A TIMELINE OF WESTERN MUSIC

PAGE 4

1800 CE

1800 CE

- ROMANTIC PERIOD. Music is very close in convention and form to Classic Period, but goal becomes to express emotion, music is often instrumental and programmatic, solid middle class audience emerges, concerts given by individual entrepreneurs. Romantic Period lasts until 1900.

- Popularity of piano spreads, expands to seven octaves, boom in sheet music publishing, caters to amateurs.

- Beethoven's piano sonatas "Waldstein," "Moonlight," and "Appassionata," show use of new octaves and thick texture.

1802 CE

- Genius of J. S. Bach finally recognized after J. N. Forkel publishes his biography.

1803 CE

- Beethoven completes Symphony No. 3 which is long and complex, dedicated to Napoleon, more dissonant, less conservative key changes, long development with new material.

1806 CE

- Beethoven, String Quartets No. 1 and 2, homorhythmic sections, dissonance, unisons, double stops, pointillism, extreme ranges, very controversial.

1808 CE

- Goethe, Faust part 1.

Beethoven, Symphony No. 6, "Pastoral," programmatic with titles that set rustic scenes.

1815 CE

- Invention of metronome.

- Franz Schubert writes Erlkonig. A German composer, he writes 9 symphonies and over 200 choral works, lyrical melody, haunting instrumentation.

1816 CE

- Gioachino Rossini writes The Barber of Seville. A wildly popular Italian comic opera composer, he writes catchy melodies and rhythms, clear phrases, sparse texture, simple harmony.

- Beethoven is completely deaf by this point.

1817 CE

- Muzio Clementi writes Gradus ad Parnassum. A composer for mainly keyboard, he writes many pedagogic works, makes pianos, and is part of generation of touring pianists like Gottschalk, Liszt, Rubinstein, and Field.

1821 CE

- Carl Maria von Weber writes opera Der Freischutz. He sets trends of German opera with supernatural elements, wilderness, mystical legend, fairytale, symbolism, folky melodies, chromatic harmony, emphasis on inner voices, use of melodrama (spoken dialogue over orchestral music).

1824 CE

- Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, late style fully developed by now, creates continuity by intentionally blurring divisions between phrases, freely measured improvisatory feel, fugal textures, new sonorities made by contrapuntal lines, use of solo voices and chorus in finale to text of Schuller's Ode to Joy.

1826 CE

- Felix Mendelssohn writes A Midsummer Night's Dream, with a focus on melody. He is also known for Songs Without Words for keyboard.

1829 CE

- Rossini writes William Tell, later known for overture.

1830 CE

- Hector Berlioz writes Symphonie Fantastique, detailed program music with idee fixe (melody to represent heroine), large scale work.

1831 CE

- Bellini writes Norma in Italian school of opera which also included Donizetti (Elixir of Love). French school of grand opera - Meyerbeer, Berlioz (Damnatiion of Faust), Gounod (Faust), and Saint-Saens (Samson et Dalila).

1832 CE

- Fryderyck Chopin writes Op. 10 Etudes for Piano. A Polish composer of piano music and Bach enthusiast, he defines the piano idiom - technical skills, dynamics, orchestral effects, use of range; his most common forms include prelude, etude, mazurka, polonaise, impromptu, nocturne, waltz, sonata, ballade, concerto.

1837 CE

- Robert Schumann writes Phantasiestucke, composer of mostly keyboard and vocal works, progressive chromaticism and extended suspensions.

1842 CE

- New York Philharmonic Society found.

1846 CE

- Adolphe Sax, instrument maker and inventor of bass clarinet, invents saxophone.

- Clara Schumann writes Piano Trio, teacher, pianist, wife of Robert Schumann.

1848 CE

- Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto.

1853 CE

- Giuseppe Verdi writes La Traviata. An Italian nationalism symbol, he resists German trends, tells stories of human drama, emphasis on melody, also known for Rigoletto, Aida, Otello, Il Trovatore, and Falstaff.

1854 CE

- Thoreau, Walden.

1859 CE

- Richard Wagner writes Tristan und Isolde, opera with complex chromatic alteration of chords, blurring of chord progressions, extended periods of non-chord tones, ambiguous tonality and suspensions.

