Timeline

The Middle Age

Period: 476 to 1492

Born with the fall of the Roman Empire

The Islamic conquest

622

It began in the Arabian Peninsula in 622, when Muhammad had an army strong enough to unify the entire region. After his death in 632, Islam began to expand until it reached the Byzantine Empire, occupied North Africa, Iran, Central Asia, western India, the Iberian Peninsula and southern France (where Charles Martel would reject the Muslim advance). In 711, the Muslims invaded Spain, turning it into Al-Andalus. They remained in the Iberian Peninsula for 800 years, until 1492.

Charles Martel and the Battle of Tours

732

Charles Martel (The Hammer), was a Frankish political and military leader who worked under the Merovingian kings as mayor of the palace. In 732 he defeated the Islamic invaders at the Battle of Tours, which put a permanent end to the Muslim invasions and their expansion into Western Europe. Charles Martel is considered one of the founding fathers of feudalism and European chivalry. He paved the way for the establishment of the Carolingian Empire, and was the grandfather of Charlemagne.

The Holy Roman Empire

962

Otto I of Germany was the successor of Henry the Birdcatcher, the Duke of Saxony, who became the first Saxon emperor. Like his father, Otto I succeeded in protecting the Germans against the Magyar invaders. He was made king in Aachen, in the palace of Charlemagne, and wanted to restore the Carolingian Empire. In 962 Pope John XII invited him and declared him Emperor of Italy, thus establishing the Holy Roman Empire, of which he was the first representative.

Guido d´Arezzo

1050

Guido d’Arezzo, (born c. 990, Arezzo [Italy]—died 1050, Avellana), medieval music theorist whose principles served as a foundation for modern Western musical notation. He established a name for each note of the scale, based on the first syllable of each verse of the hymn dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. He originated the current musical writing, establishing the position of each note in four horizontal parallel lines (tetragram).

Gregorian Chant

1101

Gregorian chant is a simple, monodic chant (that is, several people sing the same melody, in unison or with a difference of octave) and with a defined text. Its main purpose was to teach the word of God to the faithful, so it was used exclusively in religious ceremonies. It´s written in latin. Gregorian chant is a capella song.
There are different types of Gregorian chant according to the relationship between the music and the text: Syllabic, neumatic and melismatic.

Ars Antiqua

Period: 1101 to 1300

Period in the history of western music between the 12th and 13th centuries. This era was characterized by the flourishing of Gregorian chant and vocal polyphony, a prelude to the Renaissance. During the Ars antiqua the first polyphonic form was developed: the organum. other forms were also developed, such as the conductus and the motet.

Hildegard von Bingen

1172

(Bermersheim vor der Höhe, Holy Roman Empire, 1098-Rupertsberg Monastery, 1179). As the last daughter of a noble family of Germanic origin, she became a nun. She was a philosopher, theologian, composer, naturalist, scientist and poet. She was the author of an extensive musical repertoire of which 70 works with words and music, hymns, antiphons and responsories are preserved, compiled in Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum.

Bernart de Ventadorn

1180

(Castle of Ventadorn, France, around 1145 - Monastery of Dalon, around 1180). Occitan troubadour, outstanding figure of Provençal poetry and main representative of the trobar leu. Despite being one of the most popular authors of his time, his work was not fairly valued until it was recovered by romanticism. The originality of his almost fifty songs of certain attribution lies in the treatment of love themes, characterized by a simple and nostalgic expression, full of sweetness and softness.

Leonin

1200

(Died 1200) Leading liturgical composer of his generation (composer of the ars antiqua), associated with the Notre Dame, or Parisian, school of composition. The details of Léonin’s life are not known. To him is attributed the Magnus liber organi , a collection of two-voiced organum settings, notably of Gradual, Alleluia, and Responsory chants, for the complete liturgical year.

Perotin

1238

(Died 1238, Paris, France), French composer of sacred polyphonic music (composer of the ars antiqua), who is believed to have introduced the composition of polyphony in four parts into Western music.
Nothing is known of Pérotin’s life, and his identity is not clearly established. He worked probably at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, and his compositions are considered to belong to the Notre-Dame, or Parisian, school, of which he and Léonin are the only members known by name.

Alfonso X el Sabio

1284

He was born on November 23, 1221 in the city of Toledo, and died on April 4, 1284 in Castile. He was one of the most important figures in the development of Castilian culture, history and language. The royal name of this monarch was Alfonso X of Castile and he was king of the crown between 1252 and 1284. In addition to being a monarch, Alfonso X the Wise was also an important author of the time with a great artistic creation, among which his Cantigas de Santa María stands out.

