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100 BCE
Epitafio Seikilos
The Seikilos epitaph is an Ancient Greek inscription that preserves the oldest surviving complete musical composition, including musical notation. -
Period: 476 to 1492
Middle Ages
Historical and artistic period that is between V and XV centuries -
680
Gregorian Chant
It is a type of plainchant, simple, monodic and with music subject to the text used in the liturgy of the Catholic Church, although it is sometimes used in a broad sense or even as a synonym for plainchant. -
991
Guido d'Arezzo
Guido of Arezzo was an Italian Benedictine monk and musical theorist who is one of the central figures of music in the Middle Ages, giving his name to musical notes. -
1098
Hildegard von Bingen
She was a holy Benedictine abbess and German polymath, active as a composer, writer, philosopher, scientist, naturalist, doctor, mystic, monastic leader and prophetess during the Middle Ages. -
1135
Bernart of Ventadorn
He was a popular Provençal troubadour, composer and poet. He is probably the best-known troubadour of the style called trobar leu. -
1150
Leonin
The first known composer of polyphonic organum, related to the School of Notre Dame. -
1156
Perotin
Was a medieval French composer, who was born in Paris between 1155 and 1160 and died around 1230. Considered the most important composer of the School of Notre Dame of Paris, in which the polyphonic style began to take shape. -
1170
Ars Antiqua
Refers to the music of late medieval Europe from approximately 1170 to 1310, covering the period of the Notre Dame School of polyphony and the years after. It includes the 12th and 13th centuries. -
Nov 23, 1221
Alfonso X el Sabio
He was the king of the Crown of Castile and the other titled kingdoms between 1252 and 1284. He is also known for the Cantigas. -
1300
Ars nova
Ars Nova was a musical style that flourished mainly in France and Italy during the late Middle Ages in the 14th century. -
1300
Guillaume de Machaut
One of the greatest composers of France of the 14th century and belongs to the current known as ars nova. -
1335
Francesco Landini
He was an Italian composer, organist, singer, poet, instrument maker and astrologer. He was one of the most famous and admired composers of the second half of the 14th century. -
Period: 1400 to 1500
Rennaisance
was a cultural movement, was a transition period. -
1468
Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gutenberg is known for having designed and built the first known mechanized printing press in Europe. In 1455 he used it to print the Gutenberg Bible, which is one of the earliest books in the world to be printed from movable type. -
1468
Juan del Encina
Juan del Encina was a composer, poet, priest, and playwright, often credited as the joint-father of Spanish drama, alongside Gil Vicente. His birth name was Juan de Fermoselle. -
1483
Martín Lutero
Martin Luther was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation, and his theological beliefs form the basis of Lutheranism. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in Western and Christian history. -
1500
Cristóbal de Morales
Cristóbal de Morales was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He is generally considered to be the most influential Spanish composer before Tomás Luis de Victoria. -
1510
Antonio de Cabezón
Antonio de Cabezón was a Spanish Renaissance composer and organist. Blind from childhood, he quickly rose to prominence as a performer and was eventually employed by the royal family. He was among the most important composers of his time and the first major Iberian keyboard composer. -
1523
Orlando di Lasso
Orlando di Lasso was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with William Byrd, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and Tomás Luis de Victoria as one of the leading composers of the later Renaissance. -
1525
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian composer of late Renaissance music. The central representative of the Roman School, with Orlande de Lassus and Tomás Luis de Victoria, Palestrina is considered the leading composer of late 16th-century Europe. -
1533
Andrea Gabrieli
Andrea Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organist of the late Renaissance. The uncle of the somewhat more famous Giovanni Gabrieli, he was the first internationally renowned member of the Venetian School of composers, and was extremely influential in spreading the Venetian style in Italy as well as in Germany. -
1544
Maddalena Casulana
Maddalena Casulana was an Italian composer, lutenist and singer of the late Renaissance. She is the first female composer to have had a whole book of her music printed and published in the history of western music, dedicated to her female patron Isabella de' Medici. -
1548
Tomás Luis de Victoria
Tomás Luis de Victoria was the most famous Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Orlande de Lassus as among the principal composers of the late Renaissance. -
1556
Carlo Gesualdo
Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa was an Italian nobleman and composer. Though both the Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, he is better known for writing madrigals and pieces of sacred music that use a chromatic language not heard again until the late 19th century. -
1557
Giovanni Gabrieli
Giovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organist. He was one of the most influential musicians of his time, and represents the culmination of the style of the Venetian School, at the time of the shift from Renaissance to Baroque idioms. -
1567
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered a crucial transitional figure between the Renaissance and Baroque periods of music history. -
Period: to
Baroque
The Baroque was a period of history in Western culture originated by a new way of conceiving art. -
Giacomo Carissimi
Giacomo Carissimi was an Italian composer and music teacher. He is one of the most celebrated masters of the early Baroque or, more accurately, the Roman School of music. Carissimi established the characteristic features of the Latin oratorio and was a prolific composer of masses, motets, and cantatas. -
Antonio Stradivari
Antonio Stradivari was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, Stradivarius, as well as the colloquial Strad are terms often used to refer to his instruments. -
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell was an English composer of Baroque music. Purcell's musical style was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. -
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Along with Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, Vivaldi ranks amongst the greatest Baroque composers and his influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe, giving origin to many imitators and admirers. -
George Philipp Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving oeuvre. -
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific authorship of music across a variety of instruments and forms, including orchestral music. Since the 19th century Bach Revival, he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. -
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher and one of the most influential figures of German idealism and 19th-century philosophy. He developed a philosophy based on freedom within a wider philosophical system offering novel views on topics ranging from property and punishment to morality and the state. -
Barbara Strozzi
Barbara Strozzi was an Italian composer and singer of the Baroque Period. During her lifetime, Strozzi published eight volumes of her own music, and had more secular music in print than any other composer of the era. This was achieved without support from the Church or consistent patronage from the nobility