Music : the definitive visual history

1. Early beginnings --
60,000 BCE-500 CE : introduction and timeline --
Man, the music maker : early humans pass on history and legends through music --
Music's cradle : musicians entertain courts and honor gods in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China --
A philosophical view : for Greek philosophers, music and math hold the key to understanding the universe --
Myth and tragedy : tragic choruses sing and musicians play at ancient Greek music and drama competitions --
Sound the trumpet : music rallies the Roman troops, enlivens dinners and plays, and is played at ceremonies --
2. Music in the Middle Ages --
500-1400 : introduction and timeline --
Sacred chant : chants, modes, and early notation develop in Europe's cathedrals and monasteries --
Minstrels and troubadours : street entertainers and courtly musicians sing songs of unrequited love and political satire --
Medieval instruments --
Writing melody : to help monks remember chant melodies, Guido of Arezzo invents the four-line stave --
Zither and lyre, sackbut and shawm : in medieval society, music accompanies dancing, banquets, and mystery plays --
Islamic music : diverse musical traditions develop across China, Africa, Spain, and the Middle East --
Islamic instruments --
Music in ancient China : from military exercises and state functions to temples and teahouses, music plays a key role --
Many voices : accurate musical notation paves the way for richly layered, complex music for many parts --
3. Renaissance and Reformation --
1400-1600 : introduction and timeline --
Songs of love : the new polyphonic style influences regional song traditions in France, Germany, and Italy --
Music goes to print : new printing techniques make sheet music widely available, encouraging amateur players --
The rise of instrumental music : printing leads to a demand for anew pieces, and more complex compositions emerge --
Church reform : congregations begin to sing in their own language, rather than silently listening to mass in Latin --
Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina --
The lute's golden age : in the 16th century, the lute becomes popular for solos and for accompanying singers --
The madrigal : Italian sonnets of love and loss are taken up by composers, who set the emotions to music --
Consort instruments --
An Iberian flowering : sacred music flourishes in Spain and its colonies as diverse influences come together --
Venetian glories : new styles emerge as composers rush to supply music for Venice's many civic occasions --
4. The Baroque spirit --
1600-1750 : introduction and timeline --
The Baroque style : an exuberant, expressive new style emerges --
The birth of opera : intellectuals and musicians in Florence merge stories from mythology and history with music, laying the foundations for opera --
Oratorios and cantatas : new song styles emerge in Italy, oratorios, Biblical stories spun into sung dramas, and dramatic secular songs called cantatas --
Patrons and composers : Europe's monarchs and aristocratic families support the arts on a lavish scale --
The violin --
Antonio Stradivari --
String instruments --
Antonio Vivaldi --
The English revival : music, suppressed under Oliver Cromwell, revives under King Charles II, and choirs and opera flourish --
Henry Purcell --
The organ --
Counterpoint and fugue : composers combine strands of music into a complex, harmonious whole --
Johann Sebastian Bach --
Sonatas, suites, and overtures : instrumental music grows in popularity, and new forms develop for small ensembles --
Keyboard instruments --
Keyboard maestros : as keyboard instruments evolve, composers write more technically demanding pieces --
George Frideric Handel --
Japanese theater : instrumentalists and choirs accompany the actors or puppets in stage performances --
5. The Classical age --
1750-1820 : introduction and timeline --
 A new clarity : composers begin to favor clear and balanced phrases over baroque complexity --
The orchestra : the Duke of Mannheim has ambitions to found the greatest orchestra in Europe, famed for its technique and special effects --
The sonata : the new music-loving middle-class enjoys elegant works for soloist and keyboard --
Orchestral woodwind --
The symphony : the innovations of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert transform the symphony --
Joseph Haydn --
Playing music among friends : chamber music is a treasured pastime in Austrian homes and spreads across Europe --
Age of reason : enlightened principles of logic, structure, and clarity inspire a new style of composition --
Opera comes alive : composers attempt to humanize opera, leaving old formalities behind and focusing on the drama of individual characters' emotions --
Choral music : choirs being to sing in concert halls as well as in church services 
 composers discover the dramatic potential of sacred texts --
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart --
The concerto : the pairing of soloist and orchestra develop into a popular and enduring format --
The piano --
Ludwig Van Beethoven --
Bohemian rhapsody : in the 18th and 19th centuries, Prague becomes a hub of musical activity --
6. Nationalism and romance --
1820-1910 : introduction and timeline --
Beethoven's later works Beethoven writes works of restless passion --
Age of song : composers set poems to music, enhancing the lyrics with evocative harmonies and rhythms --
Franz Schubert --
Literary links : myth, legend, and literature inspire Romantic operas, songs, and program music --
Expressive piano in Europe's salons, expressive and technically brilliant miniatures for piano are in vogue --
The virtuosos : Paganini on violin and Liszt on piano dazzle audiences with their technique and style --
Sacred choruses : large-scale choral works bring Romantic drama and intensity into sacred venues --
Romantic opera : 19th-century Italian and German composers develop a highly expressive, dramatic style --
Women composers and performers : as social conventions shift, women begin to perform in public an publish their works --
Music in the home : in well-to-do drawing rooms, families play chamber music and sing "parlor songs" --
Johannes Brahms --
The Viennese waltz : an elegant dance that emerges in Austria's ballrooms, the waltz takes Europe by storm --
National stirrings : composers seek inspiration and authenticity in their native landscapes and folk songs --
Flamenco : Spain's passionate music for voice, guitar, and dancer  develop out of Romany culture --
Russia's big five : Balakirev, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Cui, and Mussorgsky give new life to Russian music --
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky --
Northern lights --
folk culture, mythology, and striking Nordic landscapes inspire Scandinavian composers --
Ballet music : from interludes in operas, ballet develops into a full-fledged genre with original scores --
New tones and timbers : woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments are transformed by musicians and inventors --
The saxophone --
Symphonic supremacy : for Brahms, Dvorak, and Mahler, symphonies are and ideal format for developing big ideas --
A lighter touch : full of dancing, choruses, and witty dialogue, operettas are lighthearted entertainment for cosmopolitan audiences --
Italian opera gets real : a "young school" of Italian opera composers write realistic plots of hardship and passion --
Chinese traditional opera : performers retell stories from myth and legend through singing, acting, and martial arts --
Marching to the beat : military bands accompany marches and parades, and also sell out concert halls --
 Brass instruments --
Impressionism :as in visual art, musical compositions begin to evoke and suggest using new harmonies --
7. Music in the Modern Age --
1910-1945 : introduction and timeline --
The shock of the new : familiar tonality is left behind as composers experiment with modernist techniques --
Igor Stravinsky --
National flavors : amid political upheaval, composers from the US to Europe return to their folk heritages --
The flute --
Spanish classical music : the distinctive music of de Falla, Rodrigo, and Segovia create a new Spanish classical scene --
Music of Mexico : Mexico's music absorbs disparate influences 
 song lyrics often deal with gritty reality --
The last romantics : Rachmaninov, Strauss, and Delius bring a Romantic sensibility into the age of modernity --
Sergey Prokofiev --
Ragtime : African Americans introduce syncopation and new rhythms to European dance tunes --
Country's roots : through recordings, the Grand Ole Opry radio show, and Westerns, country music takes off --
Tin Pan Alley : songwriters flock to New York, where they churn out popular songs by the hundreds --
George Gershwin --
Beginnings of jazz : jazz is born in New Orleans from African rhythms, brass bands, and popular dance music --
Billie Holiday --
The clarinet --
Birth of the blues : in the juke joints of the Deep South, laborers listen to songs of raw, personal experience --
Let's swing : a new, danceable form of big-band jazz becomes wildly popular in the 1930s and '40s --
The trumpet --
Jazz goes bebop : in New York, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillepsie develop an innovative new jazz --
Louis Armstrong --
Latin beats : slaves brought to Cuba add African rhythms to the local music 
 Mambo, rumba, and salsa soon become all the rage --
Latin percussion --
Let's tango : touring bands and radio broadcasts bring the Argentinian tango to Europe and the United States --
Come to the cabaret : in the cafés and nightclubs of 1920s Berlin, dancers, singers, and comedians perform subversive and sexually charged shows --
Recording and listening --
Golden age of radio : radio shows brought music to homes across the United States, making stars of musicians --
8. Global music --
1945-present : introduction and timeline --
Experimental music : in a shaken, postwar world, Stockhausen, Boulez, and Cage seek a new framework --
Modern chanson : a unique song tradition emerges in 20th-century Paris, championed by Charles Trenet and Edith Piaf --
