Music
by Derek Gerlach

45,000 years ago
Flute made from bone of bear
Neanderthals carve a flute from the leg bone of a young bear, in the region that is now Slovenia

2800 BC
Music on harp and lyre
The harp and the lyre are in use as musical instruments in Mesopotamia

2500 BC
Royal servants buried alive
Some ninety royal servants, including soldiers, grooms and female musicians, are buried alive in the tomb of a royal couple at Ur

1500 BC
Trumpets in Egypt
A copper trumpet is in use in Egypt, forerunner of the brass instruments of the orchestra

500 BC
Greeks discover octave
The followers of Pythagoras discover the mathematical basis of the octave

250 BC
Mechanical organ in Alexandria
The organ, using a mechanical device to pump air through a set of musical pipes, is invented in Alexandria by Ctesibius

600
Gregorian chant from Jewish sources
Ritual intoning of the psalms, derived from Jewish synagogues, is formalized in Christian worship as Gregorian chant

1050
Polyphony
Polyphony brings new complexity of interweaving vocal lines, in the choral singing of abbey or cathedral

1320
De Vitry's New Art
Philippe de Vitry, in his Ars Nova ('New Art'), lays out the basis of musical notation

1397
Germany develops harpsichord
The keyboard of the organ is adapted in Germany to strings, thus providing the harpsichord - first mentioned in a manuscript of this year

1400
Master singers compete in German towns
Guilds of singers and song-writers develop in German towns, calling themselves Meistersinger, or master singers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Meistersinger_von_N%C3%BCrnberg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_form
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Meistersinger_von_N%C3%BCrnberg_discography
/german-literature/579?section=medieval-renaissance&heading=meistersinger

1471
Sixtus founds chapel and choir
The new pope, Sixtus IV, secures his name in history, establishing the Sistine chapel and the Sistine choir

1597
First opera performed in Florence
Dafne is performed in Florence, becoming the first example of a new art form - opera

1600
Oratory launches oratorio
A performance in the Oratory in Rome, with music by Emilio de' Cavalieri, is in effect the first oratorio

1607
Monteverdi makes opera history
Claudio Monteverdi presents Orfeo, the first opera to win a lasting place in the international repertory

1637
First public opera house
The first public opera house, the Teatro San Cassiano, opens in Venice

1661
Louis XIV encourages others to dance
Louis XIV establishes a royal dancing academy and soon follows it with a music academy

1679
19-year-old Alessandro Scarlatti has a great success in Rome with Gli Equivoci nel Sembiante, the first of his 115 operas

1689
Chelsea schoolgirls premiere Purcell
Young gentlewomen in Chelsea give the first performance of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas

1695
Domenico Scarlatti gets his first teacher

1697
Alessandro Scarlatti introduces a new form of prelude
In his opera La Caduta de' Decemviri, Alessandro Scarlatti introduces a new form of prelude, later known as the Italian overture, which is an important stage in the development of the symphony

1698
Piano invented in Florence
A maker of harpsichords in Florence, Bartolomeo Cristofori, develops the piano ('soft') and forte ('loud') feature which leads to the piano

1709
In a friendly keyboard contest in Rome between Handel and Domenico Scarlatti, the result is a draw – Handel being the winner on the organ and Scarlatti on the harpsichord

1711
Handel brings Italian opera to London
Handel's success in London with his opera Rinaldo prompts him to settle in Britain

1712
The violinist Archangelo Corelli composes his Christmas Concerto, the best known of his influential group of twelve Concerti Grossi

1720
Development of symphony
The symphony begins to develop as a musical form, deriving from the overtures of operas

1720
Development of string quartet
Like the symphony, the string quartet develops during the eighteenth century, moving from simple beginnings to great complexity

1720
Bach's Little Keyboard Book
Johann Sebastian Bach compiles the Little Keyboard Book a set of pieces to teach his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach

1721
Bach writes Brandenburg Concertos
Johann Sebastian Bach writes the six Brandenburg Concertos for his employer at the court of Köthen

1722
The Well-Tempered Clavier
J.S. Bach publishes The Well-Tempered Clavier, a collection of 24 Preludes and Fugues

1725
Vivaldi scores the seasons
Vivaldi publishes the set of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons

1727
St Matthew Passion
J.S. Bach conducts the first performance of his St Matthew Passion in the St Thomas's church in Leipzig

1727
Zadok the Priest
Handel composes Zadok the Priest for the crowning of George II, and it has been sung at every subsequent British coronation

1730
Metastasio the man for libretti
The Italian poet Metastasio produces, in Vienna, opera libretti which are used by almost every composer of the day

1732
Handel develops English oratorio
With the performance of Esther Handel taps a rich new vein, the English oratorio

1740
Cultured Frederick on Prussian throne
Frederick II, inheriting the throne in Prussia, establishes a cultured and musical court

1741
Goldberg Variations
J.S. Bach publishes his set of Goldberg Variations, supposedly written for performance by the young harpsichordist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg

1744
2nd part of Well-Tempered Clavier
J.S. Bach publishes another set of 24 Preludes and Fugues, as an addition to his previous Well-Tempered Clavier

1749
Mass in B Minor
Shortly before his death (in 1750) J.S. Bach completes his Mass in B Minor, worked on over many years