Ars Nova

Period: 1310 to 1377

The Ars Nova was a musical style that flourished mainly in France and Italy during the late Middle Ages in the 14th century. This type of music developed mainly in prestigious environments, such as universities, stately courts and the church.The most widely used form is the motet, but with transformations compared to the Ars
antiqua: it becomes more complex, both at a rhythmic and melodic level and, in many
cases, simultaneously uses religious and secular texts.

The Hundred Years' War

Period: 1337 to 1453

The Hundred Years' War between France and England from 1337 to 1453 was the longest war in Europe. During those 116 years, the long and exhausting campaigns, always fought on French soil, alternated with truces and long periods of peace. The conflict would end up forging the identity of the French and English nations.

The Black Death

Period: 1348 to 1350

The Black Death is the most devastating epidemic in history, and significantly weakened the feudal system and the Church in Europe. Millions of people suffered an untimely death due to this plague and the economic and political power of the kingdoms of Europe was significantly reduced.It emerged in Asia and spread rapidly along the trade routes. There was a major political, social and health crisis.

Guillaume de Machaut

1377

He (born c. 1300, Machault, Fr.—died 1377, Reims), French poet and musician, greatly admired by contemporaries as a master of French versification and regarded as one of the leading French composers of the Ars Nova musical style of the 14th century. In his longer poems Machaut did not go beyond the themes and genres already widely employed in his time. Mostly didactic and allegorical exercises in the well-worked courtly love tradition.

Francesco Landini

1397

Francesco Landini, (born c. 1335, Fiesole, near Florence-died Sept. 2, 1397, Florence), leading composer of 14th-century Italy, famed during his lifetime for his musical memory, his skill in improvisation, and his virtuosity on the organetto, or portative organ, as well as for his compositions. He also played the flute and the rebec. Landini was blinded in childhood by smallpox. The most important composer of the Italian Trescento style and Ars Nova.

The Renaissance

Period: 1401 to 1600

With the arrival of the fifteenth century, great social, cultural and religious transformations took place in Europe that gave way to a new era. It was called the Renaissance, because it was intended to "reborn" the ideas of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Apr 15, 1452

Leonardo Da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath (born April 15, 1452 - died May 2, 1519) known primarily for his outstanding talent as a painter, engineer and inventor. His best known pictorial works are La Gioconda and The Last Supper. In addition to these two works of art, he wrote countless revolutionary ideas that could not be developed until several centuries later.

Johannes Gutenberg and The Printing Press

1468

Johannes Gutenberg, (born 14th century, Mainz [Germany]—died 1468, Mainz), German craftsman and inventor who originated a method of printing from movable type. In 1455, he invented the printing press.Gutenberg’s printing press was considered a history-changing invention, making books widely accessible and ushering in an “information revolution.” This invention allowed a greater diffusion of music.

Juan del Encina

1529

Encina, (born July 12, 1468, Encinas, near Salamanca, Castile—died near the end of August 1529/30, León, Spain), playwright, poet, priest, and composer of secular vocal music, who was the first Spanish dramatist to write specifically for performance. After youthful training as a chorister at Salamanca cathedral and at the University of Salamanca, Encina entered the service of the Duke of Alba as a resident poet-dramatist-composer. He wrote for the court a number of églogas incorporating music.

Martin Luther

1546

He (born November 10, 1483, Eisleben, Saxony—died February 18, 1546, Eisleben) German theologian and religious reformer who was the catalyst of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. Through his words and actions, Luther precipitated a movement that reformulated certain basic tenets of Christian belief and resulted in the division of Western Christendom between Roman Catholicism and the new Protestant traditions, his reformation promoted the use of German in songs and creation of the chorale.

Tomás Luis de Victoria

1548

He, (born c. 1548, near Avila, Spain—died Aug. 27, 1611, Madrid), Spanish composer who ranks with Palestrina and Orlando di Lasso among the greatest composers of the 16th century. He was sent by King Philip II of Spain in 1565 to prepare for holy orders at the German College in Rome. There he probably studied with Palestrina, whom he eventually succeeded as director of music at the Roman Seminary. Victoria’s works include 21 masses and 44 motets that are among the finest of the period.

Cristóbal de Morales

1553

Cristóbal de Morales (Seville, 1500 - Malaga or, according to others, Marchena, 1553) is the main representative of the Andalusian polyphonic school and one of the three greats, together with Tomás Luis de Victoria and Francisco Guerrero, of Spanish polyphonic composition of the Renaissance. His music is vocal and sacred, with only a couple of exceptions. he was a composer of masses and motets.

Antonio de Cabezón

1556

Antonio de Cabezón, (born c. 1510, Castrillo de Matajudíos, near Burgos, Spain—died March 26, 1566, Madrid), earliest important Spanish composer for the keyboard, admired for his austere, lofty polyphonic music, which links the keyboard style of the early 1500s with the international style that emerged in the mid-16th century. Blind from infancy, Cabezón studied organ in Palencia and in 1526 became organist and clavichordist to the empress Isabel, wife of Charles V.

Giovanni Gabrieli

1556

He (born 1556, Venice-died 1612, Venice) Italian Renaissance composer, organist and teacher, celebrated for his sacred music. He studied with his uncle, Andrea Gabrieli, whom he regarded with almost filial affection. To the latter’s foreign travels and connections Giovanni owed his chance to become known abroad. Giovanni served under Orlando di Lasso in Munich. In 1584 he returned to Venice and a year later succeeded his uncle as second organist of St. Mark’s Cathedral—the post he held for life.

Carlo Gesualdo

Mar 30, 1566

Carlo Gesualdo, prince of Venosa and count of Conza, was born on March 30, 1566 in Venosa-died on Sept. 8, 1613. Until the end of the 20th century his fame was based mainly on his dramatic, unhappy, and often strange life. His reputation as a musician grew thanks to his very unique and chromatically rich madrigals. He was especially noted for what music researcher Glenn Watkins calls the "dazzling harmonic style" of his last two books of madrigals.

Andrea Gabrieli

1585

He (born 1532/33, Venice—died Aug. 30, 1585, Venice), Italian Renaissance composer and organist, known for his madrigals and his large-scale choral and instrumental music for public ceremonies. His finest work was composed for the acoustic resources of the Cathedral of St. Mark in Venice. He was the uncle of Giovanni Gabrieli. He served in the Bavarian court chapel at Munich under Orlando di Lasso and finally was patronized by the noble Fugger family in Augsburg.

Maddalena Casulana

1590

ca. 1544, ca. 1590. Little is known about the life of Maddalena Casulana, an accomplished vocalist, and composer best known for her 66 madrigals. Her second name, Casulana, is thought to be derived from her birthplace, Casole d’Elsa, but this is disputed. Casulana’s first book of madrigals was written for four voices and published in Venice in 1568. It is the first published book of music written by a European woman, and potentially the first published book of any type written by a woman.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

1594

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, (born c. 1525, Palestrina, near Rome [Italy]—died February 2, 1594, Rome), Italian Renaissance composer of more than 105 masses and 250 motets, a master of contrapuntal composition.
Palestrina lived during the period of the Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation and was a primary representative of the 16th-century conservative approach to church music. One of the main composers of the Italian school.

Orlando di Lasso

1594

He (born 1530, Mons, Spanish Hainaut—died 1594, Munich), Flemish composer whose music stands at the apex of the Franco-Netherlandish style that dominated European music of the Renaissance. He was a choirboy at St. Nicholas in Mons and because of his beautiful voice was kidnapped three times for other choirs. He accompanied Gonzaga to Italy, where he remained for 10 years. He was chapelmaster of the papal church of St. John Lateran at Rome. One of the main composers of the Italian school.

The Baroque

Period: 1601 to 1700

Era in the arts that originated in Italy in the 17th century and flourished elsewhere well into the 18th century. It embraced painting, sculpture, architecture, decorative arts, and music. The word, derived from a Portuguese term for an irregularly shaped pearl and originally used derogatorily, has long been employed to describe a variety of characteristics, from dramatic to bizarre to overdecorated.

Barbara Strozzi

1619

Barbara Strozzi, (born 1619, Venice [Italy]—died November 11, 1677, Padua), Italian virtuoso singer and composer of vocal music, one of only a few women in the 17th century to publish their own compositions. Strozzi published many volumes of music, which in itself indicates that her music was well received. Her compositional output following her first volume of madrigals consisted mostly of arias, cantatas, and ariettas.

Claudio Monteverdi

Nov 29, 1643

Claudio Monteverdi, (baptized May 15, 1567, Cremona, Duchy of Milan [Italy]—died November 29, 1643, Venice), Italian composer in the late Renaissance, the most important developer of the then new genre, the opera. He also did much to bring a “modern” secular spirit into church music. his outstanding works were: "L'Arianna" "La favola d'Orfeo" "Licoris who feigned madness" "Madrigals of war and love" "Movete al mio bel suon" "The combat of Tancredi and Clorinda" "The coronation of Poppea".

Antonio Stradivari

1644

Antonio Stradivari, (born 1644?, Cremona, Duchy of Milan—died Dec. 18, 1737, Cremona), Italian violin maker who brought the craft of violin-making to its highest pitch of perfection. The Stradivari method of violin making created a standard for subsequent times; he devised the modern form of the violin bridge and set the proportions of the modern violin, with its shallower body that yields a more powerful and penetrating tone than earlier violins.

Henry Purcell

1659

Henry Purcell (born c. 1659, London, England—died November 21, 1695, London) English composer of the middle Baroque period, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, Dido and Aeneas; and his incidental music to a version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream called The Fairy Queen. Purcell, the most important English composer of his time, composed music covering a wide field: the church, the stage, the court, and private entertainment.

Giacomo Carissimi

Jan 12, 1674

Giacomo Carissimi, (baptized April 18, 1605, Marino, near Rome [Italy]—died Jan. 12, 1674, Rome), one of the greatest Italian composers of the 17th century, chiefly notable for his oratorios and secular cantatas. Following brief appointments at Tivoli and Assisi, Carissimi settled in Rome in the late 1620s as director of music at the German College and its associated Church of Sant’Apollinare and retained this post until he died.

Antonio Vivaldi

Mar 4, 1678

Antonio Vivaldi, (born March 4, 1678, Venice, Republic of Venice [Italy]—died July 28, 1741, Vienna, Austria), Italian composer and violinist who left a decisive mark on the form of the concerto and the style of late Baroque instrumental music. Vivaldi’s main teacher was probably his father, Giovanni Battista, who in 1685 was admitted as a violinist to the orchestra of the San Marco Basilica in Venice. Almost 500 concerti by Vivaldi survive. Approximately 230 are written for solo violin.

Georg Philipp Telemann

Mar 14, 1681

Georg Philipp Telemann, (born March 14, 1681, Magdeburg, Brandenburg [Germany]—died June 25, 1767, Hamburg), German composer of the late Baroque period, who wrote both sacred and secular music but was most admired for his church compositions, which ranged from small cantatas to large-scale works for soloists, chorus, and orchestra. he learned to compose music and play instruments in a self-taught way, because his family didn`t want him to be a musician.

Georg Friedrich Händel

Feb 23, 1685

George Frideric Handel (born February 23, 1685, Halle, Brandenburg [Germany]—died April 14, 1759, London, England) German-born English composer of the late Baroque era, noted particularly for his operas, oratorios, and instrumental compositions. He wrote the most famous of all oratorios, Messiah (1741), and is also known for such occasional pieces as Water Music (1717) and Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749).

Johann Sebastian Basch

Mar 31, 1685

Bach, (born March 31, 1685, Eisenach, Thuringia, Ernestine Saxon Duchies [Germany]—died July 28, 1750, Leipzig), composer of the Baroque era, the most celebrated member of a large family of north German musicians. Bach is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time and is celebrated as the creator of the Brandenburg Concertos, The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B Minor, and numerous other masterpieces of church and instrumental music.

Franz Joseph Haydn

Mar 31, 1732

Joseph Haydn​ (born in Rohrau; March 31,1732-Died, Vienna; May 31,1809). He was an extremely prolific composer. His total output includes 108 symphonies. Haydn’s achievement was long confused by the fact that an enormous number of works were wrongly attributed to him, and it was not until the 1950s that musicological research was able to pare this staggering amount of spurious attributions from Haydn’s recognized output. Work on a definitive catalog continued into the late 20th century.

Classical Music

Period: 1750 to 1820

The Classical era in music is compositionally defined by the balanced eclecticism of the late 18th- and early 19th-century Viennese “school” of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, who completely absorbed and individually fused or transformed the vast array of 18th-century textures and formal types.

Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart

Jul 30, 1751

Nannerl Mozart (30 July 1751 – 29 October 1829), was a musician, the older sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. When she was seven years old, her father Leopold Mozart started teaching her to play the harpsichord. Leopold took her and Wolfgang on tours of many cities, such as Vienna and Paris, to showcase their talents. In the early days, she sometimes received top billing, and she was noted as an excellent harpsichord player and fortepianist.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Jan 27, 1756

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (born January 27, 1756, Salzburg, archbishopric of Salzburg [Austria]—died December 5, 1791, Vienna) Austrian composer, widely recognized as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. With Haydn and Beethoven he brought to its height the achievement of the Viennese Classical school. Unlike any other composer in musical history, he wrote in all the musical genres of his day and excelled in every one.

Maria Theresia von Paradis

May 15, 1759

Maria Theresia von Paradis (Vienna, May 15, 1759, February 1, 1824) was an Austrian pianist and composer. Although she completely lost her sight from the age of three, this did not prevent the production and work of this great pianist, singer and composer from continuing to stand out. His contributions were fundamental for the musical education of his time, especially for the blind. He caused great interest in the renowned composers of his time, including Mozart and Haydn.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Dec 17, 1770

Ludwig van Beethoven (baptized December 17, 1770, Bonn, archbishopric of Cologne [Germany]—died March 26, 1827, Vienna, Austria) German composer, the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. Widely regarded as the greatest composer who ever lived, Ludwig van Beethoven dominates a period of musical history as no one else before or since. Rooted in the Classical traditions of Joseph Haydn and Mozart.

Jane Austen

Dec 16, 1775

Jane Austen (born December 16, 1775, Steventon, Hampshire, England—died July 18, 1817, Winchester, Hampshire) was an English writer who first gave the novel its distinctly modern character through her treatment of ordinary people in everyday life. She published four novels during her lifetime: Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1815).

Christoph Willibald Gluck

Nov 15, 1787

Christoph Willibald Gluc, (born July 2, 1714, Erasbach, near Berching, Upper Palatinate, Bavaria [Germany]—died Nov. 15, 1787, Vienna, Austria), German classical composer, best known for his operas, including Orfeo ed Euridice (1762), Alceste (1767), Paride ed Elena (1770), Iphigénie en Aulide (1774), the French version of Orfeo (1774), and Iphigénie en Tauride (1779). He was knighted in 1756.

Gioachino Antonio Rossini

Feb 29, 1792

He (born February 29, 1792, Papal States [Italy]—died November 13, 1868, Passy, France) Italian composer noted for his operas, particularly his comic operas, of which The Barber of Seville (1816), Cinderella, and Semiramide are among the best known. Of his later, larger-scale dramatic operas, the most widely heard is William Tell (1829). He set new standards for both comic and serious opera before retiring from large-scale composition while still in his thirties, at the height of his popularity.

Romanticism

Period: 1800 to 1850

Romanticism, attitude or intellectual orientation that characterized many works of literature, painting, music, architecture, criticism, and historiography in Western civilization over a period from the late 18th to the mid-19th century. Romanticism can be seen as a rejection of the precepts of order, calm, harmony, balance, idealization, and rationality that typified Classicism in general and late 18th-century Neoclassicism in particular.

Louis-Hector Berlioz

Dec 11, 1803

Hector Berlioz (born December 11, 1803, La Côte-Saint-André, France—died March 8, 1869, Paris) French composer, critic, and conductor of the Romantic period, known largely for his Symphonie fantastique (1830), the choral symphony Roméo et Juliette (1839), and the dramatic piece La Damnation de Faust (1846). His last years were marked by fame abroad and hostility at home.

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy

Feb 3, 1809

(died November 4, 1847, Leipzig) German composer, pianist, musical conductor, and teacher, one of the most-celebrated figures of the early Romantic period. In his music he largely observed Classical models and practices while initiating key aspects of Romanticism—the artistic movement that exalted feeling and the imagination above rigid forms. Among his most famous works are Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a violin concerto, two piano concerti, the oratorio Elijah, and chamber music.

Frédéric François Chopin

Mar 1, 1810

(born March 1, 1810, Żelazowa Wola, Duchy of Warsaw [now in Poland]—died October 17, 1849, Paris) Polish French composer and pianist of the Romantic period, best known for his solo pieces for piano and his piano concerti. Although he wrote little but piano works, many of them brief, He ranks as one of music’s greatest tone poets by reason of his superfine imagination and fastidious craftsmanship. He's major piano works include mazurkas, waltzes, nocturnes, polonaises, the instrumental ballade.

Robert Schumann

Jun 8, 1810

German Romantic composer renowned particularly for his piano music, lieder, and orchestral music. His teacher, Wieck, had assured him that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury ended this dream. He then focused his musical energies on composing. In 1840, he married Wieck's daughter Clara, after a long and acrimonious legal battle with Wieck, who opposed the marriage. A lifelong partnership in music began, as Clara herself was an established pianist and music prodigy.

Franz Liszt

Oct 22, 1811

(born October 22, 1811, Doborján, Hungary, Austrian Empire—died July 31, 1886, Bayreuth, Germany) Hungarian piano virtuoso and composer. Among his many notable compositions are his 12 symphonic poems, two piano concerti, several sacred choral works, and a great variety of solo piano pieces. he contributed significantly to the modern development of art and a benefactor of other composers and artists, notably Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Camille Saint-Saëns, Edvard Grieg and Aleksandr Borodin.

