Timeline of Christian Church Music History

Events People
1st Century
33 - Pentecost
70 - Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem
 


2nd Century
150 - Justin Martyr describes liturgy Author: Justin Martyr (100 - 165)


3rd Century
c. 200 - First form of pipe organ is invented
250 - Christian council of Carthage
285 - Roman empire partitioned into Western and Eastern empires
 


4th Century
313 - The Roman Emperor Constantine I converts to Christianity
325 - First Ecumenical Council and the Nicene Creed
397 - Synod of Carthage ratifies biblical canon
Author: St. Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430)
Author: Ambrose of Milan (340 - 397)
Author: John Chrysostom (349 - 407)


5th Century
491 - Armenian Church seceds from East (Byzantium) and West (Rome) churches
Author: Aurelius Clements Prudentius (348 - 413)
Author: Nicetas, Bishop of Remesiana (335 - 414)
Author: Synesius of Cyrene (375 - 430)


6th Century
589 - Filiogue added to Nicene Creed Author: Columba (521 - 597)
Author: Venantius H. C. Fortunatus (530 - 609)
Author: Gregory I (540 - 604)


7th Century
  Author: Andrew of Crete (660 - 732)


8th Century
  Author: Dallan Forgaill (8th century)
Author: John of Damascus (700 - 754)


9th Century
  Author: Theodulph of Orleans (760 - 821)
Author: Rabanus Maurus (776 - 856)
Author: Kassia (810 - 867)


10th Century
c. 1000 - Transverse flutes appear, but remain unpopular until 1400's
Author: Odo of Arezzo (10th century)
Author: St. Gregory of Narek (951 - 1003)


11th Century
1054 - The Great Schism between Roman and Eastern Orthodox churches
1095 - The start of the Crusades
Author: Bernard of Clairvaux (1091 - 1153)
Author: Pierre Abelard (1079 - 1142)

Composer: Hildegard of Bingen (1098 - 1179)
Composer: Petrus Abaelardus (1079 - 1142)


12th Century
c. 1100 - Chalumeau (early clarinet) invented
Author: Francis of Assisi (1182 - 1226)
Author: Bernard of Cluny (12th century)

Composer: Hildegard von Bingen (1098 - 1179)
Composer: Perotin Magister (c. 1155 - c. 1250)
Composer: Philippe Le Chancelier (c. 1165 - 1236)
Composer: Walter von Der Vogelweide (c. 1170 - c. 1230)


13th Century
c. 1200 - Emergence of modern style pipe organs
1204 - The sack of Constantinople
1291 - The end of the Crusades
Author: Stephen Langton (c. 1150 - 1228)
Author: St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274)
Author: St. Mechthild (1240 - 1298)
Author: Thomas of Celano (c. 1200 - c. 1270)

Composer: Alfonso X "El Sabio" (1221 - 1284)


14th Century
c. 1300 - Harpsichord invented
c. 1300 - Rebec (early forerunner of violin family) invented
1382 - John Wycliffe completes Bible translation to English
Author: Daniel ben Judah (14th century)
Author: Pope Innocent VI (1295 - 1362)

Medieval Musical Period Composers
Composer: Guillaume de Machaut (1300 - 1377)
Composer: John Dunstaple (c. 1390 - 1453)
Composer: Philippe de Vitry (1291 - 1361)
Composer: Pierre Des Molins (fl. c. 1375)
Composer: Ghirardello da Firenza (fl. c. 1375)
Composer: Lorenzo da Firenza (fl. c. 1375)
Composer: Jacopo da Bologna (fl. c. 1375)
Composer: Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300 - 1377)
Composer: Francesco Landini (1325 - 1397)
Composer: Pycard (fl. c. 1390)
Composer: Franchois Lebertoul (fl. c. 1400)
Composer: Johannes Ciconia (c. 1335 - 1411)


15th Century
c. 1400 - Viol (early violin) invented Author: Jean Tisserand (? - 1494)

Renaissance Musical Period Composers
Composer: Josquin Desprez (c.1440 - 1521)


16th Century
c. 1500 - Violin invented in Italy
1517 - Luther's questions ignite the resolution
1529 - Foundation of the Church of England
1530 - Martin Luther founds the Lutheran Church, Augsburg Confession
1560 - Scotch Presbyterian Church founded by John Knox
Author: Martin Luther (1483 - 1546)
Author: John Calvin (1509 - 1564)
Author: William Kethe (16th century)
Author: Joachim Magdeburg (16th century)
Author: Petrus Herbert (1500 - 1571)
Author: Johann Heermann (1585 - 1647)
Author: William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Renaissance Musical Period Composers
Composer: Michael Praetorius (1571 - 1621)
Composer: Giovanni Palestrina (c.1525 - 1594)
Composer: William Byrd (1543 - 1623)
Composer: Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643)


17th Century
c. 1600 - Clarinet invented in Germany by Johann Christoph Denner
c. 1600 - Hautbois (early Oboe) invented in France
1609 - Baptist Church founded by John Smyth
1611 - King James Bible authorized version completed
Author: Paul Gerhardt (1607 - 1676)
Author: George Herbert (1593 - 1633)
Author: Thomas Ken (1637 - 1711)
Author: Laurentius Laurenti (1660 - 1722)
Author: John Mason (1645 - 1694)
Author: John Milton (1608 - 1674)
Author: Joachim Neander (1650 - 1680)

Baroque Musical Period Composers
Composer: Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695)
Composer: Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741)
Composer: Johann Pachelbel (1653 - 1706) Composer: Domenico Scarlatti (1685 - 1757)
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)
Composer: Georg Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759)


18th Century
1720 - Pianoforte (or piano) invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori
1738 - Methodist Church founded by Reverend John Wesley
Author: William Cowper (1731 - 1800)
Author: Isaac Watts (1674 - 1748)
Author: John Newton (1725 - 1807)
Author: Charles Wesley (1707 - 1788)

Classical Musical Period Composers
Composer: Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714 - 1787)
Composer: Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

Early Romantic Period Composers
Composer: Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826)
Composer: Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)
Composer: Gioacchino Rossini (1792 - 1868)


19th Century
1894 - Revised Version of the Bible of the completed
1840 - Saxophone invented by Adolphe Sax
Author: John Greenleaf Whittier (1807 - 1892)
Author: Joseph Medlicott Scriven (1820 - 1886)
Author: Charlotte Elliott (1789 - 1871)
Author: Julia Ward Howe (1819 - 1910)
Author: Frances Jane Crosby (1820 - 1915)
Author: Charles Spurgeon (1834 - 1892)

Romantic Period Composers
Composer: Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869)
Composer: Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)
Composer: Frederik Chopin (1810 - 1849)
Composer: Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856)
Composer: Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886)
Composer: Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883)
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901)
Composer: César Franck (1822 - 1890)
Composer: Bedrich Smetana (1824 - 1884)
Composer: Anton Bruckner (1824 - 1896)
Composer: Johann Strauss II (1825 - 1899)

Late Romantic Period Composers
Composer: Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897)
Composer: Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921)
Composer: Modest Mussorgsky (1839 - 1881)
Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893)
Composer: Edvard Grieg (1843 - 1907)

Post Romantic Period Composers
Composer: Antonin Dvorák (1841 - 1904)
Composer: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 - 1908)
Composer: Leos Janácek (1854 - 1928)
Composer: Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934)
Composer: Gabriel Urbain Fauré (1845 - 1924)
Composer: Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924)
Composer: Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911)

Modern Romantic Period Composers
Composer: Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949)
Composer: Carl Nielsen (1865 - 1931)
Composer: Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957)
Composer: Sergei Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943)

Impressionist Period Composers
Composer: Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)
Composer: Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937)

Modern Period Composers
Composer: Arnold Schoenberg (1874 - 1951)
Composer: Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945)
Composer: Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971)
Composer: Anton Webern (1883 - 1945)
Composer: Alban Berg (1885 - 1935)
Composer: Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953)


20th Century
  Author: Carl Boberg (1859 - 1940)

Contemporary Period Composers
Composer: Aaron Copeland (1900 - 1990)
Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958)
Composer: George Gershwin (1898 - 1937)
Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975)
Composer: Olivier Messiaen (1908 - 1992)
Composer: Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976)
Composer: Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928 - )
Composer: Alice Parker (1925 - )
Composer: John Milford Rutter CBE (1945 - )