The German revival : in the aftermath of war, composers turn in new directions to reinvent German culture 
 avant-garde music flourishes in Darmstadt --
Romany music : once marginalized, Romany music is widely admired for its emotional range and energy --
Brazilian beats : from Brazil's vibrant music and dance culture comes samba and, in the 1950s, bossa nova --
Jazz goes Latin : American jazz musicians adopt Cuba's slow habanera rhythm, and a new genre is born --
Celia Cruz --
Operatic rebirth : Benjamin Britten in England and John Adams in the United States found a modern opera tradition --
Early musical theater : hit musicals by rogers and Hammerstein feed a Broadway craze in the 1940s and '50s --
Maria Callas  --
The guitar --
Smooth operators : the microphone facilitates the soft, crooning style of  Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra --
Music for screen : Hollywood directors begin hiring composers to write original movie scores --
Hollywood musicals : after World War I and the post-Depression, musicals provide escapism with singing, dancing, comedy, and romance --
One voice : the gap between gospel and soul narrows, and singers raise their voices for civil rights --
The music of Indonesia : Indonesia is home to the gamelan orchestra
 different styles evolve in Bali and Java --
Gamelan --
Island music : over the years, Hawaii's music absorbs elements from hymns, yodeling, and ragtime --
Celtic music : traditional music from parts of Britain, Ireland, France, and Spain is revisited and reinvented --
Longing for Fado : rooted in Lisbon, Portugal's poetic folk music sings of melancholy, longing, and urban life --
Bright lights, big city blues : African American musicians flock to Chicago, where electric guitars and recording transform the blues of the South --
The harmonica --
Rhythm and blues : in the 1940s and '50s, African American artists dominate the US market with a new style of music --
Plugged-in for sound : when guitars and keyboards go electric, a new sound and style is born , rock 'n' roll --
Rock 'n' roll models : Elvis Presley, buddy Holly, and Eddie Cochran have explosive appeal for teenage audiences --
Leaders of the pack : New York's Brill Building houses dozens of songwriters, who define the era's pop sound --
The sounds of soul : impassioned, personal, and political, soul singers make the move from church to charts --
Protest music : in the United States and Europe, musicians such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Mercedes Sosa respond to political upheaval through song --
Beatlemania : four young band mates from Liverpool take the work by storm in the 1960s, a string of self-written hits --
John Lennon --
Blues rock : in Britain, the blues is enthusiastically taken up by the Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac --
Heavy rock : Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, and Kiss amp up the sound --
Jazz fusion : while some jazz musicians go electric, many rock, R&B, and pop musicians adopt jazz styles --
The electric guitar --
Electronic rock : in the 1970s, rock bands start to experiment with synthesizers and electronic effects --
David Bowie --
Ragas and talas : voice, drums, and sitar play hypnotic rhythms and elaborate melodies in Indian music --
Indian instruments --
Music festivals : from Woodstock to Glastonbury, festivals become a rite of passage for young fans --
The Nashville sound : with stars such as Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn, country becomes a top-selling genre --
Reggae --
bass-heavy reggae emerges from Jamaica, and Bob Marley takes it global --
Music goes pop : with catchy tunes and clever marketing, singers become megastars --
Chart toppers : awards ceremonies, best-seller charts, and music television help to shape the charts --
Disco inferno : djs learn new tricks to keep people moving to the up-tempo beats of 1970s disco --
Punk explosion : loud and irreverent, the Ramones and the Sex Pistols challenge pop conventions --
Alternative rock : a wave of young independent record labels springs up in the 1980s, revolutionizing rock --
Musical revival : writers of musical theater look to pop and rock for inspiration, creating long-running hit shows --
Japanese popular music : Japan's pop culture spans J-pop idols to vocaloids (animated singers) --
African music : Musicians from all over the continent find new audiences with pan-African and Western fusions and political lyrics --
African instruments --
Hip-hop : the rap music of African American ghettos of Los Angeles and New York becomes a global commercial force --
Club culture : from electro to house, trance to dubstep, new sounds emerge in dance music --
The Korean wave : South Korea's pop scene goes from strength to strength, fueled by artist agencies and government encouragement --
New voices in classical : composers experiment with minimalism and avant-garde techniques --
Digital revolution : digitization and the internet transform the way music is listened to, initiating a new relationship between musicians and fans --
Visual glossary --
Genres --
Biographies --
Instruments.