A TIMELINE OF WESTERN MUSIC

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1500 CE

1500 CE

- Heinrich Isaac writes Innsbruck, ich mass dich lassen; he is a composer known for song settings.

1501 CE

- First secular music in print - Ottaviano Petrucci's Odhecaton.

1503 CE

- Da Vinci, Mona Lisa.

1504 CE

- Michaelangelo, David.

1514 CE

- Machiavelli, The Prince.

1517 CE

- Martin Luther nails 95 Theses to door of church, Lutheran church creates congregational chorales, develops use of block chords and contrafacta (existing melodies with new text).

1518 CE

- Just intonation (consonances in simple ratios) by Ptolemy, revealed by Gaffurio, leads to experimentation in mean-tone and equal temperament.

1520 CE

- Josquin de Prez writes mass Pange Lingua. A very popular composer in his day, he writes masses and motets, music carefully fitted text, voices share chant melody, unified by imitation.

1527 CE

- Willaert appointed to St. Mark's in Venice; he makes advances in evading cadence and use of modality.

1532 CE

- King Henry VIII breaks with Roman Church.

1543 CE

- Copernicus, de revolutionibus orbium caelestium.

1548 CE

- King Edward VI (Protestant) of England forbids all but syllabic music in church.

1545 CE

- Council of Trent, lasts until 1563, places restrictions on church music.

1558 CE

- Gioseffo Zarlino, composer and counterpoint theorist, writes le istitutione harmoniche.

1554 CE

- Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina publishes his first book of masses. A choirmaster in Rome, he revises the official chant book of Catholic Church after Council of Trent, writes in conservative style of counter- reformation using old fashioned cantus firmus.

1562 CE

- Psalter, book of Calvinist psalms published in France, unaccompanied unison melody.

1565 CE

- Castrati introduced in Italy as a way for men to sing women's parts.

- Orlando di Lasso, church composer and madrigalist, writes Penitential Psalms.

1567 CE

- Palestrina writes Pope Marcellus Mass.

1580 CE

- Duke Alfonso D'Este establishes concerte delle donne (women's chorus) in Ferrara, Italy.

1581 CE

- Earliest surviving French ballet music, Ballet Comique de la Reine.

1587 CE

- Mary Stuart executed in England.

1593 CE

- Carlo Gesualdo marries into D'Este family; he is a motet composer known for chromaticism and the murder of his first wife.

1597 CE

- Giovanni Gabrieli writes Sacrae Symphonie, the first piece of music to delegate parts to specific instruments, used dynamics "pian" and "forte," also known for polychoral motets. Instrumental music developing at this time, common forms - toccata, fantasia, ricercare, and prelude.

1598 CE

First eary opera written, Jacopo Peri's L'Euridice, based on the Greek tragedy, recitative style.

1600 CE

1600 CE

- BAROQUE PERIOD. Music of this time considered capricious and extravagant, very ornamented, movement centered around Florence and Rome, patrons funded music, golden age of organmusic, organ adapted from Dutch in Germany. Baroque period lasts until around 1750.

1604 CE

- Shakespeare, Othello.

1605 CE

- William Byrd writes Gradualis, a musical liturgy for secret practice by Catholics in London.

- Claudio Monteverdi describes new school of counterpoint, Italian movement with more adventurous harmony, text-dominated, dissonance more tolerated, more chromaticism, basso continuo (figured bass) with florid treble, modality replaced by major/minor tonality, use of IV, V, I progression.

1607 CE

- Monteverdi writes opera L'Orfeo, uses larger orchestra and ornate style, later he becomes choirmaster at St. Mark's.

1609 CE

- Kepler, Astronomia Nova.

1620 CE

- Opera reaches height of popularity in Rome, mostly based on myths or epic poems, two types of song: Recitative - speechlike, moves plot along, and Aria - songlike, shows character emotion.

1628 CE

- Heinrich Schutz writes psalm settings of German Psalter.

1632 CE

- Galileo, Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems.

1635 CE

- Girolamo Frescobaldi writes Fiori Musicali, solo instrumental music - sonatas, variations, dance music for lute or keyboard.

1637 CE

- First public opera house opens in Venice with Ferrari and Manelli's Andromeda; catches on wildly.

1648 CE

- England becomes a Commonwealth.

1649 CE

- Pier Francesco Cavalli writes Giasone, becomes popular opera composer.

1650 CE

- Giacomo Carissimi writes Jepthe, an oratorio (dramatic dialogue, often religious, not staged). Grand concerto also develops at this time.

1650-1700 CE

- Elaborate music performed in churches, especially Italian composers - A. Scarlatti, G. B. Pergolesi, German composers - Johann Fux, Dietrich Buxtehude, Erdmann Neumeister, and French composers - Francois Couperin.

1660 CE

- Charles II restores monarchy to power in England.

1666 CE

- First Stradivarius violins made by Antonio Stradivari in Cremona, Italy.

1667 CE

- Milton, Paradise Lost.

- Antonio Cesti writes Il Pom d'Oro, an early opera.

1670 CE

- Peak of Venetian opera, focus on spectacle, celebrity singers, 60 arias in an opera, strophic, ostinato bass.

1671 CE

- King Louis XIV of France establishes Academy of Music.

1681 CE

- Arcangelo Corelli writes first set of trio sonatas, op.1 - sonata form, logical, sequence, cadenza, ornaments, figured bass.

1686 CE

- Jean Baptiste Lully writes Armide. In the service of Louis XIV, he defines French style, writes overtures, dotted rhythms, works with librettists Quinault and Moliere.

1687 CE

- Newton, Principia Mathematica.

1689 CE

- Agostino Steffani and Enrico detto il Leone bring Venetian opera to Germany.

- Henry Purcell writes his opera Dido and Aeneas for a girls' boarding school. He also serves as organist at Westminster Abbey.

1690 CE

- Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.

1692 CE

- Johann Kunau writes his first sonata for keyboard. Two kinds of sonata popular: sonata da chiesa - abstract movements for church and sonata da camera - dance movements.