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Period: 476 to 1400
Medieval Period
This timespan includes the growth of Catholic music due to the church's significant political role in medieval society. Their preference for the human voice harkens back to Classical antiquity. Their preferred musical genre was the plainchant, unaccompanied vocal music set to mass and office texts, which soon evolved into the Frankish Gregorian chant. This genre developed over time in various ways, including using "organum" (polyphony). Secular music was also developing, especially in France. -
Period: 991 to 1033
Guido di Arezzo and The Solmization System
Guido di Arezzo, a monk, comes up with a system that sets all six pitches of the C, G, and F hexachords to syllables- ut, re, mi, fa, sol, and la. This would assist fellow monks in sight singing, as well as instruct them in whole-tones and semitones. Di Arezzo's innovations lead to the later creation of the Guidonian Hand, a visual aid which helped singers identify intervals and pitches according to the joints of their hand. -
Period: 1098 to Sep 17, 1179
Hildegard of Bingen
German Benedictine abbess, prophet, and composer. She founded her own abbey in Rupertsberg around 1150. Along with her popular prophetical writings, Hildegard also composed chants, masses, antiphons, and other genres of religious music, some of which were set to her own texts. She even composed a music drama, Ordo Virtutum, which describes the struggle between the Virtues and the Devil. -
1320
The Ars Nova Treatise
A French composer, poet, and bishop named Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361) writes a treatise called Ars Nova. The treatise represents the rhythmic and notational innovations developing in France at the time. For example, the treatise vouches for the use of duple meter instead of the usual triple, and Vitry also supports composing with new musical notation with smaller note durations. Vitry and other composers also introduced isorhythm, which brought greater expression to music than before. -
Period: 1400 to
Renaissance Period
The humanistic Renaissance Era saw great advancements in not just philosophy, the visual arts, and architecture, but also music. While the musical renaissance era has some origin in England, it is in Burgundy where it truly began, with the sacred and secular music of Binchois and du Fay, who combined late medieval techniques from many different parts of Europe. Other events followed, such as the Italian madrigal/word painting, the use of imitation, and the prominence of instrumental music. -
1529
Martin Luther's Chorales- "Ein Feste Burg"
Martin Luther believed that the only music that should be presented in a church service should be monophonic melodies that can easily be sung by the whole congregation. Ein Feste Burg is a perfect example. -
1538
Arcadelt- "Il bianco e dolce cigno"
One of the most famous examples of the early Italian madrigal, containing both significant amounts of word painting and imitative counterpoint. -
1567
Palestrina's "Pope Marcellus Mass"
The Pope Marcellus mass was published in Palestrina's Second Book of Masses in 1567. A legend is associated with this piece- the Council of Trent wanted to abolish polyphony from their church music, and Palestrina convinced the Council to withhold this abolishment with the mass in question. It is filled to the brim with imitative counterpoint, constantly moving and seeping with energy. -
Victoria's Missa O Magnum Mysterium
This mass is a parody mass, meaning it uses material from a previous work, the piece in question being his motet called "O Magnum Mysterium." Snippets of the piece are used in this mass, such as descending fifths, exact interval replications, etc. -
Gabrieli's Sacrae Symphoniae
Venice relied on instrumental music as a showcase of the Venetian government's power and cultural beauty. Gabrieli was the chief instrumental composer of the St. Mark's Church in Venice, and he composed the Sacrae Symphoniae as double-chorus motets, made up of two groups of four brass instruments, along with organ accompaniment. The collection of pieces alternates between homophony and imitative polyphony. -
Period: to
The Baroque Era
This musical era saw the rise of instrumental music, including the concerto and the orchestral suite, as well as novel forms of vocal music, including opera. Imitative counterpoint continued to be prevalent, and other new forms were created, such as the toccata, chaconne, sarabande, or the allemande, which served as popular ways to showcase keyboard skills. -
Monteverdi's L'Orfeo
Monteverdi sought to emulate the novel traits of Caccini and Peri's Euridice operas with L'Orfeo, combining their traits, the strophic aria and the secco recitative, with his own. It was performed for Monteverdi's employer, Vincenzo Gonzaga, duke of Mantua, in 1607. It is the earliest opera to have a permanent place in our modern repertoire. -
The English Public Concert
The idea of the English public concert was started by a Mr. John Banister, a royal court violinist. He had invited the public to his house, where he and fellow musicians would perform consort music for a small fee. This idea immediately spread across England, especially popular amongst the middle class, who were too poor to employ their own private musicians. -
