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Period: 500 to 1450
Medieval Period
The great innovation in music during the Medieval Period was notation. Monks would notate the masses that were to be used during church. Notation opened the door for composers as well, such as Hildegard of Bingen and Guido of Arezzo. Secular music was also popular with groups such as the Troubadours and the Trobairitz. Polyphony was also introduced during this period allowing for more complex music to be composed. Other composers that mark this period include Machaut and Francesco Landini. -
1030
Guido of Arrezo's Micrologus
Innovated the 4-Line Staff. Guido of Arezzo is also famous for developing the "Guidonian Hand" to help assist performers. -
Period: 1098 to 1179
Hildegard of Bingen
Composed many popular pieces during her life including "O viridissima virga." She would write poetry about science and healing, then compose her own melodies to sing the poems to. She calimed to have visions that were authenticated by the Pope. -
1323
Ars Nova Treatise
Innovated time and prolation. -
Period: 1450 to
Renaissance Period
The Renaissance Period is when music many major steps towards the modern music we know today. Theories at the time were adjusted to include thirds and sixths. SATB format became much more common place. Music began to be printed and sold as a commodity. Composers also began composing for amateur's. Instrumental music during this time surged in popularity as well. Notable composers of this period include Josquin, Arcadelt, Gesualdo, Gabrielli, Palestrina, and Victoria. -
1485
Josquin's Ave maria ...virgo serena
This piece is often described as the "mona lisa" of renaissance music. -
1529
Martin Luther Chorale Ein feste burg (A Mighty Fortress is our God)
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1538
Arcadelt Madrigal Il bianco e dolce cigno
Martin Luther's most famous chorale, this piece became an anthem of the Protestant Reformation. -
1567
Palestrina Pope Marcellus Mass
According to legend, Palestrina dedicated this piece to the Pope to demostrate that sacred words could be intelligible in polyphonic music with six voices.
Innovated: The Palestrina Counterpoint, along with rules for dissonance such as resolving dissonance on strong beats, allowing dissonance between beats if the moving voice is doing so in stepwise fashion or as a suspension, and most leaps are followed by stepwise motion in the opposite direction resulting in a "Palestrina Arch." -
Victoria Missa O magnum mysterium
A parody mass based on his own motet "O magnum mysterium." -
Gabrieli Sonata pian’e forte
Written at St Mark's Basilica.
First piece to notate specific instruments as well as the first to notate specific dynamics. -
Period: to
Baroque Period
"Baroque" (bizarre, complicated, over done, etc. Italian became the language of tempi, dynamics, etc. Widespread Experimentation in music began. New Music was either free or metric; often the two were contrasted. Idiomatic Writing. New Genres (Sonata, Aria, Concerto, etc.) Tonality/Harmony - Major/Minor Tonality. Terraced Dynamics - Dramatic contrast. -
Montiverdi's L'Orfeo
First opera to enter the standard repertory. -
First Public Concert Series in England
Culmination of 3 trends. Public concerts gradually spread to the Continent: Paris in 1725, German cities by the 1740s. Birth of Modern Concert Life (Consumer Culture). -
Period: to
JS Bach
Organist, Violinist and Violist. Held positions in Weimar, Cothen, and Leipzig. Never distinguished between sacred and secular. A lot of his music was meant for instructional purposes. Often had to compose at night, and a lot of his music was copied by his wives. Bach's Signature in his music. -
L'Estro Armonico
Concerto Ritornello Form. Published by Etienne Roger in Amsterdam. -
Rameau's Traité de l’harmonie
Became basis for teaching functional harmony. 5 Innovations.
Triad and 7th chords
Defined root of the chord, and inversions
Used phrases tonic, dominant, and subdominant
Established V7 to I as primary cadence
Created fundamental bass line -
Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier Volume 1
Contained all 24 major and minor keys. Equal Temperament. -
Period: to
Franz Joseph Haydn
No formal training. Esterhaza Palace Job Duties: Composer whatever prince wanted, conduct all performances, train personnel, repair instruments, 2 operas and 2 long concerts a week, wear a servants uniform and use servant entrance. Built orchestra from 10 to 25 members. Hoboken. Works: Joke Quartet, 106 Symphonies, etc. -
Handel's Messiah
3 Parts. Hallelujah Chorus; end of part 2, based on revelations, not alleluia. -
Period: to
WA Mozart
Toured as a child from 1762-1774. Had a job in Salzburg but left to become the first to freelance in Vienna. Over 600 Compositions. Sonata Allegro Form. Works: Die Zauberflote, 23 String Quartets, 41 Symphonies (Symphony No. 40). -
Period: to
Viennese Classical Period
Clarity. Balance or Symmetry. Restraint: Restrained emotion. Not too far one way or another. Why Vienna? Bridge between East and West, Center of Western world at the time, good economics. -
Period: to
Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges as director of Concerts des Amateurs
One of the finest orchestras in Europe. One of France's best composers, conductors, and violinists. "Le Mozart noir". -
Mozart's Don Giovanni
Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Based on legend of Don Juan. Subtitled "The Dissolute Man Punished". Dramma giocoso. Set in Seville, Spain. Sung in Italian. -
Haydn's Symphony No. 94 "Surprise"
2nd mvt: Theme and Variations. 4 Variations and Coda. -
Beethoven Symphony No. 5
First to add trombones to orchestra. -
Schubert Erlkonig
The first song he attempted to have published. -
Niccolo Paganini 24 Caprices for Violin, Op. 1
Departure from current stylistic norm. -
Period: to
Frederick Chopin Mazurakas Op. 7
Based on traditional Polish dance. -
Berlioz Symphonie fantastique
One of the first programmatic symphonies. Inspired by his obsession with Harriett Smithson. Idee fixe. -
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hansel Das Jahr
Character Pieces, twelve months plus a postlude. Based on the year she spent in Rome with her husband. -
Period: to
Louis Moreau Gottschalk Souvenir de Porto Rico
Considered to be the first step towards rags and jazz. Theme and Variations. -
Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition
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Bizet Carmen
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Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen
Cycle of 4 Music Dramas, Hojotoho! (Ride of the Valkyries) -
Brahm's Symphony No.4 in E Minor
Simplified orchestra down. -
Mahler Symphony No. 1
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Dvorak Symphony No.9 "From the New World"
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Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag
First piece of sheet piece music to sell over a million. -
Jean Sibelius' Finlandia
Finland nationalism due to pressure from Russia and other countries. -
Claude Debussy "Voiles" from Preludes Book1
Used Whole Tone Scale -
Arnold Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire
21 songs taken from a poetic cycle by Albert Giraud, Sprechstimme -
Igor Stravinsky's Le sacre du Printemps
Primitivism, terrible premiere. -
Arnold Schönberg's Piano Suite, Op.25
12 Tone Technique -
Louis Armstrong's "Hotter Than That"
Armstrong invented scat singing. -
George and Ira Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm"
Influenced Jazz improvisation and composers. -
Shostakovich Symphony No.5 premiere
"A Soviet artist's response to just criticism", made it exactly how the those in charged wanted it after being heavily criticized and blacklisted due by Stalin. -
Prokofiev Alexander Nevsky (film)
Cantata adapted from film music in 1939 -
Olivier Messiaen's Quatuor pour le fine du temps
Written while he was in a POW camp during WW2, written for piano, clarinet, cello, and violin. -
Duke Ellington's Cottontail
Based off of "I Got Rhythm" -
Bela Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra
Commissioned by Serge Koussevitsky, Title derived from treatment of instruments in soloistic (concertant) manner. -
Copland Appalachian Spring
"Ballet for Martha", Pulitzer Prize in 1945, Originally composed for an ensemble of 13 instruments. -
John Cage's 4’33’’
Instructs performers not to play their instruments for the whole piece. -
Edward Varese Poeme Electronique
1958 Brussels Exposition, Philips Pavilion -
Miles Davis Kind of Blue
Modal Jazz, "So What", started the trend of fading out at the end of a song. -
George Crumb's Ancient Voices of Children
Based on texts by Spanish Poet Federico Garcia Lorca, Cycle of 5 songs with 2 instrumental interludes, Scored for: Soprano, Boy Soprano, Harmonica, Harp, Toy, Piano -
John Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Very consonant, utilizes ostinatos and repeated chords.