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476
Fall of Western Roman Empire
The process of decline in the Western Roman Empire in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast territory was divided into several successor polities. The Roman Empire lost the strengths that had allowed it to exercise effective control over its Western provinces -
Period: 500 to 1050
The Dark Ages
The name of the period refers to the movement of so-called barbarian peoples—including the Huns, Goths, Vandals, Bulgars, Alani, Suebi, and Franks—into what had been the Western Roman Empire. The term “Dark Ages” is now rarely used by historians because of the value judgment it implies. Though sometimes taken to derive its meaning from the dearth of information about the period, the term’s more usual and pejorative sense is of a period of intellectual darkness and barbarity. -
550
Migration Period
A period in the history of Europe, during and after the decline of the Western Roman Empire, during which there was widespread migration of and invasions by peoples, notably the Germanic tribes and the Huns, within or into the Roman Empire. -
570
Birth of Muhammad
Muhammad was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. -
Period: 752 to 1400
Chant
Chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. -
Period: 800 to 1400
Feudalism
a combination of the legal, economic, military and cultural customs that flourished in Medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring society around relationships that were derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour. -
1095
The Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. -
1100
"Organum" Popularization
a plainchant melody with at least one added voice to enhance the harmony, developed in the Middle Ages. -
1151
Ordo Virtutum "Play of Virtues" by Hildegard
An allegorical morality play, or liturgical drama, by St. Hildegard, composed c. 1151, during the construction and relocation of her Abbey at Rupertsberg. -
Period: 1155 to 1200
Pérotin
a composer from around the late 12th century, associated with the Notre Dame school of polyphony in Paris and the ars antiqua musical style. -
1200
Prelude
an introductory piece of music, most commonly an orchestral opening to an act of an opera, the first movement of a suite, or a piece preceding a fugue. -
1200
Mass
a term used to describe the main eucharistic liturgical service in many forms of Western Christianity. The term Mass is commonly used in the Catholic Church and Anglican churches, as well as some Lutheran churches, Methodist, Western Rite Orthodox and Old Catholic churches. -
1200
Chansons
French art song of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The chanson before 1500 is preserved mostly in large manuscript collections called chansonniers. -
Period: 1200 to 1350
"The Black Death" or Bubonic Plague
pandemic that ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351, taking a proportionately greater toll of life than any other known epidemic or war up to that time. -
1299
Ottoman Empire
At its height the empire encompassed most of southeastern Europe to the gates of Vienna, including present-day Hungary, the Balkan region, Greece, and parts of Ukraine -
1300
Renaissance Humanism
The study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. -
1300
Trecento
the 14th century as a period of Italian art, architecture, or literature. -
Period: 1410 to 1497
Johannes Ockeghem
Bass singer who served the 3 king. He didnt use much imitation and was an important teacher. -
1440
Printing Press
The rapid economic and socio-cultural development of late medieval society in Europe created favorable intellectual and technological conditions for Gutenberg's improved version of the printing press -
Period: 1450 to 1521
Josquin des Pres
French composer. He was considered by Martin Luther to be the "best of the composers of our time" and "the master of the notes;" he had not peer in music. -
Period: 1452 to 1519
Leonardo da Vinci
Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. -
Period: 1452 to 1518
Pierre de la Rue
Leading composer at the Burgundiuan court. He frequently used canons and ostinato's. -
Period: 1466 to 1525
Ottaviano Petrucci
Italian composer and singer who raised the frottla to a level of sophistication -
Period: 1488 to 1489
The viola organista (Instrument - Da Vinci)
a musical instrument designed by Leonardo da Vinci. It uses a friction belt to vibrate individual strings (similar to how a violin produces sounds), with the strings selected by pressing keys on a keyboard -
Period: 1497 to 1543
Francesco Canova da Milano
An Italian lutenist and composer. More of his music is preserved than of any other lutenist of the period, and his work continued to influence composers for more than a century after his death. -
Period: 1507 to 1568
Jacques Arcadelt
Dutch composer who was famous for his madrigals and his 3 to 7-voice masses. -
1510
Pange Lingua Mass- Josquin
a musical setting of the Ordinary of the Mass by Franco-Flemish composer Josquin des Prez, probably dating from around 1515, near the end of his life. -
Period: 1521 to
Philippe de Monte
Composer who mixed polyphony and homophony. He was one of the most prolific composers of the Renaissance. -
Period: 1543 to
William Byrd
English organist and composer of the Shakespearean age who is best known for his development of the English madrigal. He also wrote virginal and organ music that elevated the English keyboard style. -
Period: 1545 to 1563
Council of Trent
Prompted by the Reformation, the Council of Trent was highly important for its sweeping decrees on self-reform and for its dogmatic definitions that clarified virtually every doctrine contested by the Protestants. -
Period: 1551 to
Giulio Caccini
One of the founders of opera; gave a descritption of the new singing style ine his book of "songs" of 1692, Le nuove musiche; Italian composer, singer, teacher, and instrumentalist -
1560
Madrigal Comedy
Italian musical genre of the late 16th century, a cycle of vocal pieces in the style of the madrigal and lighter Italian secular forms that are connected by a vague plot or common theme. -
Period: 1564 to
William Shakespeare
English playwright and poet; he has been an important force in the field of music from his day to ours -
Period: 1567 to
Claudio Monteverdi
The most important composer of the early Baroque; one of the inventors of the new seconda pratica -
Period: 1570 to
Florentine Camerata
a group of intellectuals that met to discuss the arts-- members included Caccini, Peri, Girolamo Mei, Vincenzo Galilei