What this is. Every named composer and anonymous tradition with surviving, listenable music, from the oldest musical document there is to Monteverdi, in one chronological sequence. Where a recording exists it is linked; where one does not, the row says so rather than leaving a blank that could be mistaken for silence.

How to use it. Press PLAY to hear the whole sequence in order, or download it as a playlist. Point at the map to see the earliest named musician of any region. Rows are collapsed to one line so the names read as a list — put the cursor on a row and it opens. Every date, attribution and gap is stated as precisely as the evidence allows, and where the evidence is thin the row says that too.

Listen to History
goldingcode.com · curriculum.goldingcode.org

LISTEN TO HISTORY

Escape the neomania... and LISTEN TO HISTORY. This document will take you from the earliest books to the earliest music, up to the beginning of the Renaissance in the 15th century.

Compiled by music teacher and Composer-Improviser Adam Golding, this guide is how he wished he had learned all these subjects: ancient music theory and early music history, not to mention the ancient texts of all major world religions in audiobook form.

Chronological is the way to go, so start today and LISTEN TO HISTORY below:

Chronological guide · earliest texts and music to the Renaissance

Chronological Audiobooks & Music Before the Renaissance

The First 552 Composers (Before Dufay)

The First 179 Audiobooks (Before Christ)

…and 535 more from Dufay to Monteverdi · 1087 named composers across both tables

First table, 612 entries in all: 279 named composers, 34 anonymous works and manuscripts, and 23 treatises and theorists who left no music of their own but shaped what everyone else wrote. The Renaissance table below holds a further 540 entries, carried on from Dufay rather than removed from anywhere — nothing in this document is ever deleted, only moved. Books run to AD 1; composers run to Dufay's birth.

Composers and anonymous works are counted from the chronological table below; books are counted from the literature column (from the dawn of writing through the traditional end of New Testament composition, c. 100 AD). Both figures are computed from the document itself on every load, so they grow with every source checked and can't drift out of date.

Every named composer, anonymous tradition, and anonymous work with surviving, listenable music, from the earliest known example through the true end of the medieval era — Guillaume Dufay (1397–1474), whose synthesis of continental and English style (the "contenance angloise," absorbed via John Dunstaple) is most commonly cited by scholars as marking the actual beginning of Renaissance music. The document is divided into two broad eras — ANCIENT and MEDIEVAL — with Medieval further subdivided into EARLY MEDIEVAL (c. 600–1170 AD, from the close of antiquity through the last generation before Notre-Dame polyphony — Gregorian and Byzantine chant, the Carolingian era, Hildegard, Notker, the earliest troubadours), ARS ANTIQUA (the Notre-Dame/Léonin-Perotin era, c. 1170–1320), ARS NOVA (the rhythmic/notational revolution led by Philippe de Vitry and Guillaume de Machaut, c. 1320–1370s), and ARS SUBTILIOR (the extreme rhythmic/notational complexity of the late-14th-century Avignon court style). Composer and tradition names link to Wikipedia or the best available alternative. Traditions carry a begin–end date range analogous to a composer's birth and death; the tradition's oldest surviving example is listed as its own dated sub-row underneath, the same way an individual work sits under a composer.

▾ hover for dates, alternate names, and a life in brief Anonymous work Anonymous tradition (has its own begin–end range) Nation/kingdom/empire, marking the earliest table entry from that polity Hover (or tap) a composer/tradition name — dotted underline — to reveal its biographical note

Coverage at a glance

Built from the table below every time this page loads, so it cannot drift out of step with the data. Each bar is one century. Height is the number of entries; the filled portion is how many of them have something to listen to or look at — a score, recording, arrangement, documentary, or modern adaptation. The pale portion is the work still to do.

Entry with media Entry with none yet

The named-composer sequence, before Christ

The whole point of the top of this table: for roughly 1,800 years of surviving music, nobody's name is attached to any of it. Only three names survive attached to music written before the Christian era, and they arrive within about 280 years of each other — everything earlier in the table is anonymous, a tradition, an instrument, or a text without its tune.

  1. Euripides (480–406 BC) — Orestes, first stasimon. The play is 408 BC; the surviving papyrus is c. 200 BC and carries no composer's name, so the attribution is inferred from the play, not claimed by the source. Earliest named person with any surviving music.
  2. Athenaeus, son of Athenaeus (fl. c. 138–128 BC) — First Delphic Hymn. The inscription names him, so this is the earliest surviving music whose composer is stated on the source itself.
  3. Limenius (128 BC) — Second Delphic Hymn, inscribed on the same wall of the Athenian Treasury at Delphi.

Deliberately not on this list: Enheduanna (c. 2270 BC) is the earliest named author of anything, but no music survives; Sakadas of Argos (fl. 586–578 BC) is named as a composer by later writers, but the Nomos Pythicos itself is lost; Akhenaten (r. c. 1353–1336 BC) and Sophocles (c. 497–406 BC) have surviving texts with no surviving notation; Seikilos, named on his own epitaph, is dated by most sources to the 1st–2nd century AD, on the wrong side of the line. The next name after Limenius is Mesomedes of Crete, c. AD 100–138.

The music only. This queue is built from the Recording column alone, so it skips the arrangements, documentaries and lectures in the next column and the audiobooks in the literature column — nothing here is a talk about music. It runs in the order of the table, which is the order the music was made.

The map: where the first named musician of each place comes from

Hover or tap anywhere on the map. Sixty-four regions, each showing the earliest musician known by name from that part of the world, with the date and what survives. Solid dots mark places that can name someone; hollow dots mark places that cannot, and there are more of those than of the other kind. There are no coastlines here, deliberately: I have no coastline data to draw from, and a hand-drawn approximation of the continents would be worse than none. What you get instead is the grid the dots are actually plotted on — meridians every 30°, the equator, the tropics and the Arctic Circle — so a dot’s position can be read off honestly. The pattern they make is the argument of this whole document: the named names cluster along a belt from the Atlantic to the Yellow Sea, because that is where music was written down, and the silence everywhere else is a fact about notation rather than about music.

Arctic CircleTropic of CancerEquatorTropic of Capricorn Mesopotamia — Anonymous — the Lipit-Ishtar tuning tablet, c. 1950 BC Syria / Ugarit — Anonymous — the Hurrian songs, c. 1400 BC Egypt — Anonymous — Old Kingdom players, c. 2686 BC Greece — Euripides, 480–406 BC Delphi — Athenaeus, son of Athenaeus, 138–128 BC Crete — Mesomedes of Crete, c. AD 100 Rome / Italy — Boethius, c. 480–524 Anatolia — Abdülkadir Meragi, 1360–1435 Persia / Iran — Barbad, fl. c. 590–628 Baghdad — Safi al-Din al-Urmawi, 1216–1294 Armenia — Mesrop Mashtots, c. 362–440 Georgia — Mikael Modrekili, fl. c. 980 Byzantium — Romanos the Melodist, c. 490–556 Ethiopia — Saint Yared, 505–571 Israel / Judea — Dunash ben Labrat, c. 920–990 Al-Andalus — Ziryab, 789–857 France — Albertus Parisiensis, d. 1177 Aquitaine — William IX of Aquitaine, 1071–1126 Provence — Marcabru, fl. 1130–1150 England — Cædmon, fl. 657–684 Scotland — Robert Carver, 1487–1567 Ireland — Saint Columba, 521–597 Germany — Hucbald of Saint-Amand, c. 840–930 St Gall — Notker Balbulus, c. 840–912 Rhineland — Hildegard of Bingen, 1098–1179 Netherlands — Jacob Obrecht, c. 1450–1505 Spain / Castile — Alfonso X, 1221–1284 Galicia / Portugal — Martin Codax, fl. c. 1230 Bohemia — Anonymous — Svatý Václave, 12th c. Poland — Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz, 1392–1452 Russia — Anonymous — znamenny chant, 11th c. Serbia — Kir Stefan the Serb, fl. c. 1400 India — Jayadeva, 12th c. Tibet — Milarepa, 1052–1135 China — Qiu Ming, 493–590 Hangzhou — Jiang Kui, 1155–1221 Japan — Minamoto no Hiromasa, 918–980 Korea — Ureuk, 6th c. Central Asia — Abdülkadir Meragi, 1360–1435 Kyrgyzstan — Anonymous — the manaschi, — Mali / Sahel — Anonymous — the jeli, — Senegambia — Anonymous — the griots, — Central Africa — Anonymous — Aka polyphony, — Southern Africa — Anonymous — Khoisan bow music, — Zimbabwe — Anonymous — mbira dzavadzimu, — Indonesia — Anonymous — gamelan, — Cambodia — Anonymous — pinpeat, — Australia — Anonymous — songlines, — Pacific — Anonymous — the roro chants, — Mesoamerica — Anonymous — the Cantares Mexicanos, — Andes — Anonymous — harawi, — North America — Anonymous — First Nations song, —Crusader states — Templar chant, 1119–1312 Frankish empire — Musica enchiriadis, c. 850–900 Siberia — Anonymous — the Olonkho epic, first millennium AD Mongolia — Anonymous — Urtiin duu, c. 1 AD Arctic — Anonymous — katajjaq, before contact Amazonia — Anonymous — the Yaokwa of the Enawene Nawe Sahara — Anonymous — the imzad Arabia — al-Taghrooda, pre-Islamic Greenland — Anonymous — the qilaat drum dance Patagonia — Anonymous — the Mapuche kultrun Lake Chad — Anonymous — the waza trumpets of Kanem Caribbean coast — Anonymous — gaita flutes and sung news

How much of the world is still silent here. Sixty pins is not a survey. Measured properly — taking each pin to speak for music within a given radius, against the land area of 160 countries — 43% of the world’s land is more than 1,000 km from any music in this document, and 74% is more than 500 km from it. The largest gaps are Russia, Antarctica, Canada, Argentina, Greenland and the Sahel. Antarctica will never close: it has no indigenous music to find. The rest can, one pin at a time, and the figure is published here so it can be held against later versions.

Point anywhere on the map Sixty-four regions, and the first musician each can name.

