Antiquity, Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque

Timeline: Antiquity to the Renaissance

Period: 1 CE to Dec 12, 1800

Timeline of compositions and composers from Antiquity to the Middle Ages

Epitafio de Seikilos

100

The Epitaph of Syzylos is the oldest complete musical composition preserved today. The epitaph probably dates from the 1st or 2nd century A.D., and is part of a Greek inscription written on a marble column placed on the tomb that Sycillos had built for his wife Euterpe, near Trales. The author is anonymous.

Gregorian Chant

850

Gregorian chant emerged in the 9th century, during the Middle Ages. It has its origin in the ancient ecclesiastical music sung in the liturgy of the Roman rite. Its name is linked to the one who was elected Pope around the year 600: Gregory the Great. Although it was mainly consolidated a couple of centuries after his papacy, during the reign of Charlemagne, thanks to the Benedictine monasteries that spread it throughout Western Christianity.

Guido d’Arezzo

991

Guido d'Arezzo (c. 991-1033) was an Italian Benedictine monk and music theorist, recognized mainly for his great influence on the teaching and notation of music in the Middle Ages.
Guido improved the system of musical notation by proposing the use of a four-line system, known as the tetragram.
Guido used a melody known as the Hymn to St. John the Baptist, where the first syllables of each verse corresponded to one of the first notes of the scale

Hildegard von Bingen

1098

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) was a German Benedictine nun, mystic, composer, writer, philosopher and visionary. She is one of the most notable figures of the Middle Ages due to her vast oeuvre.
He wrote a large number of hymns, sequences and liturgical chants. His music is monophonic.
His most famous collection of musical works is “Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum”, a series of chants dedicated to the saints, the Virgin Mary and the Trinity.

Bernart de Ventadorn

1130

Bernart de Ventadorn was one of the most important and renowned troubadours of Occitan lyric poetry during the Middle Ages, active in the 12th century. He was born in southwest France, probably in the castle of Ventadorn in Limousin.
Bernart is best remembered for his songs of courtly love, a type of lyric poetry that idealised passionate but impossible or unrequited love, generally directed towards a noblewoman.

Leonin

1135

Leonin (1135-1201), is, along with Perotin, the first known composer of polyphonic organum. He was a member of the School of Notre Dame, one of the first and most influential schools of polyphonic music in Europe, which was associated with the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.
He is credited with the creation of the Magnus liber organi, an important compendium of liturgical music that influenced the development of choral and sacred music.

Perotin

1155

French composer (c. 1155 - c.1230) . Successor of his master Léonin, he is considered the most outstanding representative of the so-called School of Notre Dame de Paris, active during the 13th century and in which the polyphonic style began to develop.
Pérotin distinguished himself in the revision of the two-voice polyphony collection Magnus liber de Léonin and in the composition of organa and conductus for two (Dum sigillum), three (Salvatoris hodie) and four voices (Viderunt omne).

Ars Antiqua

1170

Ars Antiqua, or “ancient art”, refers to a musical style that developed in Europe during the late Middle Ages, especially in the 12th and 13th centuries. It is often associated with the early stages of polyphony, in which several independent melodic lines are sung or played simultaneously. Notable forms such as the organum, the conductus and especially the motet emerged in this period.

Alfonso X el Sabio

Nov 23, 1221

Alfonso X the Wise (1221-1284), King of Castile and León, was one of the most outstanding figures of the 13th century for his contribution to culture, science and law in the Iberian Peninsula. He was born in Toledo, son of Ferdinand III of Castile and Beatrice of Swabia, and acceded to the throne in 1252. He was known as ‘the Wise’ due to his great interest in knowledge and his role in promoting the arts and sciences, which made his court an important cultural and scientific centre.

Ars Nova

1300

Ars Nova literally means New Art, and is named after Philippe de Vitry's treatise, Ars Nova, which gave its name to the music of the 14th century.
Vitry, Ars Nova, which gave its name to the music of the 14th century.
In the Ars Nova, medieval polyphony reached its maximum perfection. The main novelties of this time are the appearance of measures to measure music, the appearance of new profane forms, and the appearance of the isorhythmic motet, or canon.

