Midterm Timeline

By Nguchr
  • Period: 500 to 1450

    Medieval Period

  • 1030

    Guido of Arezzo's Micrologus

    Arezzo introduced a set of syllables(Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La) to help singers remember the pattern of whole tones and semitones that begin on C, G or F in six steps(hexachords).
  • Period: 1098 to 1179

    Hildegard of Bingen

  • 1323

    Ars Nova treatise

    Introduced the minim and duple meter. Triple was seen as the perfect meter with duple being imperfect.
  • Period: 1450 to

    Renaissance Period

  • 1485

    Josquin's Ave Maria ... virgo serena Motet

  • 1529

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

  • 1538

    Arcadelt's Il bianco e dolce cigno

  • 1567

    Palestrina's Pope Marcellus Mass

    Essentially saved polyphonic compositional practices in the Counter-Reformation by demonstrating that the sacred text could be intelligible with 6 voices.

  • Victoria's 'Missa O Magnum Mysterium'

    A parody mass based on Victoria's earlier motet with the same text

  • Gabrieli Sonata pian'e forte

    1. First piece to specify what parts instruments needed to play
    2. First piece in history to designate dynamics as indicated by the title
  • Period: to

    Baroque Period

  • Monteverdi's L'Orfeo

  • The beginning of public concerts in England

  • Period: to

    JS Bach

  • Vivaldi's L'Estro Armonico

    This was considered the most influential publication of any music in the early 18th century. It kick started the immense popularity of the Italian Concerto throughout Europe.

  • Traite de l'harmonie

    Introduced new topics of study and innovations on music. Such examples include things like tonic, dominant, and subdominant, V7 - I progression being classified as the strogest,etc.

  • The Well-Tempered Clavier Vol. 1

    These publications demonstrated the possibilities for playing in all keys using an instrument tuned in near-equal temperament.
  • Period: to

    Pre-classical Period

  • Period: to

    Franz Joseph Haydn

  • Handel's Messiah

  • Period: to

    WA Mozart

  • Period: to

    Viennese Classical Period

  • Period: to

    Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges as Director of Concerts des Amatuers

    An iconic composer, conductor, violinist, and swordsman. Referred to by the moniker "Le Mozart Noir" or Black Mozart. Led the Concert des Amatuers orchestra in Europe from 1773 to 1781.

  • Don Giovanni

  • Haydn's Symphony No. 94 "Surprise" (London Premiere

  • Nicolo Paganini 24 Caprices for Violin, op. 1(first publication)

    Caprices are humorous, capricious works that are characterized by a departure from current stylistic norms. Deemed "unplayable" by many.

  • Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C Minor

    This is the symphony with the iconic 'short-short-short-long' motif used to symbolize "fate knocking at the door" for his impending deafness. Written around the time where Beethoven began to severely lose his hearing.

  • Schubert's Erlkonig

    A Lied composed by Franz Schubert for solo voice and piano, setting text from a poem of the same name written in 1782.

  • Rossini Il Barbiere di Siviglia

    It is a comic opera that has buffo characters. One of the highlights of the opera is the introduction of Figaro in his entrance aria, "Il Largo al factotum".

  • Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique

    Inspired by his obsession with Harriet Smithson, a Shakespearean actress whom he married and later divorced. One of the first programmatic symphonies.

  • Frederic Chopin Mazurkas Op. 7

    Polish musical forms that were based on stylized folk dances in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo. Made as homage for Chopin's native land.

  • Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel Das Jahr

    This piece features character pieces, twelves months plus a postlude. One of the best known of Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel's compositions.

  • Louis Moreau Gottschalk Souvenir de Porto Rico

    A piano solo work that included rhythms that were native from the Caribbean region. These rhythms included the tresillo, habanera and the cinquillo.

  • Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition

    A suite of ten pieces inspired by an exhibition Mussorgsky saw of over four hundred sketches, paintings, and designs by his late friend Viktor Hartmann.

  • Bizet Carmen

    This is a comic opera where dialogue is spoken instead of being recited with semiserious drama plots.

  • Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen

    This is a cycle of 4 Musical dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The most iconic of the musical cycles is Act 3, Scene I with the entrance of the Valkyries soaring through the sky.

  • Mahler Symphony No. 1

    His first symphony that was at first criticized for having very abrupt transitions in his Death March section. Later, however, he revised the that section and received more positive reviews in later performances.

  • Brahms' Symphony No. 4

    An instant success, Brahms toured with an orchestra to play this symphony throughout Western Germany and the Netherlands before publishing in 1886.

  • Claude Debussy "Voiles" from Preludes Book 1

    A prelude from Debussy's Book 1 series published as a tribute to Chopin. Title is indicated at the end of the work and was meant to evoke certain images within the player/audience.

  • Arnold Schonberg Pierrot Lunaire

    A song cycle with lyrics from an expressionistic poetic cycle by Albert Giraud. Employs the use of Sprechstimme, a technique that crosses between speaking and singing along melodic contours.

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

    Originally a score for a ballet, this piece is an iconic piece of the Modernist era. The premiere itself garnered negative receptions at the time, most likely due to the ballet itself and the context in which hinted at virgin sacrifice and not really at the music.

  • Manuel de Falla Homenaje (homage)

    A piece written for solo guitar in homage to Debussy. Borrows material from Debussy's piano work "Soiree dans Grenade" (Evening in Granada)

  • George and Ira Gershwin "I Got Rhythm"

    A Tin Pan Alley Song written by George and Ira Gershwin.

  • Margaret Bonds "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"

    A tune with a text setting written by Langston Hughes. The poem itself was written in 1920 and was set to music by Bonds in 1936.

  • Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 Premiere

    A testament to Shostakovich's ability to incorporate his personal beliefs inside his music without outright opposing the socialist regime.

  • Duke Ellington "Cottontail"

    A jazz tune that borrows Gershwin's harmonic progression from his song "I Got Rhythm".

  • Aaron Copland Appalachian Spring

    First written as a ballet, but better known in its arrangement as an orchestral suite.

  • John Cage Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano

    A collection featuring Prepared piano, a transformation of the piano involving alterations of the piano strings with screws and nuts in the hopes of creating a one-man percussion ensemble.

  • Miles David "Kind of Blue"

    An album that explores a new form of jazz at the time called "modal jazz" and featured slowly unfolding melodies over stable, relatively static modal harmonies.

  • George Crumb Ancient Voices of Children

    A cycle of 5 songs with 2 instrumental interludes. Features new and unusual effects for the purpose of evoking extramusical associations.

  • John Adams Short Ride in a Fast Machine

    A piece for orchestra composed by John Adams, one of his most popular works and is dubbed as a "fanfare for orchestra".