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Musical History Review
THE MIDDLE AGES 500 - 1420
About:
Over more than 900 years the Catholic Church came to dominate Europe, administering
justice, establishing Universities and controlling the destiny of music, art, and literature. It was
during this time that Pope Gregory established the use of music known as Gregorian Chant,
which was the approved music of the Church.
Important Composers:
Guillame de Machaut
Adam de la Halle
Important Music Works:
Le Jeu de Robin et Marion by Adam de la Halle
Messe de Notre Dame by Guillame de Machaut
Popular Instruments:
Voice
Popular Styles of Music:
Gregorian Chant
Lute
Organum
Music of Troubadores and Trouveres
Interesting Facts:
Groups of travelling musicians, Troubadores and Trouveres travelled from town to town
(they were the original street musician) singing secular music for money.
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THE Renaissance 1420 - 1600
About:
The term “Renaissance” literally means rebirth, it was a time of great cultural awakening and a
flowering of the art and sciences in Europe, and breaking away from the Catholic church.
Important Composers:
Josquin de Prez
Giovanni da Palestrina
William Byrd
John Dowland
Important Music Works:
Terpsichore by Michael Praetorius,
Pope Marcellus Mass by Giovanni da Palestrina
Popular Instruments:
Voice
Recorder
Crumhorn
Sackbutt
Popular Styles of Music:
Sacred Music
Instrumental and Dance Music
English Madrigal
Interesting Fact:
Around 1600 in England, composers and poets were collaborating on a body of music known
as the “English madrigal.” The words of many of these madrigals deal with unrequited love,
and are often sad, but very beautiful. (Boy writes girl a pretty love song, sings for her, and she
rejects him anyway).
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THE BAROQUE AGE 1600 - 1750
About:
The period called "Baroque" in music history extends roughly from 1600 to 1750. Baroque
music is tuneful and very organized and melodies tend to be highly decorated and elaborate.
Conflict and contrast between sections in a piece and between instruments are common, and
the music can be quite dramatic.
Important Composers
Johann Sebastian Bach
Claudio Monteverdi
Antonio Vivaldi
George Frederic Handel
Important Music Works:
The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi
The Messiah by George Frederic Handel
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach
Popular Instruments:
Voice
Violin
Viola
Popular Styles of Music:
Concerto
Opera
Cello
String Bass
Harpsichord
Organ
Recorder
Oratorio
Dance Music
Interesting Facts:
Many Kings and Queens employed composers at their courts where they were little more than
servants expected to churn out music for any desired occasions. Johann Sebastian Bach was
one of these servants. Opera was also first created in this time period in Florence, Italy.
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THE CLASSICAL PERIOD 1750 - 1820
About:
The term "classical" is often used to describe music that is not rock, pop, jazz or another style.
However, there is also a Classical era in music history that includes compositions written from
about 1750 to 1825. Music from this period is orderly, balanced and clear. Its form is very
important as is its harmony and tonality—that is, the musical key in which a piece was written.
Important Composers
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Franz Joseph Haydn
Ludwig van Beethoven
Franz Schubert
Important Music Works:
Symphony No. 94 in G Major by Franz Joseph Haydn
The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflote) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Fair Maid of the Mill (Die schöne Müllerin) by Franz Schubert
Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Popular Instruments:
Voice
Violin
Viola
Cello
String Bass
Harpsichord
Organ
Clarinet
Horn
Flute
Piano
Popular Styles of Music:
Opera
String Quartets
Orchestral Symphony
Dance Music (Gavotte & Minuet)
Interesting Facts:
Artists and musicians moved away from the fancy styles of the Baroque and embraced a clean,
uncluttered style of music . The newly established governments were replacing kings and
queens as well as the church as patrons of the arts, and were demanding an impersonal, but
tuneful and elegant music.
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THE Romantic era 1820 - 1900
About:
Music from this era sounds almost boundless and free from any limitations of form. Much of
this music is programmatic—that is, it is meant to describe something, perhaps a scene in
nature or a particular feeling.
Important Composers:
Felix Mendelssohn
Franz Liszt
Robert Schumann
Giuseppe Verdi
Johannes Brahms
Richard Wagner
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Hector Berlioz
Frederic Chopin
Important Music Works:
Otello by Giuseppe Verdi
Requiem Mass by Johannes Brahms
The Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner
The Nutcracker Suite by Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky
Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz
Popular Instruments:
All instruments from Classical Period
Popular Styles of Music:
Large Orchestral Symphony
Bel Canto Opera
Low brass instruments
Symphonic Poem
Overture
Interesting Facts:
Composers turned their attention to the expression of intense feelings in their music. This
expression of emotion was the focus of all the arts of the self-described "Romantic" movement.
Whether in the nature imagery, violence found in paintings, adventure and myths of the great
collections of fairy tales and folk poetry, the depiction in art of the beautiful, the strange, and
the morbid was the ruling credo of the period
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THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 1900 - 2000
About:
Artists from all countries were searching for exciting and different forms of expression in
music. Composers like Arnold Schoenberg explored unusual and harmonies and pitch schemes.
French composer Claude Debussy was fascinated created a style of music named after the
movement in French painting called Impressionism. Hungarian composer Bela Bartok fused the
music of Hungarian peasants with twentieth century forms. Avant-garde composers such as
Edgard Varese explored the manipulation of rhythms.
Important Composers
Giacomo Puccini
Arnold Schoenberg
Claude Debussy
Igor Stravinsky
Important Music Works:
Bela Bartok
John Cage
Edgard Varese
Gustav Mahler
Dmitri Shostakovich
Samuel Barber
Benjamin Britten
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Turandot by Giacomo Puccini
Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber
4’2” by John Cage
T he Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky
War Requiem by Benjamin Britten
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun by Claude Debussy
Popular Instruments:
All orchestra instruments
Prepared Instruments
Saxophone
Popular Styles of Music:
Large Scale Orchestral
Prepared Pieces
Impressionism
Works
Opera
Avant-Garde
Interesting Facts:
Many composers throughout the twentieth-century experimented in new ways with traditional
instruments, such as the "prepared piano" used by American composer John Cage. Cage also
wrote a piece named 4’22’’ where the performer sits on stage silently for four minutes and
twenty two seconds.