Medieval Music Timeline

CULTURE/PERIOD
PHILOSOPHY
ACTIVITIES/PRACTICES
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
PROPONENTS/COMPOSERS
Medieval Ages Music Timeline (500-1400)
Believed that music should make a listener receptive to spiritual thoughts and reflections
They allowed music in Christian churches in the form of medieval music that involves chanting
Their characteristic of music as based on plainchant improvising with parallel melodies
Medieval singers continued experimenting with melodies and polyphony became more elaborate and complex
The Harp
The Fiddle
The Rebec
The Psaltery
The Dulcimer
The Hurdy-gurdy
The Viol
The Flute
The Trumpet
The Pipe
The Shawn
Recorder
The Bagpipe
The Crumhorn
The Gemshorn
The Lizard
The Drum
The Cymbal
The
Triangle
The Tambourine
Guillaume de Machaut
Adam de la Halle
Guido de Arezzo
Moniot d 'Arras
John Dunstable
Leonel Power

Renaissance Music Timeline (1400-1600)
A new philosophy of renaissance called “humanism” developed in Italy. It emphasized that life should be viewed as a preparation for death.
Dutch composers and musicians were arranged to teach and perform in Italian courts
Renaissance composers used word painting as a musical representation of specific poetic images
The Shawm - has a conical bore. It has 7 to 8 finger holes at the end of the bore is a large bell. It was mostly used in outdoor ceremonial events
The Dulcian - is a predecessor of the shawm. A precursor of the bassoon.
The Trumpet -
Michael Praetorius
Tielman Susato
Josquin des Prez)
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
John Dowland
Jacob Arcadelt
William Byrd
Claudin de Sermisy
Tomas Luis de Victoria
John Dowland

Baroque Music Timeline (1600-1760)
Believed that music was a powerful tool of communication and could arouse any emotion in its listeners belief in music as a potent tool of communication
Composers experimented forms, styles and instruments in music composers and performers used more elaborate musical ornamentation they made changes in musical notation, and developed new instrumental playing techniques
Violin
Viola
Double Bass
Harp
Oboe
Cello
Sackbut
Horn
Bassoon
Harpsichord

Claduio Monteverdi
Johann Sebastian Bach
George Frideric Handel
Alessandro Scarlatti
Domenico Scarlatti Antonio Vivaldi Henry Purcell
Georg Philipp Telemann
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Arcangelo Corelli
Tomaso Albinoni
François Couperin Denis Gaultier Claudio Monteverdi
Heinrich Schütz Jean-Philippe Rameau
Jan Dismas Zelenka Johann Pachelbel
Classical Music Timeline (1730-1820)
Characterized by simpler melodies simple yet more direct style of music had simpler harmony and clearer tonality highly ornamented style of melodic instrumental music.
Composers adapted by a reflected feelings and situations experienced in daily life
Composers prescribe the notation of performer like the pitch, speed, meter, individual rhythms and exact execution of a piece of music.
Piano
Basset clarinet
Basset horn
Clarinet
Chalumeau
Clavichord
Fortepiano
Organ

Bartolomeo Cristofori
Johann Stamitz
Christoph Willibald von Gluck
Franz Joseph Haydn
Robert Schumann
Johannes Brahms
Joseph Haydn
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Ludwig van Beethoven
Romantic Music Timeline (1815-1910)
Characterized by using music to tell a story or express an idea
Believed in allowing their imagination and passion.
Music themes are often centered on nationalism. the use of various instruments including wind instruments compositions from the composers became increasingly expressive and inventive
Performers carried the new music to great heights with the new improved versions of their instruments.
The Flute
The Saxophone The Tuba
Frederic Chopin
Franz Schubert
Richard Strauss Franz Liszt
Felix Mendelssohn
Johannes Brahms
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Richard Wagner
20th Century Music Timeline (1900-2000) innovations on how music was performed and appreciated by the use of technology to enhance compositions emergence of advanced technology for recording and distributing music as well as dramatic innovations in musical forms and styles a time of great expansion and development of, as well as a dramatic reaction
Musicians have new freedom and wide experimentation with new musical styles and forms that challenged the accepted rules of music of earlier periods.
Musicians allowed faster modes of transportation and fans to travel more widely to perform or listen.

