See also: List of years in music, Timeline of trends in music (1900-1949), Timeline of trends in music (1950-1959), Timeline of trends in music (1960-1969), Timeline of trends in music (1970-1979), Timeline of trends in music (1980-1989), Timeline of trends in music (1990-present)
- c. 4000 BC
- Harps and vertical flutes are played in Egypt
- c. 3500 BC
- Double clarinets and lyres are played in Egypt
- c. 3000 BC
- The bamboo pipe is invented in China
- c. 2500 BC
- The five tone system dominates Chinese music
- c. 2000 BC
- The trumpet is played in Denmark
- Percussion instruments are added to Egyptian orchestras
- c. 1500 BC
- c. 1000 BC
- Music accompanies religious ceremonies in Israel
- c. 800 BC
- c. 700 BC
- Arion, a Greek composer, invents the strophe and antistrophe
- c. 685 BC
- c. 675 BC
- Terpander invents a new seven-stringed lyre and the Mixolydian scale
- c. 600 BC
- Modes appear in music
- The vina is invented in India
- c. 586 BC
- Music becomes a part of the Pythian Games
- c. 550 BC
- The diatonic scale is invented in Greece
- Lasos of Hermione discovers that vibrations are the source of all sound
- c. 500 BC
- Pindar begins writing odes
- Greek choral music reaches its peak
- aulos, citharas, lyres are played in Greece
- Pythagoras of Samos makes great strides in musical theory
- 400 BC
- Trumpet competitions are popular in Greece
- 340 BC
- Aristotle lays the foundation for modern musical theory
- 320 BC
- Aristophanes defines rhythm as tripartite
- 300 BC
- c. 250 BC
- Ktesibios invents the hydraulis
- c. 200 BC
- The earliest evidence of music in Japan
- 146 BC
- The Romans conquer Greece and begin exporting its musical knowledge elsewhere in Europe
- 140 BC
- Emperor Han Wudi takes over China and establishes an Imperial Office of Music
- c. 50 BC
- 38 BC
- The Chinese octave is divided into 60 notes
- c. 350
- Antiphonal psalmody appears in Christian churches
- 386
- Ambrose of Milan introduces hymn-singing in the Christian church
- c. 450
- Alternating singing between precentors and parishioners is introduced in Christian churches
- 453
- c. 500
- 521
- Boethius introduces Greek notation to the West
- c. 6000
- 600
- Pope Gregory the Great codifies Roman Catholic chanting; it comes to be called Gregorian chanting in his honor
- c. 600
- 609
- The Celtic crwth appears
- 619
- The Chinese begin using large orchestras
- 650
- Neumes, a system of notation, are introduced in Europe
- c. 700
- 710
- Beginning of the Nara period in Japan, and the introduction of komagaku and togaku music
- c. 750
- 850
- Hucbald writes rules for composing the organum
- c. 850
- 980
- Antiphonarium Codex Montpellier is written
- c. 1000
- c. 1015
- Sight singing is introduced at Pomposa Monastery near Ravenna
- 1050
- "sys willekommen heirre kerst" is the oldest surviving German Christmas carol
- c. 1050
- The harp is introduced to Europe
- 1050
- The earliest reference to what are believed to be Gypsies as musicians in Constantinople
- c. 1030
- Guido of Arezzo develops a method to learn music by ear, solfège
- c. 1095
- Le Chanson de Roland composed
- c. 1100
- 1116
- 1121
- The earliest performance of roi nuoc, or water puppetry, is recorded in Vietnam
- c. 1125
- Trouveres and troubadours appear in France
- c. 1150
- French troubadours become more organized
- 1151
- Leoninus, a French composer, develops the ars antigua style
- 1176
- The first eisteddfod, or music contests, are held in Cardigan, Wales
- c. 1180
- Minnesingers appear in Germany
- c. 1182
- Lauda appear in Italy
- c. 1200
- 1225
- c. 1250
- 1253
- Kublai Khan arrives in Yunnan, supposedly bringing with him baisha xiyue
- 1262
- Adam de la Halle writes the first operetta, "Le Jeu de la Feuillee"
- c. 1265
- Franco of Cologne and Pierre de la Croix develop the motet
- c. 1300
- Jongleurs appear in France
- 1309
- Marchettus of Padua tries to introduce counterpoint
- 1322
- The Pope expressly forbids counterpoint
- c. 1325
- Organ pedals are invented
- "Tournai Mass", the first polyphonic Mass, is written
- c. 1330
- The ars nova style is invented
- c. 1350
- Meistersingers appear in Germany
- First evidence of a nyckelharpa in Sweden, specifically a carving in K¨lunge church in Götland
- 1352
- Morroccan traveller Ibn Battuta reports the existence of the ngoni and balafon instruments at the court of Mansa Musa
- 1360
- Original forms of the clavichord and cembalo appear
- 1377
- 1385
- The marriage of Charles the VI and Isabella of Bavaria is the first French court ball
- 1392
- The Choson Dynasty begins in Korea; a rich tradition of court music arises during this dynasty
- c. 1400
- The dulcimer is invented
- Secular songs with French lyrics, chansons, are popular
- 1400
- c. 1420
- The Burgundian School begins
- c. 1426
- 1428
- The Le dynasty comes to power in Vietnam; it will go on to restrict music like cheo, which is perceived as anti-establishment
- 1430
- The Renaissance begins, leading to the increasing popularity of secular music as well as the diversification of musical styles across Europe
- Aak music in Korea is reconstructed from surviving 12th century compositions
- 1465
- First printed music appears in Europe
- c. 1490
- Ballet appears
- c. 1500
- Broadside ballads begin their period of popularity in England
- Italian madrigalss appear
- 1505
- The Portuguese begin colonizing Sri Lanka, forever influencing its culture
- c.1506
- The earliest broadside ballads appear
- 1508
- The Spanish begin their domination of Puerto Rico
- 1520
- 190 copies of a broadside ballad are sold by one merchant in England -- this is a phenomenal amount considering the rarity of literacy at the time, and can be considered the beginning of a British popular music tradition
- 1522
- The Spanish begin mass importation of African slaves to Cuba and other Caribbean islands
- 1553
- Ancestral forms of the violin are invented
- 1556
- Printers of broadside ballads in England are required to register with London's Stationer's Company
- 1557
- Printers registered with the Stationer's Company are required to pay four pence for each ballad they produce
- 1562
- Pius IV's Counter-Reformation eliminates all instrumentation except the organ, as well as all secular elements, harmony and folk melodies
- 1565
- Women are banned from singing in Christian churches; the desire for adult female voices leads to the practice of castration
- 1574
- 1578
- Jean De Léry publishes the first account of Brazilian music, Viagem à Terra do Brasil
- 1587
- Gabriel Soares de Sousa publishes the first account of native Brazilian musical forms, Tratado Descritivo do Brasil
- 1588
- Thomas Morley is the guiding force in the English madrigal school
- 1590
- Count Giovanni de Bardi gathers a group of artists, leading to the invention of opera
- c. 1590
- Son is known in Cuba
- 1594
- Jacopo Peri's Dafne is the first Italian opera
- c. 1600
- 1601
- Giulio Caccini's Le nuove musiche, including a manifesto on the new monodic style, is published
- 1606
- The first open-air operas appear in Rome
- 1607
- Claudio Monteverdi writes Orfeo, an influential early Baroque opera
- 1609
- 1631
- The first professional female singers in Europe for several centuries appear in England for a production of Chloridia
- 1639
- Virgilio Mazzocchi and Marco Marazzoli write the first comic opera, Chi Soffre Speri
- 1648
- The aria and the recitative became separate parts of opera
- c. 1650
- Beginning of modern harmony
- The overture emerges
- 1652
- c. 1660
- The seis arises in southern Spain
- 1664
- The French horn is added to European orchestras
- 1675
- Matthew Locke's Psyche is the oldest surviving English opera
- 1685
- Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederick Handel are born; they will be the two most influential Baroque composers
- First ballets arrive in Germany
- c. 1690
- Andalusian ballads arrive in Puerto Rico, vastly influencing future forms of music including the decima
- 1696
- The sonata is introduced
- c. 1700
- The pianoforte is invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori
- 1705
- French horns appear in an opera for the first time -- Octavia by Reinhard Keiser
- 1709
- The Stationer's Company stops requiring printers to pay four pence for the production of ballads
- 1711
- The clarinet is added to European orchestras
- 1719
- Dimitrie Cantemir writes the first book on Turkish music
- 1725
- Vivaldi writes The Four Seasons
- c. 1740
- Neil Gow's short bow sawstroke technique is the basis for Appalachian fiddling in the United States
- 1742
- 1750
- Bach dies; this is often considered the end of the Baroque period and the beginning of the relatively simple Classical period
- 1751
- 1762
- Christoph Willibald von Glück writes Orfeo ed Euridice with the express purpose ofreturning opera to its roots
- 1767
- The Burmese sack Ayuthaya and bring Thai musicians to their homeland, thus leading to a mixture of Burmese, Thai and Cambodian musics in Burma and elsewhere in southeast Asia
- 1770
- William Billings publishes The New England Psalm Singer, an influential collection of songs
- 1772
- The barrel organ is invented
- 1773
- 1774
- 1780
- 1783
- 1786
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro premiers
- 1787
- Mozart's Don Giovanni premiers
- c. 1790
- Bumba-meu-boi, a form of comedic dance, is popular in Brazil
- 1791
- 1794
- "Tammany, or The Indian Chief" by James Hewitt is one of the first American operas
- 1796
- Mungo Park, a Scottish explorer, sees a kora being played in one of the Mande courts; this is the first verifiable sighting of the instrument, now the dominant instrument in Malian music
- 1801
- The Easy Instructor by William Smith and William Little is published for choral schools, leading to the shape note tradition
- 1802
- The Garifunas arrive in Belize (then British Honduras) and soon develop paranda music
- 1803
- Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, the Eroica, marks the beginning of the Romantic period
- 1807
- Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is written; this is perhaps the most popular classical symphony ever
- 1814
- The metronome is invented
- 1821
- Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber debuts, marking the beginning of his primacy in German opera
- 1829
- c. 1830
- "Jump Jim Crow" by Thomas Rice becomes popular in the United States
- The growth of Carnival in Trinidad begins, leading to the development of calypso music
- The Great Awakening (a religious revival) sweeps the United States, inspiring slaves to use their own vocal styles with English hymns; these songs are called negro spirituals
- The shape note tradition becomes popular in the American South
- c. 1835
- 1835
- The first music conservatory in Switzerland opens in Geneva
- Elias Lönnrot's collection of runolaulu traditional Finnish song, the Kalevala is first published
- 1836
- Maria Severa's performance of a fado for the Comte de Vimisio causes him to fall in love with her and an ensuing public controversy; this is the earliest certain example of fado's existence
- 1838
- 1839
- Barzaz-Breizh, the first collection of Breton folk song, is published
- "Te voglio bene assaie" is written; this is often said to be the beginning of canzone napoletana
- 1840
- Harmonium invented
- c. 1840
- The danza is invented in Puerto Rico
- The banjo becomes popular in the United States due to the minstrel show
- 1841
- Adolphe Sax invents the saxophone
- 1844
- B. F. White and E. J. King publish The Sacred Harp, the foundation for modern Sacred Harp music
- 1848
- The Kalevala, a collection of traditional Finnish runolaulu, inspires a rise in Finnish nationalism
- c. 1850
- UPA moves from Cuba and Puerto Rico to other Caribbean islands, most importantly Hispaniola
- 1852
- Fredrik Pacius publishes the first Finnish opera
- The earliest known appearance of mariachi music in Mexico
- 1854
- Franz Liszt invents the symphonic poem
- c.1860
- Brass bands begin their period of innovation and popularization in the United States
- 1860
- 1865
- Ernest Gagnon publishes the first collection of traditional Quebecois folk songs
- 1866
- Celesta invented
- 1867
- Slave Songs From the Southern United States is published and helps to set the stage for the popularization of African American music which enters the mainstream in the following century
- 1868
- The Meiji Restoration revolutionizes and democratizes Japanese music
- 1869
- The golden age of flamenco is usually said to begin
- c. 1870
- Christian missionaries bring gospel music to Australian Aborigines
- Choro is invented in Rio de Janeiro
- Tin Pan Alley begins to dominate popular music in the US
- 1870
- A Hindustani theater group, Elphinstone, comes to Colombo, and Hindustani theater and song soon dominates the island of Sri Lanka
- 1871
- African-American spirituals are popular in Europe, even being played for Queen Victoria, who is said to have been moved to tears by the performance
- 1874
- Society for Culture and Education is founded in Finland
- 1875
- Earliest origins of plena in Puerto Rico
- 1876
- Richard Wagner's cycle of four operas, Der Ring des Nibelungen debuts at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus
- 1877
- Thomas Edison invents the first machine to record sound
- 1878
- N'Dusseldorf forms in Vienna, soon becoming the pioneers of modern schrammelmusik
- 1880
- John Paine's In Spring is the first symphony published in the US
- Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado premiers
- Spanish zarzuela is introduced to the Philippines
- The Canboulay Riots in Trinidad led to the British banning some forms of celebration during Carnival
- c.1880
- A gold rush prompts large-scale Caribbean immigration to Venezuela, leading to the development of a distinctive style of Trinidadian calypso referred to as Venezuelan calipso.
- Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe begin a period of large-scale immigration to the United States, establishing North America as the hub of klezmer music
- The Ghost Dance spreads from Paiute Native Americans in Nevada to other tribes across the United States
- Auvergnat bal-musette is popular in Paris
- Miguel Failde helps invent habanera music out of danzón
- 1882
- c. 1890
- Jean Sibelius' Kullervo inspires a rise in Finnish nationalism, greatly influencing music in his native land
- The sabha (paying classical concert performances) associations begin to shit from music into dance
- The accordion is introduced to Mexico by Bohemian immigrants
- Uilleann pipes are introduced to Ireland in their modern form
- Augusto Hilario pioneers student fado at Coimbra University
- 1895
- The National Czecho-Slavonic Ethnographical Exhibition is held in Prague, leading to a revival of traditional music and nationalist pride
- Béla Vikár makes the first recordings of Hungarian folk music
- 1896
- Ragtime and cakewalk are popularized in the United States
- Nicholas Bennett's Alawon Fy Nghwlad, a compilation of traditional Welsh songs, is published; this, along with the formation of London-based Welsh Societies, is part of a revival of Welsh folk music
- 1898
- F. Myers made some of the first field recordings ever in Papua New Guinea
- 1899