Chronological timeline

Chronological · from c. 3000 BC to Guillaume Dufay, where this table ends
MUSIC SIMULTANEOUS LITERATURE
Composer or Tradition Work Score Recording Arrangements, documentaries & adaptations
13.8 billion years ago The Big Bang
Where any honest chronology of anything has to start. Everything below is the last 0.00004% of it.
—
—
Documentary: Crash Course Big History, the whole series: 1, the Big Bang · 2, exploring the universe · 3, the Sun and the Earth · 4, life begins · 5, the evolutionary epic · 6, human evolution · 7, migrations and intensification · 8, the modern revolution · 9, the Anthropocene · 10, the deep future. Why it matters, in five parts: cosmic evolution · star stuff · the evolutionary epic · human evolution · human ancestry · early globalization. And the Great Courses: Big History 1 · Big History 2
—
c. 300,000 years ago Homo sapiens
Anatomically modern humans. Every instrument, notation and tradition in this document was made by this species, in the last two per cent of its existence.
—
—
Documentary: Svante Pääbo, an ancient-DNA view of human origins · there's no such thing as cavemen · how science got Neanderthals wrong · Historical Genesis: early humans, 1 · part 2 · part 3
—
c. 50,000 years ago – present Aboriginal songlines (tradition)
Australia. Song cycles that carry law, genealogy, ecology and navigation, sung along routes across the continent — the knowledge and the map are the same object. AIATSIS holds the largest collection of song-cycle recordings in the world, and states plainly that it is a small fraction of what still lives in the memory of senior elders. No date can be attached to any individual song, and much of the repertoire is restricted, so what is linked here is what its custodians have chosen to make public.
—
n.d.Torres Strait Islander dance, Malu-Bomai ceremony
—
—
c. 43,000 BC The first instruments
Bone and ivory flutes from the Swabian Jura — Hohle Fels, Geissenklösterle, Vogelherd. Playable, pentatonic, and roughly forty thousand years older than the first written note.
—
—
Documentary: Sounds of Prehistory · Ice Age art: arrival of the modern mind · Ice Age art: opening event · the female gaze in Ice Age art
—
c. 9500 BC Göbekli Tepe
Monumental architecture built by people with no agriculture, no pottery and no writing — which upended the assumption that temples follow farming rather than preceding it.
—
—
Documentary: the first temple on earth? · what is Stonehenge?
—
c. 9000 BC The agricultural revolution
Settlement, surplus, and the conditions under which specialist musicians become possible at all.
—
—
Documentary: Crash Course World History 1: the agricultural revolution · Wondrium: origins of agriculture · Gil Stein, the archaeology of farming and herding
—
c. 7500 BC Çatalhöyük
One of the first towns: thousands of people, no streets, entered through the roof.
—
—
Documentary: Çatalhöyük and the dawn of civilization · the oldest civilization on earth?
—
c. 3200 BC Writing
Cuneiform at Uruk, hieroglyphs in Egypt. Everything this document can see begins here; everything before it is archaeology.
—
—
Documentary: an introduction to archaeology, and why it matters · how archaeologists decide where to dig · the Bronze Age languages of Mesopotamia · the earliest known author was a woman: Enheduanna
—
ANCIENT ERA — to c. AD 600
Before any surviving music — instruments, contexts, and literature only (c. 3000–2000 BC)
c. 3000 BC – present Aka polyphony (tradition)
Central African Republic. Vocal polyphony of extraordinary density — yodelled, improvised over a fixed cycle, sung by everyone rather than by specialists. UNESCO inscribed it in 2008. Simha Arom’s field recordings from 1963 onward are the reason it is documented at all, and they demonstrably shaped Ligeti. No date can be put on its origin: it is placed here because it is among the oldest musical practices still audible, not because 3000 BC is evidenced.
—
2008UNESCO, The Polyphonic Singing of the Aka Pygmies
2009UNESCO Representative List film
—
—
—
Before any surviving music in this table — literature already existed for over six centuries before the Lipit-Ishtar tuning tablet, this document's earliest musical entry
—
—
Documentary: the birth of writing, sign by sign: SAG · DU · GUD · Irving Finkel on the Babylonian mind
2600 BC[Sumerian] Texts from Abu Salabikh: Instructions of Shuruppak (audiobook), Kesh temple hymn (audiobook) — earliest known written literature
Listen: Instructions of Shuruppak — already linked above • Kesh Temple Hymn — already linked above
2600 BC[Egyptian] The Life of Metjen (Saqqara) — checked, no free full English translation found online; discussed only in paywalled academic literature
Listen: Life of Metjen — no full English translation/audio found; inscriptional/biographical text
2500 BC[Egyptian] Diary of Merer; Instruction of Hardjedef
Listen: Diary of Merer — audio/text presentation • Instruction of Hardjedef — reading/presentation
2500 BC[Sumerian] Hymn to Enlil; Enlil and Ninlil (audiobook); Debate Between Sheep and Grain
Listen: Hymn to Enlil — reading/performance • Enlil and Ninlil — already linked above • Debate Between Sheep and Grain — soft-spoken primary-text reading
2400 BC[Sumerian] Code of Urukagina — no actual copy of the code survives; known only through references to it in later texts, so no text link is possible
Listen: Code of Urukagina — no extant copy of the alleged code survives; a literal audiobook is impossible
2400-2300 BC[Egyptian] Pyramid Texts, incl. the Cannibal Hymn (audio: YouTube, free, Samuel A. B. Mercer translation, part 1 of a full reading)
Listen: Pyramid Texts — already linked above • Pyramid Texts of Unas — additional long reading/documentary-text presentation • Also: Egyptian scribes · how modern writing descends from hieroglyphs • Also: the Diary of Merer, and why it matters · a brief history of writing
2375 BC[Egyptian] The Maxims of Ptahhotep (audiobook, part 1)
Listen: Maxims of Ptahhotep — already linked above
2283 BC[Egyptian] Palermo Stone — text: ganino.com, free (Breasted translation)
Listen: Palermo Stone — text/history presentation
2270 BC[Sumerian] Enheduanna's Hymns — earliest literature with a named author; audio: Exaltation of Inanna, YouTube, free
Listen: Enheduanna’s Hymns — Exaltation of Inanna already linked above
2250 BC[Egyptian] Autobiography of Weni (text: rostau.org.uk, free, Breasted translation); South Saqqara Stone
Listen: Autobiography of Weni — primary-text reading • South Saqqara Stone — annalistic stone inscription; no standalone audiobook found
2250-2000 BC[Sumerian] Earliest Sumerian stories in the Epic of Gilgamesh
Listen: Epic of Gilgamesh — full audiobook • Epic of Gilgamesh — alternate early-text narration — find • Also: read by Sam Kuraishi • Also: the full book read · Ed Greenstein on the epic and its interpretations · Adapa, Etana and Bilgames · women in the epic
2200 BC[Egyptian] Autobiography of Harkhuf (text: ganino.com, free)
Listen: Autobiography of Harkhuf — primary-text reading
2125 BC[Sumerian] Building of Ningirsu's Temple (Gudea cylinders) — text: ETCSL, Oxford, free
Listen: Building of Ningirsu’s Temple / Gudea Cylinders — no verified standalone full-text audiobook found
2100 BC[Sumerian] Curse of Agade; Debate Between Bird and Fish; Inanna's Descent; Code of Ur-Nammu (audiobook); Song of the Hoe
Listen: Curse of Agade — reading/presentation • Debate Between Bird and Fish — no verified standalone reading found • Inanna’s Descent — full-text reading • Code of Ur-Nammu — already linked above • Song of the Hoe — text reading, lines 1–27 • Inanna and Dumuzid — Spanish audiobook — pre-Biblical audiobook • Inanna and Šu-kale-tuda — Spanish audiobook — pre-Biblical audiobook
2084 BC[Sumerian] Sumerian King List — text: ETCSL, Oxford, free
Listen: Sumerian King List — no verified standalone full-text audiobook found
2050 BC[Egyptian] The Satire of the Trades
Listen: Satire of the Trades — reading/presentation of the Instruction of Dua-Khety
2000 BC[Egyptian] Coffin Texts; Teaching for King Merykara
Listen: Coffin Texts — large funerary corpus; no verified complete audiobook found • Teaching for King Merykara — reading/presentation
2000 BC[Sumerian] Lament for Ur; Lament for Sumer and Ur; Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta; Debate Between Winter and Summer
Listen: Lament for Ur — narrated poem • Lament for Sumer and Ur — no verified standalone reading found • Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta — full text • Enmerkar — alternate full reading — alternate • Debate Between Winter and Summer — no verified full audiobook; a cartoon adaptation exists but not a primary-text reading
2000-1900 BC[Egyptian] Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (audio: Storynory, free); Prophecy of Neferti; first Harper's Songs
Listen: Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor — reading • Prophecy of Neferti — reading/presentation • Harper’s Song — modern musical setting of ancient poem
c. 3000 BC Anonymous
Invention of the castanets, Early Dynastic Egypt — instrument milestone, per Wikipedia's "3rd millennium BC in music" timeline
—
—
—
—
c. 2800 BC Anonymous
Invention of the clapper (basic percussion), Early Dynastic Egypt; and the harp and lyre, Mesopotamia — instrument milestones
—
—
—
—
c. 2686–2181 BC Anonymous
Invention of the sistrum, a percussion instrument, Egypt (Old Kingdom period)
—
—
—
—
c. 2600 BC Anonymous
Creation of the Standard of Ur, which includes the soundbox of a musical instrument
—
—
—
—
c. 2550–2450 BC Anonymous
Invention of the Bull-Headed Lyre of Ur and the Lyres of Ur, string instruments from the Early Dynastic III period of Mesopotamia
—
n.d.The Lyre Ensemble — recreating the Gold Lyre of Ur, Oriental Institute
—
—
c. 2500 BC Anonymous
Around ninety royal servants — including soldiers, grooms, and female musicians — were buried alive in the tomb of a royal couple at Ur; also the invention of thin lyres in northern Syria and thick lyres in Uruk and Susa in the same period
—
—
—
—
c. 2200 BC Anonymous
A song was composed during the Old Kingdom of Egypt and subsequently buried in a tomb — melody itself not preserved in a form recoverable today
—
—
—
—
c. 2017 BC Dynasty of Isin (Sumer)
First nation/kingdom reached by this table — founded by Ishbi-Erra after the collapse of the Third Dynasty of Ur
—
—
Documentary: Irving Finkel and Jonathan Taylor bring cuneiform to life · the Sumerian King List · the collapse of Assyria
—
c. 2000 BC Anonymous
Percussion instruments added to Egyptian orchestras; the trumpet is played in Denmark (Bronze Age lurs)
—
—
—
—
Music from the 1900s BC (1999–1900 BC)
c. 1950 BC Anonymous
Lipit-Ishtar tuning tablet
—
2017YouTube (previous link 0tnNY93Ct-Q went dead — replaced)
Documentary: The Tuning of Antiquity · Ancient Mesopotamian music, a beginner's introduction
1950 BC[Akkadian] Laws of Eshnunna; Hymn to Ishtar
Listen: Laws of Eshnunna — no verified full-text YouTube audiobook found • Hymn to Ishtar — Akkadian reading
1950 BC[Egyptian] Instructions of Amenemhat; Akhmim wooden tablets; Heqanakht papyri
Listen: Instructions of Amenemhat — text presentation • Akhmim wooden tablets — mathematical/scribal tablets, not a standalone literary book; no audiobook found • Heqanakht papyri — archive of letters/accounts; no complete audiobook found
1940 BC[Sumerian] Correspondence of the Kings of Ur
Listen: Correspondence of the Kings of Ur — letter corpus; no verified complete audiobook found
1900 BC[Akkadian] Legend of Etana; Summa izbu; Summa alu; Namburbi; Iskar Zaqiqu
Listen: Legend of Etana — primary-text reading • Šumma izbu — omen series; no complete audiobook found • Šumma ālu — omen series; no complete audiobook found • Namburbi — ritual corpus; no complete audiobook found • Iškar Zaqīqu — dream-omen series; no complete audiobook found
1900 BC[Sumerian] Code of Lipit-Ishtar; The Legend of Adapa
Listen: Code of Lipit-Ishtar — included in narrated Ancient World law collection • Legend of Adapa — narrated ancient myth
1900 BC[Egyptian] Instructions of Kagemni
Listen: Instructions of Kagemni — primary-source reading
1859-1840 BC[Egyptian] Dispute Between a Man and His Ba
Listen: Dispute Between a Man and His Ba — text presentation/reading • Dispute Between a Man and His Ba — musical setting — music based on the text
1859-1813 BC[Egyptian] Loyalist Teaching
Listen: Loyalist Teaching — no verified standalone YouTube audiobook found
1850 BC[Egyptian] The Eloquent Peasant (audio: YouTube, free, full reading)
Listen: Eloquent Peasant — already linked above
1850 BC[Akkadian] Kultepe texts; Barutu; Counsels of Wisdom; Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin; Labbu Myth
Listen: Kültepe texts — archive/corpus, not a single book; no complete audiobook found • Bārûtu — divination series; no complete audiobook found • Counsels of Wisdom — no full reading found; only summary/discussion videos surfaced • Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin — no verified full reading found • Labbu Myth — no verified full reading found
1800 BC[Akkadian] Earliest complete version of the Epic of Gilgamesh — text: Wikisource, free; audio: LibriVox / YouTube, both free
Listen: Epic of Gilgamesh — already linked above
1800 BC[Egyptian] Berlin Papyrus 6619; Moscow Mathematical Papyrus; Story of Sinuhe (audio: YouTube, free, full reading)
Listen: Berlin Papyrus 6619 — mathematical papyrus; no audiobook found • Moscow Mathematical Papyrus — mathematical papyrus; no audiobook found • Story of Sinuhe — already linked above
1780 BC[Akkadian] Mari letters, incl. Epic of Zimri-Lim
Listen: Mari letters — large letter archive; no complete audiobook found • Epic of Zimri-Lim — fragmentary text; no verified standalone audiobook found
1754 BC[Akkadian] Code of Hammurabi stele — text: archive.org, free; audio: no free reading of the code text alone found, but a real free LibriVox companion exists — LibriVox, W. W. Davies's 1905 study, which quotes and discusses the code at length rather than reading the stele text straight through
Listen: Code of Hammurabi — full text reading
1750 BC[Akkadian] Agushaya Hymn
Listen: Agushaya Hymn — primary-text reading
late 18th c. BC[Hittite] Anitta text
Listen: Anitta text — inscription/proclamation; no verified full audiobook found
Music from the 1500s BC (1599–1500 BC)
c. 1580–1295 BC Anonymous
Harps played in Egypt (New Kingdom period)
—
—
—
—
c. 1500 BC Anonymous
Guitar, lyre, trumpet, and tambourine used by the Hittites
—
—
—
—
Music from the 1400s BC (1499–1400 BC)
c. 1500 BC Kingdom of Mitanni (Hurrians)
The Hurrian-speaking kingdom whose culture produced the Hurrian Hymn below — founding date approximate, since Mitanni's early history is reconstructed mostly from external Egyptian/Hittite records rather than its own
—
—
Documentary: tracking the frontiers of the Hittite empire
1700 BC[Akkadian] Atra-Hasis
Listen: Atra-Hasis — full audiobook
1700 BC[Egyptian] Westcar Papyrus
Listen: Westcar Papyrus — visual/narrated adaptation of the tales
1650 BC[Egyptian] Ipuwer Papyrus
Listen: Ipuwer Papyrus — no clean primary-text audiobook found; searches surfaced commentary instead
1650 BC[Sumerian] Dialogue Between a Man and His God
Listen: Dialogue Between a Man and His God — reading/presentation
c. 1750–1200 BC[Sumerian] The Enki and Enlil tablets, read complete — The Creation of Mankind, The World Order (two parts), Enki's Journey to Nibru, Enlil and Sud, Inanna and Enki
Listen: Creation of Mankind • World Order I • World Order II • Journey to Nibru • Enlil and Sud • Inanna and Enki
c. 2400–2300 BC[Egyptian] The Pyramid Texts — the oldest religious writings in the world, carved inside the pyramid of Unas; read complete
Listen: The Pyramid Texts • full text, with the Cannibal Hymn • Utterances 1–11 • Hymn 510 • Hymn 573 • Hymn 567 • Lectures: Decoding Egyptian hieroglyphs · Intro to Egyptian literature and the Pyramid Texts · mind, universe and religion in the Texts · puns in the Pyramid Texts
c. 2100 BC[Sumerian] The Code of Ur-Nammu — law older than Hammurabi
Listen: primary-source reading
c. 2600 BC[Sumerian] The Debate between Sheep and Grain — one of the oldest disputation poems
Listen: complete reading • the oldest debates, discussed
c. 1550 BC[Egyptian] The Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) — funerary spells copied for individual burials
Listen: full audiobook • the Papyrus of Ani, with the text on screen • a further reading • Also: the longest Book of the Dead in the world · the papyrus at the British Museum · the coffin mask conserved • Documentaries: the most detailed treatment · a second documentary
c. 1300 BC[Egyptian] Egyptian Tales from the Papyri — the surviving story literature
Listen: full audiobook
c. 1200 BC[Egyptian] The myth of Osiris and Isis, assembled from Egyptian sources
Listen: reading from the sources
c. 1100 BC[Akkadian] Ishtar's Descent into the Underworld
Listen: full text • the poem read aloud
1600 BC[Hittite] Code of the Nesilim
Listen: Code of the Nesilim / Hittite Laws — no verified full audiobook found
1600 BC[Akkadian] Hulbazizi; Eridu Genesis; Enuma Anu Enlil; Enuma Elish (Babylonian creation epic — surviving tablets date to c. 700–600 BC copies of a text likely composed c. 1750–1200 BC; audio: YouTube, free, full reading)
Listen: Hulbazizi — incantation corpus; no complete audiobook found • Eridu Genesis — no verified standalone full-text audiobook found • Enuma Anu Enlil — large omen series; no complete audiobook found • Enuma Elish — already linked above • Enuma Elish — additional complete audiobook — complete reading
1600 BC[Egyptian] Edwin Smith Papyrus
Listen: Edwin Smith Papyrus — medical papyrus; no verified complete audiobook found
1550 BC[Egyptian] Book of the Dead (audio: LibriVox, free, Wallis Budge translation); Instruction of Any; Litany of Re; Rhind Mathematical Papyrus; Ebers Papyrus
Listen: Book of the Dead — full audiobook • Instruction of Any / Ani — primary-text reading • Litany of Re — liturgical text; no verified complete audiobook found • Rhind Mathematical Papyrus — mathematical document; no audiobook found • Ebers Papyrus — medical papyrus; no verified complete audiobook found
1550 BC[Akkadian] Bullussa-rabi's Hymn to Gula
Listen: Hymn to Gula — no verified primary-text audiobook found
1550 BC[Babylonian] Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa
Listen: Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa — astronomical omen tablet; no standalone audiobook found
1500 BC[Akkadian] Poor Man of Nippur
Listen: Poor Man of Nippur — narrated text/story
1500 BC[Hittite] Hittite military oath
Listen: Hittite military oath — ritual/oath text; no verified full audiobook found
1500-1300 BC[Ugaritic] Baal Cycle
Listen: Baal Cycle — Ugaritic poetry / narrated text • Baal’s message to Anat — original-language reading
1500-1200 BC[Ugaritic] Legend of Keret
Listen: Legend of Keret — narrated Ugaritic tale
1500-1000 BC[Sanskrit] Rig Veda
Listen: Rig Veda — full audiobook
1500 BC[Akkadian] Dynasty of Dunnum; Chronicle of Early Kings
Listen: Dynasty of Dunnum — fragmentary myth/theogony; no verified standalone audiobook found • Chronicle of Early Kings — chronicle text; no verified full audiobook found
1450 BC[Egyptian] The Taking of Joppa
Listen: Taking of Joppa — included in Egyptian Tales audiobook; chapter begins around 1:23:32
1450 BC[Akkadian] Assyrian law
Listen: Assyrian law — law collection; no verified full-text audiobook found
c. 1446 BC (legendary/traditional) Song of the Sea▾
Described by real scholarship (Cantor Jonathan L. Friedmann) as the Bible's first instance of praise singing — Miriam leads the women in song, accompanied by timbrels and dancing, immediately after the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 15:20-21). Tied to the same traditional/legendary Exodus date used elsewhere in this table for the Book of Exodus itself, which would make this the earliest specific, named musical performance in this whole Jewish liturgical cluster — genuinely older than the Shofar and Torah cantillation traditions immediately below, both of which are broader ongoing practices rather than a single dated event
—
—
—
—
c. 1400 BC Hurrian songs▾
1971Wulstan — first scholarly transcription attempt
—
—
Modern adaptation: the hymn's afterlife beyond the ten scholarly readings above — Echoes of Ancient Mesopotamia & Canaan · a Mesopotamian-fragment reading · A Zaluzi to the Gods, as copied by Ammurabi · an organic-house mix · a boom-bap instrumental. No 3,400-year-old melody has been covered more often; these are new music on an old skeleton, not reconstructions.