1751
By the time of his death the prolific output of Domenico Scarlatti includes 555 sonatas, all but a few for his own instrument, the harpsichord

1761
Haydn and the Esterházy
Joseph Haydn enters the service of the Esterházy family, and stays with them for twenty-nine years

1762
England has its own Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach's youngest son, Johann Christian, moves to London and becomes known as the English Bach

1762
Gluck reforms opera
The intensely dramatic music of Gluck's Orfeo ed Eurydice introduces a much needed reform in the conventions of opera

1762
Mozart plays for empress
6-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart plays for the Habsburg empress Maria Theresa

1763
Mozart tours Europe
7-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart begins a three-year concert tour of Europe

1764
Haydn's first string quartets
Joseph Haydn's first published work is six string quartets, a form which he subsequently makes very much his own

1772
Haydn's Farewell Symphony
Haydn's Farewell Symphony gives a subtle hint to his employer at Esterházy that it is time for the musicians to return home

1775
Yankee Doodle
Yankee Doodle is the most popular song with the patriot troops in the American Revolution

1781
Mozart moves to Vienna
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, now 25, leaves Salzburg to settle in Vienna

1782
Beethoven's Dressler Variations
12-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven publishes his first composition, Piano Variations on a March by Dressler

1785
Haydn hears Mozart's quartets
Mozart and his friends perform for Haydn the Mozart quartets inspired by Haydn's 'Russian' quartets (op.33), which on publication are dedicated to him

1786
Prague hums Mozart's Figaro
Mozart's Marriage of Figaro premieres in Vienna and then has a huge success in Prague

1786
'Too many notes, my dear Mozart'
The emperor Joseph II is reported to have told Mozart that his opera The Marriage of Figaro has 'too many notes'

1787
Don Giovanni in Prague
Mozart's opera Don Giovanni has its premiere in Prague

1790
Così fan Tutte
Mozart's opera Così fan Tutte has its premiere in Vienna, in the court theatre of Joseph II

1790
Haydn heads for London
Joseph Haydn sets off for England, where impresario Johann Peter Salomon presents his London symphonies

1791
Stranger asks Mozart for mass
A stranger arrives in Vienna with a mysterious commission for Mozart to write a requiem mass, just months before the composer's death
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_completions_of_Mozart%27s_Requiem
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Mozart%27s_Requiem
/music/200?section=18th-century&heading=requiem

1791
The Magic Flute
Mozart's opera The Magic Flute has its premiere in Vienna in a popular theatre run by the librettist, Emanuel Shikaneder

1791
Mozart dies
Mozart dies, at the age of just 35, leaving his Requiem unfinished

1792
French officer writes Marseillaise
A French officer, Rouget de Lisle, writes a stirring anthem for France, soon to be known as the Marseillaise

1792
Beethoven to study with Haydn
Beethoven leaves Bonn and goes to Vienna to study composition with Haydn

1794
12-year-old Paganini performs
Virtuoso violinist Nicolo Paganini gives his first public performances, in churches in his native Genoa

1795
Beethoven's debut in Vienna
Beethoven makes his first public appearance in Vienna as a pianist, playing either his first or second piano concerto

1799
Haydn's Creation
Haydn's oratorio The Creation has its first public performance in Vienna, in the Burgtheater

1800
Beethoven threatened by deafness
Beethoven seeks medical advice for a very alarming condition, an increasing deafness

1800
Haydn and Lady Hamilton
Nelson and the Hamiltons visit Haydn, who composes a cantata on the Battle of the Nile for Emma Hamilton to sing

1802
Heiligenstadt Testament
At Heiligenstadt, near Vienna, Beethoven writes a letter, to be read only after his death, confronting the tragedy of his inexorable decline into deafness

1804
Beethoven disgusted with Napoleon
Beethoven changes the dedication of his third symphony on hearing that his hero, Napoleon, has made himself an emperor

1805
First version of Fidelio
The first version of Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, is performed in Vienna under the title Leonore

1808
Beethoven's Pastoral symphony
Beethoven's sixth symphony (the Pastoral) has its first performance in Vienna

1814
Beethoven's Missa Solemnis
Beethoven's Mass in D (the Missa Solemnis) has its first performance in Vienna, though still incomplete

1814
Final version of Fidelio
The final version of Beethoven's opera Fidelio has its premiere in Vienna

1816
Rossini's Barber of Seville
Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville has its premiere in Rome

1821
Der Freischutz
Carl Maria von Weber's opera Der Freischutz has its premiere in Berlin

1822
Schubert's 'Unfinished' symphony
Austrian composer Franz Schubert begins, but never completes, the great work now known as his 'Unifinished' symphony (no 8.in B minor)

1823
12-year-old Liszt is virtuoso
12-year-old Hungarian pianist Franz Liszt wins a reputation as a virtuoso performer

1823
Die Schöne Müllerin
Austrian composer Franz Schubert writes the song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin ('The beautiful miller's wife')

1824
Beethoven's Choral symphony
Beethoven's ninth symphony (the Choral, because of its finale, setting Schiller's Ode to Joy) has its first performance in Vienna

1824
Rossini moves to Paris
Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini moves to Paris, where he becomes director of the Théatre Italien

1825
Schubert's 'Great' C major symphony
Franz Schubert composes his 'Great' C major symphony (previously often attributed to 1828)

1826
Mendelsohn's first Midsummer Night's Dream
17-year-old Felix Mendelssohn composes an overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, amplifed with huge success eighteen years later

1826
Weber's Oberon
Carl Maria von Weber's opera Oberon has its premiere (in London, at Covent Garden)

1829
Mendelssohn revives St Matthew's Passion
After a century of neglect, the 20-year-old Felix Mendelssohn conducts an influential revival in Berlin of J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion

1829
Rossini's William Tell
Gioacchino Rossini's opera William Tell has its premiere in Paris

1829
Mendelssohn visits Hebrides
German composer Felix Mendelssohn visits the Hebrides and see's Fingal's Cave, later the theme of his Hebrides Overture

1830
Symphonie fantastique
The Symphonie fantastique by French composer Hector Berlioz has its premiere in Paris

1831
America is sung at Fourth of July meeting
Samuel Francis Smith's patriotic hymn America is sung for the first time on July 4 in Boston

1832
L'elisir d'amore
Gaetano Donizetti's opera L'elisir d'amore has its premiere in Milan

1832
Schumann's Papillons
Robert Schumann's first published composition is Papillons ('Butterflies'), twelve short dance pieces for piano

1832
Mendelssohn's Fingal's Cave
Mendelssohn's concert overture The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) has its premiere in London's Covent Garden

1833
Berlioz marries Harriet Smithson
Hector Berlioz marries an Irish actress, Harriet Smithson, with whom he has been obsessed since seeing her play Ophelia and Juliet in 1827

1835
Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor
Gaetano Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor has its premiere in Naples

1837
Grande messe des morts
Hector Berlioz's requiem mass, the Grande messe des morts, has its first performance in Paris

1839
Preludes in Majorca
Polish composer Frédéric Chopin completes his Preludes under difficult conditions in Majorca

1840
Schumann's Frauenliebe und -Leben
Robert Schumann composes the song cycle Frauenliebe und -Leben ('Woman's Love and Life')

1840
Schumann marries Clara
Robert Schumann marries the pianist Clara Wieck, daughter of his first teacher

1842
Nabucco brings Verdi fame and fortune
The success of the opera Nabucco, premiered in Milan, is a turning point in the fortunes of Giuseppe Verdi

1842
Christy's Minstrels
Edwin Pearce Christy launches the Virginia Minstrels, later to become America's most popular minstrel show under the name Christy's Minstrels

1843
The Flying Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman is the first of Richard Wagner's major operas to be staged, with its premiere in Dresden

1843
Mendelssohn's final Midsummer Night's Dream
Mendelssohn's overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, amplified now with incidental music, is greeted as a masterpiece at a performance of the play in Potsdam

1846
Mendelssohn's Elijah
Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah has its premiere in England, in the city of Birmingham

1848
Oh! Susannah
Oh! Susannah is in the first published collection of popular songs by Stephen Collins Foster

1849
New Waltz King in Vienna
In Vienna the younger Johann Strauss succeeds his father as the Waltz King

1850
Barnum presents Jenny Lind
Jenny Lind, the 'Swedish Nightingale', has a great success touring the USA in a show presented by P.T. Barnum

1851
Rigoletto
Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto, based on a play by Victor Hugo, is a huge success at its premiere in Venice

1851
Wagner writes anti-semitic tract
Richard Wagner writes an anti-semitic tract, Jewishness in Music

1853
Il Trovatore
Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trovatore is a success at its premiere in Rome

1853
Traviata flops in Venice
Just six weeks after the success of Il Trovatore, Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata is a disaster at its premiere in Venice

1854
Schumann attempts suicide
Robert Schumann throws himself into the Rhine, in an attempt to commit suicide, and spends the last two years of his life in an asylum

1857
Kneller Hall is bought by the War Department and reopened as the Military School of Music, later the Royal Military School of music.

1858
Berlioz completes The Trojans
Hector Berlioz completes his 4-hour opera The Trojans (not performed as a complete work until 1890)

1859
Gounod's Faust
The opera Faust, by French composer Charles Gounod, has its premiere in Paris

1861
National Eisteddfod
An official National Eisteddfod is held for the first time in Wales, in Aberdare

1865
Tristan and Isolde
Richard Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolde has its premiere in the Munich court theatre

1867
Night on the Bare Mountain
Modest Mussorgsky composes his orchestral work St John's Night on the Bare Mountain, based on a story by Gogol

1867
First collection of 'Negro Spirituals'
The first collection of 'Negro Spirituals' is published in book form in the US as Slave Songs of the United States

1868
Mastersingers of Nuremberg
Richard Wagner's opera The Mastersingers of Nuremberg has its premiere in Munich

1869
Brahms' German Requiem
Johannes Brahms' German Requiem, setting passages from Luther's translation of the Bible, has its first complete performance in Leipzig

1869
Das Rheingold launches Ring cycle
Das Rheingold, with its premiere in Munich, is the first part of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle to be staged

1870
Coppélia
Coppélia, with choreography by Arthur Saint-Léon to music by Delibes, has its premiere at the Paris Opera

1870
Wagner marries Liszt's daughter
Richard Wagner marries Cosima, the daughter of the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt

1871
Verdi goes Egyptian
Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida, is commissioned for the Cairo opera house, part of the process of Egypt becoming westernized
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Verdi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Set_design_by_Philippe_Chaperon_for_Act1_sc2_of_Aida_by_Verdi_1871_Cairo_-_Gallica_-_Restored.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Verdi_Monument
/egypt/567?section=egypt-under-the-turks&heading=expansion-and-bankruptcy

1874
Boris Godunov
Modest Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov has its premiere in St Petersburg

1874
Die Fledermaus
Johann Strauss's operetta Die Fledermaus has its premiere in Vienna

1874
Pictures at an Exhibition
Mussorgsky composes Pictures at an Exhibition as a piece for piano in memory of an exhibition by the Russian painter Victor Hartmann

1875
Peer Gynt
Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt has its premiere in Oslo, with incidental music by Edvard Grieg

1875
Carmen
Georges Bizet's opera Carmen has its premiere in Paris and meets at first with a lukewarm response

1876
Tchaikovsky corresponds with Nadezhda
Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky begins an intense correspondence with a wealthy patron, Nadezhda von Meck

1876
The Ring of the Nibelungen
Richard Wagner's sequence of four operas, The Ring of the Nibelungen, has its first complete performance at Bayreuth

1876
Brahms's first symphony
Johannes Brahms' first symphony has its premiere in Karlsruhe

1877
Swan Lake
The ballet Swan Lake, with choreography by Julius Wenzel Reisinger to music by Tchaikovsky, has its premiere at the Bolshoi in Moscow

1878
Dvorák's Slavonic Dances
Czech composer Anton Dvorák writes his first set of Slavonic Dances, originally as piano duets

1879
Eugene Onegin as an opera
Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin, based on Pushkin's poem, has its premiere in Moscow

1880
In the Steppes of Central Asia
Russian composer Alexander Borodin writes In the Steppes of Central Asia as part of the silver jubilee celebrations for Alexander II

1880
Academic Festival Overture
Johannes Brahms' Academic Festival Overture is performed first at Breslau university, which has conferred on him an honorary Ph.D.

1887
Prince Igor incomplete at Borodin's death
Alexander Borodin dies without finishing his opera Prince Igor (completed later by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov)

1887
Verdi's Otello
Giuseppe Verdi's opera Otello has its premeiere at La Scala in Milan

1887
Melba makes her debut
The Australian soprano Nellie Melba makes her operatic debut as Gilda in Rigoletto in Brussels

1889
Strauss's Don Juan
The tone poem Don Juan, by the 25-year-old Richard Strauss, has a passionately mixed response at its premiere in Weimar

1889
Groves Dictionary of Music
English musicologist George Grove completes publication of his four-volume Dictionary of Music and Musicians

1889
Mahler's first symphony
Austrian composer Gustav Mahler conducts the premiere in Budapest of his first symphony, described as a 'symphonic poem'

1890
Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty, with choreography by Petipa to music by Tchaikovsky, has its premiere in St Petersburg

1891
Highland Association supports Scottish Gaelic
A Gaelic pressure group, the Highland Association, is founded to preserve the indigenous poetry and music of Scotland

1892
Dvorák moves to New York
Dvorák takes a job in New York as director of the National Conservatory, returning to Prague in 1895

1892
Nutcracker
The Nutcracker, with choreography by Lev Ivanov to music by Tchaikovsky, has its premiere in St Petersburg

1892
Peach Melba
The French chef Auguste Escoffier creates and names a dessert in honour of the Australian soprano Nellie Melba

1893
Manon Lescaut brings fame to Puccini
Giacomo Puccini has his first success when his opera Manon Lescaut opens in Turin

1893
Verdi's last opera
In Falstaff Giuseppe Verdi writes his last opera, and his only comedy since the early days of his career.

1893
'New World' symphony
Anton Dvorák's Ninth Symphony, subtitled 'From the New World', has its first performance in New York

1893
'Pathetic' symphony
Tchaikovsky's symphony no. 6, known as the 'Pathetic' or Pathétique, has its premiere in St Petersburg

1893
Tchaikovsky dies in mysterious circumstances
Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky dies after a short illness, possibly from cholera or perhaps in sinister circumstances that remain the subject of controversy

1893
Hansel and Gretl
Hansel and Gretl, an opera by German composer Engelbert Humperdinck, has its premiere in Weimar

1894
L'Après-midi d'un faune
Claude Debussy's tone poem L'Après-midi d'un faune has its premiere in Paris

1894
Caruso debut in Naples
The tenor Enrico Caruso makes his debut in his home town of Naples

1895
Petipa and Ivanov revive Swan Lake
Swan Lake is performed in St Petersburg in its definitive version, with choreography shared between Lucien Petipa and Lev Ivanov

1895
"Waltzing Matilda"
Australia has a catchy new song in "Waltzing Matilda", written by Banjo Paterson to music by Christina Macpherson

1895
First night of the Proms in Britain
A promenade concert, presented by Henry Wood in London's Queen's Hall, turns out to be the beginning of a very long tradition

1896
La Bohème a flop at premiere
Giacomo Puccini's opera La Bohème has an unsuccessful premiere in Turin

1896
Sibelius's Swan of Tuonela
Jean Sibelius's 'symphonic legend' The Swan of Tuonela has its premiere in Helsinki

1897
Mahler baptized
Jewish composer Gustav Mahler is baptized a Christian so as to be eligible to conduct the Vienna Opera

1897
Rachmaninov's First Symphony
Rachmaninov's First Symphony has a disastrous premiere in St Petersburg, probably caused by the incompetence of Glazunov as conductor

1898
Melba tours with her own company
The Australian soprano Nellie Melba forms the Melba Grand Opera Company as a touring venture in the USA

1899
Elgar's Enigma Variations
Edward Elgar teases with the word 'enigma' printed at the head of his orchestral Variations on an Original Theme

1899
Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht
Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg composes the string sextet Verklärte Nacht

1900
Puccini's Tosca
Giacomo Puccini's Tosca brings in the new century with a January premiere in Rome

1900
Harry Lauder makes London debut
Scottish music-hall artist Harry Lauder makes his first London appearance at Gatti's music hall in Westminster

1900
Danzas españolas
Enrique Granados completes the ten piano pieces forming his Danzas españolas

1900
Finlandia
Jean Sibelius's Finlandia stirs national instincts in Helsinki

1900
Elgar's Dream of Gerontius
Edward Elgar writes the oratorio Dream of Gerontius, setting Cardinal Newman's poem of the same title

1900
Charpentier's opera Louise
Gustave Charpentier's opera Louise has Paris premiere at the Opéra-Comique

1901
Verdi dies
Vast crowds line the streets for the Milan funeral of a national hero, the 87-year-old composer Giuseppe Verdi

1901
Rusalka
Rusalka, by the Czech composer Anton Dvorák, is performed in Prague

1901
Elgar's first Pomp and Circumstance
The first of Edward Elgar's five Pomp and Circumstance marches has a trio section that becomes "Land of Hope and Glory"

1901
Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto
Sergei Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto gives him renewed confidence after the disaster of his First Symphony in 1897

1901
A Village Romeo and Juliet
Frederick Delius completes his opera A Village Romeo and Juliet, but it is not performed until 1907 in Berlin

1902
'Land of Hope and Glory'
'Land of Hope and Glory' features in its lasting form as the finale of Elgar's Coronation Ode for Edward VII

1902
Come Home Bill Bailey
Hughie Cannon writes 'Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home' for a minstrel, John Queen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Songs_written_by_Hughie_Cannon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_talk:Songs_written_by_Hughie_Cannon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Matter_How_Much_You_Promise_to_Cook_or_Pay_the_Rent_You_Blew_It_Cauze_Bill_Bailey_Ain%27t_Never_Coming_Home_Again

1902
Pelléas et Mélisande
Claude Debussy's opera Pelléas et Mélisande has its premiere in Paris

1902
Mahler marries Alma
Gustav Mahler marries Alma, daughter of the artist Emil Jakob Schindler

1902
Caruso's first recordings
The tenor Enrico Caruso cuts his first phonograph records in Milan, beginning an immensely successful recording career

1903
The Wizard of Oz as a musical
The Wizard of Oz, based on the book by Frank Baum, opens on Broadway as a musical to huge success

1903
Sibelius's Valse Triste
Sibelius writes Valse Triste as incidental music to a play, Kuolema, by his brother-in-law Arvid Järnefelt

1903
Shéhérazade
Maurice Ravel sets to music romantic oriental poems by Tristan Klingsor in his song-cycle Shéhérazade

1903
Caruso at the Met
Italian tenor Enrico Caruso makes his US debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera

1904
Jenufa
Leos Janacek's opera Jenufa, based on a play by Gabriela Preissová, has its premiere in Brno

1904
Disastrous first night for Madam Butterfly
Giacomo Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly falls victim at La Scala to claques paid for by rivals

1904
Frankie and Johnny
Hughie Cannon writes the music and words for the song originally titled "He Done Me Wrong" in the US musical Frankie and Johnny

1904
Schoenberg teaches Berg and Webern
Alban Berg and Anton Webern study composition with Arnold Schoenberg in Vienna

1904
Scriabin's Divine Poem
Alexander Scriabin completes his Third Symphony, The Divine Poem, which is given its first performance in Paris in 1905

1904
Melba on record
Australian soprano Nellie Melba makes the first of a great many recordings

1905
Fantasia on British Sea Songs
Henry Wood sets 'Rule Britannia' in his Fantasia on British Sea Songs, providing a traditional favourite for the last night of the Proms

1905
Young Poland group of musicians
Karol Szymanowski and other Polish composers form a group that soon becomes known as Young Poland

1905
Scriabin discovers Blavatsky
The Russian composer Alexander Scriabin becomes influenced by the theosophy of Madame Blavatsky

1905
Debussy's La Mer
Claude Debussy completes the three symphonic sketches forming La Mer

1905
Kindertotenlieder
Gustav Mahler's cycle of five songs, Kindertotenlieder, hs its first performance in Vienna

1905
Richard Strauss's Salome
Richard Strauss's Salome, based on Oscar Wilde's play, has wide success in spite of censorship difficulties

1905
The Merry Widow
Franz Lehár's operetta The Merry Widow opens in Vienna at the start of an immensely successful run

1906
Charles Ives' The Unanswered Question
In Charles Ives' composition The Unanswered Question the trumpet repeatedly asks 'the perennial question of existence'

1906
Ethel Smyth's The Wreckers
Ethel Smyth's most successful opera, The Wreckers, is premiered in Leipzig

1907
Delius's Walk to the Paradise Garden
Frederick Delius's Walk to the Paradise Garden is added to his opera A Village Romeo and Juliet to cover a scene change during the Berlin premiere

1907
Les Sylphides
Michel Fokine creates the ballet Les Sylphides (originally called Chopiniana) to music by Chopin

1907
Diaghilev takes Russian music to Paris
Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev presents five concerts of Russian music in Paris

1907
Brigg Fair
Frederick Delius completes Brigg Fair, an 'English Rhapsody' for orchestra, first performed in Liverpool in 1908

1907
Lauder has hit record in USA
Harry Lauder has a hit in the USA with his recording of I Love a Lassie

1907
Pavlova's Dying Swan
Anna Pavlova dances The Dying Swan, choreographed for her by Michel Fokine to music by Saint-Saëns

1908
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Jack Norworth and Albert von Tilzer write Take Me Out to the Ball Game, which becomes one of the most popular songs in the USA

1908
Diaghilev takes Russian opera to Paris
Sergei Diaghilev presents Fyodor Chaliapin in >Boris Godunov at the Paris Opera

1908
'Golliwog's Cake Walk'
Claude Debussy completes Children's Corner, pieces for piano which include 'Golliwog's Cake Walk'

1908
Shine on, Harvest Moon
Jack Norworth and Nora Bayes write "Shine on, Harvest Moon" for The Follies of 1908

1908
Schoenberg develops atonal music
Arnold Schoenberg abandons tonality in his String Quartet No. 2

1908
Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy
Alexander Scriabin's orchestral work, Poem of Ecstasy, has its first performance in New York

1909
Strauss and von Hofmannsthal collaborate
The opera Elektra, the first collaboration between Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal, has its premiere in Dresden

1909
Fokine and Diaghilev join forces
Michel Fokine becomes the choreographer for the ballet company that Sergei Diaghilev is taking to Paris

1909
On Wenlock Edge
Ralph Vaughan Williams sets poems by Housman in On Wenlock Edge

1909
Schoenberg's Erwartung
Arnold Schoenberg composes his opera for a single voice, Erwartung, which remains unperformed until 1924 in Prague

1909
Albéniz completes Iberia
Isaac Albéniz completes his series of 12 piano pieces published under the title Iberia.

1909
Segovia a prodigy on the guitar
15-year-old Andrés Segovia gives his first public performance as a guitarist in Granada

1909
Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony
Vaughan Williams first symphony, which he names A Sea Symphony, is first performed at the Leeds Festival

1909
Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto
Sergei Rachmaninov premieres his Third Piano Concerto during his tour of the USA as a pianist

1909
Beecham Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Beecham uses his personal fortune from Beecham's Pills to found his first orchestra, the Beecham Symphony Orchestra

1909
The Golden Cockerel
Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Golden Cockerel has its premiere in Moscow

1910
Vaughan Williams develops Thomas Tallis
Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis is first performed in Gloucester
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Vaughan_Williams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Tallis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Ralph_Vaughan_Williams
/architecture/154?section=prehistory&heading=from-tents-to-round-houses

1910
Elgar's Violin Concerto
Fritz Kreisler is the soloist in the first performance of Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto

1910
Schoenberg's pupils follow him into atonality
Alban Berg and Anton Webern follow Schoenberg in developing atonal music

1910
Mahler's 'Symphony of a Thousand'
Gustav Mahler conducts in Munich the first performance of his Eighth Symphony, subsequently known as the 'Symphony of a Thousand'

1910
Fokine's Schéhérazade
Schéhérazade, with choreography by Fokine, music by Rimsky-Korsakov and designs by Bakst, is premiered by the Ballets Russes in Paris

1910
The Firebird
The Firebird brings together Fokine (choreography), Stravinsky (music) and Golovine and Bakst (sets and costumes)

1910
Scriabin's Prometheus
Alexander Scriabin completes Prometheus, the Poem of Fire, first performed in Moscow in 1911

1910
Korngold's The Snowman
The Snowman, a pantomime opera by the 11-year-old Erich Korngold, is a huge succes in Vienna

1910
Beecham takes Covent Garden for the season
Thomas Beecham sponsors and conducts his own season of opera at Covent Garden

1910
Puccini's Girl of the Golden West
Giacomo Puccini's opera Girl of the Golden West premieres in New York

1911
Der Rosenkavalier
Richard Strauss changes musical direction with his opera Der Rosenkavalier, once again with libretto by Hugo von Hoffmannsthal

1911
Ethel Smyth writes anthem for suffragettes
Ethel Smyth's The March of Women has its premiere at a suffragette event in London's Albert Hall

1911
Al Jolson on record
Al Jolson makes his first recording, That Haunting Melody, for the Victor label

1911
Le Spectre de la Rose
Le Spectre de la Rose, with choreography by Fokine, music by Weber and designs by Bakst, is premiered by the Ballets Russes in Monte Carlo

1911
Granados' Goyescas for piano
Spanish composer Enrique Granados completes his Goyescas, seven pieces for piano

1911
Scott Joplin's Treemonisha
Scott Joplin completes a ragtime opera, Treemonisha

1911
Petrushka a success in Paris
The ballet Petrushka brings together Fokine (choreography), Stravinsky (music) and Benois (sets and costumes)

1911
Das Lied von der Erde
Bruno Walter conducts in Munich the first performance of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, a few months after the composer's death

1911
Songs by Duparc
French composer Henri Duparc publishes a complete edition of his songs

1911
First Wurlitzer
Rudolph Wurlitzer's company in the USA produces the first of its famous movie theatre organs

1911
'Alexander's Ragtime Band'
The US composer Irving Berlin writes 'Alexander's Ragtime Band'

1911
Jelly Roll Blues
Jelly Roll Morton plays in New York his Jelly Roll Blues

1912
Nielsen's Third Symphony
Carl Nielsen's Third Symphony, first performed in Copenhagen, brings him international renown

1912
Daphnis and Chloe danced to music by Ravel
Daphnis and Chloe, with choreography by Fokine, music by Ravel and designs by Bakst, is premiered by the Ballets Russes in Paris

1912
Pierrot Lunaire
Arnold Schoenberg sets Pierrot Lunaire for a solo voice, reciting the text to the accompaniment of a quintet

1912
Berlin Opera Ballet
The Berlin Opera Ballet is founded to perform in the city's new opera house

1912
Handy's Memphis Blues
Memphis Blues is composed by 'father of the blues' W.C. Handy

1912
Ariadne auf Naxos
The opera Ariadne auf Naxos, by Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal, has its first premiere in Stuttgart

1912
Ethel Smyth defiant in Holloway
Ethel Smyth, in Holloway jail, conducts her fellow prisoners in a suffragette anthem composed by herself

1913
Rite of Spring
Igor Stravinsky and Vaslav Nijinsky provoke uproar in Paris with The Rite of Spring for Ballets Russes

1913
Kirsten Flagstad makes debut
18-year-old Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad makes her debut in Oslo

1913
On Hearing the first Cuckoo in Spring
Frederick Delius completes On Hearing the first Cuckoo in Spring, first performed this same year in Leipzig
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Delius
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Frederick_Delius
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuckoo
/ireland-republic-of/578?section=irish-free-state-eire&heading=election-and-civil-war

1913
Sea Fever set to music
John Ireland sets Masefield's poem Sea Fever to music

1913
Colonel Bogey
The march Colonel Bogey is written and published by a Royal Marine bandleader under the pseudonym Kenneth Alford

1914
Vaughan Williams writes The Lark Ascending
Vaughan Williams writes a romance for violin and orchestra, The Lark Ascending, inspired by George Meredith's poem of the same name

1914
Gigli creates a stir
The tenor Beniamino Gigli wins an international singing competition in Parma, and makes his operatic debut later in the same year

1914
London Symphony
Vaughan Williams' London Symphony, including picturesque sounds of the city's street life, is first performed

1914
Keep the Home Fires Burning
Ivor Novello has a great success with his topical song Keep the Home Fires Burning (with lyrics by Lena Ford)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivor_Novello_Awards
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She_Keeps_the_Home_Fires_Burning
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Keep_the_Home_Fires_Burning_-_Frederick_Wheeler.ogg
/war-of-the-austrian-succession/565?section=fascist-italy&heading=march-on-rome

1915
El Amor Brujo
Manuel de Falla's ballet El Amor Brujo, including the 'Ritual Fire Dance', is performed in Paris

1915
Pack Up Your Troubles
Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag, by George Asaf and Felix Powell, rapidly becomes one of the most popular songs of the day

1916
Goyescas in opera form
The opera Goyescas, by Spanish composer Enrique Granados, has its premiere in New York

1916
Granados is torpedo victim
Enrique Granados, on the last leg of his return from New York, is one of many civilians to die when the Sussex is torpedoed by a U-boat in the English Channel

1916
Jenufa succeeds in Prague
The success of Jenufa in Prague finally brings international recognition to Leos Janacek, already in his sixties

1916
Nights in the Gardens of Spain
Manuel de Falla completes his piece for piano and orchestra, Nights in the Gardens of Spain

1916
If You Were the Only Girl in the World
"If You Were the Only Girl in the World" features in the London musical The Bing Boys are Here

1916
The first Gerswhin musical
The Passing Show of 1916 is the first of 22 musicals written in the short span of 17 years by the brothers George and Ira Gershwin

1916
The Fountains of Rome
Ottorino Respighi completes his symphonic poem for orchestra Fountains of Rome, first performed in Rome the following year

1916
Parry's Jerusalem
Hubert Parry sets profoundly evocative verses by William Blake and gives his composition the title Jerusalem

1916
Holst's The Planets
Gustav Holst completes his orchestral suite c, not performed in its entirety until 1920

1916
Chu Chin Chow
The musical Chu Chin Chow opens at His Majesty's Theatre in London and runs for a record 2235 performances

1917
Original Dixieland Jazz Band
New York responds with enthusiasm when the Original Dixieland Jazz Band performs a new kind of music in Reisenweber's restaurant

1917
Ireland's Second Violin Concerto
John Ireland's Second Violin Concerto meets with immediate approval

1917
Massine's Parade
Parade brings together Massine (choreography), Satie (music), Cocteau (libretto) and Picasso (sets and costumes)

1917
The Three-Cornered Hat
Manuel de Falla's ballet The Three-Cornered Hat is produced by Diaghilev with choreography by Massine and designs by Picasso

1917
Klemperer is music director at Cologne
Otto Klemperer starts a seven-year spell as music director of Cologne opera, and begins to acquire an international reputation

1918
Duke Bluebeard's Castle
Béla Bartók's opera Duke Bluebeard's Castle is finally staged in Budapest, nine years after its composition

1919
Pianist is Polish premier
Composer and pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes prime minister of the newly independent Poland

1919
Elgar's Cello Concerto
Edward Elgar completes his last great work, the Cello Concerto in E minor

1919
Lauder knighted for war effort
Music-hall artist Harry Lauder is knighted for his wartime performances entertaining troops at the front

1919
La Boutique Fantasque
Léonide Massine, Ottorino Respighi and André Derain collaborate on the ballet La Boutique Fantasque

1919
Le Boeuf sur le toit
Darius Milhaud provides the score for Jean Cocteau's pantomime ballet Le Boeuf sur le toit

1919
Paderewski resigns premiership
The prime minister of Poland, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, resigns his post so as to concentrate on his concert career

1920
Student musical by Rodgers and Hart
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart work together as Columbia University students, creating the musical Fly With Me

1920
Ives' Concord Sonata
Charles Ives publishes his Piano Sonata No. 2, Concord, Mass., 1840-60, usually known as the Concord Sonata

1920
Les Six make their mark in Paris
A group of composers in Paris - Auric, Durey, Honegger, Milhaud, Poulenc and Tailleferre - become known as 'les Six'

1920
Holst's Hymn of Jesus
Gustav Holst's Hymn of Jesus has its premiere in London, conducted by the composer

1921
Janacek's Taras Bulba
Taras Bulba, a rhapsody for orchestra by Leos Janacek, is first performed in Brno

1921
Kátya Kabanová
Janacek's opera Kátya Kabanová, based on Ostrovsky's play The Storm, has its premiere in Brno

1922
Façade
William Walton and Edith Sitwell give a private performance of their entertainment Façade, setting poems by Sitwell

1922
Furtwängler conducts in Berlin
The German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler is appointed to the Berlin Philharmonic, and spends most of the rest of his life with the orchestra

1923
Bessie Smith's Downhearted Blues
Bessie Smith has a big hit with her first record, >Downhearted Blues, selling two million copies within a year

1923
Roussel's Padmâvâti
Albert Roussel's opera-ballet Padmâvâti is premiered in Paris

1923
Schoenberg develops serialism
Arnold Schoenberg's Suite for piano is his first piece entirely in the 12-note serial method

1923
Kod´ly's Psalmus Hungaricus
Zoltan Kod´ly's work for tenor, chorus and orchestra, Psalmus Hungaricus, has its first performance in Budapest

1923
Pacific 231
Arthur Honegger's Pacific 231, inspired by the sounds of a steam train, has its first performance in Paris

1923
Hindemith's Das Marienleben
Paul Hindemith sets Rainer Maria Rilke's song-cycle Das Marienleben

1924
Rhapsody in Blue
George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue has its first performance, at the Aeolian Hall in New York

1924
Gracie Fields stars in London show
Gracie Fields makes her name when she appears in London as Sally Perkins in the musical Mr Tower of London

1924
Nijinska's Le Train Bleu
Le Train Bleu brings together Bronislava Nijinska (choreography), Darius Milhaud (music), and Coco Chanel (costumes)

1924
Respighi's Pines of Rome
Ottorino Respighi's symphonic poem Pines of Rome has its first performance in Rome

1924
Menuhin's first recital
7-year-old Yehudi Menuhin gives his first professional recital, playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in San Francisco

1924
The Cunning Little Vixen
Leos Janacek's opera The Cunning Little Vixen, based on verses by Rudolf Tesnohlídek, is premiered in Brno

1924
Puccini dies with Turandot incomplete
Giacomo Puccini dies without finishing his opera Turandot, which is subsequently completed by Franco Alfani

1925
Satchmo forms Hot Five
Trumpeter Louis Armstrong, in Chicago, forms the Hot Five with his wife on piano and three New Orleans musicians on trombone, clarinet and guitar

1925
Ravel and Colette write an opera
Maurice Ravel and Colette provide music and libretto for the opera The Child and the Enchantments

1925
Webern follows Schoenberg into serialism
Anton Webern again follows Schoenberg, this time into serialism, when he adopts the 12-note method for his Three Traditional Rhymes

1925
Wozzeck as an opera
Alban Berg's opera Wozzeck has its premiere in Berlin

1926
Shostakovich's first symphony
19-year-old Dmitry Shostakovich wins immediate attention with the public performance of his first symphony, his graduation piece from Leningrad Conservatory

1926
Szymanowski's King Roger
Karel Szymanowski's opera King Roger has its first performance in Warsaw

1926
Janacek's Sinfonietta
Leos Janacek completes his powerfully scored orchestral work Sinfonietta

1926
First movie with a sound track
Don Juan, starring John Barrymore, has a synchronized musical score, making it the earliest example of a film with a sound track