Music History Timeline

By Jake Daron
  • Period: 500 to 1450

    Medieval Period

  • 1030

    Guido of Arezzo’s Micrologus

    The Micrologus talked about how to read notation as well as how to learn new chants. Then, the hexachords were brought about (6 note scales consisting of 6 notes of equal spacing) and the Guidonian Hand. The Guidonian Hand was a physical pedagogical visual aid used to help singers identify intervals faster and more accurately.
  • Period: 1098 to Sep 17, 1179

    Hildegard of Bingen

    Born in 1098, died on September 17, 1179.
  • 1323

    Ars Nova Treatise

    The Ars Nova Treatise brought about the concepts of Time and Prolation and how to notate them. Also, the Ars Nova Treatise began to discuss whether “duple/imperfect” division should be allowed with “triple/perfect” division.
  • Period: 1450 to

    Renaissance Period

  • 1485

    Josquin's Ave Maria ... virgo serena

  • 1529

    Luther's Ein feste burg ist unser Gott

  • 1538

    Arcadelt Madrigal, Il bianco e dolce cigno

  • 1567

    Palestrina's Pope Marcellus Mass

    The legend of this mass is the Pope Marcellus Mass saved polyphony from the Council of Trent.

  • Victoria's Missa O magnum mysterium

  • Gabrieli's Sonata pian' e forte

    Written in St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy.
    Two Fold Importance:
    1.) It was the first piece to notate proper dynamics (pian as in piano and forte as in loud)
    2.) First piece to indicate which specific instruments play which line of music.
  • Period: to

    Baroque Period

  • Monteverdi's L'Orfeo

    First Opera to enter standard repertory, only men attended. Music not published until 1609, revised in 1615.
  • Period: to

    First Public Concerts in England

    England pioneered public concerts in the 1670s.
  • Period: to

    JS Bach

  • Period: to

    George Frederic Handel

  • Antonio Vivaldi's L’Estro Armonico

    "Harmonic Inspiration"

  • Rameau's Traité de l’harmonie

    "Treatise on Harmony" Codified practices of his contemporaries, especially Corelli. It became the basis for teaching functional harmony.

  • Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier Vol. 1

    24 Preludes and Fugues in every key, in equal temperament. Created as a study of counterpoint and harmony in each key.
  • Period: to

    Early Classical Period

  • Period: to

    Franz Joseph Haydn

  • Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier Vol. 2

    24 Preludes and Fugues in every key, in equal temperament. Created as a study of counterpoint and harmony in each key.

  • Handel's Messiah

    Premiered in Dublin - 1742 during lent. Part 1: Prophecies of the Messiah’s coming and how these are fulfilled in Jesus’ life.
    Part 2: The passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus, spreading of the gospel.
    Part 3: The second coming, last judgment and the final conquest of sin.
  • Period: to

    Joseph Bologne Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges

    “Le Mozart Noir”
    Music Director of Concert des Amateurs. Virtuosic violinist, composer, conductor, and a master swordsman. US President John Adams called him “the most accomplished man in Europe.”
  • Period: to

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  • Period: to

    Viennese Classical Period

  • Mozart's Concerto No. 23, K.488

  • Mozart's Don Giovanni

  • Haydn's Symphony No. 94 "Surprise"

    Composed in 1791. Premiered in London on March 23, 1792

  • Beethoven's 5th Symphony Premiere

    The Fifth Symphony was premiered on 22 December 1808 at a mammoth concert at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna consisting entirely of Beethoven premieres, and directed by Beethoven himself on the conductor's podium.

  • Schubert - Erlkonig (The Elfking)

    He composed this piece at the age of 18.

  • Nicolo Paganini 24 Caprices for Violin, op.1

  • Symphonie Fantastique - Berlioz

    Inspired by his obsession with
    Shakespearean actress
    Harriet Smithson, whom he
    married and later divorced
  • Period: to

    Frederic Chopin Mazurkas Op.7

  • Das Jahr (The Year) - Fanny Hensel

    Features
    character pieces, twelve
    months plus a postlude.

  • Louis Moreau Gottschalk - Souvenir de Porto Rico

    Dedicated to the Dutch piano virtuoso and salon music composer Ernest Henry Lubeck, and published in Mainz circa 1860 with the subtitle of Marche des Gibaros,[1] it is based on the Christmas folk song Si me dan pasteles, denmelos calientes, performed by local peasants known as Jíbaros.

  • Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition"

    Original Piano Version

  • Bizet Carmen

  • Wagner's Der Ring des Ribelungen

    Premiere of 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 Preludes Book 1

  • Arnold Schonberg's Pierrot Lunaire

  • Igor Stravinsky's Le sacre du Printemps

  • Period: to

    Arnold Schonberg's Piano Suite, Op. 25

  • Louis Armstrong's "Hotter Than That"

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

  • Shostakovich Symphony No.5 premiere

  • Prokofiev Alexander Nevsky

  • Duke Ellington's Cottontail

  • Olivier Messiaen's Quatuor pour le fine du temps

  • Bela Bartok'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