Bass Drum
Bell
Bongo Drum
Castanet
Conga Drum
Cymbal
Glockenspiel
Gong
Maracas
Metallophone
Giacomo Puccini
Edgard Varèse
Benjamin Britten
Claude Debussy
Charles Ives
Gustav Holst
Arnold Schoenberg
Bela Bartok
Igor Stravinsky
Aaron Copland
Dmitri Shostakovich

The Romantic Period (1825-1900)
The impact of the French Revolution (1789-1794) set the stage for free thinkers and encouraged men of action to independent endeavours. The Romantic period was ushered in by artists who expressed themselves freely and personally. The desire to release emotion and achieve freedom is succinctly expressed in the watchword term “Sturm und Drang” (“storm and stress”) which comes from a play (1776) by the German author Friedrich von Klinger. Literary works such as Goethe’s Faust (1808), about a man who defies convention, and novels by E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) and others, inspired musicians to new emotional heights.
Romantic music developed over the course of a hundred years.
During this time, many new forms emerged: the art song, (lied) which combined Romantic poetry with voice and piano; stylised piano music such as the waltz, mazurka, polonaise, and etude (study piece); piano music in free form such as the fantasy, arabesque, rhapsody, romanza, ballade and nocturne; and symphonic works such as the tone poem (descriptive piece). Programmatic content was expressed in tone poems by Liszt and others, and in symphonic works such as Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique, and in piano music such as Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (later orchestrated by Ravel in 1923). Nationalism is prevalent in works like Chopin’s polonaises and mazurkas. Other examples are Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies, Smetana’s The Bartered Bride and The Moldau, Borodin’s Prince Igor and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherezade.
The music of the Romantic period mostly contained warm, personal melodies; expressive indications (espressivo, dolce, con amore, con fuoco,) implied interpretive freedom (rubato) and harmonic colour (new chords such as the ninth) Colour was intensified by improvements in instruments, particularly the piano. Performers carried the new music to great heights with the new improved versions of their instruments. During this period exaggerated emotional response was
displayed.
Beethoven (1770-1827) bridged the Classical and Romantic periods in both his life and works reflecting the Classical influence in his early work and the Romantic in his later years. Significant Composers of this time were Schubert, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, Verdi, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Grieg, Rimsky-Korsakov and Puccini.
Some general characteristics of Romantic Music are:
MELODY: Long, lyrical melodies with irregular phrases; Wide, somewhat angular skips; extensive use of chromaticism; vivid contrasts; a variety of melodic ideas within one movement.
RHYTHM: Frequent changes in both tempo and time signatures.
TEXTURE: Almost entirely homophonic.
TIMBRE: A great variety of tone colour; woodwind and brass sections of the orchestra increased; many special orchestral effects introduced; rich and colourful orchestration.
Romantic Period Characteristics
As a generalisation, music composed during the Romantic era possessed the following characteristics:
A freedom in composing. With a strong importance on expressing an emotion. Also fantasy, imagination and a sence of adventure were explored.
Emphasis on lyrical melodies. Rich, often chromatic harmonies, with a use of discords.
Sense of vagueness: especially in tonailty or harmony, but also in rhythm and meter.
Denser textures with bold dramatic contrasts, exploring a wider range of pitches, dynamics and tone-colours.
Expansion of the orchestra. The development of the brass section, whose power often dominate the texture of the compositions.
Rich variety of types of piece, ranging from song, short piano pieces and musical canvasses with spectacular, dramatic, and dynamic climaxes.
Keen interest in programme music such as programme symphony, symphonic poem, concert overture.
Shape was brought to work through the use of recurring themes, such as, nature, reigion and nationalism (a reaction against German influence).
The pieces of the time also had great technical diffulcutly.
This was due to the fact that many of the composers of the time were musicans themselves, main pianists. http://www.mostlywind.co.uk/romantic.html General Characteristics of 20th Century Music

Rhythm was underdeveloped in Western music before 1900. It became much more complex and irregular in the 20th century.

Melody became of secondary importance in much of the music in the 20th century. Melodies were often erratic with wide leaps, irregular rhythms, and unexpected phrases - an instrumental rather than vocal approach.

Harmony was freed from "the tyranny of tonality" (Schoenberg). References to a "key" or tonal center were often determined unimportant and atonality was explored. New scale and chord structures were developed.

Timbre was explored in depth. New playing techniques were developed on traditional instruments to expand their tonal range. New instruments were created (mostly electronic) and instruments unique to "world" or ethnic music were incorporated into the sonic spectrum.

Recording technology increased accessibility for audiences and change the way musicians created music and made a
living.