Music
Composers, works, notation, instruments and institutions of music.
Category: Culture
- c. 1030Guido of Arezzo completes his antiphoner prologue on staff notation
The Italian monk Guido of Arezzo, teacher at Arezzo cathedral, set out a method of notating pitch on a ruled staff and of teaching singers with the ut-re-mi syllables. The work is dated to about 1030.
- c. 1160Léonin compiles the Magnus liber organi at Notre-Dame, Paris
Léonin, working at the Paris cathedral then under construction, gathered polyphonic settings of the chant for the liturgical year, the foundation of the Notre Dame school. The date is approximate.
- c. 1198Pérotin writes four-voice polyphony for Notre-Dame
Pérotin, who revised Léonin's collection, composed the four-part gradual Viderunt omnes, probably for Christmas 1198 under Bishop Odo of Paris. The date is inferred from episcopal edicts and may be a year or two later.
- c. 1361Guillaume de Machaut composes the Messe de Nostre Dame
Machaut, the leading figure of the French ars nova, wrote the earliest known complete setting of the Mass Ordinary by a single composer, probably for Reims Cathedral in the early 1360s.
- 1377Death of Guillaume de Machaut
The composer and poet Guillaume de Machaut died, probably in April 1377. Musicologists often use his death to mark the end of the ars nova and the start of the ars subtilior.
- June 1489Josquin des Prez joins the papal choir in Rome
The Franco-Flemish composer Josquin des Prez, previously in the service of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza in Milan, sang in the papal choir from June 1489 until at least 1494 under Innocent VIII and Alexander VI.
- 1501Petrucci prints the Harmonice Musices Odhecaton in Venice
Ottaviano Petrucci published the first book of polyphonic music printed from movable type. It spread the Franco-Flemish style across Europe. Its dedication is dated 15 May 1501; the exact printing date is unknown.
- May 1503 – April 1504Josquin serves Duke Ercole I d'Este at Ferrara
Josquin des Prez arrived at the Este court by May 1503 and left by April 1504; there he wrote the Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae, printed by Petrucci in 1505.
- August 27, 1521Death of Josquin des Prez at Condé-sur-l'Escaut
Josquin des Prez, the most celebrated composer of his generation, died on 27 August 1521 at Condé-sur-l'Escaut in Hainaut.
- 1551Palestrina becomes choirmaster of the Cappella Giulia, St Peter's
Pope Julius III appointed Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina maestro di cappella of the Cappella Giulia in Rome in 1551. In 1554 he dedicated to the pope his first book of Masses.
- January 14, 1573The Florentine Camerata meets at Count Bardi's house
The earliest recorded meeting of the Florentine circle of humanists and musicians, patronised by Count Giovanni de' Bardi, took place on 14 January 1573. Its debates on ancient Greek drama led to the first operas.
- c. 1581Vincenzo Galilei publishes the Dialogo della musica antica et della moderna
The Florentine lutenist and theorist Vincenzo Galilei attacked polyphony for obscuring the text and urged solo song that followed speech, an idea central to the birth of monody and opera. Published 1581-1582.
- February 2, 1594Death of Palestrina in Rome
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, whose smooth polyphony became a model of Catholic church music, died in Rome on 2 February 1594. The tale that his Missa Papae Marcelli saved polyphony at Trent is not accepted by historians.
- 1597Giovanni Gabrieli publishes the Sacrae symphoniae in Venice
Gabrieli, organist at St Mark's Basilica, issued works for separated choirs and instruments that developed into the Baroque concertato style and drew pupils such as Heinrich Schütz from across Europe.
- c. 1597Peri and Rinuccini stage Dafne in Florence, the first opera
Jacopo Peri and the poet Ottavio Rinuccini produced Dafne, generally regarded as the first opera; its music is lost. Sources give 1597 or 1598 (some earlier), so the date is approximate.
- October 6, 1600Peri's Euridice premieres at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence
Staged on 6 October 1600 for the wedding of Maria de' Medici and Henry IV of France, Euridice by Jacopo Peri (libretto by Rinuccini) is the earliest surviving opera.
- 1602Caccini publishes Le nuove musiche in Florence
Giulio Caccini's collection of madrigals and arias for solo voice with basso continuo, dated February 1601 in Florentine reckoning but issued in July 1602, made the new monodic style a model across Italy.
- 1605Monteverdi defends the seconda pratica against Artusi
Answering the theorist Giovanni Maria Artusi's attacks of 1600 and 1603, Claudio Monteverdi announced in the preface to his fifth book of madrigals his 'second practice', in which the text governs the music.
- February 24, 1607Monteverdi's L'Orfeo premieres at the Gonzaga court in Mantua
Claudio Monteverdi's opera, to a libretto by Alessandro Striggio, was first performed on 24 February 1607 for Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga. It is the earliest opera still regularly staged.
- 1610 – August 1613Monteverdi publishes the Vespers, then becomes maestro di cappella at St Mark's
Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine, dedicated to Pope Paul V, appeared in 1610. After leaving Mantua he was appointed maestro di cappella at St Mark's, Venice, in August 1613 and held the post until his death.
- 1615Heinrich Schütz moves to Dresden as court composer to the Elector of Saxony
Schütz, who had studied with Giovanni Gabrieli in Venice (1609-1612), took up service at the Saxon court in Dresden in 1615 and carried Italian Baroque idioms into German church music.
- 1627Schütz's Dafne is staged at Torgau, traditionally the first German opera
Heinrich Schütz set a German translation of Rinuccini's Dafne for a court wedding at Torgau in 1627. The music is lost, but the work is traditionally regarded as the first German opera.
