Music History Time Line

By schang14
  • Period: 500 to 1450

    Medieval Period

  • 1030

    Guido of Arezzo's Micrologus

    Micrologus ("little treatise)
    It is a book written by Arezzo that outlines easier Gregorian chant singing and teaching method. This is when music notation transits from neumatic notation to staff notation (4 lines). Guidonian hand was created to aid with sight signing. Other notable inventions and systems from this period are solmization and the hexachord system.
  • Period: 1098 to 1179

    Hildegard of Bingen

  • 1323

    Ars Nova Treatise

    The innovation in this document is the notation of rhythms and prolations. This allowed for more specific and varied notations for duple meter, triple meter, and subdivisions.
  • Period: 1450 to

    Renaissance Period

  • 1485

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

  • 1529

    Martin Luther's A Mighty Fortress

    Ein feste burg
  • 1538

    Arcadelt Madrigal, Il bianco e dolce cigno

  • 1567

    Palestrina Pope Marcellus Mass

    This piece is the most descriptive example of Palestrina's style. Stepwise dissonance was allowed in moving voices or in suspensions; it was resolved on strong beats. Palestrina arch was created by a leap and stepwise motion to the opposite direction.

  • Victoria Missa O magnum mysterium

    It is a parody (imitation) mass.

  • Gabrieli Sonata pian'e forte

    This was composed at St. Mark, Venice.
    The two-fold importance for this piece is that it was the first piece with dynamics written in and the specification of instruments.
  • Period: to

    Baroque

  • Monteverdi's L’Orfeo

    The first opera to enter the standard repertory. Only men attended the first concert.

  • First Public Concerts in England

  • Period: to

    JS Bach

  • Antonio Vivaldi's L’Estro Armonico

    "Harmonic Inspiration"
    It was published by Etienne Roger in Amsterdam.
    One of the most influential instrumental works collection was published by a foreign publisher for the first time.

  • Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier Volume 1

    It has 24 Preludes and Fugues in all 24 different keys.
    It showed that equal temperament is feasible.

  • Rameau's Traité de l’harmonie

    This treaty codified the practices of his contemporaries. It especially codified the practices of Corelli. It is the most influential theoretical work, and it became the basis of teaching functional harmony.
  • Period: to

    Franz Joseph Haydn

  • Handel's Messiah

    It is a 3 part oratorio based on Christ's life.
  • Period: to

    WA Mozart

  • Period: to

    Viennese Classical Period

  • Period: to

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

    It was very important because Concerts des Amateurs was one of the best orchestras in Europe at that time. He was one of the best composers, conductors, and violinists. He was also known as "Le Mozart noir."

  • Mozart's Don Giovanni

    It is one of Mozart's famous operas based on the legacy of Don Juan.

  • Haydn's Symphony No. 94 "Surprise"

    Premiered in 1792

  • Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C minor

    It was premiered in 1808

  • Schubert Erlkönig

    It was composed in 1815.

  • Nicolo Paganini 24 Caprices for Violin, op.1

    It was composed in 1805 but published in 1820.

  • Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique

    It was composed in 1830.
  • Period: to

    Frederic Chopin Mazurkas Op.7

  • Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel Das Jahr

    It was composed in 1841.
  • Period: to

    Louis Moreau Gottschalk Souvenir de Porto Rico

    It is a two-theme, multi-variation piano piece that incorporates Latin American-style melodies and rhythms.

  • Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition

  • Bizet Carmen

  • Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen

    The premiere year of the complete cycle.

  • Brahms' Symphony No.4

  • Mahler Symphony No.1

  • Dvorak Symphony No. 9 "From the New World"

  • Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag

  • Jean Sibelius' Finlandia

  • Claude Debussy's Voiles” from Préludes Book 1

  • Arnold Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire

  • Igor Stravinsky's Le sacre du Printemps

  • Period: to

    Arnold Schönberg's Piano Suite, Op.25

  • Louis Armstrong's "Hotter Than That"

  • George and Ira Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm"

  • Shostakovich Symphony No.5

    Premiere date

  • Prokofiev Alexander Nevsky

  • Duke Ellington's Cottontail

  • Olivier Messiaen's Quatuor pour le fine du temps

  • Bela Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra

  • Copland Appalachian Spring

  • John Cage's 4’33’’

  • Edward Varese Poeme Electronique

  • Miles Davis Kind of Blue

  • George Crumb's Black Angels

  • John Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine