Timeline Project-Music history

By Catherine Walker
  • Period: 500 BCE to 1450

    Medieval period.

    Most of the surviving music from this time is sacred, vocal, and often simple chants. During this period, basic musical notation was developed in the form of rhythmic and pitch notation.
  • 1030

    Guido of Arezzo's Micrologus.

    In Guido of Arezzo's micrologus, A Little Treatise, Arezzo introduced the Hexachord system, the four line, staff, and a relative pitch system. Guido of Arezzo also developed the guidelines for sight singing and early solfege.
  • Period: 1098 to 1179

    Hildegard Von Bingen's lifetime and contributions.

    Hidegard Von Bingen is rembered for her religious leadership, prophecies, her contributions to science, poetry, and music. Her music was distinct from plainsong chants of her time due to their wide vocal range and sounds of nature incorporated into her music. Hildegard von Bingen was formerly acknowledged and canonized in 2012 by the Catholic church.
  • 1323

    Ars Nova Treatise

    This was one of the first major movements and from it came a method of recording rhythmic values. The French developed a system of notation that utilized dots and circles (prolations) to represent perfect (triple) and imperfect (duple) time.
  • Period: 1450 to

    Renaissance period

    The Renaissance period was a transitional period in European history from the middle ages to the modern era. It was a time of social, theological, and artistic innovation as well as a time of geographical exploration.
  • 1485

    Ave Maria, Virgo Serena.

    Ave Maria is a motet attributed to Renaissance composer Josquin Des Prez, it is one of his earliest works and easily his most well known. It refers to the 5 feats of the Virgin Mary and it is regarded as the Mona Lisa of Renaissance music.
  • 1529

    A Mighty Fortress is our God

    This is a protestant hymn written by Martin Luther. It became an anthem for the protestant reformation in Europe.
  • 1538

    Arcadelt Madrigal

    This was an early Madrigal, it had 4 parts as opposed to six and contains sexual innuendo. These were common characteristics of the early Madrigal.
  • 1567

    Pope Marcellus Mass

    This mass was written by Giovanni Palestrina and is accredited with saving polyphony from the Council of Trent. That is because with this Mass, Palestrina was able to prove that words and meaning could still be deciphered and understood through polyphonic music if it was composed in a specific style.

  • Missa O Magnum Mysterium

    This mass was composed by Tomas Luis de Victoria and is a parody mass. This means it was based on one his previous motets and utilizes the existing voice parts from that motet.

  • Sonata Pian e Forte

    This sonata was composed by Giovanni Gabrieli, a composer who worked at St. Mark's Basilica. This sonata was the first piece of music to specify dynamics and assign instruments to their own parts.
  • Period: to

    Baroque period

    The baroque period saw an increase in complex polyphonic music of both secular and sacred varieties, the ending of the baroque period coincides with the death of Bach.

  • L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi

    This was the earliest Opera to enter the standard repertoire, it expresses Monteverdi's use of expressive dissonance. This was a new idea in his time period.

  • England's first public concert series

    This series featured instrumental music as it was becoming more accepted and more instrumentalist music was written.
  • Period: to

    Lifespan of J.S Bach

    One of many composers with the name Bach, J.S Bach is considered one of the most influential Baroque-period composers and his work largely centers around the church whether be instrumental or vocal. His music was not appreciated during his lifetime, but it experienced a revival after his death.

  • L'estro Armonico

    This work was written by Antonio Vivaldi and published in 1711. It was significant because it was written in the new concerto form (concerto ritornello form) he popularized throughout his time as a composer.

  • Traite de l'harmonie

    This paper contains the basic rules of music theory that standardized the composition and analysis of music in the Baroque and Classical periods. Jean-Philippe Rameau established the triad and 7th chords, the strength of the V7-I chord progression, and started the tradition of labeling chord roots and inversions with the Traite de l'harmonie.

  • Bach's well-tempered Clavier

    Bach's well tempered Clavier was a work that proved equal temperament (perfect intervals) are out of tune and that playing the piano in multiple keys without retuning is possible if the piano is tuned to major thirds and 6ths instead of perfect intervals. It was published in two volumes the first in 1722 and the 2nd in 1740.
  • Period: to

    Haydn's lifespan

    Haydn was a classical era composer, he lived to the age of 77.

