History of Music

Prehistoric Period
• Prehistoric music dates back
4,000 years ago when the “oldest
known song” from Ur was
written in cuneiform. Deciphered
by Prof. Anne Draffkorn Kilmer of
the University of California at
Berkeley, it was demonstrated to
be composed in harmonies of
thirds and was written using a
Pythagorean tuning of the
diatonic scale.
 Greek Period
• Ancient Greek Music remains one of the least illuminated chapters of the
History of Greek Culture. Despite the fact that we have access to information
concerning the role of music in everyday life, a great deal of significant
information concerning the sound and the way it was played remains
unknown.
• Music during this period is exemplified by the Epitaph of Seikelos (first
century A.D) engraved on a tombstone in Tralles, Asia Minor and the “Hymn
to Apollo” (second century A.D.) by Mesomedes of Crete (Lamucho et al.,
2003)
 Roman Period
• Vocal and instrumental music (lyre, trumpet, and drums) formed part
of the daily lives of the early Romans. Songs and operas based on the
literary works of renowned writers were among their entertainment
fares. (Lamucho et al., 2003).
 Medieval Period
• The only repertory Medieval music which has survived fro before
800 to the present is the plainsong liturgical music of the Roman
Catholic Church. The largest part of this music is called the
Georgian chant, named after Pope Gregory I, who is usually
claimed to be the originator of the musical portion of the liturgy in
its present form.

• During the 9th century, the earliest polyphonic music was sung, a
form of parallel singing known as organum. At the same time,
musical notation was reinvented.
• During the 13th century, forms of sacred music such as the
motet, conductus, discant, and clausulae were developed.

• In the following century, the style of the ars nova dominated

European music history. Then, there was a tendency to use
the forms fixes (the ballade, the virelai, the lai, and rondeau),
which correspond to poetic forms of the same names, and
which were popularized by Guillaume de Machaut and
Francesco Landini.
 Renaissance Period
• The Renaissance music did not take its roots in Italy, but in northern
Europe (France, the Netherlands and Belgium) with the
establishment of the first generation of the Franco- Flemish school
that produced famous Burgundian composers, particularly
Guillaume Dufay, Gilles Binchois, and Antoine Busnois.
• The Middle generation of Franco-Flemish school included Johannes
Ockeghem, Jacob Obrecht, and Josquin Desprez. The father of Galileo
Galiei (Vincenzo) and Guilio Caccini worked for the restoration of the
music of the ancient Greeks; they produced a monody (a declamatory
melodic singing style) and an opera ( a corresponding dramatic form
consisting of staged, acted monody).

Johannes Ockeghem Jacob Obrecht Josquin Desprez Guilio Caccini

Baroque Period
• During this period, instrumental music became dominant and most major
music forms were defined. While counterpoint was one of the major forces in
both the instrumental music and the vocal music of the period, secular music
came to the force as the sonata, the concerto, and the concerto grosso
developed. Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Antonio
Vivaldi were the three outstanding composers of the period.

Johann Sebastian Bach George Frideric Handel Antonio Vivaldi

 Classical Period

• The music of the Classical Period is characterized by

homophonic texture (an obvious melody with
accompaniment). The popular instrument music was
dominated by several well-defined forms (the sonata,the
symphony, and the concerto; however, during the 19th
century, the sonata became the primary form of
instrumental compositions..
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the central figure of the period
although the Mannheim School composers (Johann Stamitz, Franz
Xaver Richter, Carl Stamitz, and Christian Cannabich) exerted a
profound influence on Joseph Haydn and on all subsequent European
composers (through Haydn). Ludwig van Bethoven and Franz
Schubert were transitional composers leading into the Romantic
Period

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

 Romantic Period
• During Romantic Period music became more expressive and
emotional. Such were the compositions of the famous Romantic
composers, including Schumann, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Bellini, and
Berloiz. With the dramatic expansion in the size of the orchestra and
in the role of concerts as part of urban society, a new wave of famous
coposers emerged- Johann Strauss II, Brahms, Liszt, Tchaikovosksy,
Verdi, and Wagner. Between 1890 and 1910, a third wave of
composers (Dvorak, Mahler,Richard Strauss, Puccini, and Sibelius)
built on the words of middle Romantic composes to create even more
complex and much longer musical works.
 Modern Period
• A revolution in music listening occurred as the radio gained popularity
worldwide and new media and technologies were developed to record,
capture, reproduce, and distribute music.
• Music today is no longer limited to concerts and clubs inasmuch as
the almost obsolete cassette tape, the CD, the VCD, the DVD, the
MP3, the MP4, and the computer are media generating music.
• As such, music artists can quickly gain popularity nationwide and
sometimes worldwide. Music performances became increasingly
visual with the broadcast and recording of music videos and concerts.
• Music of all kinds also became increasingly portable with the use of
headphones. Thus, audiences are exposed to a wider range of music
than ever before.
• The late 20th-century and the early 21st-century music brought a new
freedom and wide experimentation with the new musical styles and
forms that challenged and accepted rules of earlier periods. The
invention of musical amplification and electronic instruments,
particularly the synthesizer, revolutionized popular music and
accelerated the development of new forms of music.