Guillaume de Machaut

1300

Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377) was a French composer, poet and cleric, considered one of the most important musicians and writers of the Middle Ages. He was probably born in the Reims region of France, and his work marks a culmination in the musical tradition of the time, particularly within the Ars Nova movement, which brought innovations in rhythm, polyphony and the use of advanced musical notation.
One of his most important works was The Mass of Notre Dame

Francesco Landini

1325

Francesco Landini (c. 1325-1397) was an Italian composer, organist, poet and singer, considered the foremost musician of the Italian Trecento and one of the most important exponents of medieval music in Italy. He was born in Florence around 1325, and, although he was blinded by smallpox in childhood, he developed an extraordinary talent for music and achieved great renown in his time.
One of his works preserved in manuscript was the Codex Squarcialupi

Johannes Gutenberg

1400

Johannes Gutenberg was born around 1400 in the Hof zum Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany.
Gutenberg invented a process for mass production of movable type: oil-based ink and the use of a wooden printing press. It was the combination of all these elements that created a practical system for the mass production of books.
His most famous work is the 42-line Bible, which is considered to be the first book printed with movable type.

Juan del Encina

1469

(Encinas, Spain, 1469-León, id., 1529) Spanish poet, musician and playwright. He entered Salamanca Cathedral as a choirboy and later entered the service of the Duke of Alba's brother.
His musical works, of which 68 pieces have survived, are collected in the Cancionero musical de Barberini, which is representative of Castilian polyphonic art. The Cancionero is made up of his youthful compositions, of a popular tone.

Martín Lutero

1483

Martin Luther (Eisleben, 1483-1546) was a German priest, monk and theologian, a central figure in the religious movement known as the Protestant Reformation.
He was a devout priest of the Catholic Church in Wittenberg until his indignation at church policy, especially the sale of indulgences, led him to question the authority of the church.
His 95 Theses of 1517 were an invitation to discuss the policies and practices of the Church that he found conflicting and contrary to the Bible.

Cristóbal de Morales

1500

(Seville, c. 1500 - Malaga or Marchena, 1553) Spanish composer. An undisputed master of sacred polyphonic music, his work is considered to be one of the finest examples of Spanish Renaissance polyphony. In 1545 he was appointed maestro de capilla at Toledo Cathedral and in 1551 at Malaga Cathedral.
Morales' musical works: the cantata Iubilemus omnis terra, written to celebrate the truce of Nice between France and Spain, and the cantata Gaude et laetare Ferrariensis civitas.

Antonio de Cabezón

1510

(Castrillo de Matajudíos 1510 - Madrid 1566).
Spanish composer of the Renaissance.
He was blind as a child, probably at the age of eight. He always had a great musical vocation and so he moved to Palencia to continue his studies with García de Baeza. He became a chamber musician to Carlos V and years later was also a chamber musician to Felipe II.
He dedicated himself above all to keyboard music. He worked and developed new forms such as the glosas de romances, the diferencias and the tientos.

Andrea Gabrieli

1510

Born in Venice (Italy) around 1510, and uncle of Giovanni Gabrieli, he was one of the founders of the Venetian musical school. In 1566 he was elected to the post of organist of St. Mark's in Venice, one of the most prestigious musical posts in the city.
Gabrieli was a prolific and versatile composer, and wrote a great deal of music, including sacred and secular vocal music, music for mixed groups of voices and instruments, and purely instrumental music.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

Sep 30, 1525

(Palestrina, actual Italia, 1525 - Roma, 1594)
Italian composer, one of the most famous composers of the Renaissance.
Palestrina is considered the “savior” of church music, when the Council of Trent (1545-63) decreed that all secular influences and styles should be purged from church music.
His oeuvre includes 104 masses for four to eight voices, about 400 motets, 66 offertories, 35 magnificats and 65 hymns, as well as sacred and profane madrigals, psalms and lamentations

Orlando di Lasso

1532

(Mons 1532 - Munich, 1594) Franco-Flemish composer.
He was one of the most important and multifaceted figures of the late Renaissance. He used the polyphonic style characteristic of the religious music of his time and the new profane music that developed in Germany, France and Italy. More than two thousand of his compositions are preserved. During his childhood it is said that he was kidnapped three times, due to the beauty of his voice. His sacred music in Latin consists of masses and motets.

Maddalena Casulana

1544

Maddalena Casulana was born in Italy (1544 - 1590). She was an Italian Renaissance composer and singer who played the lute. She is very important because she was the first woman composer to have music printed and published in the history of Western music.

Tomás Luis de Victoria

1548

(Ávila, 1548 - Madrid, 1611) Spanish composer and organist. He went to Rome to perfect his musical knowledge and prepare for the priesthood.
In 1587 he returned to Spain, where he was appointed chaplain and chapel master of the convent of the Descalzas Reales.
His compositions include the Officium defunctorum, the masses Ave maris stella, O magnum mysterium and Laetatus sum, the motets O vos omnes and Vidi speciosam and the monumental Officium hebdomadae sanctae

Giovanni Gabrieli

1557

(Venice, ca. 1557-id., 1612) Venetian composer. A disciple of his uncle Andrea Gabrieli, when he died in 1586 he succeeded him as first organist of the Venetian cathedral of St. Mark, a post he held until the end of his life. His collection of Sacrae Symphoniae inaugurates a series of compositions made up of diverse and complex vocal and instrumental combinations. The result is spectacular works of a previously unknown richness of sound and expression.