- 1637Teatro San Cassiano opens in Venice as the first public opera house
Opened in 1637 with Francesco Manelli's L'Andromeda, it was the first theatre to sell opera tickets to a paying public, moving the art form from courts to a commercial audience.
- November 29, 1643Death of Claudio Monteverdi in Venice
Monteverdi died on 29 November 1643, the year his last opera, L'incoronazione di Poppea, was first staged in Venice. He is the central figure in the passage from Renaissance to Baroque music.
- 1661Lully becomes superintendent of Louis XIV's royal music
The Florence-born Jean-Baptiste Lully was made superintendent of the music of Louis XIV in 1661 and naturalised as a French subject that December, beginning his control of French court music.
- 1672Lully takes over the Académie royale de musique, the Paris opera
In 1672 Lully acquired Pierre Perrin's opera privilege and directed the Académie royale de musique, where with the poet Quinault he created French tragédie en musique, beginning with Cadmus et Hermione in 1673.
- March 22, 1687Death of Jean-Baptiste Lully in Paris
Lully died on 22 March 1687 of gangrene after striking his foot with a conducting staff during a Te Deum celebrating Louis XIV's recovery from surgery. He had refused amputation.
- c. 1689Purcell's Dido and Aeneas is performed at a girls' school in Chelsea
Henry Purcell's only fully sung opera, to a libretto by Nahum Tate, was staged at Josias Priest's boarding school in Chelsea by the end of 1689. Some scholars date its composition to about 1683, for the court.
- November 21, 1695Death of Henry Purcell in London
Purcell, organist of Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal and the leading English composer of his day, died on 21 November 1695 at about 36.
- 1700Corelli publishes his Opus 5 violin sonatas in Rome
Arcangelo Corelli's twelve sonatas for violin and continuo, ending with variations on La Folia, helped establish the violin as a prestigious solo instrument and became a model across Europe.
- c. 1700Bartolomeo Cristofori's piano is recorded in the Medici inventory
The Florentine instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori, employed by Prince Ferdinando de' Medici, built a keyboard that could play soft and loud. The 1700 Medici inventory is the first unambiguous record of the piano.
- 1711Vivaldi publishes L'estro armonico in Amsterdam
Antonio Vivaldi's Opus 3, twelve concertos printed by Estienne Roger in Amsterdam, spread his concerto style across Europe and strongly influenced other composers, including J. S. Bach.
- February 24, 1711Handel's Rinaldo opens at the Queen's Theatre, London
Premiered on 24 February 1711, Rinaldo was the first Italian opera George Frideric Handel wrote for the London stage and a popular success, bringing Italian opera seria to Britain.
- January 8, 1713Death of Arcangelo Corelli in Rome
Corelli, patronised by Cardinals Pamphili and Ottoboni, died in Rome on 8 January 1713. His Opus 6 concerti grossi were published in Amsterdam the following year.
- February 1719 – 1729The Royal Academy of Music is founded in London to stage Italian opera
Founded in February 1719 as a joint-stock company by aristocrats, with Handel as its key composer, it hired star singers such as Senesino and Cuzzoni. Costs and rivalries sank it by 1729.
- March 24, 1721Bach dedicates the Brandenburg Concertos to Margrave Christian Ludwig
While Kapellmeister at Köthen, Johann Sebastian Bach sent six concertos to the Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, dated 24 March 1721, at the Margrave's request after meeting him in Berlin.
- 1722Rameau publishes the Traité de l'harmonie
Jean-Philippe Rameau's treatise introduced the 'fundamental bass' and the idea that chords derive from root notes, becoming the basis of later Western music theory.
- 1723 – 1750Bach becomes Thomaskantor in Leipzig
Johann Sebastian Bach succeeded Johann Kuhnau as cantor of the St Thomas School, directing music for Leipzig's main churches until his death in 1750. There he wrote most of his church cantatas and the Passions.
- 1725Vivaldi's The Four Seasons is published in Amsterdam
Antonio Vivaldi's four violin concertos, each tied to a season, were printed in 1725 as the first four of the twelve in Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione, Opus 8.
- July 27, 1733Bach presents the Kyrie and Gloria of the future B minor Mass to the Saxon Elector
On 27 July 1733 Johann Sebastian Bach petitioned the new Elector Augustus III in Dresden, sending a Kyrie and Gloria. He expanded them into the complete Mass in B minor in 1748-49.
- October 1, 1733Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie premieres in Paris and divides the audience
The first opera of Jean-Philippe Rameau, staged at the Académie royale de musique on 1 October 1733, was praised and attacked for its harmonic novelty and started a pamphlet war with Lully's admirers.
- July 28, 1741Death of Antonio Vivaldi in Vienna
Vivaldi, the Venetian priest and violinist whose concertos shaped the form, died in poverty in Vienna on 28 July 1741, aged 63.
- April 13, 1742Handel's Messiah is first performed in Dublin
Composed in London in 24 days in 1741 to a text by Charles Jennens, Messiah premiered on 13 April 1742 at the Great Music Hall, Fishamble Street, as a charity concert that freed 142 imprisoned debtors.
- May 7, 1747Bach visits Frederick the Great at Potsdam and writes The Musical Offering
On 7 May 1747 Johann Sebastian Bach was received by Frederick II of Prussia at Potsdam. He printed the resulting contrapuntal The Musical Offering in September of that year.
- July 28, 1750Death of Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig
Bach died on 28 July 1750 after unsuccessful eye surgery, leaving The Art of Fugue unfinished. His death is the conventional end of the Baroque period in music.
- April 14, 1759Death of George Frideric Handel in London
Handel, a German-born naturalised British subject who had made oratorio and Italian opera central to London's musical life, died on 14 April 1759 and was buried in Westminster Abbey on 20 April.