Music Timeline, Research Paper Example

Music is one of the most important components of any culture. Music is unique from other cultural accomplishments such as painting and sculpture in the sense that it is widely transmissible, easily replicable, and doesn’t require a certain level of expertise to be appreciated. The popularity of difference music genres in different time periods sometimes also reveals important clues regarding the social attitudes in those particular times. For e.g. Harlem Renaissance in the early decades of the twentieth century gave rise to Jazz popularity and music themes often reflected African Americans’ struggles for equality. It’s no wonder that music has universal appeal because when we experience new cultures, we are often interested in experiencing their music as well. Similarly, music can promote cultures like very few other cultural artifacts. Most of us are aware of the fame Michael Jackson, Metallica, and Ray Charles among many others have bought to the American music. In the same way, The Beatles, Elton John, and other British musicians have proudly represented England and Tango and Samba have increased the appeal of Latin American cultures to the foreigners.

Like cultures, music has also continued to expand as well as evolve over the centuries. It’s worth noting that music has not always been advanced by artists. Some of the earliest contributions came from inventors of music instruments as well as those who looked at music from intellectual point of views. Here is a timeline of some significant musical achievements from 1630s until the WWI:

1675 – English Baroque composer Matthew Locke composes Psyche, the first surviving British opera (Infoplease.com n.d.).

1703 – Italian Baroque composer Antonio Lucio Vivaldi becomes violin master at Venice’s La Pieta orphanage. Vivaldi writes more than 400 concertos during his 35 years’ service at La Pieta (Infoplease.com n.d.).

1725 – Austrian composer, music theorist, and pedagogue Johann Joseph Fux publishesGradus ad Parnassum, in two parts. The first part looks at music from mathematical angle and the second part focuses on author’s musical tastes and his ideas on sacred music. Leopold Mozart is said to have taught his son Wolfgang from Gradus ad Parnassum (Historyofinformation.com n.d.).

1750 – German composer and violinist Johann Sebastian Bach dies, probably ending Baroque period as well. Classical period begins with the emergence of symphonies and string quartets (Infoplease.com n.d.).

1761 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart appears as a keyboard performer for the first time. He is only five years old(Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) n.d.). It will be another 11 years before Mozart is confirmed a Concert Master by a new Archbishop in Salzburg, Hieronymus Colloredo (Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) n.d.).

1787 – German composer and pianist, Ludwig van Beethoven arrives in Vienna to study with Mozart (Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) n.d.). Beethoven is approximately 17 years of age at the time.

1791 – Austro-Hungarian author and inventor, Wolfgang von Kempelen publishes a paper in which he discusses the origins and development of languages and describes the first successful speech synthesizer. Kempelen’s speech synthesizer is the first one to not only produce speech sounds but also whole words and short sentences (Historyofinformation.com n.d.).

1803 – Beethoven produces his third symphony, Eroica. It marks the beginning of the Romantic Period (Infoplease.com n.d.).

1807 – Beethoven completes his most famous work, Symphony No. 5. It is considered by many to be the most popular classical work ever written (Infoplease.com n.d.).

1814 – American lawyer, author and poet Francis Scott Key writesThe Star Spangled Banner. The song is inspired by Francis Scott Key’s experience as a detainee on a British ship on the night of September 13-14, 1814. Francis Scott Key sees large stars and stripes flag during British bombardment which inspires the lyrics of the song (Historyofinformation.com n.d.).

Circa 1860 –West African rhythms, songs, and chants are introduced in America through slave trade. This lays the foundation for blues and jazz population in the U.S. (Infoplease.com n.d.)

1883 – The Metropolitan Opera House opens in New York. Eight more years will pass before New York becomes home to the Carnegie Hall (Infoplease.com n.d.).

1883 – The Royal College of Music is opened in London by the Prince of Wales. The Prince takes the moment to publicly announce knighthood for Arthur Sullivan who will create an incidental music to Shakespeare’s play Macbeth five years later (musicandhistory.com n.d.)

1910 – Igor Stravinsky completes The Firebird. Stravinsky will become one of the greatest composers of the 20^th century(Infoplease.com n.d.).

1913 – The Billboard magazine publishes a list of the most popular vaudeville songs. This list is a predecessor to the magazine’s famous trademark charts (Infoplease.com n.d.).

References

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). W. A. Mozart – A Timeline. http://www.abc.net.au/classic/mozart/timeline.htm (accessed July 14, 2011).

Historyofinformation.com. Baroque Counterpoint. http://www.historyofinformation.com/index.php?category=Music+ (accessed July 14, 2011).

Infoplease.com. Music Timeline. http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0151192.html (accessed July 14, 2011).

musicandhistory.com. http://musicandhistory.com/pdf/1881-1890.pdf (accessed July 14, 2011).