Music History Timeline

By estherkimyd
  • Period: 500 to 1450

    Medieval Period

  • 1030

    Guido of Arezzo's "Micrologus"

    "Micrologus" is a treatise that describes solmization, a sight-signing system based on the hexachord system (6 notes). Guido also created the four-line staff, the idea of relative pitch, sight-singing syllables, and the first accidentals, which are the round b (flat) and square b (natural).
  • Period: 1098 to 1179

    Hildegard of Bingen

  • 1323

    Ars Nova Treatise

    The Ars Nova (“New Art”) Treatise introduced what would be the foundation for modern notation and meter signatures; the notation included the breve, the semibreve (subdivided the breve into two or three smaller note values), and minim (subdivided the semibreve even further). The Ars Nova Treatise allowed for new note shapes that indicated shorter note values that could subdivide longer notes by two or three.
  • 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"

    Legend has it that Palestrina’s Pope Marcellus Mass saved polyphony from being condemned by the Council of Trent during the Catholic Church’s Counter-Reformation. Pope Marcellus Mass is significant for being a six-voiced mass that was both attentive to the text (text could be understood when sung) and held right reverence for God.

  • Victoria "Missa O magnum mysterium"

  • Gabrieli "Sonata pian’e forte"

    Gabrieli’s Sonata pian’e forte was written in Venice, Italy and is one of the first pieces in music history to specify what instruments play what parts, as well as the first piece to have dynamics.
  • Period: to

    Baroque Period

  • Monteverdi's "L’Orfeo"

    "L'Orfeo" was the first opera to enter standard repertory.

  • First Public Concerts in England

  • Period: to

    JS Bach

  • Antonio Vivaldi's "L’Estro Armonico"

    Vivaldi’s "L’Estro Armonico", or Harmonic Inspiration, was one of Vivaldi’s nine concerto collections and one of the most influential publications in the early 18th century. It is what brought immense popularity to the Italian concerto to the rest of Europe.

  • Rameau's "Traité de l’harmonie"

    "Traité de l’harmonie", or "Treatise on Harmony", is one of the most influential theoretical works in which became the foundation of functional harmony that is still used today. Some innovations the treatise includes are: the use of the terms tonic, dominant, and subdominant, established these 3 chords as pillars of harmony, discussed consonance and dissonance, discussed the importance of the triad and 7th chord, and stated that each modulation within a piece has a central tonic key.

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

    Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier" contains 24 preludes and fugues in each major and minor key, displaying the many possibilities there are in playing an instrument tuned in equal temperament.
  • Period: to

    Pre-Classical Period

  • Period: to

    Franz Joseph Haydn

  • Handel's "Messiah"

    Completed in 1741, premiered in 1742
  • Period: to

    WA Mozart

  • Period: to

    Viennese Classical Period

  • Period: to

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

    Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges was the director of Concerts des Amateurs, which was one of the finest orchestras in Europe at the time. His position as a director of one of the finest orchestras is significant because he was a black man; he was recognized as one of the best musicians and conductors in France despite the racism in society at that time.

  • Mozart's "Don Giovanni"

  • Haydn's Symphony No. 94 "Surprise"

  • Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C minor

    Symphony No. 5 in C minor is a four movement symphony revolving around four notes and a short-short-short-long motif. The reoccurring motif is believed to be fate knocking at Beethoven’s door for his impending deafness. The symphony, however, ends victoriously as the key shifts from C minor to C major.

  • Schubert's "Erlkönig"

    Schubert's "Erlkönig" (The Erlking) is one of his many lieder written based off of Goethe's texts about a frantic father riding a horse back home to save his sick and dying son, who is being chased by the Erlking.

  • Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia"

    Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" was produced a decade before Beethoven's death and ranked among the supreme examples of Italian comic opera.

  • Nicolo Paganini 24 Caprices for Violin, op.1

    Dedicated to professional musicians, Paganini composed 24 caprices, or short capricious works for solo violin that are very difficult to play and deemed “unplayable” by many. Of his caprices, the theme of Caprice No. 24 served as a basis for variations by other composers such as Brahms, Liszt, and Rachmaninoff.
  • Period: to

    Frederic Chopin Mazurkas Op.7

    Chopin paid homage to his homeland, Poland, by composing 57 mazurkas, which are originally a Polish folk dance.

  • Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique”

    Inspired by a Shakespearean actress Harriet Smithson, Berlioz composed this five movement symphony which that the story of an artist and his beloved. “Symphony Fantastique” is one of the first programmic symphonies; Berlioz also uses a reoccurring melody, or what he calls an “ idée fixe” (fixed idea, obsession) to represent the Artist’s beloved.

  • Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel "Das Jahr"

    Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel's "Das Jahr" is one of her most well-known pieces which features character pieces representing twelve months plus a postlude.
  • Period: to

    Louis Moreau Gottschalk "Souvenir de Porto Rico"

    "Souvenir de Porto Rico" is one of Gottschalk's compositions that are based on melodies and rhythms from the local Puerto Ricans he encountered during his tours in Puerto Rico in 1857.

  • Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition"

    Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" is a suite of ten pieces inspired by an exhibition of over four hundred sketches, paintings, and designs by his friend Viktor Hartmann.

  • Bizet's "Carmen"

    "Carmen" is a French Opera Comique, which takes place in Spain and revolves around Carmen, a gypsy.

  • Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen"

    Wagner’s "Der Ring des Nibelungen" features: continuous music
    extensive use of leitmotifs, diminished importance of virtuosic singing, elimination of musical numbers to enhance continuity.

  • Brahms' Symphony No.4

    Brahms' Symphony No.4 was composed from 1884-1885 and was published in 1886; the work is a four movement symphony and is characterized as a "sad" work.

  • Mahler Symphony No.1

    Inspired by Beethoven's concept of the symphony as a bold personal statement, Mahler wanted to "construct a world" in his symphonies; he also drew on styles and rhythms of Austrian folk songs and dances.

  • Claude Debussy “Voiles” from Préludes Book 1

  • Arnold Schönberg's "Pierrot Lunaire"

  • Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" (premiere)

  • Manuel de Falla "Homenaje" (Homage)

  • George and Ira Gershwin “I Got Rhythm"

  • Margaret Bonds “The Negro Speaks of River"

  • Dimitri Shostakovich Symphony No.5 premiere

  • Duke Ellington's "Cottontail"

  • Period: to

    Aaron Copland "Appalachian Spring"

  • John Cage Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano

  • Miles Davis "Kind of Blue"

  • George Crumb "Ancient Voices of Children"

  • John Adams "Short Ride in a Fast Machine"