Period: to
Johann Sebastian Bach
German baroque composer, organist, and keyboardist. He held various posts throughout Germany which involved the composition of music, especially organ music. In 1723, Bach became employed in Leipzig's St. Thomas Church as Thomaskantor. This post involved the composition of cantatas, oratorios, and other choral pieces set to Lutheran texts. Throughout Bach's music, there is a rich amount of counterpoint and harmonic color, while also expressing religious and secular ideals. -
Vivaldi's L'Estro Armonico, Op. 3
A set of twelve concerti, published in the Netherlands in 1711. They quickly gained popularity throughout Europe. These concerti are scored for one to four solo violins, ripieno strings, and continuo. Each concerto contains three movements. They are partly inspired by Corelli's concerti grossi, Op. 6. These concerti were probably also performed by Vivaldi's students at the Ospedale della Pieta in Venice, where Vivaldi was employed. -
Rameau's Traité de l'harmonie
One of the founding texts of modern music theory. It was one of the first pieces of music literature to introduce the pedagogical idea of chords, which are built over fundamental tones. These chords keep the same identity even when inverted. The idea of chords and progressions was in debt to continuo and figured bass, which visualized intervals and chords being built over a fundamental tone. This treatise heavily influenced music theory for the next 200 years. -
Bach's Das wohltemperierte Klavier, Vol I
This is a collection of 24 preludes and fugues in all semitones for the harpsichord, specifically tuned in almost perfectly equal temperament. It was probably written for pedagogical purposes. Bach wrote this first set while appointed as Kapellmeister at Cöthen in 1722, then wrote a second volume while in Leipzig in 1742. -
Period: to
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn was a Classical era composer. He specialized in the composition of symphonies, of which there are over one hundred, and he almost single-handedly invented the string quartet. He had various court positions, but he is mostly known for his time working under the aristocratic Esterhazy family in Eisenstadt, Austria. His employers allowed Haydn to publish his compositions, and they proved very popular with the public, especially in Vienna. He is also known for his later oratorios. -
Handel's Messiah
The Messiah is a good example of what would be expected from late baroque vocal music and what made Handel popular. His cosmopolitan style combined the characteristics of music found throughout Europe: the French dotted overture, the Italian da capo aria, and the German chorale, all put to an English text. Premiered in Dublin. -
Period: to
Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and the Concerts des Amateurs
At some point in the 1760s, the young Joseph Bologne, an expert fencer, composer, and, most shockingly, a mulatto man from Guadaloupe, gained a position as a violinist in Francois-Joseph Gossec's new orchestra: "Le Concert des Amateurs". After Gossec left for the Concert Spirituel in 1773, the position of conductor was given to Saint-Georges. Unfortunately, the Concert des Amateurs was disbanded in 1781. Saint-Georges is known for his violin concertos and his symphonies. -
Period: to
Classical Era
The classical era's characteristics include the incorporation of musical sentences and periods (periodicity), a preference for simpler, lyrical textures, and expanded orchestration. It was at this time that the symphony became fully independent from the opera overture thanks to composers such as Cannabich and J. C. Bach. The genre of opera continued to be hugely popular throughout Europe, as well as the concerto. Many of the classical era's developments centered in the city of Vienna. -
Period: to
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a prolific composer and child prodigy. Born in Salzburg, he was an expert keyboardist and violin/viola player. He is known for his reach in almost every musical genre at the time, whether it be operas, keyboard works, chamber music, symphonies, or religious music. He is also fondly remembered for his lyrical style, his insertion of daring harmonies into classical structure, and his later operas, which some say are more expansive and human than any other at the time. -
Mozart's Don Giovanni
This opera is notable for its blend of the styles associated with opera seria and opera buffa. Dramatic, regal-sounding music is associated with the characters of the upper class, while charming, comedic music is reserved for the servants and peasantry of the opera. Leporello hilariously shows Donna Elvira the list of women Don Giovanni has "met up with", while in the same opera, Don Giovanni is dragged to hell. The contrasts of this opera make it perhaps the most famous ever written. -
Haydn's Surprise Symphony
This symphony is Haydn's 94th. It is part of Haydn's "London" symphonies, so called because they were written during Haydn's London trip of 1791-92 with Johann Peter Salomon. His concerts in London were highly popular, earning praise from Charles Burney among others. This symphony got the nickname "Surprise" due to the sudden fortissimo G major chord in the 2nd movement.