Another Spiral - -
Music

 

Thumbnail Sketch of Western Musical History

 

 

Dates
Key Genres, Events, Styles
Major Figures
300 - 500 ad Collapse of Roman Empire; Influences from North & East (barbarians, Byzantium). St. Ambrose (bishop of Milan, Introduces antiphonal psalmody)
ca. 590 - 640 ad Liturgical reform Pope Gregory I
ca. 800-1100ad Plainchant (one part). Liturgical/sacred traditions Anonymous Gradual "Viderunt Omnes"
1100s Polyphony (multiple parts) Leonin Organum above cantus firmus based on "Viderunt Omnes"
1200s more complex polyphony; infusion of secular traditions Perotin . Four-part organum "Viderunt Omnes"
1300s ARS NOVA - motet (song) Machaut
1400s Diffusion of motet forms throughout Europe Obrecht, Ockeghem, Josquin du Prez.
1500s dense polyphony - emergence of instrumental ensembles Palestrina;
1600s NUOVA MUSICAE - Opera. Beginning of Baroque period. Monteverdi; Schutz
1700s Baroque period. Sonata, Concerto. Purcell;Scarlatti; Vivaldi Bach (passage from 6th Brandenburg Concerto) Handel;
1750s Transition to Classical Period; Symphony & other instrumental forms crystalized. CPE Bach, Couperin; Haydn, Mozart, Early Beethoven (First Viennese School)
1800s Early Romantic Era - extended forms, programatic work(literature, narrative) Beethoven, Berlioz, Schumann, Liszt
1850s High Romantic Era - ditto

Wagner (Operas) (Gesamtkunstwerk);

Brahms (no operas)
1885 - 1910 Late Romantic - Add Nationalism, stretching/expanding tonality to its most extreme Richard Strauss, Mahler (passage from Symphony #10 (1910; unfinished); Sibelius, Dvorak; Charles Ives (passage from "The Unanswered Question", written between 1906 and 1914)
1890s-1918

"Impressionism" - non-functional harmonies; non-Western influences.

 

1905 - Scriabin- "Prometheus" Symphony

1912 - Concert of Piano Experimentation by Henry Cowell in San Francisco

 Debussy (Ravel)
1909-20s

New Music - 20th Century Music arrives;

Luigi Russolo - Italian Futurists - Art of Noise

Ballets Russes - Serge Diaghilev:

1913 - Stravinsky "Rite of Spring" (passage from Dans Sacrale), Debussy "Jeux"; Ravel "Daphnes & Chloe" (passage from Dans Generale).

1917- Satie "Parade", Scenario by Jean Cocteau, Decor & Costumes by Picasso, Choreography by Massine, Libretto by M & Diaghilev. ("Mysterious Rag" by Irving Berlin adapted by Satie)

1920- Stravinsky - "Pulcinella". Decor & Costumes by Picasso, Choreography by Massine, Libretto by M & Diaghilev.

 

Recordings: rise of Dixieland, Ragtime, early Jazz.

 

Stravinsky (passage from Petrushka, 1911),Ravel, Debussy, Satie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
1920s

Second Viennese School

1925- Berg - "Wozzeck". Based on play by Georg Buchner.

Schoenberg (from Variations for Orchestra (1932) serial work), Webern (from 5 Movements for String Quartet, 1909; atonal work), Berg (from Altenberg Lieder, early atonal work);
Late 20s First Experiments with Recorded Sound & Musique Concrete

Edgard Varese; Pierre Schaffer

1930s

Music for Film.

1938- Serge Eisenstein & Serge Prokofiev "Alexander Nevsky". (later, together again in "Ivan the Terrible")

 

 Eric Wolfgang Korngold. Bernard Hermann (from Suite from Psycho for the film by A. Hitchcock).
1940s

Influx of Major European Figures to America - Stravinsky, Schoenberg move to LA; Bartok (NYC).

1944 - "Quartet for the End of Time" by Olivier Messian.

1944 - "Appalachian Spring" by Aaron Copland for Martha Graham.

1946-49 "Sonatas and Interludes" by John Cage (first prepared piano work, 1938)
Post WWII (1946-1955)

Darmstadt.

 

1952 - John Cage "4 Minutes 33 Seconds"

1958 - LeCorbusier & Varese (passage from Deserts (1954)): Philips Pavilion, Brussels World Fair
Berio, Stockhausen, Boulez
Late 50s

Happenings, Aleatory, Electronics, Sound Mass

1959 - Penderecki "Threnody for Victims of Hiroshima"

Cage (passage from Concerto for Piano)
60s

Fluxus Movement

Pop Music Incorporates Electronics, Etc.

1964 - Terry Rielly "In C". One of earliest "Minimalist" works.

1967 - Beatles "Sgt. Pepper " stretches vocabulary of pop music.

Moog Synthesizer Invented

1968 - Walter (now Wendy) Carlos, "Switched On Bach"

Cage (Nam June Paik )

 

Gaburo

 

Ravi Shankar (passage of vocalization and drumming by Shankar's drummer, Alla Rakah)
Early 70s

More Fusion of Electronic & Pop

Early to Mid 70s - Kraftwerk

1972 - Miles Davis "Bitches Brew"

More Experimentation & Expansion

1971 - George Crumb "Black Angels"

 Conlon Nancarrow (Player Piano Etude #1, 1949)
Late 70s

Minimalism

1976 - Philip Glass/Robert Wilson "Einstein on the Beach"

1976 - Steve Reich "Music for 18 Musicians"

Glass, Reich, John Adams, Terry Reily

 
80s

MIDI protocol invented

Further Fusion of Music & Image: MTV.

1984 - Peter Gabriel "Sledgehammer"; Madonna, "Open Your Heart"; Talking Heads, "Once In A Lifetime"

Music in Performance Art and Multimedia

1984 - Laurie Anderson "Home of the Brave" (passage from "Big Science")

1985 - John Adams "Nixon in China"

1986 - Ornette Coleman, Pat Metheny "Song X"

1988 - Steve Reich "Different Trains"
90s

Digital Directions

1991 - Digital Audio on Desktop (ProTools, et al.)

Music & Media

1993 - Laurie Anderson "Puppet Motel" CD-ROM

1996 - Todd Machover "Brain Opera"

1998 - Napster redefines intellectual property