  • The Messiah

    The Messiah was an Oratorio written by Handel containing the new testament, which was not done very often in Handel's time. It was premiered in 1741 In Dublin, during the season of Lent.
  • Period: to

    Mozart's lifespan

    Mozart was a classical era composer who had a distinguished career as a child prodigy and later as a composer. He died at the young age of 35.
  • Period: to

    Joseph Boulogne + Concerts des Amateurs

    Joseph Boulogne also known as Le Chevalier de Saint-George, was a composer, conductor and fencer of French and African descent. He conducted the Concerts des Amateurs, a privately funded orchestral company that premiered new works from 1773 until its final season in 1781. This is significant because it is one of the few recorded cases of a person of African descent holding a position of affluence in the west before the abolition of slavery.
  • Period: to

    Viennese classical period

  • Don Giovanni

    Don Giovanni, an opera composed in 1787by Mozart (libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte), followed the antics and the fateful demise of Don Juan and what happens to the people in his life afterwards. The opera combined elements of Opera seria and Opera buffa through the voicing of the singers and the conclusion (Don Juan being dragged down to Hell) which was new in this time period.

  • Surprise symphony

    Symphony no 94 or the "Surprise Symphony" was one of Haydn's London symphonies, which are considered some of his greatest work of his career. It was composed in 1791 and premiered in 1792 in London. The surprise symphony gets it's name from the loud chord seemingly out of nowhere in the 1st movement. Haydn included it because he didn't want his audience to fall asleep during the performance.

  • Premiere of Beethoven's 5th symphony in C minor

  • Schubert: The Erlkonig

    Also known as the Elf king, this 19th century song is considered to be one of the best romantic ballads of all time for its innovative use of the piano and the unique characterizations required by the vocalist.

  • Publication of Paganini's 24 Caprices for Violin op. 1

    While the caprices were published in 1820, Paganini began composing them in 1805.

  • Berlioz: Symphony Fantastique

    Composed by Hector Berlioz, symphony fantastique is one of the first purely programmatic symphonies. He wrote it for the actress Harriet Smithson, whom he became obsessed with.
  • Period: to

    Fredric Chopin: Mazurkas op. 7

    Chopin composed a series of Mazurkas (triple metered Polish dances) between 1830 and 1832 to pay homage to his Polish heritage.

  • Fanny Mendelssohn- Hensel: Das Jahr

    Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel wrote Das Jahr in 1841 while traveling in Rome with her husband. She then presented the song cycle to her him as a Christmas present and he illustrated the songs.
  • Period: to

    Louis Moreau Gottschalk: Souvenir De Puerto Rico "Marche De Gabaros"

    Creole composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk composed Souvenir de Puerto Rico from 1857 to 1858 while on a tour of Puerto Rico. The "Marche de Gabaros" in particular is considered to be a predecessor to the ragtime genre.

  • Premiere of Pictures at an Exhibition.

    While there have been many orchestral adaptations inspired by this suite, the original work for solo piano was premiered in 1874.

  • Premiere of Carmen By Georges Bizet

    This was the last opera Bizet wrote and one of the most popular French operas of all time, despite the fact it was not popular at its premiere.

  • Premiere of Der Ring Des Nibelungen.

    Wagner's complete opera cycle was premiered in 1876.

  • Premiere of Brahms's 4th Symphony

  • Premiere of Mahler's 1st Symphony.

  • Premiere of Dvorak's 9th Symphony.

    Also known as the symphony from the new world, Dvorak was inspired by African American traditional music and believed Americans needed to find their own unique style and approach to composition.

  • Scott Joplin: Maple Leaf Rag

  • Jean Sibelius: Finlandia

  • Claude Debussy: Voiles

  • Arnold Schonberg: Pierrot Lunaire

  • Igor Stravinsky: Le Sacre Du Printempts

  • Arnold Schonberg: Piano Suite, Op 25

  • Louis Armstrong: Hotter than That

  • George and Ira Gershwin: I Got Rhythm

  • Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 Premiere date

  • Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky Film Music

  • Duke Ellington: Cottontail

  • Olivier Messiaen's Quatour Pour le Fine Du Temps (Quartet for the End of Time)

  • Bela Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra

  • Copland: Appalachian Spring

  • John Cage: 4'33"

  • Period: to

    Edward Varese: Poeme Electronique

  • Miles Davis: Kind of Blue

  • George Crumb: Ancient Voices of Children

  • John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine