A TIMELINE OF WESTERN MUSIC

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1700 CE

1700 CE

- CLASSIC PERIOD. Inspired by humanism and the Enlightenment, music aesthetic is clean and balanced, with no excess of ornamentation. Modern concept of audience emerges, publishers copy music primarily for amateurs, gallant melody and alberti bass, linear melody, conservative modulations, distinct phrases and cadences, seldom harmonic change. Classic Period lasts until around 1800.

1709 CE

- Giuseppe Torelli writes Op. 8 violin concertos. Two kinds of concerto prevalent: orchestral concerto featuring violin and bass and concerto grosso featuring a small group of solo instruments, often strings.

1711 CE

- George Frederic Handel writes oratorio Rinaldo. Trained in Germany, he works in London and emulates Italian opera, writes for Royal Academy of Music, known for opera and oratoria with English text.

1721 CE

- Alessandro Scarlatti writes opera Griselda. Opera in Naples focuses on melody, intricate music, silly plot and da capo aria with elaborate ornamentation.

- Johann Sebastian Bach, most prolific and influential Baroque composer, writes Brandenburg Concertos, Italian fast-slow-fast form, ripieno and concerti grossi.

1722 CE

- J. S. Bach writes Well Tempered Clavier, demonstrates equal temperament of the keyboard.

Jean Philippe Rameau writes Treatise on Harmony. A philosopher, he held salons with Voltaire, Rousseau and Casanova.

1725 CE

- Antonio Vivaldi writes Violin Concerto Op. 8, no. 1-4, later dubbed "The Four Seasons." Head of Pieta boarding school for girls, prolific composer, lively themes, clean flow of ideas, sequence, sonata form.

1726 CE

- Swift, Gulliver's Travels.

1727 CE

- J. S. Bach, St. Matthew's Passion, composed in Leipzig, oratorio style, chorus treated as in a Greek tragedy.

1728 CE

- Gay, Beggar's Opera.

1733 CE

- Pergolesi writes La Serva Padrona in "sentimental style" of opera seria.

1738 CE

- Domenico Scarlatti, keyboard composer at the Court of Madrid, publishes first collection of harpsichord sonatas.

1741 CE

- J. S. Bach writes Goldberg Variations, 30 variations, every third a cannon.

1742 CE

- Premier of Handel's Messiah oratorio in London.

1748 CE

- George Philip Telemann, prolific Lutheran composer, publishes 4 complete annual church cycles.

1749 CE

- J. S. Bach writes The Art of Fugue, 18 canons and fugues, demonstrating all kinds of fugal writing.

1759 CE

- Voltaire, Candide.

1760-1770 CE

- Sturm and Drang, emotional gloomy style, exemplified by C.P.E. Bach, largely keyboard composer.

- Mannheim Orchestra is playing in Germany; orchestra performances still rare, often only 25 players.

1762 CE

- Christoph Willibald Gluck writes Orfeo ed Euridice, part of opera movement toward simplicity and naturalism, emphasis shifted from intricate music toward text and plot.

- Rousseau, Social Contract.

1776 CE

- Declaration of Independence penned in United States.

- Smith, Wealth of Nations

- La Scala opera house opens in Milan.

1781 CE

- Kant, Critique of Pure Reason.

1785 CE

- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart writes Haydn String Quartets. Born in Salzburg, he is a child genius of performance and composition, first symphony at age 8, prolific, more than 60 symphonies, works in Vienna.

1786 CE -

Mozart's Marriage of Figaro premiers in Vienna, libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte.

1787 CE

- Mozart, Don Giovanni, drama giocoso, libretto by da Ponte.

1791 CE

- Franz Joseph Haydn writes London Symphony. Prolific composer, 104 symphonies, serves Esterhazy family in Hungary, also known for Farewell Symphony and Surprise Symphony.

- Mozart writes The Magic Flute, German opera, shows his association with freemasonry, ideas of equality.

1799 CE

- Ludvig van Beethoven completes piano sonata "Pathetique" and Symphony No. 1; by this time basso continuo has been replaced by low melody instruments, and concertmaster is conductor. An innovative composer with a profound impact on music, he introduces unprecedented length and complexity, is emulated by composers after him.