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Period: 476 to 1400
Medieval Music
Fall of Roman Empire Middle Ages Begin, music is religious with almost no instruments. Of the few instruments used the organ is probably the most common and is used as a drone commonly. Later in this period the first system of writing music was roughly developed and we have a few surviving written songs. Medieval music is very solemn and sad. Music was mostly memorized. -
1025
Guido De Arrezo Invents Musical Notation
Guido De Arezzo moved to the cathedral of Arezzo after his musical ideas were rejected by his town, luckily for him the bishop of Arezzo appreciated his ideas and he invented musical notation (Written music) which makes creating songs much easier. -
1186
Perotin Revolutionizes Polyphony
Perotin is one of the two known graduates from the school of Notre Dame. He composed works with 2-4 separate parts simultaneously which allowed for more interesting note combinations. -
Period: 1400 to
Renaissance Music
The Renaissance (literally means rebirth) starts in Italy and spreads across Europe, music is mostly religious and instruments are scarce but there is progress as instruments are being developed and more widespread, overall the music of this period is very similar to medieval music. Though songs have become more cheerful and upbeat. -
1440
Josquin Des Prez is born.
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1575
Queen Elizabeth grants Tallis & Byrd a monopoly on Publishing Music in England
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Period: to
Baroque Music
Music exits its early stages and secular music becomes common, instruments start to enter the stage such as the Harpsichord (precursor to the Piano) music is fancy and swirly with strict rules and structure. Even with the strict rules music is much more varied and different with happy, sad, and even spooky songs. -
Antonio Vivaldi is born.
Antonio Vivaldi was a baroque violinist and composer who wrote many concertos operas, sonatas, and more. He certainly left his mark on late baroque instrumental music and the concerto. He was Italian and died in 1741. -
Johann Sebastian Bach is born.
Bach was a german composer born in 1685 and died in 1750 his ancestors and descendants form a whole musical line of composers in the same family but he is by far the most famous in his family. Bach was an accomplished organist and harpsichordist. He wrote a combination of religious and secular music. He wasn't very popular during his time but still has a profound influence on how we think about music today. -
George Friderick Handel is born.
George Friderick Handel was born in 1685 and died in 1759. Unlike Bach who was born the same year and died in 1750 Handel was very famous during his time. He was born German but died as a British man in London and after moving to England he almost never went back to the continent. He is famous for writing the oratio Messiah which is now considered his crowning achievement. -
Franz Joseph Haydn is born.
Franz Joseph Haydn was born in 1732 and died in 1809 was an influential Austrian composer who helped create structures and styles of the string quartet and the symphony hence he's called "The Father of the Symphony". He was famous for his time and became good friends with Mozart & met Beethoven. His impact on music especially the string quartet and symphony is immeasurable to us. Haydn's name is now in the history books. -
Period: to
Classical Music
Music becomes simple, repetitive, and structured, instruments are prevalent and the orchestra is a major music player along with opera and chamber music, the Pianoforte (piano) is invented. Even though the music is "simpler" it is becoming increasingly more complicated and precise than the baroque period. -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born.
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Ludwig Van Beethoven is born.
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Frederick Chopin is born.
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Franz Liszt is born
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Period: to
Romantic Music
Romanticism is the leading music movement highlighting drama and emotion, music lost all rules and went wild. Almost all instruments we see today were invented or already invented by this period. Composers have become more bold and take more risks because they are now free to do whatever they want. -
Period: to
Modern Music
During the modern period tonality (having a key as a center of tone) was broken down atonality becomes common along with extended tonality (Free use of harmony and melody without a tonal center), polytonality(Having more than one tonal center), and serialism (putting pitches into numerically ordered series in an atonal work) This period is all over the place with ragtime, jazz, blues, and is a melting pot. Untraditional sounds are being played with. -
The Radio is Invented
The Radio revolutionizes music after Guglielmo Marconi invented the radio in 1896 suddenly instead of heading down to the nearest orchestra, choir, or musician you could hear recordings on the radio. This also allowed for musicians to get larger and larger audiences and styles to change more rapidly which caused more music to be made. -
Period: to
Contemporary Music
Currently this is the music period. Qualities of this music period is more dissonance (notes that don't work together) more complex or strange rhythms, and more brass and percussion instruments. This period is a huge melting pot and with the radio and internet new styles can take hold in the time span of months or years instead of decades. -
The Internet is Invented
This advancement revolutionizes the music industry and changes EVERYTHING. The internet started out small and grew exponentially this led to the rapid sharing of new ideas. The rise of the internet leads to the rise of streaming services which make music more accessible and customizable than ever. Instead of relying upon the whims of a radio station you can listen to what ever you want. The digital age has also made it so anyone can create new music anytime easily.