Western Music Timeline
| 1200 BC-0 | 0-1000 | 1000-present | |||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||||
| 7 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| ancient ca. 1200 BC-500 AD |
medieval ca. 500-1400 |
Renaissance ca. 1400-1600 |
Baroque ca. 1600-1750 |
Classical ca. 1750-1820 |
Romantic ca. 1820-1900 |
Modern ca. 1850- |
| Greek and Roman (ca. 1200 BC-500 AD) • monophonic, mode-based music • basic music theory |
Early Christian (ca. 200-500) • adaptation of Roman melodies to chant |
| Dark Ages (ca. 500-1000) • Gregorian chant • crude notation (approximate indication of pitch) |
later medieval/Renaissance (ca. 1000-1600) • polyphonic vocal (sacred and secular) • staff notation (precise indication of pitch and rhythm) |
Baroque (ca. 1600-1750) • Vivaldi • Handel • Bach |
| Classical (ca. 1750-1820) • Haydn • Mozart • Beethoven |
Romantic (ca. 1820-1900) • full Romantic: Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt, R Strauss • conservative Romantic: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms • regional Romantic: Russia, Bohemia, Scandinavia |
| Modern (ca. 1850-present) • Early Modern: Debussy (impressionism) • Late Modern: Ravel (impressionism), Schoenberg (radical modern), Stravinsky (moderate modern) |
| Baroque | Classical | Romantic | |
| Italian | Handel | Mozart | (Donizetti, Rossini) > Verdi > Puccini |
| German | Wagner > R Strauss | ||
| French | Bizet | ||