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The Epitaph of Sicylus is the oldest surviving complete musical composition. Although the Hurrian Songs of ancient Mesopotamia are older, they are fragments rather than complete compositions. The epitaph probably dates from the 1st or 2nd century AD and is part of a Greek inscription written on a marble column placed over the tomb that Sicylus had built for his wife Euterpe, near Tralles (in Asia Minor), present-day Aydın, about 30 km from the coastal city of Ephesus. -
Gregorian chant is a monodic, a cappella plainsong used in the liturgy of the Catholic Church since the Middle Ages. It is notable for its music, subordinated to the Latin text, and its spiritual character, seeking to create a connection with the divine and inner peace. -
Guido d'Arezzo was an 11th-century Italian monk and music theorist, known for developing a notation system based on lines and spaces, which became the precursor to the modern staff. He is also famous for creating the "solfège" method and his contributions to music education. -
Hildegard of Bingen was a 12th-century German abbess, composer, and visionary, known for her religious writings, music, and scientific works. She is one of the first known female composers in Western history and is recognized for her profound contributions to medieval music, especially her chants and mystical texts. -
Music of late medieval Europe between approximately 1170 and 1310, covering the period of the Notre Dame School of polyphony and the years after. -
Alfonso X of Castile, called the Wise, was the king of Castile and the other titled kingdoms between 1252 and 1284. Upon the death of his father, Ferdinand III the Saint, he resumed the offensive against the Muslims and occupied Jerez, Salé, the port of Rabat and conquered Cádiz. -
Guillaume de Machaut was a medieval French cleric, poet, and composer. His influence was enormous, and he is historically the leading exponent of the Ars nova movement, being considered the most celebrated composer of the 14th century. He contributed to the development of the motet and secular song. -
Léonin or Magister Leoninus is, along with Perotin, the first known composer of polyphonic organum, associated with the Notre Dame School. -
Bernart de Ventadorn, also known as Bernart de Ventadour and Bernard de Ventadorn, was a popular Provençal troubadour, composer, and poet. He is probably the best-known troubadour of the trobar leu style. Wikipedia -
Francesco Landini or Landino was an Italian composer, organist, singer, poet, instrument maker, and astrologer. He was one of the most famous and admired composers of the second half of the 14th century and undoubtedly the most famous composer in Italy. -
Perotin, called Pérotin le Grand in French or Magister Perotinus Magnus in Latin, was a French medieval composer who was born in Paris between 1155 and 1160 and died around 1230. He is considered the most important composer of the Notre Dame School of Paris, where the polyphonic style began to take shape. -
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg, better known as Johannes Gutenberg or Johannes Gutemberg, was a German goldsmith, inventor of the modern printing press with movable type, around 1450. -
Juan de Fermoselle, better known as Juan del Encina (in the current spelling of his name) or Juan del Enzina (in the spelling of the time), was a poet, musician, and playwright of the Spanish Renaissance during the time of the Catholic Monarchs. -
Martin Lutero, born Martin Luder, was a theologian, philosopher, and Augustinian Catholic friar who began and promoted the Protestant Reformation in Germany and whose teachings inspired the theological and cultural doctrine known as Lutheranism. -
Cristóbal de Morales (Seville, 1500 - Málaga or, according to others, Marchena, 1553) was a Spanish Catholic priest and chapel master, the main representative of the Andalusian polyphonic school and one of the three greats. -
Ars nova (from the Latin "new art") is an expression due to the theorist Philippe de Vitry that designates the musical production, both French and Italian, after the last works of the ars antiqua until the predominance of the Burgundian school, which will occupy the first place in the musical panorama of the West in the 15th century.[2][1] -
Antonio de Cabezón was a Spanish composer and organist of the Renaissance period. He is known for his keyboard music, especially for the organ and harpsichord. His works greatly influenced Spanish and European music in the 16th century. -
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known representative of the Roman school of musical composition of the 16th century. -
Orlando di Lasso, also known as Orlandus Lassus, Roland de Lassus, Roland Delattre, or Orlande de Lassus, was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance. Along with Palestrina and Victoria, he is considered one of the most influential composers of the 16th century. -
Andrea Gabrieli (ca. 1533 – August 30, 1585) was an Italian composer and organist of the late Renaissance. Uncle of the perhaps more famous composer Giovanni Gabrieli, he was the first internationally renowned member of the Venetian School of composers. -
Tomás Luis de Victoria was a Catholic priest, choirmaster, and celebrated polyphonic composer of the Spanish Renaissance. He has been considered one of the most important and advanced composers of his time, with an innovative style that heralded the imminent Baroque. -
Maddalena Casulana was an Italian composer, lute player, and singer of the late Renaissance. She was the first female composer to have an entire volume of her music printed and published in the history of Western music. -
Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza (Venosa, Basilicata, March 8, 1566 – Avellino, Campania, September 8, 1613), was an Italian composer, one of the most significant figures of late Renaissance music with intensely expressive madrigals and sacred music. -
Giovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organist, born and died in Venice. One of the most influential musicians of his time, he represents the culmination of the Venetian school, marking the transition from Renaissance to Baroque music. -
Claudio Monteverdi, whose full name was Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi, was an Italian composer, viola da gamba player, singer, choir director, and priest. -
Giacomo Carissimi was one of the most eminent Italian composers of the early Baroque period and a leading exponent of the Roman School. He was born in Marino, near Rome, in 1604 or 1605. -
Barbara Strozzi, also known as Barbara Valle, was an Italian singer and composer of the Baroque period. During her lifetime, she published eight volumes of her own music and had more secular music in print than any other composer of the time. -
Antonio Stradivari was the most prominent Italian luthier. The Latin form of his surname, Stradivarius, is used to refer to his instruments. -
Antonio Vivaldi was a Venetian composer, violinist, impresario, teacher, and Catholic priest of the Baroque period. He was nicknamed "Il prete rosso" (The Red Preacher) because he was a priest and had red hair. -
Georg Philipp Telemann fue un compositor barroco alemán, aunque su obra también tuvo características de principios del clasicismo. Está considerado el compositor más prolífico de la historia de la música. Autodidacta en música, estudió Derecho en la Universidad de Leipzig. -
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, musician, conductor, choirmaster, cantor, and teacher of the Baroque period. He was the most important member of one of the most distinguished musical families in history, with more than 35 famous composers: the Bach family. -
Georg Friedrich Händel; in English George Frideric Handel was a German composer, later naturalized British, considered one of the leading figures in the history of music, especially Baroque music, and one of the most influential composers of Western and universal music. -
Henry Purcell was an English composer of the Baroque period. Considered one of the greatest English composers of all time, he incorporated French and Italian stylistic elements into his music, creating a distinctive English style of Baroque music.