n.d.the 8 oldest written songs in the world
Documentary: Hurrian Hymns 8 and 5 · Hymn no. 6, the oldest surviving written melody
1425 BC[Egyptian] Amduat
Listen: Amduat — ritual reading/presentation
1400 BC[Akkadian] Marriage of Nergal and Ereshkigal; Autobiography of Kurigalzu; Amarna letters
Listen: Marriage of Nergal and Ereshkigal — live reading • Autobiography of Kurigalzu — royal inscription/text; no verified audiobook found • Amarna letters — large diplomatic archive; no complete audiobook found
mid-14th c. BC[Egyptian] Great Hymn to the Aten
Listen: Great Hymn to the Aten — worded reading/performance
1350 BC[Ugaritic] Tale of Aqhat
Listen: Tale of Aqhat — no verified literal full-text audiobook found; historical retellings exist
1350 BC[Akkadian] Surpu
Listen: Šurpu — ritual/incantation series; no verified complete audiobook found
1300 BC[Egyptian] Instruction of Amenemope; Papyrus Anastasi I
Listen: Instruction of Amenemope — reading/presentation • Papyrus Anastasi I — scribal letter/satire; no verified full audiobook found
1300 BC[Akkadian] Ludlul bel nemeqi; Dream of Kurigalzu; Iqqur Ipus
Listen: Ludlul bēl nēmeqi — no verified primary-text full audiobook found • Dream of Kurigalzu — fragmentary text; no audiobook found • Iqqur Ipuš — omen series; no complete audiobook found
1274 BC[Akkadian] Adad-narari Epic
Listen: Adad-narari Epic — fragmentary royal epic; no verified standalone audiobook found
1240 BC[Egyptian] Papyrus of Ani (Book of the Dead)
Listen: Papyrus of Ani — full/extended audiobook presentation
1200-900 BC[Akkadian] Later strata of the Epic of Gilgamesh
Listen: Later strata of the Epic of Gilgamesh — full standard-version audiobook
1200 BC[Akkadian] Tukulti-Ninurta Epic
Listen: Tukulti-Ninurta Epic — no verified standalone full audiobook found
1200 BC[Egyptian] Tale of Two Brothers
Listen: Tale of Two Brothers — included as Anpu and Bata in Egyptian Tales audiobook
1200 BC[Vedic Sanskrit] Yajurveda, Samaveda, Atharvaveda — the earlier Rig Veda (see above) has text: free PDF, holybooks.com; audio: free full audiobook on YouTube (Griffith translation)
Listen: Yajurveda — full audiobook part 1 • Samaveda — full audiobook • Atharvaveda — full audiobook part 1
c. 1200-1000 BC[Old Avestan] The Gathas of Zoroaster — five hymns forming the oldest layer of the Zoroastrian Avesta, traditionally credited to Zarathustra himself; like the Rig Veda, transmitted orally for centuries before the oldest surviving manuscript (1323 AD); still chanted liturgically today — audio: Yasna 51, Avestan recitation, YouTube; excerpt, YouTube
Listen: Gathas of Zoroaster — Avestan recitations already linked above
1100 BC[Akkadian] Summa sinnistu qaqqada rabat
Listen: Šumma sinništu qaqqada rabat — omen series; no complete audiobook found
1974Kilmer — first playable reconstruction; premiered 1974, called a "revolution" by the NYT
—
1976Kilmer & Crocker, Sounds from Silence, LP/CD, paid; also 2023Interview with Anne Kilmer: The Hurrian Cult Song and Life in Ancient Times, YouTube, free (cited on her own Wikipedia page)
—
—
1975–1980Duchesne-Guillemin — monodic reading, contra Kilmer's dyadic/chordal reading; full study 1984
1984Study, cited
n.d.archive.org, free — and Heritage for Peace hosts three versions side by side, including the Kilmer/Krispijn-based reading recorded by Tiger Shade. The document long said only "Urkesh.org hosts a recording per Wikipedia" with no link; urkesh.org turns out to host Duchesne-Guillemin's 1984 paper as a PDF, not audio, so the recording is linked here instead
—
—
1977–1978Thiel — numerals as syllable counts
—
—
—
—
1979–1982Vitale — numerals as bar/beat counts
—
—
—
—
1988Cerny
—
—
—
—
1993M.L. West — numerals as repeat-markers; influential Grove Music treatment
—
—
—
—
1998Dumbrill — most extensive study (~700 pp.); numerals as note-duration
1997Dumbrill's own tablature interpretation, free PDF
2011Michael Levy, solo lyre, YouTube
Arrangement: 2009Malek Jandali, Echoes from Ugarit — the first piano-and-orchestra arrangement of h.6, recorded with the Russian Philharmonic in Moscow; Jandali credits Dumbrill's reading of the tablet. YouTube
2010Live concert performance, YouTube
Documentary: 2022BBC News Arabic, "Syrian Rhapsody" brings you the oldest melody in the world — Syrian composer Iyad Rimawi opens his Dubai Expo 2020 concert with Hymn to Nikkal, then runs forward through three thousand years of Syrian music with an orchestra of 100+. Producer Maryem Taoumi. YouTube
—
2013Dumbrill's own vocal rendition in Hurrian, YouTube; Michael Levy — solo lyre reconstruction, YouTube
—
—
2000Monzo — independent/non-peer-reviewed, built on Dumbrill's approach
2000Full reconstruction, free
—
—
—
2000Krispijn — numerals as repeat-markers (like West)
—
—
—
—
Hurrian Hymns 16 and 30 — two more of the ~36 total Ugarit hymns, both far more fragmentary than h.6 above, given a traditional-ensemble arrangement by Ensemble De Organographia on the same album as their Oxyrhynchus papyri recordings
—
n.d.Ensemble De Organographia — full album playlist, YouTube (individual uploads: I · II · VI · Invocation of Calliope and Apollo; CD from the Neumans), Music of the Ancient Sumerians, Egyptians & Greeks (Pandourion PRCD 1005)
—
—
Music from the 1300s BC (1399–1300 BC)
r. c. 1353–1336 BC Akhenaten
The Great Hymn to the Aten — genuinely attributed to Akhenaten himself in some scholarly readings (others credit his courtiers), discovered in the tomb of the courtier Ay at Amarna. Real scholarly note: bears a genuine, much-discussed resemblance to Psalm 104, already elsewhere in this table. A radical, real theological departure — Egypt's traditional pantheon replaced with near-exclusive devotion to the sun-disc Aten
—
n.d.YouTube
Documentary: religion in ancient Egypt · the last worshippers of Ra · Joann Fletcher on the whole civilisation
Documentary: Nefertiti, great royal wife of the pharaoh
—
c. 1323 BC Tutankhamun's trumpets
Not a composition, but a genuine sounding instrument: the oldest surviving playable metal trumpets in the world, found in Tutankhamun's tomb (one silver, one bronze/copper). Actually played and broadcast live on BBC radio, 16 April 1939, by bandsman James Tappern — heard by an estimated 150 million listeners worldwide, reportedly the largest live radio audience up to that point. The silver trumpet was damaged during that same session; due to fragility, the instruments will almost certainly never be sounded again, making the 1939 recording irreplaceable. The identity of Tutankhamun's own royal trumpeter is unknown
—
1939BBC radio broadcast — YouTube
—
—
Music from the 1200s BC (1299–1200 BC)
c. 1200 BC – present Shofar tradition (Jewish liturgical, tradition)
A genuinely continuous surviving musical tradition — the ram's-horn shofar and its specific named ritual calls (Tekiah, a long straight blast; Shevarim, three broken sounds; Teruah, nine short staccato blasts) trace back to the First Temple period and remain in essentially unbroken liturgical use today, alongside the Torah's own account of the nevel (12-string harp) and kinnor (10-string lyre) in Temple worship
—
n.d.Shofar blowing, all three calls, YouTube
—
—
c. 1200–1000 BC Samaveda
The "Veda of Melodies" — one of the four Vedas, and per multiple independent scholarly sources, likely the source of the world's oldest surviving notated melodies (distinguishing it from the Hurrian Hymn above, which is the oldest surviving substantially complete single composition). Notation consists of Vedic pitch-accent marks (udātta, anudātta, svarita) written above or within the text, indicating relative pitch rather than fixed notes — a mnemonic system for oral transmission, not a score in the Western sense. Three recensions survive (Kauthuma, Ranayaniya, Jaiminiya); the Jaiminiya preserves the oldest surviving chanting tradition. Anonymous/traditional, not attributed to a single composer. UNESCO recognized the broader tradition of Vedic chanting as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008
—
2008"The Tradition of Vedic Chanting," UNESCO, YouTube; also Sama Veda Chanting, YouTube
—
—
Music from the 1000s BC (1099–1000 BC)
c. 1000 BC (oral) / 7th–9th c. AD (notated) – present Torah cantillation (trope/te'amim, tradition)
Described by real musicological scholarship as the oldest surviving genre of Jewish religious music — the ritualized chanting of biblical text, rooted in First Temple-era oral practice and continued unbroken through the synagogue. The actual notation system (te'amim, "accent marks") was codified centuries later by the Tiberian Masoretes (7th–9th c. AD), the same three-century window in which Western ecphonetic notation more broadly emerged across Jewish, Syriac, Byzantine, Armenian, and Coptic traditions alike — genuinely comparable in date and function to the earliest Western plainchant neumes
—
n.d.Cantillation Overview, full trope demonstration, YouTuben.d.Ashir Shirim — a Babylonian Jewish wedding song
n.d.Museum of the Bible, Ancient Soundscapes
Documentary: Henry Abramson, ancient Israel · the origins of the Israelites · the history of Yahweh, from storm god to Israelite deity · the cult of Asherah · the Dead Sea Scrolls against the traditional Old Testament
c. 1200–200 BC[Hebrew] The Hebrew Bible, taken as a whole — the text this row’s cantillation carries, and the largest body of literature in the table’s first millennium
Lectures: Christine Hayes’s Yale course, Introduction to the Old Testament: 1, the parts of the whole · 2, the ancient Near Eastern setting · 3, Genesis in context · 4, doublets, seams and sources · 5, critical approaches · 7, Moses and the beginning of Yahwism · 8, Exodus · 15, the non-literary prophets · 16, Amos · 17, Hosea and Isaiah · 18, Micah, Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk · 19, prophecy in exile · 20, suffering and wisdom · 21, Psalms and the Song of Songs · 22, the restoration · 23, Daniel and apocalyptic · 24, Esther, Ruth and Jonah
Music from the 500s BC (599–500 BC)
670 BC – 630 BC Sappho
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
655 BC – 586 BC Jeremiah
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
776 BC Ancient Greece
Conventional epoch marking the start of "classical antiquity" and recorded Greek history (First Olympiad) — the actual Greek-speaking world long predates this date, but this is the standard reference point
—
—
Modern adaptation: Spyros Giasafakis improvising on reconstructed instruments — lyra · kitharis · barbitos · askaulos. His own titles put "ancient" in quotation marks: these are new improvisations on reconstructed instruments, not readings of any surviving notation.
Documentary: Great Courses: The World of Genesis — on the literature contemporary with this row rather than its music
Documentary: The Persians and the Greeks · making Greek vases
Documentary: how to play the music of ancient Greece · Nikos Xanthoulis on music and philosophy · improvisation for the ancient kithara · the acoustics of the Greek theatre · Sarah Iles Johnston on the myths
1050 BC[Egyptian] Story of Wenamun
Listen: Story of Wenamun — narrated text/story
1050 BC[Akkadian] Sakikku (Diagnostic Omens) by Esagil-kin-apli; Alamdimmu
Listen: Sakikku / Diagnostic Omens — diagnostic omen series; no complete audiobook found • Alamdimmu — physiognomic omen series; no complete audiobook found
1050 BC[Akkadian] Babylonian Theodicy of Shaggil-kinam-ubbib
Listen: Babylonian Theodicy — audiobook/narrated poem
1010 BC[Akkadian] Royal Inscription of Simbar-Shipak
Listen: Royal Inscription of Simbar-Shipak — royal inscription; no standalone audiobook found
1000 BC[Chinese] Classic of Poetry (Shijing)
Listen: Classic of Poetry / Shijing — full audiobook, James Legge translation • Book of Odes — alternate — full audiobook
1000 BC[Akkadian] Dialogue of Pessimism; Chronicle P; Advice to a Prince; Great Prayer to Shamash; MUL.APIN
Listen: Dialogue of Pessimism — reading/presentation paired with Poor Man of Nippur • Chronicle P — chronicle text; no verified full audiobook found • Advice to a Prince — no verified full audiobook found • Great Prayer to Shamash — no verified full-text audiobook found • MUL.APIN — astronomical compendium; no verified complete audiobook found
900 BC[Akkadian] Epic of Erra
Listen: Epic of Erra — narrated Erra and Ishum episode
900 BC[Vedic Sanskrit] Aranyaka
Listen: Aranyaka / Aitareya Aranyaka — full audiobook
9th c. BC[Chinese] Classic of Changes (I Ching)
Listen: Classic of Changes / I Ching — full audiobook part 1
9th c. BC[Greek] Trojan War cycle forming: Iliad (audio: LibriVox, free), Odyssey (audio: LibriVox, free) — both Samuel Butler's prose translation, read by volunteers
Listen: Iliad — full audiobook • Odyssey — full audiobook
8th c. BC[Hebrew] Ketef Hinnom amulets — oldest surviving Biblical text
Listen: Ketef Hinnom amulets — two tiny inscriptions, not a book; a standalone audiobook is not meaningful
8th c. BC[Chinese] Classic of Documents (Shujing, authentic portions)
Listen: Classic of Documents / Shujing — no verified full English audiobook surfaced in targeted search
c. 750-650 BC[Greek] Hesiod's Theogony, Works and Days, Shield of Heracles — audio: YouTube, free (LibriVox recording, Evelyn-White translation)
Listen: Hesiod — Theogony / Works and Days / Shield of Heracles — already linked above
722-481 BC[Chinese] Spring and Autumn Annals; Confucius's Analects (audio: LibriVox, free, checked); Classic of Rites; Mozi; Sun Tzu's Art of War
Listen: Spring and Autumn Annals — no verified full English audiobook surfaced • Confucius’s Analects — full audiobook, James Legge • Classic of Rites / Liji — classical-Chinese reading excerpt (Liyun chapter) • Mozi — Works of Mozi, vol. 1 audiobook • Sun Tzu’s Art of War — full audiobook, Lionel Giles translation
7th c. BC[Sanskrit] Sushruta Samhita; Samkhya-sutra; Vaisheshika Sutra; Kashyapa Samhita
Listen: Sushruta Samhita — no verified full audiobook; YouTube results are lectures/chapter lessons • Samkhya-sutra — no verified full audiobook found • Vaisheshika Sutra — no verified full audiobook found • Kashyapa Samhita — no verified full audiobook found
c. 620-564 BC[Greek] Aesop's Fables — authorship and even Aesop's historicity disputed; the fables as we have them are a centuries-long oral/compiled tradition, not a single fixed text from his lifetime — audio: YouTube, free (LibriVox recording, vol. 1 of several)
Listen: Aesop’s Fables — already linked above
c. 630–570 BC[Greek] Sappho — the earliest named woman poet in the European tradition, and her verse was sung: composed to the lyre, in a metre named after her. One poem survives complete. Naxos dates her 630–670 BC, which is impossible; the standard dates are used here
Listen: named in the Naxos catalogue, so a recording exists; no audiobook link verified yet
c. 535–475 BC[Greek] Heraclitus — the fragments
Listen: named in the Naxos catalogue, so a recording exists; no audiobook link verified yet
c. 522–443 BC[Greek] Pindar — the victory odes, written for chorus and instruments; already present in this table under his odes
Listen: named in the Naxos catalogue, so a recording exists; no audiobook link verified yet
c. 335–269 BC[Greek] Strato of Lampsacus — head of the Lyceum after Theophrastus
Listen: named in the Naxos catalogue, so a recording exists; no audiobook link verified yet
c. 140–87 BC[Chinese] Emperor Wu of Han — founded the Imperial Music Bureau, which collected the yuefu songs; verse of his own survives
Listen: named in the Naxos catalogue, so a recording exists; no audiobook link verified yet
6th c. BC[Chinese] Tao Te Ching, attrib. Lao Tzu — audio: LibriVox, free (Legge translation)
Listen: Tao Te Ching — full audiobook, Legge translation
fl. 586–578 BC Sakadas of Argos
Nomos Pythicos ("Pythic Nomos") — a virtuoso solo aulos composition portraying Apollo's battle with the serpent Python, winning first prize at the Pythian Games in 586, 582, and 578 BC. Real scholarly significance: one ancient writer's attribution makes him the earliest known composer of instrumental music specifically, distinct from the earliest known composer overall (Enheduanna, already elsewhere in this table). Honest caveat: the piece itself has not survived — only its five-part programmatic structure is known from later written descriptions
—
—
—
—
Music from the 400s BC (499–400 BC)
550 BC Achaemenid Persia
The empire whose archives at Persepolis, whose Behistun inscription and whose Avestan liturgy all sit in this table, and which had no marker of its own until now.
—
—
Documentary: the Achaemenid empire, part I: Cyrus to Darius · part II: Xerxes to Alexander · the Cyrus Cylinder · Matt Stolper on the economy of Achaemenid Persia · re-reading the Elamite Behistun
—
535 BC – 475 BC Heracleitus
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
525 BC – 456 BC Aeschylus
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
522 BC – 443 BC Pindar
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 497–406 BC Sophocles
One of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, alongside Aeschylus and Euripides, above. Wrote over 120 plays; only 7 survive complete, including Oedipus Rex and Antigone. No surviving musical notation for any of his own choral odes is known — unlike Euripides' Orestes, above
—
—
Modern adaptation: 1927Igor Stravinsky, Oedipus Rex (opera-oratorio) — a real 20th-century musical setting of Sophocles' original play (Latin libretto by Jean Cocteau, after Sophocles), the clearest example in this document of ancient text receiving genuine modern musical treatment

n.d.Antigone, set by Ioannis Sakellarides
c. 498–446 BC[Greek] Pindar's victory odes — the major surviving body of Greek choral lyric, written for music that does not survive
Listen: Pindar's Odes — full audiobook
458 BC[Greek] Aeschylus, Oresteia — the only complete surviving Greek tragic trilogy
Listen: LibriVox, free (Morshead translation) • Oresteia — full audiobook
c. 440 BC[Greek] Herodotus, Histories — the first work of history in the Western tradition
Listen: LibriVox, free (Godley translation, vol. 1) • Histories — audiobook, volume 1
431 BC[Greek] Euripides, Medea — by the same playwright as the Orestes stasimon in the music column of this row's century
Listen: LibriVox, free (dramatic reading) • Medea — full audiobook
c. 429 BC[Greek] Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
Listen: LibriVox, free (Storr translation, dramatic reading) • Oedipus Rex — full audiobook
411 BC[Greek] Aristophanes, Lysistrata
Listen: LibriVox, free • The Frogs — full audiobook, same author
c. 400 BC[Greek] Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War
Listen: LibriVox, free — read in ancient Greek, book by book • Peloponnesian War — English audiobook
480–406 BC Euripides (disputed)▾
Orestes, Greek tragedy, excerpt: Stasimon chorus — papyrus copy (Orestes Papyrus, Vienna P.Vind. G 2315) preserves musical notation for this choral ode, but the notation dates from ~200 BC, two centuries after Euripides' death (408 BC), so scholars are split on whether it preserves his original melody or a later re-setting. No composer inscription survives (unlike the Delphic Hymns below) — the attribution is inferred only because it's his play, not claimed on the source itself.
—
1979"Anakrousis, Orestes Stasimo," Atrium Musicae de Madrid / Gregorio Paniagua, Musique de la Grèce Antique, YouTube; also n.d.Petros Tabouris, YouTuben.d.the stasimon read from the manuscript
n.d.Ancient Greek Music — a stasimon
n.d.Orestes, Stasimon Chorus
n.d.Fragment from Orestes
n.d.second reading of the fragment
Documentary: 2017"Rediscovering Ancient Greek Music", dir. Mike Tomlinson, feat. Armand D'Angour (Oxford) — reconstructs this exact piece
Modern adaptation: Alessio Barcellini, improvisation on the Stasimon Chorus
Documentary: Reading Greek Tragedy Online: Orestes · a summary of the play
408 BC[Greek] Euripides, Orestes — the play the stasimon comes from
Listen: complete audiobook
Music from the 300s BC (399–300 BC)
c. 375–320 BC Elementa harmonica (Aristoxenus, treatise)
The oldest substantially surviving work of Western music theory — a systematic treatise on musical scales, genera, and intervals. Aristoxenus (pupil of Aristotle, called simply "the Musician" in antiquity) wrote ~453 works; this is the only one to survive in bulk. No musical notation examples survive within it (theoretical text only), unlike Musica enchiriadis below.
1902Macran ed./trans., Greek text + English, archive.org, free
n.d.Stella caeli extirpavit, coro Musica Enchiriadis
—
core c. 7th-4th c. BC, redacted by c. 300 BC[Sanskrit] Valmiki's Ramayana — dating is genuinely contested among scholars (oral core possibly centuries older, final redaction sometimes placed as late as the early centuries AD), placed here at the traditional early end; audio: LibriVox, free (Griffith translation, multiple books)
Listen: Valmiki’s Ramayana — Book 1 audiobook, Griffith translation
c. 380 BC[Greek] Plato, Republic
Listen: LibriVox, free (Jowett translation)
c. 370 BC[Greek] Xenophon, Anabasis
Listen: LibriVox, free
c. 340 BC[Greek] Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
Listen: LibriVox, free
342 BC – 291 BC Menander
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
335 BC – 269 BC Strato of Lampsacus
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
3rd c. BC Anonymous
Zenon Papyrus (Cairo) — P. Cairo Zen. IV 59533, a lyric or tragic fragment with musical notation, found within the Zenon archive (the largest surviving archive of Ptolemaic-era papyri, over 1,800 texts), published in the Journal of Hellenic Studies
—
1979Atrium Musicae / Paniagua, Musique de la Grèce Antique, YouTube
—
6th c. BC[Greek] Theognis of Megara — elegiac verse composed for the symposium, that is, to be sung
Listen: named in the Naxos catalogue, so a recording exists; no audiobook link verified yet
c. 310–240 BC[Greek] Callimachus — Hymns and Aetia; the Alexandrian library
Listen: named in the Naxos catalogue, so a recording exists; no audiobook link verified yet
c. 140–70 BC[Greek] Meleager of Gadara — the Garland, the first anthology of Greek epigram
Listen: named in the Naxos catalogue, so a recording exists; no audiobook link verified yet
c. 110–35 BC[Greek] Philodemus of Gadara — On Music, an Epicurean attack on the idea that music affects character
Listen: named in the Naxos catalogue, so a recording exists; no audiobook link verified yet
c. 84–54 BC[Latin] Catullus — the Carmina; several are explicitly marked as songs
Listen: named in the Naxos catalogue, so a recording exists; no audiobook link verified yet
1st c. BC[Latin] Sulpicia — six short elegies in the Tibullan corpus, the only Latin love poetry by a woman to survive
Listen: named in the Naxos catalogue, so a recording exists; no audiobook link verified yet
c. 500–100 BC[Aramaic / Hebrew / Greek] The Judean and Egyptian novellas of the Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods — Ahiqar, Tobit, Judith, Esther, Joseph and Aseneth, the Elephantine papyri: prose fiction written under Persian and Greek rule, the strand of ancient literature this column has least of
Listen: Joey Cross, lecture
c. 250 BC[Greek] Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica — the only complete Hellenistic epic to survive, and the oldest full telling of Jason and the Argonauts
Listen: LibriVox, free
Music from the 100s BC (199–100 BC)
150 BC – AD 250 The Yugüe flute (Oaxaca)
Río Verde valley, Oaxaca. An incised bone flute carved with a skeletal figure, buried in the hands of a young man — the earliest reported bone flute from Mesoamerica, and one of the few pre-Columbian instruments whose archaeological context is fully documented. Its music does not survive; the instrument does, and replicas of Mesoamerican flutes and whistles can be heard played.
—
n.d.Rey Ortega playing re-creations of Maya flutes
—
—
b. 140 BC Wu-ti
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 138–128 BC Athenaeus, son of Athenaeus▾
First Delphic Hymn
2001Pöhlmann & West
n.d.YouTube (0:00); Michael Levy — live solo lyre, YouTube; also 1992/2008Christodoulos Halaris, YouTube — Halaris's own reconstructions are noted by critics and even his own promotional bio as sometimes speculative, reconstructing "fragmentary (and sometimes nonexistent)" ancient documents; included as an alternate recording, not additional evidence
n.d.Thanasis Kleopas & Loukiani Papa, ancient lyre
n.d.First Delphic Hymn to Apollo
n.d.First Delphic Hymn, c. 138 BCn.d.First Delphic Hymn to Apollo
Documentary: 2017"Rediscovering Ancient Greek Music", dir. Mike Tomlinson, feat. Armand D'Angour (Oxford)
c. 150 BC[Greek] Polybius, Histories — an eyewitness account of Rome's rise; 5 of the original 40 books survive complete
Listen: LibriVox, free (Paton translation, vol. 1)
c. 2nd–1st c. BC[Sanskrit] Bhagavad Gita — the section of the Mahabharata that circulates as a text in its own right
Listen: LibriVox, free (Edwin Arnold translation)
128 BC Limenius▾
Second Delphic Hymn
2001Pöhlmann & West
n.d.YouTube (4:53); alternate performance, YouTube
n.d.Second Delphic Hymn, sung in Greekn.d.Second Delphic Hymn to Apollo
n.d.alternate reading
—
—
Music from the 100s AD (100–199)
c. 1 AD – present Urtiin duu (tradition)
Mongolia and Inner Mongolia. The "long song": each syllable stretched across a long ornamented line, sung without accompaniment, needing extraordinary breath control. Sung at weddings, at the raising of a new home, at the birth of a child, at the branding of foals. Believed to be some two thousand years old and recorded in literature from the thirteenth century — the date here is that belief, not a dated source. UNESCO inscribed it in 2008.
—
2009UNESCO, Urtiin Duu
2009UNESCO, the Mongolian art of Khoomei
—
—
27 BC Roman Empire SPQR
Founded under Augustus. Marked here specifically because Mesomedes (next entry) served as a freedman and court musician under Emperor Hadrian — the first entry in this table with a direct institutional Roman connection, even though he wrote in Greek
—
—
Documentary: Great Courses / Wondrium lectures on the period: Exploring Ancient Rome · In the Ashes of Pompeii · Why Did Rome Fall?
Documentary: Empire or Republic? · the fall, in the 15th century
Documentary: the complete history, summarised · the fall of Rome · the legacy of Roman law · why Rome converted
58–49 BC[Latin] Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico
Listen: LibriVox via archive.org, free — read in Latin
c. 55 BC[Latin] Lucretius, De rerum natura — the Epicurean poem on atoms, mortality and the fear of death; lost through the Middle Ages and recovered in 1417
Listen: LibriVox, free — read in Latin • LibriVox, free — English, Watson translation
27–9 BC[Latin] Livy, Ab urbe condita — Rome's history from Aeneas to Livy's own day; 35 of 142 books survive
Listen: LibriVox, free — Roberts translation, volume 1 of six
29–19 BC[Latin] Virgil, Aeneid — the last major work of Latin literature composed entirely before the Christian era
Listen: LibriVox, free (MacKail prose translation)
c. AD 100–138 Mesomedes of Crete
  • A freedman and court poet-musician under the Roman emperor Hadrian (r. 117-138 AD).
  • Also credited with an Egg and an Axe, early examples of pattern/shape poetry.
  • Wrote in Greek despite his position in the Roman imperial court.
Hymn to the Muse
2001Pöhlmann & West
n.d. (Gabriel Garrido / Ensemble K617)YouTube (all 4 pieces)
n.d.Hymn to the Sun
n.d.Hymn to the Sun, second reading
n.d.Hymn to the Muse
n.d.Invocations to the Muse — Melismosn.d.Hymn to Nemesis — Melismos
n.d.Hymn to Nemesis
n.d.Hymn to Nemesis on lyra
n.d.Hymn to Nemesis from the manuscript
n.d.Hymn to the Musen.d.Hymn to the Sun — Christodoulos Halaris
n.d.Hymn to Helios, from the manuscript
n.d.Hymn of Nemesis
n.d.Hymn to Nemesis
—
—
Hymn to the Sun
—
n.d.The Music of Ancient Greece: Hymn to the Sun
Hymn to Nemesis — corrected here from an earlier error in this document, which had mistakenly duplicated this as a second "Hymn to the Sun" setting instead of listing it as the real fourth surviving work
Documentary: 2014Atrium Musicae de Madrid / Gregorio Paniagua, YouTube
—
Hymn to Calliope and Apollo
—
—
c. 1st–2nd c. AD Anonymous
Seikilos epitaph
2001Pöhlmann & West
n.d.YouTube; also n.d.Wikipedia-hosted .ogg audio, free, CC-BY-SA
n.d.Song of Seikilos
n.d.lyre and frame drum, live
n.d.Épitaphe de Seikilos
n.d.Nektarios Karantzis, in Greek
n.d.The Music of Ancient Greecen.d.Spyros Giasafakis, Union Chapel
n.d.sung in Austria
n.d.the earliest complete tune
n.d.The December Quartets: Epitaph of Seikilos
—
—
b. 113 Pliny the Younger
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
b. 117 Tacitus
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 125 – c. 160 AD Anonymous
Michigan Instrumental Papyrus (P. Mich. inv. 1205r), c. 125 AD — aulos/kithara melody fragment
—
2000W. A. Johnson, Duke University — audio reconstruction, free
—
—
Paean, Papyrus Berlin 6870, c. 160 AD — vocal fragment from Contrapollinopolis
—
1979Atrium Musicae / Paniagua, Musique de la Grèce Antique, YouTube
—
—
Papyrus Michigan (P. Mich. inv. 2958), 2nd c. AD — fragments of an otherwise unknown Greek tragedy, excavated at Karanis, Egypt; a 2012 University of Michigan dissertation (Rebecca Sears) argues it shows Greek music-making outside elite Alexandrian contexts
—
1979Atrium Musicae / Paniagua, Musique de la Grèce Antique, YouTube
—
—
n.d. Anonymous
Papyrus Oslo A/B (P. Osl. inv. 1413) — further unidentified tragic fragment with notation, undated more precisely
—
1979Atrium Musicae / Paniagua, Musique de la Grèce Antique, YouTube
—
—
n.d. (Greco-Roman Egypt) Anonymous
Instrumental fragments from Kom Aphrodito/Antinoopolis area, Egypt ("Contrapollinopolis") — precise date not confirmed in sources checked
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Music from the 200s AD (200–299)
b. 138 Publius Aelius Hadrianus
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 2nd–3rd c. AD Anonymous
Papyrus Wien (Vienna) 29825, 2nd–3rd c. AD — six related fragments (a/b, c, d, e, f), vocal notation, distinct from the separate Orestes Papyrus (Wien G 2315)
—
1979Atrium Musicae / Paniagua, Musique de la Grèce Antique, YouTube
—
—
Seven Oxyrhynchus musical papyri published by Ensemble De Organographia (Philip and Gayle Neuman) on Music of the Ancient Sumerians, Egyptians & Greeks (Pandourion PRCD1005, 1999/2006) — full confirmed tracklist, independently verified via the album's own liner-note listing: "Musical Excerpts" (P.Oxy. 4461, 2nd c. AD), "Lament" (P.Oxy. 4465, 2nd/3rd c. AD), "Fragment 1" (P.Oxy. 4462, 2nd c. AD), "Paean" (P.Oxy. 4466, 3rd/4th c. AD), "Excerpts mentioning Eros and Aphrodite" (P.Oxy. 4467, 3rd c. AD), "Musical excerpt, lines 3-8" (P.Oxy. 4464, 2nd/3rd c. AD), and "Hypolydian excerpt" (P.Oxy. 3161 verso fr. 3, 3rd c. AD) — this last one genuinely missed in earlier passes over this same album. The Trochaic Fragment (P.Oxy. 3162) and the Menander setting (P.Oxy. 3705) are also on this same album but already listed elsewhere in this table under their own entries
—
n.d.Ensemble De Organographia — I, II, III, IV
—
—
Fragment d'Orestie — a musical fragment tied to Aeschylus's Oresteia trilogy (distinct from the separate Euripides Orestes papyrus already in this table), published on Ensemble Kérylos's 1996 album; checked against this project's YouTube collection specifically, no recording found there
—
1996Ensemble Kérylos / Annie Bélis, Musiques de l'Antiquité Grecque (K617) — streaming in full on Spotify; medieval.org's track-by-track review identifies every fragment on it. This document twice claimed no free link existed — it was looking only on YouTube, and only for the album under its French title
—
—
Ensemble Kérylos released a second album in 2024, "Les Inédits: Ancient Greek and Roman Music" — 19 tracks including named settings (Hymn to Zeus, Medea, Hymn to Lemnos, another Menander setting distinct from the one already in this table, a Diphilos fragment, magic vowel incantations). Their own liner notes describe this as bringing to life "musical works which have just been deciphered" — potentially real fragments beyond Pöhlmann & West's 2001 catalog (the standard scholarly reference used throughout this table). Checked against this project's YouTube collection specifically: no recording found there, and no free streaming link independently confirmed as of this research pass
—
2024Ensemble Kérylos, Les Inédits: Ancient Greek and Roman Music — no free link confirmed
—
—
The following three tracks on the same Paniagua album are honest exceptions to note: unlike the papyrus fragments above, no surviving ancient musical notation is actually known for these particular texts — these are the ensemble's own musical realization of famous ancient words, not reconstructions of a surviving score. Included for completeness, but flagged clearly: (1) Plainte de Tecmessa, a lament from Sophocles' Ajax; (2) Aenaoi Nefelai, from Aristophanes' Clouds; (3) a setting of Terence's Roman comedy Hecyra, line 861
—
1979Atrium Musicae / Paniagua — Tecmessa, Aristophanes, Terence
—
—
Première Ode Pythique — the ensemble's own musical setting of Pindar's First Pythian Ode (470 BC); like the three above, no ancient musical notation for Pindar's odes is known to survive
—
1979Atrium Musicae / Paniagua, Musique de la Grèce Antique, YouTube
—
—
LEGENDARY: mythical era; ACTUAL: 2nd–3rd c. AD Anonymous
LEGENDARY: The Orphic Hymns (87 hymns) were attributed in antiquity to the mythical poet Orpheus himself — a legendary musician of Greek myth said to charm all living things, even stones, with his music, and who attempted to retrieve his wife Eurydice from the underworld. Actual scholarly dating: composed in Asia Minor, most likely 2nd–3rd century AD, for a real Dionysian/Orphic cult community's nighttime initiation rite (teletḗ)
—
n.d."Orphic Hymn to Hermes," ancient lyre & pandura, YouTube; also "Orphic Hymn to the Muses," YouTube
—
—
3rd c. AD Anonymous
Four settings of a single line from Menander's comedy Epitrepontes — a rare case of multiple surviving musical settings for the exact same text, useful for comparing how different composers set identical words
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
210–263 Ruan Ji
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
223–262 Ji Kang
Guangling San is traditionally ascribed to him; the qin tablature survives, though its transmission is debated. Executed for defying the Sima clan.
—
—
—
—
c. 250 – 4th c. AD (contested) Sub tuum praesidium
The oldest known hymn to the Virgin Mary still in use. Rylands Papyrus 470 carries the Greek text; Lobel dated it to the 3rd century and Roberts to the 4th, while Förster argues for the 8th and Towarek for a 6th–7th-century witness — so the date is genuinely contested, not merely uncertain. Recent work identifies it in the 5th-century Georgian Iadgari of Jerusalem. Text only from antiquity: every melody below is later.
—
n.d.Byzantine chant — Beneath Thy Compassion
n.d.Gregorian chant of the BVM
—
—
c. late 3rd c. AD Anonymous
Oxyrhynchus hymn
—
n.d.YouTuben.d.Hymn to the Trinity, sung as a 3rd-century hymnn.d.The Oxyrhynchus Hymn
n.d.L'hymne chrétienne d'Oxyrhynchus
n.d.second French reading
n.d.third French reading
n.d.sung in ancient Greek
n.d.Ancient Greek Christian hymn
n.d.Oxyrhynchus Hymn
n.d.a further setting
n.d.Ο Πρωτοχριστιανικός Ύμνος στην Αγ. Τριάδα
Arrangement: arranged for women's choir by Johann K.
Documentary: ancient Greek music: a Christian hymn
—
Music from the 300s AD (300–399)
c. 3rd–4th c. AD Anonymous
Anonymi Bellermann — three anonymous Byzantine/late-antique treatises on music theory (named for their 1841 editor, Friedrich Bellermann), preserving genuine ancient musical notation examples alongside the theoretical text, distinct from the narrative treatises like Aristoxenus or Boethius
—
1979Atrium Musicae / Paniagua, Musique de la Grèce Antique, YouTube
—
—
306–373 Ephrem the Syrian▾
Nisibene Hymns (multiple, undated individually)
1989McVey, text only
n.d.YouTube collection
Four Essential Nisibene Hymns
—
—
late 3rd–early 4th c. AD Anonymous
Phos Hilaron ("O Gladsome Light") — the earliest known Christian hymn text recorded outside the Bible still in regular liturgical use today, first attested in the Apostolic Constitutions. Basil the Great (d. 379) already called it an "ancient" hymn of unknown authorship in his own time; later legendary attributions to Basil himself or to St. Athenogenes are not considered secure. No original melody survives — the tune most commonly heard today ("Picardy") is a 17th-century French carol melody paired with the ancient text only in modern hymnals
—
n.d.Byzantine chant setting, YouTube
n.d.Monastic Choir of Valaam Monastery
n.d.O Gladsome Light, Byzantine
—
—
c. 310–366 Hilary of Poitiers
  • Bishop of Poitiers, and per Isidore of Seville, "the first prominent hymn writer" in Latin - predating Ambrose.
  • Learned Eastern hymn-writing practice firsthand during a four-year exile in Phrygia for opposing Arianism.
  • Authorship of his surviving hymns is genuinely disputed by scholars - some accept three or four as authentic, others conclude none survive with certainty; wrote a now-lost Liber Hymnorum
Three disputed hymns sometimes accepted as authentic: Ante saecula qui manens, Fefellit saevam verbum factum te caro, Adae carnis gloriosae - plus the more widely (but still not universally) accepted Hymnum dicat turba fratrum
—
n.d.Genuinely checked and confirmed: no free recording exists for any of these four hymns under their Latin incipits (Hymnum dicat turba fratrum, Ante saecula qui manens, Fefellit saevam, Adae carnis gloriosae) — searched directly by title, by schola/plainchant album context, and cross-checked against the dedicated "300-306 ST HILARY" collection (32 entries, all saint-day homilies, zero musical content). This appears to be a genuine gap in the recorded repertoire, not a search failure
Jesus refulsit omnium — Hilary-attributed hymn
Documentary: St Hilary of Poitiers
—
c. 329–390 Gregory of Nazianzus▾
Poem, Mo. 1, 11f. (Migne, Patrologia Graeca 37, 523) — set on the Atrium Musicae de Madrid / Gregorio Paniagua album; text securely his, melody is the ensemble's own 1978 musical realization, not surviving ancient notation
—
1979Atrium Musicae / Paniagua, Musique de la Grèce Antique (recorded June 1978)
Modern adaptation: ‘Tis dawn to God I Lift my Hand — setting of Gregory’s text
—
339–397 St. Ambrose
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 340–397Ambrose of Milan
Ambrose of Milan▾
Aeterne rerum conditor
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Deus creator omnium
2012IMSLP
2011Spotify
—
—
Veni redemptor gentium
—
—
—
—
Iam surgit hora tertia
—
2014Spotify
—
—
DISPUTED: Nunc Sancte nobis Spiritus — traditionally attributed to Ambrose and long used at Terce in the Liturgy of the Hours, but the earliest surviving manuscript evidence only goes back to the 9th century, four centuries after Ambrose's death
—
n.d.Gregorian chant setting, YouTube
—
—
DISPUTED: Agnes beatae virginis — a hymn on the martyrdom of St. Agnes; attribution to Ambrose was long questioned, but recent scholarship (Cécile Lanéry) has argued manuscript evidence and echoes in Augustine's own writings support Ambrosian authorship after all
—
1991Cappella Musicale del Duomo di Milano / Luciano Migliavacca, The Tradition of Gregorian Chant (Archiv Produktion), Spotify; also Concentus Monodicus Schola Gregoriana, Inni ambrosiani (Discantica)
—
—
DISPUTED: Apostolorum passio — a hymn for the feast of Peter and Paul; same disputed-then-re-argued authorship history as Agnes beatae virginis above
—
1991Cappella Musicale del Duomo di Milano / Luciano Migliavacca, The Tradition of Gregorian Chant (Archiv Produktion); also Concentus Monodicus Schola Gregoriana, Inni ambrosiani (Discantica)
—
—
321 BC Kingdom of Armenia
Founded under the Orontid dynasty. Also worth noting: Armenia adopted Christianity as a state religion in 301 AD under Tiridates III — traditionally the first nation to do so — which directly seeded the sharakan hymn tradition that follows below
—
—
Documentary: the kingdom of Urartu, ancient Armenia and eastern Anatolia
—
c. 348–439 Sahak Partev▾
Pargevatoun amenetsoun
—
n.d.YouTube
Ankanim — sharakan attributed to Mashtots
—
—
~59 more attributed chants — not individually located
—
—
—
—
348–405 Aurelius Clemens Prudentius
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
354–430 St. Augustine of Hippo
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 362–440 Mesrop Mashtots▾
Sharakans, multiple (of 129 attributed)
—
n.d.Ankanim — sharakan attributed to Mashtots
Arrangement: n.d.YouTube collection — arr. Vahan Artsruni, perf. Hasmik Baghdasaryan; kept here deliberately even though it's a modern arrangement, not strict monophonic chant — it's an excellent example of why modern arrangements of ancient works have real value alongside "authentic" versions
—
Music from the 400s AD (400–499)
c. 385–461 St Patrick
Hymns ascribed to him, including the Lorica.
—
—
—
—
c. 387 Te Deum
Te Deum laudamus — the great Latin hymn of praise, almost certainly 4th-century but of uncertain authorship. Traditionally credited to Ambrose and Augustine together; 19th-century scholarship proposed Hilary of Poitiers or Nicetas of Remesiana, and Kähler showed the Nicetas attribution to be spurious in 1958. Its melody is later than its text.
—
n.d.Te Deum, tonus monasticus
n.d.Solemn monastic chant setting
n.d.Gregorian Te Deum laudamus, with textn.d.Old Gregorian chant, 4th c., Latin and English
n.d.sung as a 5th-century Orthodox chant
n.d.Gregorian Te Deum
n.d.Catholic Gregorian hymn
n.d.chanted by monks in Spain
Modern adaptation: Anglican chant setting by E. G. Monk and William Croft
—
5th c. Kālidāsa
Sanskrit poet-dramatist; his verse is sung across the Indian traditions.
—
—
—
—
c. 410–490s Movses Khorenatsi▾
Khorhourd mets yev sqancheli
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Tsagoumen hrashali
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
The Oil-Bearing Women — cited on Saints de l'Église d'Arménie (Akn Centre for Armenian Liturgical Chant Studies, dir. Aram Kerovpyan, soloist Virginia Pattie Kerovpyan); no free recording link confirmed yet
—
—
—
—
441–913 Shen-Yo
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 450 – c. 800 AD Gallican chant (tradition)
No direct manuscript survives — suppressed under Pepin III & Charlemagne
—
—
—
—
Closest identifiable trace: Improperia, documented in the Pontificale of Prudentius, 846–861 (embedded in a Gregorian source)
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Catholicos 478–490 (d. 490) Hovhan Mandakuni▾
Yekyalks (attributed)
—
n.d.Cited on the CD compilation "Armenia: Sacred Choral Music" — no free recording confirmed yet
Yekyalks
—
—
480–547 St. Benedict
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
330 AD Byzantine Empire
Conventional founding date: Constantine's dedication of Constantinople as "New Rome." Byzantines considered themselves simply "Romans" throughout their history — "Byzantine" is a later historiographical label. Romanos the Melodist (next entry) was active in Constantinople itself
—
—
Documentary: Great Courses: The Fall of Constantinople
Documentary: the medieval Islamicate world · historical overview of the ancient Near East
Documentary: the Byzantine period at the Jordan Archaeological Museum
—
c. 490–556 Romanos the Melodist▾
Kontakion "Today the Virgin gives birth"
—
n.d.YouTuben.d.Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos, Ode 1 — sung in English; the Akathist is traditionally ascribed to him, though the ascription is not securen.d.Τη Υπερμάχω Στρατηγώ — the Akathist kontakion
n.d.Απεστάλη εξ ουρανού
—
—
~84 more genuine kontakia — see Wellesz 1961 below
—
—
—
—
c. 2070 BC China (Xia dynasty)
China's first traditional dynasty, per ancient chronicles (Bamboo Annals, Records of the Grand Historian) — historicity debated, archaeological correlation (Erlitou site) inconclusive but suggestive. Qiu Ming (next entry) lived under the much later Liang dynasty (502–557 AD)
—
—
—
—
493–590 Qiu Ming▾
Jieshi Diao Youlan
1950s (Zha Fuxi project transcriptions)silkqin.com, free
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Music from the 500s AD (500–599)
c. 500–510 De institutione musica (Boethius, treatise)
The single most influential music-theory text of the entire Middle Ages — established as the foundation of Western music theory from roughly the 9th century onward, and remained the standard university quadrivium text well into the Renaissance. Transmits Greek theory (Nicomachus, Ptolemy) into Latin; largely theoretical, not a composition of his own.
1867Friedlein ed., Latin text, archive.org, free
—
—
—
The metra (verse interludes) of Boethius's separate work, the Consolation of Philosophy — a modern reconstruction project has set these to music; not tied to any surviving original medieval notation, but a genuine attempt to give voice to Boethius's own poetry rather than just his theory
—
n.d."Singing Boethius's Lost Songs," YouTube (7-part series covering Book 1)
—
—
500–565 Procopius
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
first millennium AD – present Olonkho (tradition)
Sakha, eastern Siberia. Heroic epic of tens of thousands of lines, performed solo without instruments — the narrator sings every character, switching voice for each, and a single telling can run for nights. UNESCO inscribed it in 2005. This is the only entry in this document from the largest landmass on the map with no music in it.
—
2009UNESCO, The Olonkho, Yakut Heroic Epos
—
—
c. 100 BC (traditional) Kingdom of Aksum ▾
A real ancient East African kingdom, precursor to the modern states of Ethiopia and Eritrea — its first named composer, Saint Yared, appears directly below, closing a genuine gap: this document previously had zero representation from Ethiopia despite covering hundreds of named composers elsewhere
—
—
Documentary: Mansa Musa and Islam in Africa
Documentary: Kerma, the ancient Nubian kingdom
—
505–571 AD Saint Yared
Founder of Ethiopian liturgical music (Zema) and inventor of the Ethiopian musical notation system (melekket) — credited with all three chant modes still used today (Ge'ez, associated with the Father; Ezel, with the Son; Araray, with the Holy Spirit). Author of five distinct volumes of chants (the Books of Mewasit, Zimare, Digua, Tsome Digua, and others), still performed in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches today — a genuinely continuous 1,500-year tradition. Precisely dated (25 April 505 – 20 May 571) per the medieval hagiography Gadla Yared
—
2021Zema Yared, "Liturgical Music of the Coptic Christian Church of Ethiopia," YouTube; 2015Saint Yared Choir, live in Cologne, YouTube
—
—
521–597 St Columba
Altus Prosator is attributed to him — among the earliest Hiberno-Latin hymns.
—
—
—
—
c. 530–c. 600/609 Venantius Fortunatus▾
Vexilla Regis prodeunt (569) — still sung at Vespers during Passiontide; text only survives from his own era, melody is a later plainchant setting
—
n.d.Gregorian chant setting, YouTube
n.d.Salve festa dies — Gregorian chantn.d.Vexilla Regis — Carthusian rite
n.d.Vexilla Regis prodeunt, with Latin and English text
—
—
530–607 Venanzio Fortunato
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 550 – 1080 AD Mozarabic chant (Old Hispanic rite, tradition)
The liturgical chant of Visigothic/early medieval Iberia, codified alongside the rite itself by the 7th century (documented in the Councils of Toledo). Officially suppressed after the Council of Burgos (1080) and the fall of Toledo (1085), in favor of the Roman rite
—
n.d.Mozarabic Antiphonary
—
—
Oldest surviving manuscripts: 9th-11th century, using adiastematic Visigothic neumes that capture melodic contour but not exact pitch — scholars describe the original ancient melodies as effectively indecipherable. What survives in practice today is either Cardinal Cisneros's c. 1500 restoration (based on oral tradition, not the ancient notation) or modern scholarly reconstruction attempts
—
n.d.Ensemble Organum / Marcel Pérès, "Speravit," YouTube; also Eduardo Paniagua, "Canto Visigótico-Mozárabe," YouTube; Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos, Mozarabic Antiphonary, YouTube
—
—
MEDIEVAL ERA BEGINS — EARLY MEDIEVAL (c. 600–1170 AD, before Ars Antiqua/Notre-Dame polyphony)
Music from the 600s AD (600–699)
fl. c. 551 Ureuk
Court musician of Gaya who defected to Silla, where King Jinheung had him teach three pupils; the gayageum and twelve pieces are credited to him. Nothing of his own survives. What can be heard is the tradition he stands at the head of: Sujecheon, believed composed under Silla in the 7th century, and the Jongmyo Jeryeak, performed at the royal ancestral shrine since the 15th century and notated in the Daeakhubo of 1759.
—
2020Sujecheon — National Gugak Center
2020Jongmyo Jeryeak, the royal ancestral shrine ritual
2014Jongmyo Jeryeak in concert
—
—
fl. 7th c. (d. 677 AD) Sahak Dzoraporetsi
A real Armenian hymnographer who enriched sharakan hymnody alongside Hovhan Odznetsi, elsewhere in this table — his hymn "With an All-Conquering Banner" survives in the Tagaran repertoire
—
—
—
—
7th c. – present Khmer court music (tradition)
Cambodia. Temple inscriptions record dancers and musicians at Khmer courts from the seventh century, and the pinpeat ensemble that accompanies them is carved on the Angkor reliefs. Nine in ten performers died or fled under the Khmer Rouge; the tradition was rebuilt from memory in refugee camps after 1979. UNESCO inscribed it in 2008.
—
2009UNESCO, The Royal Ballet of Cambodia
—
—
before the 7th c. – present Hudhud chants of the Ifugao (tradition)
Luzon, Philippines. Narrative chants of more than 200 songs, each in some forty episodes; a full recitation runs for days. Sung at sowing, at harvest and at funeral wakes, alternating between a lead narrator — usually an elderly woman — and a choir, on a single melody for every verse. UNESCO dates its origin before the seventh century.
—
2009UNESCO, The Hudhud Chants of the Ifugao
2021the Lagawe Chanters
—
—
pre-Islamic – present Al-Taghrooda and Alheda’a (tradition)
The Arabian interior. Al-Taghrooda is chanted poetry composed on camelback: short improvised poems of seven lines or fewer, thrown antiphonally between two groups of riders, believed to keep the animals walking in time. Alheda’a is the herders’ calling itself — rhythmic, poetry-derived, a vocabulary the camels learn, with different chants for departure, watering and gathering in a sandstorm. UNESCO inscribed the first in 2012 and the second in 2022. Music made for an audience of animals, and the oldest continuous vocal practice of a peninsula whose written music begins with Ibrahim al-Mawsili at the Abbasid court.
—
2012UNESCO ICH film, Al-Taghrooda — UNESCO’s own archive; no YouTube upload verified, so this row contributes nothing to the play queue.
—
—
undatable – present Kanem and the waza trumpets (tradition)
Chad and Sudan. The Kanem–Bornu empire ran from the ninth century to the nineteenth across what is now Chad, and its court music used the waza or kakaki, long royal trumpets sounded at coronations. Alongside them: a griot tradition on the five-string arched harp, Fulani reed flutes, and lutes and fiddles in the Tibesti. Monique Brandily recorded the Kanem material for UNESCO’s Anthology of African Music. None of it is dated; the empire is, the music is not.
—
1965UNESCO Collection, An Anthology of African Music: Chad — Kanem, rec. Monique Brandily
n.d.Traditional music of Chad
—
—
c. 610–685 Anania Shirakatsi▾
Ov Yeranelid
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Araqelo aghavno — resolves a long-open item from earlier in this project (previously an unidentified bare video ID)
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Vor vasn mero prkoutyan — also resolves a previously-unidentified bare video ID
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Catholicos 613–628 AD Komitas Aghtsetsi▾
Author of the sharakan "Andzink nviryalk" ("Devoted Souls" / "Souls Given by Themselves"), written to mark the consecration of Saint Hripsime Church — 36 stanzas, real scholarly significance as the first Armenian hymn to use the meter and structure of the Byzantine kontakion, genuinely long for the period (earlier Armenian hymns ran only 3–4 stanzas)
—
—
—
—
b. 628 Wou-Hao
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
634–734 St. German
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 650 – c. 1100 AD Ambrosian chant (tradition)
Named after Ambrose but he is explicitly "not known to have composed any of the Ambrosian chant repertory" (same non-attribution issue as Gregory/Gregorian chant) — distinct liturgical rite still used in the Archdiocese of Milan today
—

n.d.Christe qui lux es et dies — Milan, before 534
—
—
Earliest fragments 8th c., in cheironomic signs showing gesture rather than pitch. Oldest comprehensive surviving source: London, British Library, Add. MS 34209 — the winter-season antiphoner, 12th century, published in facsimile as Paléographie musicale V–VI; its summer counterpart is at Bedero Val Travaglia, and a recently identified Houghton Library manuscript at Harvard may be older still. The three-century gap between the 8th-century fragments and the first notated books is why the late date of the sources is said to cast doubt on when the chant itself began.
—
n.d.Chants de l'église milanaise — Ensemble Organum, Marcel Pérès
n.d.Tecum Principium — sung as a 5th-century chant
n.d.Holy High Mass in the Ambrosian rite, the living liturgy
n.d.Ambrosian Chants — anthology
—
—
c. 650–712/740 Andrew of Crete▾
Great Canon — see Wellesz 1961 below
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
c. 650–729 Hovhannes Odznetsi▾
Good Martyr of Christ
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
c. 650 – c. 1100 AD Beneventan chant (tradition)
Flourished under Lombard rule; fell into disuse in the 11th century as Gregorian chant took over
—
n.d.Chant of Benevento — Laudamus te Christe
—
—
Oldest surviving manuscript: Benevento, MS 33, c. 1000
—
n.d.Repertoire (not this specific MS): Orbisophia YouTube channel; also Ensemble Organum, Chants de la Cathédrale de Benevento
n.d.Easter Mass at the Cathedral of Benevento — Qui manducaverit
—
—
597 AD Anglo-Saxon England
Reached by this table at Cædmon, directly below — the first English poet known by name, and the first entry here from what becomes England. The Augustinian mission of 597 brings Roman chant to Kent; Bede records Cædmon at Whitby a lifetime later, and the Winchester Troper, the largest surviving 11th-century collection of polyphony anywhere, follows from the same island.
—
—
Documentary: Great Courses: Exploring How England Came to Be · Who Were the Vikings?

n.d.the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain
—
fl. c. 657–684 Cædmon▾
Cædmon's Hymn — the oldest surviving Old English poem, per Bede's account (Historia ecclesiastica, 731): an illiterate cowherd at Whitby Abbey under Abbess Hild who received the gift of poetic composition in a dream. Only the text survives from Cædmon's own era, not the original melody — modern recordings are settings/reconstructions
—
n.d.YouTube; also on Anglo-Saxon lyre, YouTube
n.d.Cædmon's Hymn sung in Old English
n.d.Cædmon's Hymnn.d.ælfléoð — a full album on reconstructed Anglo-Saxon lyre, the instrument Bede says Cædmon fled fromn.d.William McClelland's setting, South Bend Chamber Singers — a modern composition on Cædmon's text, world premiere
—
—
663–686 Prince Otsu
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
672–735 Bede
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 675–749 John of Damascus▾
Irmoses, Paschal Canon — see Wellesz 1961 below
—
n.d.YouTube; also "Paschal Canon by St John Damascene," YouTube — resolves a long-open bare video ID from earlier in this project
—
—
Music from the 700s AD (700–799)
c. 675–735 Stepanos Siunetsi
Armenian hymnographer and theorist; credited with organising the sharakan repertory and with early work on the khaz neumes.
—
—
—
—
689–740 Haoran Meng
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
698–756 Changling Wang
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. 8th c. (d. 735 AD) Stepanos Syunetsi
A real Armenian hymnographer and grammarian who carried out a genuine formal regulation of spiritual hymns, establishing the canonical genre. In his treatise "Interpretation of Grammar," he argued poetic works are guided by literature — real early Armenian literary theory. His hymn "Pharaoh and His Chariots" survives in the Tagaran repertoire
—
—
—
—
—
No music — this row exists to place a literature milestone on the timeline; see the literature column.
—
—
—
c. 700–1000 AD Beowulf — Old English heroic epic; surviving manuscript c. 1000. full audiobook / reading on YouTube
b. 700 Isaac of Nineveh
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
undatable – present Yaokwa of the Enawene Nawe (tradition)
Mato Grosso, Brazil. A ritual cycle lasting months, in which the community alternates between fishing and clearing, exchanging food with the spirits through song and dance to hold the social and cosmic order in balance. UNESCO placed it on the Urgent Safeguarding list in 2011 — not the representative list — because deforestation and dam-building on the Juruena were destroying the fish runs the ritual is built around. No date is claimable: this is a living practice with no written history, listed here at the point Amazonia enters the record.
—
2011UNESCO, Yaokwa
—
—
701–762 Po Li
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. early 8th c. Sahakdukht▾
Srbuhi Mariam (only surviving work)
—
n.d.Link went dead (previously WPpBhCRu9oU) — replacement not yet re-verified
Modern adaptation: Srbuhi Mariam — modern musical setting of Sahakdukht’s surviving text
—
fl. early 8th c. Khosrovidukht▾
Zarmanali e Indz (only surviving work)
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
c. 735–804 Alcuin▾
Summi regis archangele Michahel — identified in several manuscripts with the rubric "sequentia quam Alcuinus composuit Karolo Imperatori" ("a sequence which Alcuin composed for the Emperor Charlemagne"); scholars flag this attribution as uncertain rather than fully secure
—
n.d.Summi regis archangele Michael
—
—
b. 735 Saint Bede
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
748–829 Yi Li
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 750 AD – present Gregorian chant (tradition)
Formed under the Carolingians from Roman + Gallican fusion; still actively sung today
—
—
Documentary: 1: biblical origins · 2: chant in the early church · 4: the Gregorian reforms · 6: chant books in the Middle Ages · 7: the Council of Trent · 9: the monks of Solesmes — the series Chant: The Love Song of the Church; also an introduction to plainchant
Documentary: the structure of a medieval manuscript · the medieval calendar
—
Oldest surviving manuscript: St. Gall Cantatorium, c. 922–926
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
c. 750 – c. 1250 AD Old Roman chant (tradition)
Reflects a Roman oral tradition attested from the mid-8th century; gradually supplanted by Gregorian chant by the 13th century
—

n.d.Kyrie eleison
n.d.Dominus dixit ad me
n.d.Puer natus est nobis
n.d.In splendoribus sanctorum
n.d.Letentur celi et exultet terran.d.Tecum Principium
n.d.Terra Tremuit
n.d.Venite exultemus
n.d.Kyrie, In Resurrectione Dominin.d.Chant de l'Église de Rome
n.d.Resurrexi, introit
n.d.Alleluia, O Kyrios evasileosen — Greek text in the Roman riten.d.Domine audivi auditum tuum
n.d.Alleluia, billed as 2nd-century Roman chant
n.d.Ancient Roman Chant
n.d.Psalm 91, Qui habitat in adiutorio Altissimi, with text
n.d.Kyrie eleison, Roman chant
n.d.what Old Roman chant should sound like, part 2
Documentary: Britain: Celts and Romans, 800 BC to AD 1 · the ancient Celts, origins to the Roman conquest
—
Oldest surviving manuscript: Gradual of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, 1071
—
2016Repertoire (not this specific MS): Spotify — Marcel Pérès / Ensemble Organum, Old Roman Chant: Vespers for Easter Sunday
—
—
760–821 Theodulph von Orleans
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
772–842 Yuxi Liu
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 776/780–856 Rabanus Maurus▾
DISPUTED (though widely accepted): Veni Creator Spiritus — called by one 19th-century scholar the hymn that "has taken deeper hold of the Western Church than any other medieval hymn, the Te Deum alone excepted." Still sung today at papal elections, episcopal consecrations, and ordinations. Attribution rests on 11th-century manuscript tradition and stylistic parallels to Rabanus's own theological writing, not an autograph manuscript — some 19th-century scholars proposed Charlemagne himself as an alternative, though this is now considered baseless legend
—
n.d.Summi regis archangele Michael
—
—
Music from the 800s AD (800–899)
790–816 He Li
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 800 AD – present Gamelan (tradition)
Java and Bali. Gong-chime orchestras whose instruments are tuned to each other rather than to any standard, so no two gamelan are in the same tuning and a piece belongs to its set. Depicted on the Borobudur reliefs, c. 800. UNESCO inscribed it in 2021. Placed at Borobudur because that is the first hard evidence; the practice is older and undatable.
—
2021UNESCO, Gamelan — the inscription film
—
—
pre-contact – present Inuit drum dancing and singing (tradition)
Greenland. The qilaat — an oval frame drum — lifted and lowered while a bone or wood stick strikes the frame, under a sung narration on love, longing, humour and hunting. Denmark’s own foreign ministry describes drum dance as the only truly indigenous music of Greenland, everything else being shaped from outside; it survived European contact best in the east and north-east of the island. Shamans used the same drum. UNESCO inscribed it in 2021.
—
2021UNESCO, Inuit drum dancing and singing
2004the Kugluktuk Drum Dancers, Gjoa Haven
2012the Ulukhaktok Western Drummers and Dancers
—
—
c. 810–865 KassiaKassia▾
13 of ~23–30 genuine hymns
2001Touliatos ed., 2001
n.d.YouTube; also 2010VocaMe, "Byzantine Hymns from the First Female Composer of the Occident," YouTuben.d.Byzantine hymns of Kassia
—
—
~10–17 more hymns — see Wellesz 1961 below
—
—
813–858 Shangyin Li
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 840–912 Notker Balbulus▾
~40 sequences, undated individually
2021IMSLP, 1 piece
2025Spotify — the actual Naxos album (8.579169), 23 tracks; not found on regular YouTube, only YouTube Music; Sequences, tropes & Gregorian chants from St. Gall Abbey
n.d.Dilecte Deo
n.d.Dilecte Deo, the Gallus sequence
n.d.Natus ante saecula
n.d.Media vita
—
—
c. 840/850–930 Hucbald of Saint-Amand▾
Sit gloria Domini
—
n.d.YouTuben.d.Organum "Sit gloria Domini" — Yoram Paporiszn.d.Sit gloria Domini — 2024 remaster
—
—
c. 850–900 Anonymous
Musica enchiriadis (treatise, oldest notated polyphony)
—
n.d.YouTuben.d.Rex caeli Domine — the treatise's own example
n.d.Rex caeli — Choralschola, Essen-Werden c. 900
n.d.Rex caeli, Domine maris
n.d.Rex caeli, 9th century
n.d.Rex caeli Domine, excerpt
n.d.Gruppo Vocale Novus Concentus
n.d.Rex caeli Domine, 9th c.
Documentary: Organum explained from the Musica enchiriadis · Organum and the School of Notre-Dame
Documentary: the treatise read through, chapters I–VIII
—
c. 850–915 Tuotilo▾
Trope melodies for the Abbey of St. Gall liturgy
—
n.d.Kyrietropus: Omnipotens genitor
n.d.Prayers
n.d.Saint Tuotilo of Gall
—
—
c. 850–920 Stephen of Liège▾
Three Proper Offices: Trinity, Invention of St. Stephen, St. Lambert
—
n.d.Gloria Patri / Summe Trinitati / Benedicamus
—
—
fl. c. 850 Ibn al-Munajjim
His Risala fi’l-musiqa sets out the Ishaqian modal system — the earliest surviving account of the Arabic modes.
—
—
—
—
872–945 Tsurayuki Ki
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 878–942 Odo of Cluny▾
Three hymns and twelve antiphons for St Martin are attributed to Odo. Rex Christe, Martini decus survives in the St-Martin hymn tradition.
—
n.d.Rex Christe, Martini decus
Arrangement: modern arrangement/performance Rex Christe Martini decus — Ensemble MIX
—
Music from the 900s AD (900–999)
c. 813 AD Kingdom of Georgia ▾
A real medieval Caucasian kingdom; its first named composer with surviving musical works, the hymnographer Ioane Minchkhi, appears directly below — closing a genuine gap: this document previously had zero representation from Georgia
—
—
—
—
fl. 10th c. (contemporary with George II of Abkhazia) Ioane Minchkhi
A Georgian hymnographer and calligrapher who lived and worked at Mount Sinai — considered the author of the entire Sticheron portion of the first Georgian Lenten Triodion. Four of his hymns are preserved in the real Iadgari of Mikael Modrekili (978–988), a genuine liturgical chant manuscript; his work only became known to modern scholarship after Ivane Javakhishvili discovered it in Sinaitic manuscripts during an academic trip in 1902 — a real hymnographical Canon of 26 hymns devoted to St. George
—
—
—
—
c. 900–975 Notker Physicus ("Notker II")▾
An office and a hymn — his only two surviving compositions
—
No verified YouTube performance found.
—
—
undatable – present Imzad of the Tuareg (tradition)
The central Sahara — Algeria, Mali, Niger. A single-string fiddle with a gourd body and horsehair strings, played only by women, accompanying men’s sung poetry at the evening gathering called takket. The music is credited with healing and with driving off spirits. UNESCO inscribed it in 2013. Grove documents the instrument; nothing dates the repertoire.
—
2013UNESCO, Practices and knowledge linked to the Imzad
—
—
pre-contact – present Mapuche kultrun and trutruca (tradition)
Wallmapu — southern Argentina and Chile. The kultrun, a shallow shamanic drum whose skin is painted with the four quarters of the world and whose body holds offerings, struck by the machi; and the trutruca, a cane trumpet several metres long. The Mapuche were never conquered by the Inca and held out against Spain for three centuries, which is part of why the practice survived. Nothing about it is datable and nothing was notated.
—
n.d.Kultrún drum and trutruca
—
—
c. 909–988 Dunstan▾
Kyrie Rex splendens (Mass VII of the Kyriale) — attribution rests on a devotional legend (Dunstan reportedly heard it sung by angels in a vision and wrote it down), not firm musicological consensus; a real polymath regardless — also credited as a metalworker, illuminator, and harpist. English hagiographic tradition; his feast day itself uses this Kyrie liturgically
—
2016Graduale Project, YouTube; also Jankowski, YouTube
—
—
c. 910s AD Anonymous
Sancte Bonifati martyr — the earliest known practical (performable, non-parallel) polyphonic composition, as opposed to Musica enchiriadis's teaching examples; discovered 2014 by Giovanni Varelli in British Library MS Harley 3019
—
2011Palma Choralis, YouTube
—
—
918–980 Minamoto no Hiromasa
Japanese court musician; pieces attributed to him survive in the gagaku transmission, the oldest continuously performed orchestral repertoire.Gagaku is the oldest of the Japanese performing arts and is still played by the Music Department of the Imperial Household Agency, many of whose musicians descend from families that have held the post for centuries. The pieces cannot be dated to him individually: what survives is a transmission, not a manuscript in his hand.
—
2009UNESCO, Gagaku
n.d.Etenraku — Kyoto Imperial Court Music Orchestra
1928Etenraku, Konoye and the New Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo — the earliest electrical recording
n.d.Eternal Gagaku: the Imperial Court Music of Japan
—
—
920–990 Damash ben Levrat
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 930–935 Quem quaeritis?
Easter dialogue trope ("Whom do you seek?"), origins traced to St. Gall; usually cited as the germ of Western liturgical drama and, eventually, theater — earliest manuscript c. 930–935
—
2015reconstruction, Visitatio Sepulchri de Gandia, YouTube
—
—
937–978 Yu Li
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 950–1044 Ibn Zayla
Pupil of Ibn Sina; the Kitab al-Kafi fi’l-musiqa.
—
—
—
—
951–1003 Grigor Narekatsi▾
Havun Havun
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
c. 960–early 11th c. Wulfstan the Cantor▾
Compositions connected to the Winchester Troper repertoire (attributions genuinely uncertain, per Grove)
—
n.d.Alleluia Dies sanctificatus — attribution uncertain
—
—
c. 960–1028 Fulbert of Chartres▾
Solem Justitie — the third responsory for the Nativity of the Virgin, an office Fulbert himself is credited with advancing at Chartres
—
n.d.YouTube; also 2013Ensemble Venance Fortunat, YouTube
—
—
967–1049 Abou Said Abul-Khayr
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
973–1058 Abul Ala Al-Ma'arri
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
843 AD Germany (East Francia)
Also formed by the Treaty of Verdun, alongside France; became the core of the Holy Roman Empire under Otto I in 962. Hermannus Contractus (below), at the monastery of Reichenau on Lake Constance, is the first clearly German entry in this table
—
—
Documentary: Great Courses: The Other Europe: deep roots of diversity
—
c. 978–1048 Berno of Reichenau▾
Attributed compositions in an early manuscript source, alongside his theoretical Tonarius and De consona et tonorum varietate
—
No verified YouTube performance found.
—
—
fl. c. 980 Mikael Modrekili
Compiled the Georgian Iadgari — a notated hymnal in Georgian neumes, one of the earliest notated collections anywhere outside the Latin and Byzantine worlds.
—
—
—
—
988/989–1034 Adémar de Chabannes▾
Troped Apostolic Mass for St. Martial (1029) — described as "the earliest medieval composer with surviving autograph manuscripts": 257–451 folios of music notation in his own hand survive, the largest single-composer autograph corpus before Machaut (14th c.). Also a notorious literary forger (fabricated Martial's apostolic status); the Mass itself was denounced as heretical and its premiere sabotaged the day it debuted, 3 Aug 1029
—
1999New York Ensemble for Early Music, dir. Frederick Renz — first complete performance, 970 years after its aborted premiere; Amazon CD, paid
Adémar de Chabannes — medieval music performance
—
—
c. 989–1060 Ise no Taifu
Heian court poet.
—
—
—
—
c. 995–1050 Wipo of Burgundy▾
Victimae paschali laudes (only attributed work)
—
n.d.YouTube; also 2007Wikipedia-hosted .ogg audio, free, former Wikipedia "Featured Sound"
n.d.Victimae paschali laudes
—
—
Music from the 1000s AD (1000–1099)
843 AD France (West Francia)
Formed by the Treaty of Verdun, splitting the Carolingian Empire. Fulbert of Chartres (next entry) is the first clearly French entry in this table
—
—
—
—
882 AD Kievan Rus'
Founded when Oleg of Novgorod united the northern and southern branches of the Rus' — the medieval state from which Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus all trace their origin. Christianized 988 AD, which seeded the chant tradition in the next entry
—
—
—
—
c. 1000 AD – present Znamenny chant (tradition)
Russia's own liturgical chant tradition, built on the Byzantine octoechos system adapted to Church Slavonic — monophonic, unaccompanied, using distinctive "kryuki" (hook) neumatic notation rather than Byzantine or Western neumes
—
—
—
—
Oldest surviving examples: 11th–12th-century kondakari and sticheraria, in znamenny neumes. The honest complication, and the reason this row cannot simply name a "first": the neume alphabets (azbuki) that would let anyone read those early books only survive from the 15th century, so the 11th-century notation is visible but not reliably decipherable — the same problem the Armenian khaz rows describe.
—
2010YouTube (Valaam Monastery Choir); also Spotify collection
—
—
1000–1049 Qingchen Ye
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1000 Al-Hasan ibn Ahmad al-Katib
Kamal adab al-ghina’ — the fullest medieval Arabic account of how to sing.
—
—
—
—
11th c. Nanyadeva
King of Mithila and author of the Bharatabhasya, a commentary that preserves the ragas of his day.
—
—
—
—
c. 1000 – present Mbira dzavadzimu (tradition)
Zimbabwe. Twenty-two to twenty-four steel keys over a hardwood soundboard, played with both thumbs and the right index finger, in ensembles of two or more with hosho rattle and voice. A repertoire of up to a hundred pieces, passed down orally. At a bira the instrument is held to carry its sound to the ancestors and draw them down to possess a medium — the music has a job, and the job is not performance. Iron lamellophones are archaeologically attested in the Zambezi valley from around a thousand years ago.
—
1972Nhemamusasa — Mhuri yekwaRwizi, Hakurotwi Mude, from Paul Berliner’s Nonesuch recordings
—
—
undatable – present Gaita and the Magdalena tradition
Caribbean Colombia. Indigenous gaita flutes played alongside a griot-descended practice of sung news and storytelling carried by cattle drovers between settlements — the strand that later became vallenato, which UNESCO placed on the urgent-safeguarding list in 2015 as commercial forms displaced it. Three roots in one music: Amerindian flutes, West African narrative song, European instruments.
—
2015UNESCO, Traditional Vallenato music of the Greater Magdalena region
—
—
1002–1054 Pope Leo IX▾
Egredere, Emanuel, Quem nuntiavit Gabriel (Christmas hymn)
—
No verified YouTube performance found.
—
—
O pater Deus aeterne, de caelis altissimo (rhythmus)
—
—
—
—
Rhythmical Office of St. Gregory — a contemporary source (Anonymus Mellicensis) explicitly calls him "in musica subtilissimum" (most skilled in music); no recording found for any of his three works despite searching
—
—
—
—
d. 1002 Petrus av Compostela
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
early 11th c. Arnold of Saint Emmeram▾
A new historiated office for St. Emmeram (c. 1030), with melodies and modal structures notated in neumes, preserved in 11th-century manuscripts
—
n.d.Office in honour of St Emmeram — Arnold attribution noted
—
—
1013–1054 Hermannus Contractus▾
~40 sequences, undated individually
—
n.d.YouTube
Salve Regina — attributed to Hermann
Alma Redemptoris Mater — attributed to Hermann
—
—
DISPUTED: Salve Regina — one of the four Marian antiphons of the Catholic liturgical calendar, still the closing prayer of the Rosary today. Traditionally ascribed to Hermannus Contractus, though also credited elsewhere to Bernard of Clairvaux, Peter of Compostela, and Adhemar of Le Puy (said to have composed it as a war-song before departing on the First Crusade in 1096) — most musicologists today regard it as genuinely anonymous
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
DISPUTED: Alma Redemptoris Mater — another of the four Marian antiphons, sung at Compline each year from Advent through Candlemas (Feb. 2); referenced in Chaucer's "The Prioress's Tale." Traditionally credited to Hermannus Contractus for both words and melody, drawing on the writings of Saints Fulgentius, Epiphanius, and Irenaeus — modern scholarship questions the attribution due to limited contemporary evidence, the same pattern as his other two credited hymns above and below
—
n.d.Benedictine Monks of the Abbey at Ganagobie (simple tone); Benedictine Nuns of Notre Dame d'Argentan (solemn tone)
—
—
Catholicos 1019–1058 (d. 1058) Petros Getadardz▾
Gtha, Ter — author of several sermons, anthems, and elegies on early Christian martyrs; brought Armenian musicians to Constantinople as a gift to the Byzantine court
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
c. 1020s–1030s Winchester Troper
Corpus 473 & Bodley 775 — the largest surviving collection of 11th-century polyphony, 160+ two-part organa; notation is adiastematic (contour only), so pitches can't be reconstructed with certainty
—
2014"Alleluia," transcr. Susan Rankin, YouTube
Documentary: mechanical clocks and the age of the manuscript · medieval goldsmiths
—
c. 1026 Micrologus (Guido of Arezzo, treatise)
Treatise on Gregorian chant and staff notation; contains worked two-voice organum examples (parallel and free organum, with permitted voice-crossing) — Guido is primarily a theorist (inventor of solfège and the 4-line staff), not a composer with his own attributed surviving melody
—
—
—
—
1035–1117 Zhiyi Li
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
mid-11th c. (copied c. 1050–1075) Cambridge Songs▾
Collection of Goliardic Latin poems, Codex Cantabrigiensis (Cambridge Univ. Library MS Gg.5.35) — the only major surviving anthology of Latin lyric between Charlemagne and the Battle of Hastings; some poems have neumatic notation
2020Ziolkowski ed., archive.org, free
—
—
—
c. 1047–1129 Hovhannes Sarkavag (Imastaser)▾
Tagh Harutean (Ode to the Resurrection)
—
No verified YouTube performance found.
—
—
Paitsaratsan Aisor (Brightened on This Day)
—
—
—
—
Anskizbn Bann Astvatz (God, The Infinite Word) — acrostic, incorporates all 36 letters of the Armenian alphabet across its stanzas
—
—
—
—
Anchareli Bann Astvatz (God, The Inexpressible Word) — also acrostic
—
—
—
—
b. 1047 Matt Molloy
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
618 AD Tibetan Empire
Founded by Songtsen Gampo, who also formally introduced Buddhism to Tibet — the tradition Milarepa (next entry) belongs to, five centuries later
—
—
—
—
1052–1135 Milarepa▾
Gurbum songs, multiple
—
n.d.YouTube collection
Milarepa’s Song of Realization — chanted
—
—
d. 1058 Catholicos Peter I Ketadarz
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1065–1070 – 1170 Godric of Finchale▾
4 surviving songs — the oldest songs in English for which the original musical settings survive (some Latin admixture). A former merchant turned hermit; his life was recorded by his contemporary Reginald of Durham, whose account preserves both texts and neumes
—
1988Sequentia, English Songs of the Middle Ages (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi) — 3 songs, YouTube; also "Sainte Nicholaes," YouTube
—
—
c. 1068–1146 Adam of Saint Victor▾
O Maria Stella Maris
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
In natale — for Christmas, one of his best-known sequences; included on Ensemble Organum's "Sacred Music: A Millennium of Gregorian Chant" (Harmonia Mundi), notable as the first named-composer piece to break from the anonymous tradition of the earlier St. Martial repertoire
—
—
—
—
c. 1070–1150 Obadiah the Proselyte▾
Mi Al Har Horev
—
n.d.YouTube
Documentary: Arabia before Islam: religion, society, culture · Peter von Sivers on the origins of Islam
—
1071–1126 William IX of Aquitaine▾
Earliest troubadour whose work survives — 11 poems survive, but only 1 melody, and that incomplete. Grandfather of Eleanor of Aquitaine; his court later patronized Bernart de Ventadorn.
—
2019YouTube
—
—
c. 1075–1141 Yehuda Halevi
The greatest Hebrew poet of al-Andalus; his piyyutim entered the Sephardi liturgy and are sung weekly.
—
—
—
—
1079–1142 Peter Abelard▾
6 surviving Planctus, undated individually
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
c. 1089–1167 Abraham ibn Ezra
Poet and grammarian; piyyutim still in use, and an early Hebrew discussion of musical metre.
—
—
—
—
1093–1166 Grigor III Pahlavuni▾
Ov Zarmanali
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
c. 1096 – 1245 AD St. Martial school / Aquitanian polyphony (tradition)
Parallel to, and largely contemporary with, the Notre-Dame school; mostly anonymous (Adémar de Chabannes, immediately above, is the named exception), preserved in manuscripts from the Abbey of St. Martial, Limoges (BnF lat. 1139, 3549, 3719). Its repertoire spread to Santiago de Compostela and shaped the Codex Calixtinus polyphony.
—
—
—
—
Oldest surviving anonymous compilation manuscript ("Saint-Martial A"): c. 1096–1099, final compilation bound 1245 — though Adémar de Chabannes's own named autograph (immediately above) actually predates this by ~70 years
—
n.d.Ensemble Organum, Polyphonie aquitaine du XIIe siècle, archive.org, free
Arrangement: Adémar de Chabannes — medieval music performance
—
1098 – present Cistercian chant (tradition)
The reform movement founded at Cîteaux Abbey (1098) sought a return to what its founders believed was the "pure" original Gregorian tradition, purging what they saw as later corruptions — a project of musical austerity paralleling the Order's famously plain architecture (Fontenay, Le Thoronet, Sénanque)
—
—
Documentary: Cluniac and Gregorian reform, and the cathedral schools · the new piety of the High Middle Ages: Bernard of Clairvaux
—
12th-century repertoire, including the respond for Matins of the Feast of St. Bernard (20 August) — a piece entirely created by Stephen Harding's Cistercian successors, not inherited from earlier tradition Oldest surviving example: the reformed Cistercian antiphoner of c. 1147, produced under Bernard of Clairvaux's supervision — the order rewrote its chant twice in thirty years, which makes "oldest surviving example" a question about which reform rather than which manuscript.
—
n.d.Ensemble Organum / Marcel Pérès, "Sacred Music: From the Middle Ages to the 20th Century" (Harmonia Mundi) — "In timore Dei," "Testamentum eternum," "Dedit Dominus confessionem sancto suo"
—
—
1098–1179Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard of Bingen
  • A Benedictine abbess, visionary, healer, and one of the most prolific medieval composers by far.
  • Founded two monasteries and corresponded with popes, emperors, and other major figures of her age.
  • Canonized and declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.
O vis eternitatis (c. 1150)
2024IMSLP
n.d.YouTube; also Sequentia, "The Complete Works of Hildegard von Bingen," YouTube
n.d.Ordo Virtutum
n.d.Visions of the Trinity
Documentary: Hildegard, 35th Doctor of the Church
—
O virtus Sapientie (c. 1150)
2024IMSLP
—
—
—
Ave generosa (c. 1150)
2024IMSLP
—
—
—
Ordo Virtutum (c. 1151)
2024IMSLP, full codex
—
n.d.Ordo Virtutum, complete
n.d.Vox Aeternitatis
n.d.Sequentia, Ordo Virtutum I
—
~65 remaining works, undated
variousIMSLP category
—
—
—
Music from the 1100s AD (1100–1199)
fl. c. 1100 Johannes Cotto (John Cotton)
A theorist, not composer — possibly English, likely working in southern Germany or Switzerland. Author of De musica, one of the most influential and widely copied medieval music treatises, giving unusually precise directions for composing chant and organum; its content corresponds closely to the St. Martial school and Codex Calixtinus, both elsewhere in this table
—
—
—
—
—
No music — this row exists to place a literature milestone on the timeline; see the literature column.
—
—
—
c. 1100 AD The Song of Roland — Old French chanson de geste, rooted in the 778 Roncesvalles tradition. full audiobook / reading on YouTube
fl. 12th c. Arnaut de Tintinhac
Four poems survive — echoes of Marcabru and Bernart Marti, already elsewhere in this table, in style
—
—
—
—
12th c. Bernard of Cluny
De contemptu mundi; Jerusalem the Golden derives from it.
—
—
—
—
12th c. Khachatur of Taron
Armenian hymnographer.
—
—
—
—
12th c. Spervogel
Early German gnomic poet with surviving melodies.
—
—
—
—
c. 1100–1200 Bernard of Morlaix
De contemptu mundi; the source of Jerusalem the Golden. Distinct from Bernard of Cluny in some catalogues, the same man in others.
—
—
—
—
1102–1173 Nerses Shnorhali▾
Nor Tsaghik
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
1103–1142 Fei Yue
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1112–1173 Nerses the Gracious
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1115–c. 1171 Dietmar von Aist
About 20 love songs and crusader lyrics survive — from a baronial family in the Duchy of Austria, one of the earliest named Minnesänger alongside Der von Kürenberg, below
—
—
—
—
1119 – 1312 AD Knights Templar chant (tradition)
The Order left behind few musical documents; its liturgical practice was closely tied to that of the Knights Hospitaller, both originating at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Correction to an earlier pass through this project, which found only modern fantasy content and wrongly concluded nothing genuine survived — see note below
—
n.d.I. Antiphona, Crucem sanctam
n.d.IV. Te Deum patrem ingenitum / Magnificat
n.d.V. Media vita in morte sumus / Nunc dimittis
n.d.VII. Da pacem Domine
n.d.VIII. Salve Regina
n.d.Honor virtus et potestas
n.d.Benedicat nos Deus
n.d.Kyrie eleison
Modern adaptation: the "crusader chant" genre the Order's music has generated online — Te Deum Laudamus, Epic Crusade Music · Dies Irae, Templar chant · an hour of Latin Templar chants · Azrael & Gabriel · Crucem sanctam, slowed and reverbed. Modern productions on medieval material, listed apart from the Pérès recordings so the two are not confused.
Documentary: the Crusades: pilgrimage or holy war?
Documentary: the First Crusade · the Third: Richard and Saladin · the Crusades from the Muslim perspective · the Teutonic Knights · the Battle of Hattin
—
Oldest surviving manuscript: Chantilly, Musée Condé ms. XVIII b12, mid-12th century, originating at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre
—
2006Ensemble Organum, dir. Marcel Pérès, Le Chant des Templiers (Naïve/Harmonia Mundi): Da Pacem Domine · Te Deum · Salve Regina
n.d.Da Pacem Domine, full chant with text
—
—
1120–1190 Khaqani
Persian qasida poet, sung in the Iranian classical tradition.
—
—
Documentary: the music of medieval Iran: an introduction to Middle-Eastern theory
—
fl. 1130–1150 (c. 1099–1150) Marcabru▾
44 poems attributed; "L'autrer jost'una sebissa" survives with music — invented, or at least popularized, the pastorela genre. Possibly a student of Cercamon (fl. 1135–1145), whose own works survive as text only, no melody — checked and excluded on that basis.
—
2015Ensemble Céladon, YouTube
—
—
c. 1130–1195 Herrad of Landsberg🖼️▾
Primus parens hominum (c. 1180)
—
n.d.Primus parens hominum
—
—
Sol oritur occasus (c. 1180, attribution contested)
—
2014YouTube
—
—
c. 1130–1200 Bernart de Ventadorn🖼️▾
Can vei la lauzeta mover
19171917 anthology
n.d.YouTube
—
—
17 more melodies (of 18 total)
19171917 anthology
—
—
—
b. c. 1130 (fl. 1149–1170) Peire d'Alvernhe
21–24 surviving works in the esoteric "trobar clus" style — the earliest troubadour named directly in Dante's Divine Comedy; his own vida calls him the greatest melody-composer known at the time
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1130 Matanga Muni
The Brihaddeshi — the treatise that first uses the word raga in its modern sense.
—
—
—
—
c. 1135/1160 – c. 1220 Raimon de Miraval▾
Chansoneta Farai Vencut and 21 more surviving melodies
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
c. 1135–1201 Léonin
  • Cantor of Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, and compiler of the Magnus Liber Organi.
  • Usually credited as the first named composer of polyphony in a contemporary source (Anonymous IV).
  • Almost nothing is known of his life beyond his association with Notre-Dame.
Magnus Liber Organi (c. 1160s–70s) — a large two-voice organum collection surviving in three major manuscripts (Florence, Wolfenbüttel), with at least 28 individually named pieces catalogued; Haec dies (below)
2012IMSLP, MIDI only
n.d.YouTube
n.d.Benedicta et venerabilis, two-voice gradual
n.d.Propter veritatem
n.d.Viderunt omnes, 2 vocum
—
—
Alleluia Pascha nostrum — two-voice organum for Easter
—
n.d.YouTube; also Music of the Gothic Era, YouTube
—
—
Benedicta et venerabilis — two-voice gradual
—
n.d.The Early Music Consort of London / David Munrow, YouTube
—
—
Propter veritatem — attributed to Leoninus on the Harmonia Mundi CD The Age of Cathedrals: Music from the Magnus Liber Organi (Paul Hillier / Theatre of Voices)
—
—
—
—
Gloria: redemptori meo — the sole Léonin-attributed track on the Hilliard Ensemble's 2006 "Pérotin/Léonin and the Ars Antiqua" CD, recorded live at Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge
—
—
—
—
fl. 1135–1145 Cercamon
Among the first troubadours, and Marcabru’s probable teacher. Text survives, melodies do not — checked and stated rather than assumed.
—
—
—
—
c. 1138–1215 Giraut de Bornelh▾
Reis glorios ("Glorious King") — an alba (dawn song); four melodies survive of roughly 90 poems total
—
n.d.Giraut de Bornelh — troubadour performance
—
—
c. 1138–1145 AD Codex Calixtinus (Liber Sancti Jacobi, tradition)
Appendix I of this pilgrimage guide to Santiago de Compostela contains 21 polyphonic pieces (organa and conducti built on Gregorian tenors) — a real, substantial repertoire beyond just Albertus Parisiensis's single named Congaudeant catholici above. Formerly attributed to Pope Calixtus II; now generally credited to the French scholar Aymeric Picaud as compiler
—
n.d.Ensemble Organum / Marcel Pérès, full repertoire — YouTube collection
—
—
1138–1192 Fujiwara no Moronaga
Japanese biwa and koto master; pieces attributed to him survive in the gagaku and biwa transmission.
—
—
—
—
fl. early–mid 12th c. (d. c. 1147/48) Jaufre Rudel▾
4 of 7 surviving poems have melodies; originator of the "amor de lonh" (love from afar) theme; probably died on the Second Crusade
—
2018Ensemble Gilles Binchois, YouTube
—
—
c. 1140–1212 Comtessa de Dia▾
A chantar m'er (only surviving work)
—
n.d.YouTube; Sibil•la Ensemble; Micrologus
—
—
1140s–by 1215 Bertran de Born▾
Sirventes, one surviving with melody (of several total attributed)
—
n.d.Bertran de Born — troubadour performance
—
—
fl. 1140–1163 Rigaut de Berbezilh
About 15 poems survive, including one planh and 9–10 cansos — a great influence on the Sicilian School, quoted in the Roman de la Rose
—
—
—
—
fl. mid-12th c. Bernart Marti
9–10 poems survive, influenced by Marcabru; sometimes grouped with Peire d'Alvernhe and Gavaudan in a hypothetical "Marcabrunian school"
—
—
—
—
fl. mid-12th c. Gavaudan
A troubadour sometimes grouped in the "Marcabrunian school" alongside Bernart Marti and Peire d'Alvernhe, above
—
—
—
—
fl. early-mid 12th c. Peire de Valeira
Two poems survive — one of the earliest troubadours, from the generation right after the tradition spread from Aquitaine into Gascony
—
—
—
—
c. 1140–d. after 1184 Hendrik van Veldeke▾
Minnesongs survive in early collections, alongside his better-known Eneide — a Limburgian poet, together with Friedrich von Hausen credited with introducing Romance poetic elements into Minnesang
—
—
—
—
fl. 1140–1163 Rigaut de Berbezilh
Troubadour; cansos survive with melodies.
—
—
—
—
b. c. 1145 (fl. 1160–1180) Peire Rogier
An Auvergnat troubadour and cathedral canon of Clermont who left the church for a wandering minstrel's life — credited as the originator of internal dialogue in troubadour lyric, later imitated by Giraut de Bornelh
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1145 Uc Catola
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1146–1177 (d. 1177) Albertus Parisiensis▾
Congaudeant catholici — conductus for 3 voices, in the Codex Calixtinus; the earliest known three-voice composition credited to a named individual ("Magister Albertus Parisiensis") in its own source. Cantor of Notre-Dame from 1146, predating Léonin at the same institution.
—
2010Ensemble Organum / Marcel Pérès, YouTube
—
—
c. 1147–1173 Raimbaut d'Aurenga
About 40 surviving works, credited with helping create the "trobar ric" (articulate/ornate) style of troubadour poetry
—
—
—
—
c. 1150–1202 Gaucelm Faidit▾
Fort chosa es que tot lo major dan (c. 1199)
—
2016YouTube
—
—
13 more melodies (of 14 total)
—
—
—
—
c. 1150–1231 Folquet de Marselha▾
14 surviving cansos, plus a tenson, a lament, an invective, and three crusading songs
—
n.d.Tant m’abellis…
—
—
c. 1150–1228 Stephen Langton▾
DISPUTED: Veni Sancte Spiritus ("the Golden Sequence") — the Pentecost sequence, one of only four medieval sequences retained in the Roman Missal after the Council of Trent's sweeping cuts. Three names are proposed as author: King Robert II of France (970–1031), Pope Innocent III (1161–1216), and Langton — modern scholarship generally favors Langton, but no attribution is certain
—
1966Konrad Ruhland, Canto Gregoriano 2, Spotify; also Caitlin & Michael Foster, YouTube
—
—
c. 1150–1210 Peire Vidal▾
13 of 45 poems with surviving melodies
—
2015 (Spotify reissue of 1981 recording)Spotify — A Troubadour in Hungary, Fraternitas Musicorum, 1981; also on Discogs
Peire Vidal — troubadour performance
—
—
c. 1150–1207 Raimbaut de Vaqueiras▾
Kalenda Maya (c. 1195)
—
2010YouTube
—
—
b. before 1150–d. 1195/1200 Guilhem de Saint-Leidier
Lord of Saint-Didier-en-Velay, a 12th-century troubadour
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1150–1160 Der von Kürenberg
15 strophes survive, in the Codex Manesse and the Budapest Fragment — one of the earliest named Minnesänger, his real given name unknown
—
—
—
—
c. 1150–1190 Friedrich von Hausen
15 songs survive in the Codex Manesse — one of the earliest Minnesänger known to imitate French troubadour models directly, having encountered them on his travels through Burgundy and Provence; died on Crusade
—
—
—
—
c. 1150 – 1219/20 Conon de Béthune
Tant ai amé c'or me convient haïr — one of ten surviving songs; crusader, and spokesman of the Fourth Crusade, who died near Constantinople
—
n.d.Sequentia, Benjamin Bagby — voice and harp — YouTube
—
—
fl. c. 1150 Salh d’Escola
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
1152–1210 Bligger von Steinach▾
Poems mentioning Damascus and Saladin survive — a companion to two Staufer emperors and contemporary of Gottfried von Strassburg, already elsewhere in this table; fief lord of Steinach on the Neckar
—
—
—
—
c. 1155–1202 (or d. 1241) Blondel de Nesle
L'amours dont sui espris — of 24 or 25 courtly songs under his name; this melody is reused in the Carmina Burana. Either Jean I of Nesle or his son Jean II; the legend that he found the imprisoned Richard the Lionheart by singing outside his cell attaches to him
—
n.d.Renouvel medieval ensemble — YouTube
—
—
1155–1221 Jiang Kui
Seventeen songs survive in his own notation — the only Song-dynasty composer of whom that is true, and one of the very few named composers anywhere outside Europe whose music can be read today.
—
—
—
—
1157–1199 Richard I of England▾
Ja nus hons pris — a rotrouenge composed while held captive in Austria/Germany (1192–1194) after the Third Crusade, addressed to his half-sister Marie of France, Countess of Champagne. Melody authorship is contested — some sources credit Richard himself, others the trouvère Blondel de Nesle, his contemporary and (per legend) the one who found him in captivity by singing outside his prison
—
2013YouTube (Daniel Estrem); also Owain Phyfe, YouTube
Documentary: Richard the Lionheart
—
1157–1233 Kenreimon-in Ukyō no Daibu
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1157–1199 Coeur de Lion Richard I
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1160s–1180s Chrétien de Troyes▾
One surviving lyric song with melody, attribution disputed
—
n.d.D’Amors, qui m’a tolu a moi
—
—
c. 1160–1230 Perotin
  • Successor to Léonin at Notre-Dame, and reviser/expander of the Magnus Liber Organi.
  • The first composer of surviving four-voice polyphony (organum quadruplum).
  • Like Léonin, known almost entirely through the later account of Anonymous IV.
Viderunt omnes — organum quadruplum (c. 1198)
—
2018YouTube
n.d.Viderunt omnes, part 1
n.d.Magnus Liber: Et valde mane una sabbatorum
n.d.Magnus Liber: Christus resurgens
n.d.Magnus Liber: Feast of the Assumption
Documentary: Medieval organum: the birth of European harmony, featuring Pérotin
—
Sederunt principes (c. 1199)
—
—
n.d.four-part organum with its plainchant
—
Alleluia Nativitas (undated)
—
—
Documentary: n.d."Music of the Middle Ages: Notre Dame School," YouTube
n.d.Alleluia: Nativitas gloriose virginis Mariae — plainchant, the chant Pérotin set
—
Alleluia Posui adiutorium — three-voice organum, explicitly credited to Perotin by Anonymous IV
—
—
—
—
Dum sigillum summi Patris — two-voice conductus
—
—
—
—
Beata viscera — monophonic conductus, attributed on stylistic grounds; also recorded on the Harmonia Mundi "Age of Cathedrals" CD (as "School of Perotinus")
—
—
n.d.the monophonic conductus
—
fl. 1160–1220 Pons de Capduelh
27 songs preserved, four with surviving musical notation — known for their great gaiety
—
—
—
—
fl. 1160–1209 Berenguier de Palazol
12 cansos survive, 8 with melodies — a real, unusually high proportion; possibly one of the earliest troubadours, poems referencing Gausfred III of Roussillon may date to c. 1150
—
—
—
—
c. 1160–c. 1210 Reinmar von Hagenau▾
Over 60 songs survive — regarded by contemporaries as the greatest Minnesänger before Walther von der Vogelweide, his own student
—
—
—
—
c. 1160/70–c. 1210/20 Hartmann von Aue
About 10 love songs survive alongside his better-known epics (Erec, Iwein) — one of the three great epic poets of Middle High German literature, alongside Wolfram von Eschenbach and Gottfried von Strassburg, below
—
—
—
—
c. 1160/80–c. 1220 Wolfram von Eschenbach
Nine surviving songs, five of them dawn-songs (Tagelieder) regarded as masterpieces of the genre, though no original melodies survive — a Bavarian knight-poet, primarily famous for the epic Parzival, with 84 surviving manuscripts
—
—
—
—
ARS ANTIQUA BEGINS (Notre-Dame school, c. 1170) — c. 1170–1320
Music from the 1100s AD (1100–1199)
c. 1160–1236 Philip the Chancellor
Beata viscera Marie virginis — Chancellor of Notre-Dame from 1217 and one of the most prolific Latin lyric poets of the age. The text is securely his; the music of this conductus is Notre-Dame repertory and is usually credited to Pérotin, so this is a text-is-his, tune-is-someone-else's case
—
n.d.Eric Bettens, The Road to Compostela (Naxos) — YouTube
—
—
c. 1160 – c. 1213 Gace Brulé
A la douçour de la bele seson
—
n.d.YouTube — Gothic Voices / Christopher Page
—
—
fl. 1160–1200 Marie de France
The Lais, written to be performed to the harp; the first named woman writing in French.
—
—
—
—
1160–1207 Raimbaut de Vaqeiras
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1160–1180 Robertus de Sabilone
Named by Anonymous IV among the Notre-Dame masters, between Léonin and Pérotin.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1160–1180 Berenguier de Palazol
Twelve cansos, and eight of them survive with melodies — one of the highest survival rates of any troubadour.
—
—
—
—
c. 1165–1237 Blacatz
Patron and troubadour; Sordello’s planh mourns him.
—
—
—
—
1169–1206 Jürgen Berndt
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1169–1206 Gokyôguku Sesshô
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 3300 BC India ▾
One of the world's three earliest urban civilizations, alongside Mesopotamia and Egypt. Jayadeva (next entry), working in Odisha/Bengal, lived roughly 4,500 years later
—
—
Documentary: the Vedic gods and their cycles · The Buddha, PBS · the rock-cut temples of Ellora
—
mid–late 12th c. Jayadeva▾
Gita Govinda (24 Ashtapadis)
—
n.d.YouTube collection
Gita Govindam / Ashtapadi
—
—
fl. late 12th c. Arnaut de Mareuil▾
Six works with surviving melodies (of 25–29 poems total)
—
n.d.Arnaut de Mareuil — troubadour performance
—
—
c. 1170–c. 1230 Aimeric de Peguilhan
At least 50 known works, music surviving for six — fled the Albigensian Crusade to Lombardy, where he spent a decade
—
—
—
—
fl. late 12th c. Guilhem de Berguedan
A troubadour, real cross-attributions with Berenguier de Palazol, Daude de Pradas, and others survive in the manuscripts
—
—
—
—
c. 1170–1246 Pons d'Ortaffa
Two cansos survive, one with a melody — feudal lord of Ortafà in Roussillon
—
—
—
—
c. 1170–1220s João Soares de Paiva
Author of "Ora faz ost' o senhor de Navarra," dated just before or after 1200 — usually agreed to be the earliest extant composition of the whole Galician-Portuguese lyric tradition, later collected into the real cancioneiro songbooks alongside King Dinis, below
—
—
—
—
fl. late 12th c. Meinloh von Sevelingen
One of the named Minnesänger of the Codex Manesse (folios 65r-67r)
—
—
—
—
fl. late 12th c. Ulrich von Gutenburg
A member of the "inner circle" of Rhenish Minnesang, alongside Friedrich von Hausen and Bernger von Horheim, already elsewhere in this table
—
—
—
—
fl. late 12th c. Rudolf von Fenis
A member of the "outer circle" of Rhenish Minnesang, alongside Heinrich von Rugge and Albrecht von Johansdorf, below
—
—
—
—
c. 1170–c. 1230 Walther von der Vogelweide▾
Palästinalied ("Song of Palestine," c. 1220) — his only work with a complete surviving melody, itself a contrafactum of Jaufre Rudel's tune; roughly 200 further stanzas survive as text only, preserved chiefly in the Codex Manesse
—
n.d.Joel Frederiksen / Ensemble Phoenix Munich — search "Walther von der Vogelweide Palästinalied," no single confirmed free link established this pass
Palästinaliedn.d.Lieder von Macht und Liebe — Per-Sonat, Sabine Lutzenberger
n.d.Palästinalied, in Latin
—
—
fl. late 12th c. Azalaïs de Porcairagues
Ar em al freg temps vengut
—
n.d.YouTube — historical troubadour song
—
—
c. 1170 – c. 1240 Gautier de Dargies
22 of his 25 surviving lyrics carry melodies; among the most recorded of medieval vernacular composers, yet two searches found no video.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1170–1195 Guilhem de Cabestanh
The troubadour of the eaten-heart legend; one melody survives.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1170 Guilhem de Berguedan
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1175–1178 Heinrich von Rugge
Songs preserved in the Codex Manesse — possibly identifiable with "Heinricus miles de Rugge," documented in a charter from 1175-1178; his castle stood on the Ruckberg near Blaubeuren in Nordwürttemberg
—
—
—
—
c. 1175–1247 Sharngadeva
The Sangita Ratnakara — the pivotal treatise of Indian music, the last accepted by both the Hindustani and Carnatic traditions.
—
—
—
—
1177–1236 Gautier de Coinci
Hui matin a l’ajournee
—
n.d.YouTube — Miracles de Nostre Dame repertory
—
—
fl. c. 1178–1195 Raimon Jordan
Viscount of Saint-Antonin and troubadour, a partisan of Henry the Young King in the Revolt of 1173–74
—
—
—
—
1178–1236 Gautier de Coincy
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1180–c. 1278 Peire Cardenal▾
96 surviving pieces, three works with melodies
—
n.d.Peire Cardenal — troubadour performance
—
—
fl. 1180–1200 Arnaut Daniel▾
Two works with surviving melodies (of 18 poems total)
—
n.d.Arnaut Daniel — troubadour performance
—
—
fl. 1180–1220 Peire Raimon de Tolosa
18 poems survive, one canso with a melody — a hermetic style later anticipating Dante; Bertran de Born, already in this table, copied nearly a whole stanza from him
—
—
—
—
c. 1180–c. 1209 Albrecht von Johansdorf
About 20 strophes survive in the Codex Manesse, including at least five "recruitment" songs likely written for the Third Crusade — a Bavarian minor noble at the court of Wolfger of Erla; his "Song 2" borrows structure and melody from a song by trouvère Conon de Béthune
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1180–1220 Gontier de Soignies
Li tans nouveaus et la douçours — a rotrouenge; 34 songs ascribed to him, from Hainaut in the Holy Roman Empire rather than France
—
n.d.Anne Azéma with Constantinople — YouTube
—
—
fl. c. 1180 Aimeric de Sarlat
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1180 Guiot de Provins
Trouvère. From the standard chansonnier corpus; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
1181–1226 Saint Francis of Assisi
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1184–1283 Saadi Shirazi
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1185–1228 Pistoleta
11 songs survive (9 cansos, 2 tensos); one melody survives in two versions — began as a singer for fellow troubadour Arnaut de Maruoill
—
—
—
—
fl. 1185–1210 Pons de Capduelh
Twenty-seven poems, four with melodies.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1185 Elias Fonsalada
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1186–1203 Le Chastelain de Couci
Li nouviauz tanz et mais et violete — 26 songs attributed, 15 or 16 accepted as his; probably Guy de Couci, castellan 1186–1203, who died on the Fourth Crusade
—
n.d.James Bowman, Early Music Consort of London, David Munrow — YouTube
—
—
fl. c. 1188–1222 Peirol (Peire de Pueg-de-Velai)
A troubadour of Auvergne, one of many poor knights of the era who took up troubadour poetry for its patronage income
—
—
—
—
c. 1190–1245 Guillaume le Vinier▾
Bien doit chanter; Espris d'ire et d'amour; over 30 poems total, most with surviving melodies
—
n.d."Bien doit chanter," YouTube; also Folger Consort, A Medieval Tapestry
Gilles le Vinier (?) — attribution uncertain
—
—
fl. 1190/1195–1217 Guilhem Ademar