Pride and Prejudice

1813

Pride and Prejudice, romantic novel by Jane Austen, published anonymously in three volumes in 1813. A classic of English literature, written with incisive wit and superb character delineation, it centres on the burgeoning relationship between Elizabeth Bennet, the daughter of a country gentleman, and Darcy, a rich aristocratic landowner. Upon publication, Pride and Prejudice was well received by critics and readers. The first edition sold out within the first year, and it never went out of print

Wilhelm Richard Wagner

May 22, 1813

He (born May 22, 1813, [Germany]—died February 13, 1883, Venice, Italy) dramatic composer and theorist whose operas and music had a revolutionary influence on the course of Western music, either by extension of his discoveries or reaction against them. Among his major works are The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal, and his great tetralogy, The Ring of the Nibelung. The artistic and theatrical background of Wagner’s early years was a main formative influence.

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi

Oct 9, 1813

He (born October 9/10, 1813, Roncole, duchy of Parma [Italy]—died January 27, 1901, Milan, Italy) leading Italian composer of opera in the 19th century, noted for operas such as Rigoletto (1851), Il trovatore (1853), La traviata (1853), Don Carlos (1867), Aida (1871), Otello (1887), and Falstaff (1893) and for his Requiem Mass. In his early operas, he demonstrated sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy. He also participated briefly as an elected politician.

Clara Josephine Wieck

Sep 13, 1819

Clara Schumann (born Sept. 13, 1819, Leipzig, Saxony [Germany]—died May 20, 1896, Frankfurt am Main, Ger.) German pianist, composer, and wife of composer Robert Schumann. Encouraged by her father, she studied piano from the age of five and by 1835 had established a reputation throughout Europe as a child prodigy. In 1838 she was honoured by the Austrian court and also was elected to the prestigious Society of the Friends of Music (Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde) in Vienna.

Bedřich Smetana

Mar 2, 1824

Bedřich Smetana (born March 2, 1824, Leitomischl, Bohemia, Austrian Empire [now Litomyšl, Czech Republic]—died May 12, 1884, Prague) Bohemian composer of operas and symphonic poems, founder of the Czech national school of music. He was the first truly important Bohemian nationalist composer.

Franz Theodor Schubert

Nov 19, 1828

Born January 31, 1797, Himmelpfortgrund. Austrian composer who bridged the worlds of Classical and Romantic music, noted for the melody and harmony in his lieder and chamber music. Among other works are Symphony No. 9 in C Major, Symphony Unfinished, masses, and piano works. The numerous compositions he wrote between 1813 and 1815 are remarkable for their variety and intrinsic worth. They are the products of young genius, still short of maturity but displaying style, originality, and imagination

Johannes Brahms

May 7, 1833

He (born May 7, 1833, [Germany]—died April 3, 1897, Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now in Austria]) was a German composer and pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote symphonies, concerti, chamber music, piano works, choral compositions, and more than 200 songs. Brahms was the great master of symphonic and sonata style in the second half of the 19th century. He can be viewed as the protagonist of the Classical tradition of Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky

Mar 21, 1839

born, March 21, New Style, 1839, Karevo, Russia—died March 28, 1881, St. Petersburg), Russian composer noted particularly for his opera Boris Godunov (final version first performed 1874), his songs, and his piano piece Pictures from an Exhibition. Mussorgsky, along with Aleksandr Borodin, Mily Balakirev, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, and César Cui, was a member of The Five, a group of Russian composers bound together in the common goal of creating a nationalist school of Russian music.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

May 7, 1840

(May 7, New Style, 1840, Votkinsk, Russia—died November 6, 1893, St. Petersburg) the most popular Russian composer of all time. His music has always had great appeal for the general public in virtue of its tuneful, open-hearted melodies, impressive harmonies, and colourful, picturesque orchestration, all of which evoke a profound emotional response. His oeuvre includes symphonies, operas, ballets, piano concertos, a violin concerto, overtures, choral works, string quartets, a string sextet.

Antonín Leopold Dvořák

Sep 8, 1841

Antonín Dvořák (born September 8, 1841, Nelahozeves, Bohemia, Austrian Empire [now in Czech Republic]—died May 1, 1904, Prague) was the first Bohemian composer to achieve worldwide recognition, noted for turning folk material into 19th-century Romantic music. He became an accomplished violinist as a youngster, contributing to the amateur music-making that accompanied the dances of the local couples.

Edvard Hagerup Grieg

Jun 15, 1843

(born June 15, 1843, Bergen, Nor.—died Sept. 4, 1907, Bergen) Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of Norwegian folk music in his own compositions brought the music of Norway to fame, as well as helping to develop a national identity, much as Jean Sibelius did in Finland and Bedřich Smetana in Bohemia.

Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov

Mar 18, 1844

(born March 6 [March 18, New Style], 1844, Tikhvin, near Novgorod, Russia—died June 8 [June 21], 1908, Lyubensk), Russian composer, teacher, and editor who was at his best in descriptive orchestrations suggesting a mood or a place.

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini

Dec 22, 1858

He (born December 22, 1858, Lucca, Tuscany [Italy]—died November 29, 1924, Brussels, Belgium) Italian composer, one of the greatest exponents of operatic realism, who virtually brought the history of Italian opera to an end. His mature operas included La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904), and Turandot (left incomplete).

Hugo Wolf

Mar 13, 1860

(born March 13, 1860, Windischgraz, Austria [now Slovenia]—died Feb. 22, 1903, Vienna) composer who brought the 19th-century German lied, or art song, to its highest point of development. His early songs include settings of poems by J.W. von Goethe, Nikolaus Lenau, Heinrich Heine, and Joseph von Eichendorff. In 1883 he began his symphonic poem Penthesilea, based on the tragedy by Heinrich von Kleist. From 1888 onward he composed a vast number of songs on poems of Goethe, Eduard Mörike, etc.

Gustav Mahler

Jul 7, 1860

He (born July 7, 1860, Kaliště, Bohemia,—died May 18, 1911, Vienna) Austrian Jewish composer and conductor, noted for his 10 symphonies and various songs with orchestra, which drew together many different strands of Romanticism. Although his music was largely ignored for 50 years after his death, Mahler was later regarded as an important forerunner of 20th-century techniques of composition and an acknowledged influence on such composers as Arnold Schoenberg, and Dmitry Shostakovich.

Johan Julius Christian Sibelius

Dec 8, 1865

Jean Sibelius (born Dec. 8, 1865, Hämeenlinna, Fin.—died Sept. 20, 1957, Järvenpää) Finnish composer, the most noted symphonic composer of Scandinavia. was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often credited with having helped Finland develop a stronger national identity when his country was struggling from several attempts at Russification in the late 19th century.

Heitor Villa-Lobos

Mar 5, 1887

Heitor Villa-Lobos (born March 5, 1887, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil—died November 17, 1959, Rio de Janeiro) Brazilian composer and one of the foremost Latin American composers of the 20th century, whose music combines indigenous melodic and rhythmic elements with Western classical music. One of his best-known works is Bachianas brasileiras (written 1930–45). Among his many other works are two cello concerti (1915, 1955), Momoprecoce for piano and orchestra (1929), Guitar Concerto (1951).

George Gershwin

Sep 26, 1898

George Gershwin (born September 26, 1898, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.—died July 11, 1937, Hollywood, California) was one of the most significant and popular American composers of all time. He wrote primarily for the Broadway musical theatre, but important as well are his orchestral and piano compositions in which he blended, in varying degrees, the techniques and forms of classical music with the stylistic nuances and techniques of popular music and jazz.

20th Century

Period: 1901 to 2000

20th-century classical music is art music that was written between the years 1901 and 2000, inclusive. Musical style diverged during the 20th century as it never had previously, so this century was without a dominant style. Modernism, impressionism, and post-romanticism can all be traced to the decades before the turn of the 20th century, but can be included because they evolved beyond the musical boundaries of the 19th-century styles that were part of the earlier common practice period.

Olivier-Eugène-Prosper-Charles Messiaen

Dec 10, 1908

Olivier Messiaen (born Dec. 10, 1908, Avignon, France—died April 27, 1992, Clichy, near Paris) influential French composer, organist, and teacher noted for his use of mystical and religious themes. As a composer he developed a highly personal style noted for its rhythmic complexity, rich tonal colour, and unique harmonic language. His most important works are "Quartet for the End of Time" and "Turangalîla-Symphonie".

Pierre Schaeffer

Aug 14, 1910

French composer, acoustician, and electronics engineer who in 1948, with his staff at Radio-diffusion et Télévision Française, introduced musique concrète in which sounds of natural origin, animate and inanimate, are recorded and manipulated so that the original sounds are distorted and combined in a musical fashion. Schaeffer’s 10-movement Symphonie pour un homme seul (1950; “Symphony for One Man Only”), produced in collaboration with Pierre Henry, was the first major concrete piece.

Dorothy Vaughan

Sep 20, 1910

Dorothy Vaughan (born September 20, 1910, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.—died November 10, 2008, Hampton, Virginia) American mathematician and computer programmer who made important contributions to the early years of the U.S. space program and who was the first African American manager at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which later became part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

ohn Milton Cage

Sep 5, 1912

(September 5 1912 – August 12 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, he was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage's romantic partner

Claude Debussy

Mar 25, 1918

(born August 22, 1862, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France—died March 25, 1918, Paris) was a French composer whose works were a seminal force in the music of the 20th century. He developed a highly original system of harmony and musical structure that expressed in many respects the ideals to which the Impressionist and Symbolist painters and writers of his time aspired. His major works include Clair de lune (“Moonlight,” in Suite bergamasque, 1890–1905), Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894).

