spring

    Featured Copeland's interpretation of what he heard during a trip to the Appalacian.

  • John Cage: Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano

    Prepared Piano was invented by John Cage in which pricisely sized nuts, bolts, screws and coins are used to alter 45 of the strings of the piano so as to make a blocky, percussive tone.

  • Miles Davis: Kind of Blue

  • George Crumb: Ancient Voices of Children

  • John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine