Music History Timeline

By Trompetista
  • Period: 500 to 1450

    Medieval Period

  • 1030

    Guido of Arezzo's Micrologus

    Guido of Arezzo created the four line staff, the idea of relative pitch, and the first accidentals, which were the round(flat) b and square(natural)b. This all came from the publication of his treatise, from which all these things and his hexachord system and sight singing syllables came to be.
  • Period: 1098 to 1179

    Hildegard of Bingen

  • 1323

    Ars Nova

    Ars nova, or "new art" arose in France in 1323 and replaced the Ars antiqua, or "old art". With the rise of Ars nova came the groundwork for modern notation, as well as a new note value, the "minim". During the time of Ars nova, music was starting to be divided into duple and triple meter.
  • Period: 1450 to

    Renaissance Period

  • 1485

    Josquin's Ave Maria... virgo serena Motet

  • 1529

    Martin Luther Chorale Ein feste burg

  • 1538

    Arcadelt Madrigal Il bianco e docle cigno

  • 1560

    Palestrina Pope Marcellus Mass

    This mass was not only dedicated to the pope, but demonstrated that sacred words could be intelligible in polyphonic music with six voices, which was then thought not possible.
  • 1572

    Victoria Missa O magnum mysterium

  • Gabrieli's Sonata pian' e forte

    Gabrieli's Sonata pian' e forte was originally created for use at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy. This piece was not only the first in history to specify what instrument played what part, but also was the first piece of music in history to designate dynamics.
  • Period: to

    Baroque Period

  • Monteverdi's L'Orfeo

  • First Public Concerts in England

  • Period: to

    Johann Sebastian Bach

  • Antonio Vivaldi's L'Estro Armonico

  • Rameau's Traité de l'harmonie

  • Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier volume 1

    This demonstrates the possibility of playing in all keys on one instrument.
  • Period: to

    PreClassical Period

  • Period: to

    Franz Joseph Haydn

  • Handel's Messiah

  • Period: to

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

    He is known as a composer and an incredible violinist, but most popularly known as a swordsman. He was known as the black Mozart and it was said that Mozart was jealous. He also became the Music Director of Concert des Amateurs.
  • Period: to

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  • Period: to

    Viennese Classical Period

  • Mozart's Don Giovanni

  • Haydn's Symphony No. 94 "Surprise"

  • Premiere of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor

  • Composition of Schubert's Erlkönig

  • Premiere of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia

  • Nicolo Paganini's 24 Caprices for Violin

    This date was the completion of the first publication

  • Composition of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique

  • Period: to

    Composition of Frederic Chopin's Mazurkas Op.7

  • Composition of Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel's Das Jahr

  • Louis Moreau Gottschalk's Souvenir de Porto Rico

  • Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition

  • Premiere of Bizet's Carmen

  • Premiere of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen

  • Premiere of Brahms' Symphony No.4

  • Premiere of Mahler's Symphony No.1

  • Dvorak New World Symphony

  • Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag

  • Jean Sibelius' Finlandia Premiere

  • Claude Debussy's "Voiles”

  • Arnold Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire

  • Igor Stravinsky's Le sacre du Printemps Premiere

  • Arnold Schönberg's Piano Suite, Op.25

  • Louis Armstrong's "Hotter Than That"

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

  • Shostakovich's Symphony No.5 premiere

    Shostakovich's Symphony No.5 premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia

  • Alexander Nevsky

  • Duke Ellington's Cottontail

  • Olivier Messiaen's Quatuor pour le fine du temps

  • Bela Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra

  • Copland's Appalachian Spring

  • John Cage's 4’33’’

  • Edward Varese Poeme Electronique

  • Miles Davis's Kind of Blue

  • George Crumb's Black Angels

  • John Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine