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

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

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

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

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

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

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