Carlo Gesualdo

Mar 8, 1566

(Venosa, 1566- Avellino,1613) was Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza.
He was an avant-garde musician for his time.
His music departed from the canons of the Renaissance, making constant use of dissonance and chromaticism, something unthinkable at the time.
His most famous works include his six books of madrigals, published between 1594 and 1611. Gesualdo's work experienced a revival in the 20th century, influencing composers such as Stravinsky and Alfred Schnittke.

Claudio Monteverdi

1567

(Cremona, 1567 - Venice, 1643) Italian composer. The figure who best exemplifies the transition in the field of music between the Renaissance and the new Baroque expressivity is Monteverdi.
In 1607 his first opera was performed at the court of Mantua: Orfeo, favola in musica, with a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. One of the first plays in which a dramatic plot was developed.
His opera, Arianna, whose music has been lost, except for the famous ‘Ariadne's Lament’, consolidated his fame.

Giacomo Carissimi

1605

(Marino, 1605 - Rome, 1674) Italian composer who excelled in the creation of oratorios, cantatas and other religious pieces denoting an original and innovative style, far removed from the tradition of sacred polyphony established by Palestrina.
His abundant musical oeuvre includes the oratorio Jefté (1656), considered his masterpiece, and the oratorios Sacrificio d'Isacco (1655), Lamentatio damnatorum (1665) and Judicium Salomonis (1669).

Barbara Strozzi

Aug 6, 1619

Barbara Strozzi was born on 6 August 1619 in the Italian city, where she established herself as a leading baroque composer and singer. Barbara was the illegitimate daughter of Giulio Strozzi, a Venetian poet. Thanks to Giulio, Barbara was able to have an education that was unthinkable for women at the time.
Strozzi's work is particularly striking for the delicate link he establishes between text and music. Her output consists mainly of secular vocal music

Stradivarius

1644

(Cremona, 1644n - Cremona, 1737) Antonio Stradivari, the man who made what are probably the most sought-after violins in the world, the Stradivarius, as well as many other stringed instruments,
During that long career it is estimated that he made almost 1200 instruments, of which the vast majority were violins, although he also made violas, cellos, basses, lutes, mandolins, harps and other lesser-known instruments. Of these, around 450 violins and 200 other instruments have survived.

Henry Purcel

1659

(Westminster, England, 1659 - London, 1695) English composer. He joined the choir of the Chapel Royal at the age of eight and was taught by John Blow and Matthew Locke. In 1677 he was appointed composer of the king's violins, and in 1679 he replaced Blow as organist of Westminster Abbey. He composed numerous works of a religious nature, including anthems and offices such as I was glad, in the midst of life (1682), Morning and evening service (1682-1683) and Te Deum and jubilate (1694).

Antonio Vivaldi

1678

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was an Italian virtuoso violinist and composer of Baroque music (1600-1750). Best known for his violin concertos, including The Four Seasons, Vivaldi contributed significantly to the evolution of instrumental music and influenced Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), among many others, especially in the concerto form.

George Philipp Telemann

1681

(Magdeburg, 1681 - Hamburg, 1767) German composer. He abandoned his law studies to devote himself to music when he was asked to compose two monthly cantatas for the church of St. Thomas. The following year he founded the Collegium musicum and was appointed director of the Leipzig Opera.
His musical output is divided into instrumental and vocal music, both religious and secular, including more than 40 operas, 12 series of cantatas for all the Sundays and numerous oratorios

Johann Sebastian Bach

1685

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a German organist and composer whose work is today considered one of the finest of Baroque music at its height. During his lifetime he was better known as an organist than as a composer, and his rich legacy encompasses sacred and secular works, especially cantatas, organ pieces and concertos that influenced many later composers.
Among his most critically acclaimed works are the Magnificat, the Mass in B minor and the Brandenburg Concertos.

Georg Friedrich Händel

Feb 23, 1685

Handel (1685-1759) was born on 23 February 1685 in Halle, Brandenburg-Prussia. He died on 14 April 1759 in London (England) at the age of 74.
Handel was already a virtuoso on the harpsichord and organ from an early age. He received his first musical lessons from the German composer Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow.
His best-known works are the oratorio Messiah (1714) and the Water Music (1717), but he has some real masterpieces to his credit.