Katherine Johnson

Aug 26, 1918

Katherine Johnson (born August 26, 1918, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, U.S.—died February 24, 2020, Newport News, Virginia) American mathematician who calculated and analyzed the flight paths of many spacecraft during her more than three decades with the U.S. space program. Her work helped send astronauts to the Moon.

Mary Jackson

Apr 9, 1921

Mary Jackson (born April 9, 1921, Hampton, Virginia, U.S.—died February 11, 2005, Hampton) American mathematician and aerospace engineer who in 1958 became the first African American female engineer to work at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Pierre Georges Albert François Henry

Dec 9, 1927

Henry (born in Paris, 9 December 1927 – died in ibid., 5 July 2017) began experimenting at the age of 15 with sounds produced by various objects. He became fascinated with the integration of noise into music, now called noise music. He studied with Nadia Boulanger, Olivier Messiaen, and Félix Passerone at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1938 to 1948.

Philip Glass

Jan 31, 1937

(born January 31, 1937, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive phrases and shifting layers. Glass describes himself as a composer of "music with repetitive structures", which he has helped to evolve stylistically.

Joseph-Maurice Ravel

Dec 28, 1937

Maurice Ravel (born March 7, 1875, Ciboure, France—died December 28, 1937, Paris) French composer of Swiss-Basque descent, noted for his musical craftsmanship and perfection of form and style in such works as Boléro (1928), Pavane pour une infante défunte (1899; Pavane for a Dead Princess), Rapsodie espagnole (1907), the ballet Daphnis et Chloé (first performed 1912), and the opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges (1925; The Child and the Enchantments).

Béla Bartók

Sep 26, 1945

(born March 25, 1881, Nagyszentmiklós, Hungary, Austria-Hungary [now Sânnicolau Mare, Romania]—died September 26, 1945, New York, NewYork, U.S.) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, ethnomusicologist, and teacher, noted for the Hungarian flavour of his major musical works, which include orchestral works, string quartets, piano solos, several stage works, a cantata, and a number of settings of folk songs for voice and piano.

Manuel de Falla

Nov 14, 1946

(born November 23, 1876, Cádiz, Spain—died November 14, 1946, Alta Gracia, Argentina) was the most distinguished Spanish composer. In his music, he achieved a fusion of poetry, asceticism, and ardour that represents the spirit of Spain at its purest. He took piano lessons from his mother and later went to Madrid to continue the piano and to study composition with Felipe Pedrell, who inspired him with his own enthusiasm for 16th-century Spanish church music, folk music, zarzuela.

Joaquín Turina

Jan 14, 1949

born in Seville. He studied in Seville as well as in Madrid. He lived in Paris from 1905 to 1914 where he took composition lessons from Vincent d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum de Paris and studied the piano under Moritz Moszkowski. Like his countryman and friend, Manuel de Falla, while in Paris he familiarized himself with the impressionist composers Ravel and Debussy, whose music had a profound influence on his compositional practice. One of his most important works is The Procession of El Rocío

Arnold Schoenberg

Jul 13, 1951

(born September 13, 1874, Vienna, Austria—died July 13, 1951, Los Angeles, California, U.S.) Austrian-American composer who created new methods of musical composition involving atonality, namely serialism and the 12-tone row. He was also one of the most-influential teachers of the 20th century; among his most-significant pupils were Alban Berg and Anton Webern.

Zoltán Kodály

Mar 6, 1967

(born December 16, 1882, Kecskemét, Hungary [now in Hungary]—died March 6, 1967, Budapest) prominent composer and authority on Hungarian folk music. He was also important as an educator not only of composers but also of teachers, and, through his students, he contributed heavily to the spread of music education in Hungary. He was a chorister in his youth at Nagyszombat, Austria-Hungary (now Trnava, Slovakia), where he wrote his first compositions. In 1902 he studied composition in Budapest.

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky

Apr 6, 1971

Igor Stravinsky (born June 5 [June 17, New Style], 1882, Oranienbaum [now Lomonosov], near St. Petersburg, Russia—died April 6, 1971, New York, New York, U.S.) Russian-born composer whose work had a revolutionary impact on musical thought and sensibility just before and after World War I, and whose compositions remained a touchstone of modernism for much of his long working life. He was honoured with the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal in 1954 and the Wihuri Sibelius Prize in 1963.