Western Music
Timeline of Western Music
| Period | Start Year | Leading Country | Characteristics | Key Composer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ancient | BC 6C | Greece-Rome | Entertainment Music | Pythagoras, Plato |
| Medieval | 4C | Rome | Sacred Music | Guido, Machaut |
| Renaissance | 1450 | Netherlands | Secular Music | Josquin, Weelkes |
| Baroque | 1600 | Venice | Tonal Music | Vivaldi, Bach |
| Classical | 1750 | German regions | Absolute Music | Mozart, Beethoven |
| Romantic | 1810 | Germany | Program Music | Schumann, Paganini |
| 20th Century | 1910 | Multinational | Atonal & Other Music | Shoenberg, Stockhausen, Isang Yun, Unsuk Chin |
| Modern | 2000 | “ | “ | “ |
Medieval Music
- Music in France
- Gregorian chant
- Organum (polyphony)
- Notre Dame school (Léonin, Pérotin)
- Motet
Renaissance Music
- Music in Flanders, Italy
- Dufay (origin of Renaissance music)
- Flanders school (Ockeghem, Binchois, Josquin)
- First composers
- Venetian school (Gabrieli, Monteverdi)
Baroque Music
- Court music, religious music, fugue, background music
- Monteverdi (origin of Baroque music)
- Opera (Bernini, Tintoretto)
- Monody and Basso Continuo
- German Protestant music (Bach)
- Notable figures and works:
- Opera
- Monteverdi
- Lully
- Vivaldi
- The Four Seasons
- Stradivarius
- First opera house and first public concert
- Pachelbel’s Canon and Albinoni’s Adagio
- Telemann
- Handel
- Bach
- Symphony
- Sonata
- The very first symphony
Classical Music
- Mannheim school
- Music popularization
- Symphony (Haydn)
- Sonata (Vivaldi)
- Opera (Mozart)
- Enlightenment music (Beethoven)
- Key figures and concepts:
- Haydn
- The musical city of Vienna
- Mozart
- Beethoven (Eroica, Fate, Pastoral)
- Dedications
- Orchestra and conductor
- Schubert (Unfinished Symphony)
- Rossini
Romantic Music
- Individuality (Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, Brahms, Rossini, Dvořák, Tchaikovsky)
- Music schools & music criticism
- Grand opera & salon music in Paris
- German sacred music opposing social music trends
- Early Romantic:
- Piano
- Program music and absolute music
- The Four Seasons, Revolutionary, Pathetique
- Paganini
- French music
- Berlioz
- Mendelssohn
- Schumann
- Clara Schumann
- Chopin (Etudes)
- Late Romantic:
- Liszt
- Symphonic poems
- Wagner (Ring of the Nibelung)
- Music festivals
- Bizet
- Verdi
- Puccini
- Musical adaptations of literary works
- National schools:
- Grieg
- Sibelius
- Smetana
- Dvořák
- Russian Five:
- Mussorgsky
- Tchaikovsky (Pathetique)
- Brahms
- Bruckner
- Mahler
- Impressionism in music:
- Debussy
- Ravel
- Satie
20th-Century Music
- Break from Romanticism
- Neoclassicism (Stravinsky)
- Schoenberg’s twelve-tone technique
- Avant-garde music
- Popular music (The Beatles)
- Key figures and concepts:
- Strauss
- Schoenberg
- Rachmaninoff
- Bartók
- Prokofiev
- Stravinsky
- Popular music
- Gershwin
- Elgar
- Phonograph
- Shostakovich
- Britten
- Messiaen
- Piazzolla
- Contemporary music
- Cage
- Callas
- Gould
- Karajan
- Early music revival
- Bernstein
- Musical theater
- Film music