1864 CE

- Tolstoy, War and Peace.

- U. S. Civil War ends.

1869 CE

- Piotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky writes Romeo and Juliet, orchestral program music. A Russian composer of six symphonies and ballets, he inserts waltz section into symphony form.

1873 CE

- Johannes Brahms writes Variations on a Theme by Hadyn, orchestral piece, full sounding orchestration. A Beethoven enthusiast, he writes 4 symphonies, lyrical style, bold modulations, rhythmic advances (4 against 6).

1874 CE

- Monet, Impression: Soleil levant.

- Modest Musorgsky writes Pictures at an Exhibition. A Russian composer, he is one of the Mighty Five (Borodin, Cui, Rimsky-Korsakov, Musorgsky and Balikirev) who are disillusioned with conservatory training, resistant to German infuence and use modal exotic scales and folk polyphony. Also known for Night on Bald Mountain and Boris Godunov.

- Richard Wagner writes The Ring of the Nibelungs (Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried), continuous form without formal division, use of leitmotif (melody as symbol). Using a story from Norse legend, he champions German opera trends and creates gesamtkunstwerk (total work with poetry, music, set design, staging and acting).

1875 CE

- Edvard Grieg, a Norwegian composer of mainly piano pieces and incidental theater music, writes Peer Gynt.

- George Bizet writes Carmen, borrows from Spanish Habanera style, blurs lines of serious and comic opera.

1876 CE

- Twain, Tom Sawyer.

1878 CE

- Thomas Edison patents phonograph for sound recording.

1880 CE

- Tchaikovsky, 1812 Overture.

1881 CE

- Franz Liszt writes Nuanges Gris, for piano, extended use of augmented chords. A virtuosic pianist, he pushes back boundaries of piano technique, also known for symphonic poems in one continuous movement.

1883 CE

Metropolitan Opera opens in New York City.

1885 CE

- Anton Bruckner writes hymn Virga Jesse. A Viennese composer of mostly orchestral works, he writes 10 symphonies.

1887 CE

- Gabriel Faure writes Messe de Requiem. An organist, teacher and composer, he exemplifies French style: subtlety, order, restraint, emphasis on sonorities rather than expression, founder of National Society for French Music.

1888 CE

- Richard Strauss writes Death and Transfiguration. He is a German composer of symphonic poems that usually represent a philosophical idea, also celebrated conductor. Also writes Don Quixote, Don Juan, MacBeth, Blue Danube Waltz, Der Rosenkavalier, Salome, and Elektra.

- Cesar Franck writes Symphony in D Minor. He is called the founder of modern French chamber music.

- Paris World's Fair.

- Eric Satie writes Gymnopedies, quasi-modal, very plain texture, unresolved, satirizing the Impressionists.

1890-1900 CE

- Buddy Bolden, New Orleans cornetist, makes a name for himself playing around town, influences Louis Armstrong, considered founder of jazz.

1892 CE

- Tchaikovsky, Nutcracker Ballet.

1893 CE

- Anton Dvorak writes Symphony No.9, "New World," inspired by American folk melodies and rhythms.

1894 CE

- Claude Debussy writes Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun in Impressionist style, evokes moods and expressions from harmony, tone, color, style of allusion and understatement. Impressionism is the antithesis of the Romantic's sincerity, often maintains tonal center, but defies common tonal relationships, influenced by gamelon. Debussy writes mostly piano and orchestral music, including La Mer and Nocturnes.

1895 CE

- Gustav Mahler writes Symphony No.2, "Resurrection." A reknowned conductor and composer of long, programmatic, complex orchestral works, he uses large performing forces and often choir in his 10 symphonies.

1896 CE

- Giacomo Puccini writes La Boheme. An Italian opera composer, he employs exotic sounds, lyrical melodies, diverse harmonies, realistic libretto, and music furthers the plot. Also known for Madama Butterfly and Tosca.

1897 CE

- Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag achieves popularity, widely published on sheet music for amateur pianists. Joplin is awarded the Pulitzer Prize posthumously.

- Paul Dukas writes The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

1898 CE

- Danish inventor Valdemar Poulsen invents "wire recorder."

1899 CE

- Edward Elgar writes the Enigma Variations. An English composer, he writes in French cosmopolitan style.