A troubadour from the Gévaudan, satirized by the Monge de Montaudon for his fame; entered holy orders late in life
—
—
—
—
fl. 1190–1220 Perdigon
14 works survive, 3 cansos with melodies — widely respected by contemporaries, judging by his inclusion across many chansonniers
—
—
—
—
fl. 1190–1220 Uc Brunet
Six works survive — a nobleman-troubadour from Rodez
—
—
—
—
c. 1190–1200 (fl.) Heinrich von Morungen▾
35 surviving songs
—
n.d.Palästinalied
—
—
fl. 1190–1210 Robert de Boron
Grail poet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1190–1249 Pier della Vigna
Frederick II’s chancellor, and a poet of the Sicilian school; Dante puts him in the wood of the suicides.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1190 Uc Brunenc
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1190 Peire de Blai
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1191–1230 Elias de Barjols
Eleven lyrics survive (none with music) — a bourgeois troubadour who established himself in Provence and retired a monk
—
—
—
—
1194–1221 Albertet de Sisteron
A troubadour with real, precisely documented birth and death years — rare for the genre
—
—
—
—
d. 1194 Berenguier de Palou
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1195–1209 Gui d'Ussel
20 poems survive (8 cansos, 2 pastorelas, 2 coblas, 8 tensos), 4 cansos with melodies — youngest of three troubadour brothers of Ussel; sworn by a papal legate to renounce composing c. 1209
—
—
—
—
fl. 1195–1230 Guilhem Ademar
Sixteen poems, one with music.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1195–1220 Peire Raimon de Tolosa
One melody survives.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1195 Dalfi d’Alvernha
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1195 Guiraut de Salignac
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1196–1204 Guillem Magret
A troubadour with rich, motivically-varied surviving melodies; traveled widely in Spain before ending his life in a hospital there
—
—
—
—
Music from the 1200s AD (1200–1299)
LEGENDARY: 600s AD (per Gregory the Great legend); actually c. 1200–1265 Thomas of Celano▾
LEGENDARY: Dies Irae has been attributed, per unsupported medieval legend, to St. Gregory the Great (d. 604) — no real manuscript or scholarly evidence supports this, but it represents the earliest date ever proposed. Also legendarily attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153). Earliest evidenced date: late 12th century, per Dom Mauro Inguanez's 1931 discovery and publication of a real manuscript (Naples Biblioteca Nazionale MS VII D 36) — this predates the traditional Thomas of Celano attribution by decades, though it remains debated (Ermini's 1938 rebuttal defended the traditional 13th-century/Celano dating). The Britannica-standard traditional account places the earliest surviving manuscript at the Breviary of St. Clare, c. 1228
—
n.d.Dies irae — traditional attribution to Thomas
n.d.Dies irae, Gregorian chant
n.d.Gregorian, with the Latin text
n.d.Sequentia — chant for the dead
n.d.the Sequence for All Souls Day
Modern adaptation: the melody's afterlife, which is the real reason it is famous — Mozart, Requiem · Verdi, Requiem (Abbado) · Berlioz, Songe d'une nuit du sabbat · Karl Jenkins, Requiem · Nora Orlandi, Kill Bill Vol. 2
Documentary: Dies Irae in the Movies · why this melody is in so many films · the "death melody" explained
Modern adaptation: the afterlife continued — concert requiems: Mozart/Herreweghe · Mozart/Abbado · Verdi · Verdi/Currentzis · Verdi/Karajan · Jenkins · Lully. Popular and screen use: Preisner, The Crown · Rotting Christ · Apashe · Rage · Mägo de Oz · Warhammer 40K · a marching band. And the ambient-chant industry it spawned: 432Hz edit · "Thunder Version" · dark ambient.
—
c. 1200–before 1269 Sordello▾
One surviving melody, matched anonymously to his text by 13th-century tradition
—
n.d.Sordello — troubadour performance
—
—
c. 1200–1250 Jehan de Nuevile
A minor Artesian nobleman-trouvère; exchanged dedications with Colart le Boutellier, below
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1200 Eble d'Ussel
Eldest of the three troubadour brothers of Ussel — one tenso, one partimen, and a cobla survive
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1200 Peire d'Ussel
Middle of the three troubadour brothers of Ussel — one cobla survives under his name
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1200 Elias d'Ussel
Cousin and co-castellan of the three troubadour brothers of Ussel — four tensos, one partimen, and two coblas survive
—
—
—
—
fl. 13th c. Peire Guillem de Tolosa
One sirventes/tenso with Sordello, above, survives — also known for a work criticizing the trouvère Thibaut de Champagne, already in this table
—
—
—
—
fl. 13th c. Peire de Corbiac
A Gascon cleric-troubadour, best known for Lo tezaurs (c. 1225) and a real Marian prayer-poem
—
—
—
—
c. 1200–after 1261 Vincent of Kielcza
Author of Gaude Mater Polonia, first performed 8 May 1254 in Kraków for the canonization of Saint Stanislaus — one of the most significant medieval Polish hymns, real evidence of an early native Polish sacred-music tradition beyond the Latin liturgical mainstream
—
—
—
—
c. 1200–c. 1270 Tannhäuser▾
Six surviving Leiche (lyric lays), plus dance songs, love songs (some in a parodistic vein), and a group of Sprüche (gnomic poems)
—
n.d.Minnesänger Tannhäuser — historical-song performance/reenactment
—
—
b. c. 1200–d. after 1248 Reinmar von Zweter
Spruchdichtung (gnomic/didactic verse) — possibly blind in adulthood, per the Codex Manesse's iconography
—
—
—
—
fl. 13th c. Der Marner
Didactic Spruchdichtung, contemporary of Reinmar von Zweter and Konrad von Würzburg
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1200 Bernger von Horheim
Surviving strophes in the Codex Manesse — a noble from the Frankfurt area who accompanied Emperor Henry VI to Italy, directly influenced by Friedrich von Hausen, above
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1200 Gottfried von Straßburg
One of the three great epic poets of Middle High German literature, alongside Hartmann von Aue and Wolfram von Eschenbach, above — best known for the epic Tristan (c. 1210)
—
—
—
—
c. 1200–1275 Ulrich von Liechtenstein
Songs preserved in the Codex Manesse, alongside his own real, colorful autobiography Frauendienst — a knight famous for staging elaborate real-life chivalric jousting tours in the persona of Venus
—
—
—
—
fl. 13th c. Der Winsbeke
Purported author of a father-son didactic poem in the Codex Manesse (folio 213r) — real German scholarship (Leitzmann) argues he may genuinely be a historical knight from Winsbach, near Heilsbronn, rather than purely fictional, though this remains debated
—
—
—
—
fl. 13th c. Die Winsbekin
Purported author of a companion mother-daughter didactic poem in the Codex Manesse (folio 217r) — historicity similarly debated, possibly even older than Der Winsbeke's poem, above, per some manuscript scholarship
—
—
—
—
—
No music — this row exists to place a literature milestone on the timeline; see the literature column.
—
—
—
c. 1200 AD Nibelungenlied — Middle High German heroic epic. full audiobook / reading on YouTube
—
No music — this row exists to place a literature milestone on the timeline; see the literature column.
—
—
—
13th c. manuscript Poetic Edda — Collection of Old Norse mythological and heroic poems, many preserving older oral material. full audiobook / reading on YouTube; part 2
—
No music — this row exists to place a literature milestone on the timeline; see the literature column.
—
—
—
12th–13th c. texts The Mabinogion — medieval Welsh prose tales preserved chiefly in 14th-century manuscripts. full audiobook on YouTube
c. 1200/10 – 1258/9 Jehan Erart
Je ne cuidai mes chanter — a trouvère of Arras patronised by the city's bankers; eleven pastourelles, ten grand chants and one serventois survive
—
n.d.Je ne cuidai mes chanter — YouTube
—
—
fl. 13th c. Moniot d’Arras
Ce fut en mai
—
n.d.YouTube — trouvère song
—
—
fl. 13th c. Airas Nunes
Bailemos nós já todas
—
n.d.YouTube — Galician-Portuguese cantiga
—
—
fl. 13th c. Pero Meogo
Fostes, filha, eno bailar
—
n.d.YouTube — Galician-Portuguese cantiga de amigo
—
—
fl. 13th c. Nuno Fernandes Torneol
Alegre eu ando
—
n.d.YouTube — Galician-Portuguese cantiga
—
—
13th c. Gillebert de Berneville
Arras trouvère, judged in jeux partis with Raoul de Soissons and Henry III of Brabant.
—
—
—
—
13th c. Phelipe de Remi
Trouvère and jurist; "Or me respondez, Amours".
—
—
—
—
mid-1200s – after 1288 Der wilde Alexander
Also called Meister Alexander. Five songs, melodies preserved in the Jenaer Liederhandschrift.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1200 Petrus Notator
Named by Anonymous IV as the best writer of conductus — "optimus notator".
—
—
—
—
fl. 1200–1242 Aimeric de Belenoi
Two melodies.
—
—
—
—
13th c. Garzo
Ancestor of Petrarch; laude.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1200 Gaubert de Poicibot
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1200 Peire Milo
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1200 Arnaut Catalan
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1200 Guilhem Rainol d’At
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1200 Peire de Corbian
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1200 Uc de Pena
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1200 Huon de Bordeaux
Trouvère. From the standard chansonnier corpus; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
centuries before contact – present Katajjaq (tradition)
Inuit Nunangat, Arctic Canada. Two women face to face, a rhythmic duet that is also a contest: each waits for the other to lose breath or laugh. Voices imitate wind, water, animals, breathing. Originally a game rather than a performance, sung by women while men were away hunting; discouraged by missionaries and revived in recent decades.
—
2016Nina Segalowitz and Taqralik Partridge, Montréal
2015Kiah Hachey and Karen Flaherty, Nunavut
—
—
1201–1253 Thibaut de Champagne▾
Chansons in the Chansonnier du Roi
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
1201–1253 Thibaut de Navarre
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1201 – ?1260 Richard de Fournival
Trouvère and philosopher of Amiens; the Bestiaire d'amour, and chansons with melodies.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1202–1212 Guiraut de Calanso
One melody.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1204–1222 Elias Cairel
A troubadour of international fame, born in Sarlat, who traveled with the Fourth Crusade to the Kingdom of Thessalonica before returning west
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1205 Raimon de las Salas
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1209–1228 Ulrich von Singenberg
A Minnesänger, Truchsess (steward) of the Kloster St. Gallen — named in the Codex Manesse (folio 151r)
—
—
—
—
fl. 1209–1242 Albertet de Sestaro
Three melodies survive.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1210–1270 Colin Muset▾
Nine surviving melodies, mostly chansons jongleuresques (songs about a performer's life)
—
n.d.En may
—
—
c. 1210–1272 Jehan Bretel
96 of a probable 97 songs survive — "Prince" of the Puy d'Arras, dedicatee of works by Jehan de Grieviler, Jehan Erart, Jaques le Vinier, Colart le Boutellier, and Mahieu de Gant
—
—
—
—
fl. early 13th c. Cadenet
A troubadour, among the nobles/poor knights of the period who composed for patronage
—
—
—
—
fl. early 13th c. Guiraut de Calanso
A troubadour frequently present at the courts of Castile, León, and Aragon
—
—
—
—
fl. early 13th c. Uc de la Bacalaria
A canso, an erotic alba, and several partimens survive, including exchanges with Gaucelm Faidit, already in this table
—
—
—
—
fl. early 13th c. Heinrich Hetzbold von Weißensee
A Minnesänger named in the Codex Manesse (folio 228r), documented 1310-1345 at Weissensee, north of Erfurt in Thuringia
—
—
—
—
fl. early 13th c. Steinmar
A Minnesänger named in the Codex Manesse (folio 308v)
—
—
—
—
fl. early 13th c. Rudolf von Neuenburg
Nine songs survive in the Codex Manesse (fol. 20v-22r) — a Count of Neuchâtel who explicitly modeled his poetry on troubadours Folquet de Marselha and Peire Vidal, already elsewhere in this table, though composing exclusively in Middle High German
—
—
—
—
fl. early 13th c. Audefroi le Bastart
Bele Ysabiauz, pucele bien aprise — one of five chansons de toile, narrative songs in women's voices sung over needlework; ten chansons d'amour also survive
—
n.d.Chansons de Toile, Katia Caré ensemble, rec. Fontevraud 2007 — Bele Ysabiauz is track 2 — YouTube
—
—
fl. early 13th c. Castelloza
Ja de chantar non degr’aver talan
—
n.d.YouTube — trobairitz canso
—
—
fl. 1210–1250 Jacopo da Lentini
Invented the sonnet at the Sicilian court — a form that began as a song.
—
—
—
—
1210/15 – c. 1270 Raoul de Soissons
Crusader; seven chansons survive, "Quant voi la glaie meure" the best known.
—
—
—
—
fl. early 13th c. Franco of Paris
Distinguished by Anonymous IV from Franco of Cologne; an earlier stage of mensural notation.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1210–1242 Daude de Pradas
One melody.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1210 Ricau de Tarascon
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1210 Tomier e Palaizi
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1210 Pons Fabre d’Uzes
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1210 Hue de Saint Quentin
Trouvère. From the standard chansonnier corpus; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1212 Raimon Escrivan
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1214–1282 Daude de Pradas
17–19 cansos survive, plus a tenso and a planh — only one melody of his entire output has survived
—
—
—
—
fl. 1215–1242 Aimeric de Belenoi
At least 15 songs survive (7 more disputed); nephew of fellow troubadour Peire de Corbiac, only one work survives with a melody
—
—
—
—
fl. 1215–1233 Falquet de Romans
14–15 pieces survive (7 sirventes, 3 tensos, 2–3 cansos, a salut d'amor, an alba) — the most famous troubadour attached to Emperor Frederick II's court, despite beginning as a jongleur
—
—
—
—
fl. 1215–1225 Guiot de Dijon
Chanterai por mon corage — a crusade song written in a woman's voice, waiting for a lover who has taken the cross; seventeen chansons ascribed to him
—
n.d.Studio der Frühen Musik, Thomas Binkley — YouTube
—
—
fl. 1215–1229 Guilhem Figueira
The sirventes against Rome; melody survives.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1215–1240 Burkhart von Hohenfels
Minnesinger of the Constance circle.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1215 Guilhem Peire de Cazals
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1216–1233 Guilhem de la Tor
A jongleur-troubadour from the Périgord who spent most of his career in northern Italy, circulating among the Este, Malaspina, and Da Romano courts
—
—
—
—
1216–1294 Safi al-Din al-Urmawi
The Kitab al-Adwar contains notated compositions — surviving music, not theory alone, and the foundation of the Arabic and Persian modal system.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1217–1253 Uc de Saint Circ
44 songs survive, including 15 cansos with only 3 surviving melodies; also probable author of several vidas (biographies) of other troubadours, and a didactic manual, Ensenhamen d'onor
—
—
—
—
fl. 1218–1221 Rambertino Buvalelli
Possibly the first troubadour native to the Italian Peninsula — podestà of Genoa and later Brescia, Milan, Parma, Mantua, and Verona, introducing Occitan lyric poetry to several of these cities
—
—
—
—
fl. 1220–1231 Jausbert de Puycibot
15 works survive (14 cansos) — a Limousin troubadour, reportedly a monk
—
—
—
—
fl. 1220s–1230s Burkart von Hohenfels
A Minnesänger named in the Codex Manesse (folio 110r)
—
—
—
—
b. c. 1220 Walther von Klingen
Eight songs survive in the Codex Manesse — conventional canzone songs on typical Minnesang themes of lamentation and courtship; from an old Thurgau family
—
—
—
—
—
No music — this row exists to place a literature milestone on the timeline; see the literature column.
—
—
—
c. 1220 AD Prose Edda — Snorri Sturluson’s Icelandic handbook of poetics and Norse mythology. full audiobook / reading on YouTube
fl. c. 1220 Heinrich der tugendhafte Schreiber
Minnesinger of the Codex Manesse.
—
—
—
—
1220–1272 Berthold von Regensburg
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1220–1250 Rinaldo d’Aquino
Sicilian school; the crusade lament Giammai non mi conforto.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1220 Bertran Carbonel
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1220 Peire Basc
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1220 Aimar de Rocaficha
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1220 Montan
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1220 Palais
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1220 Vielart de Corbie
Trouvère. From the standard chansonnier corpus; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1220 Pierre de Corbie
Trouvère. From the standard chansonnier corpus; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1220 Kelin
Minnesinger. Named in the Manesse, Jena or Weingarten manuscripts; melodies survive for some.
—
—
—
—
1230 AD Crown of Castile
Reached at Alfonso X, directly below — king, and compiler of the Cantigas de Santa María, the largest single collection of medieval monophonic song. Formed in 1230 from the union of Castile and León under Ferdinand III, Alfonso's father.
—
—
—
—
1221–1284 Alfonso X of Castile▾
Cantigas de Santa Maria ("Songs of Holy Mary") — 420 monophonic songs in Galician-Portuguese, one of the largest surviving collections of medieval song, compiled over most of his reign (1252–1284); preserved in four lavishly illuminated manuscripts (Toledo, El Escorial ×2, Florence)
—
n.d.Boston Camerata, Alfonso X el Sabio: Cantigas de Santa Maria; also widely recorded by numerous early-music ensembles
Cantiga de Santa Marian.d.Cantigas de Santa Maria — full album
n.d.Clemencic Consort, vol. II
n.d.Ensemble Unicorn
n.d.Cantigas de Santa Maria
n.d.Cantigas de Santa Maria — Clemencic Consort
—
—
fl. 1224–1236 (d. between 1271–1275) Reinmar von Brennenberg
Five songs survive — four Kanzonen in bar form and a Spruchton with at least 12 strophes; a ministerialis to the Bishop of Regensburg, his style close to Reinmar von Hagenau and Heinrich von Morungen, already elsewhere in this table
—
—
—
—
c. 1225–1290 Bartolome Zorzi
Venetian troubadour, writing in Occitan.
—
—
—
—
c. 1225–1276 Guittone d’Arezzo
Founder of the Tuscan school; his laude were sung.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1225 Bernart Sicart de Marvejols
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1225 Isarn Marques
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1225 Raoul de Ferrieres
Trouvère. From the standard chansonnier corpus; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
1226–1316 Sultan Veled
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1229–1266 Bertran d'Alamanon
22 works survive, mainly provocative tensos and sirventes on Crusading themes — a Provençal knight and diplomat for the Count of Provence
—
—
—
—
d. after 1229 Thibaut de Blaison
Poitevin nobleman and seneschal of Poitou; eleven poems, several with melodies.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1230 (dates unknown) Martin Codax▾
7 Cantigas de amigo (6 with surviving music; the melody for the 6th is lost)
—
n.d.Grupo Universitario de Cámara, YouTube
—
—
c. 1230–1306 Jacopone da Todi▾
DISPUTED: Stabat Mater — one of the most famous medieval hymns ever written, still set by composers today (Pergolesi, Rossini, Dvořák, Poulenc, and many others). One source summarizes the authorship debate as "three Popes, three Saints and one layman" all having been proposed; Jacopone is the traditional favorite, though the earliest surviving notated copy (a 13th-century Dominican gradual from Bologna) has led many recent scholars to doubt his authorship specifically. Suppressed at the Council of Trent along with hundreds of other sequences, restored to the Missal in 1727
—
n.d.Stabat Mater — traditional/disputed attribution
—
—
fl. active to 1230 Guillem Augier Novella
Active at the court of Emperor Frederick II; his sirventes lamenting a fallen lord is a genuine early example of anti-Crusading verse
—
—
—
—
c. 1230–1292 Guiraut Riquier▾
48 surviving melodies out of 89 extant poems — more than double the number surviving from any other troubadour
—
n.d.Guiraut Riquier — troubadour performancen.d.L'ultimo dei trovatori — Ensemble Perceval
—
—
fl. 1230–1250 Kol von Nüssen
A Minnesänger possibly from Lower Austria, near Zwettl — shown in the Codex Manesse hawking
—
—
—
—
c. 1230–1293 Hovhannes Erznkatsi
Armenian poet and hymnographer; tagher still sung.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1230 Theobaldus Gallicus
Named in the Notre-Dame sources.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1230–1242 Guilhem Augier Novella
One melody.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1230–1242 Peire Bremon Ricas Novas
Melodies survive.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1230–1250 Andrieu Contredit d’Arras
Trouvère of the Arras puy; melodies survive.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1230 Robert de Reims
Also Robert de la Piere; melodies survive.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1230–1250 Giacomino Pugliese
Sicilian school.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1230 Torcafol
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1230 Peire del Vern
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1230 Sail de Claustra
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1230 Robert de Blois
Trouvère. From the standard chansonnier corpus; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1230 Jehan de Braine
Trouvère. From the standard chansonnier corpus; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1230 Rubin
Minnesinger. Named in the Manesse, Jena or Weingarten manuscripts; melodies survive for some.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1233–1258 Guilhem de Montanhagol
A Provençal troubadour of the mid-13th century
—
—
—
—
fl. 1233–1242 Blacasset
A troubadour of the second quarter of the 13th century
—
—
—
—
1234–1275/76 Hesso von Reinach
A Minnesänger named in the Codex Manesse (folio 113v)
—
—
—
—
fl. 1235–1257 Lanfranc Cigala
32 poems survive — a Genoese judge and one of the most famous Occitan troubadours of Lombardy, writing on Crusading, heresy, and papal power
—
—
—
—
fl. 1235–1265 Guillelma de Rosers
One partimen survives, exchanged with Lanfranc Cigala, above — one of the last known trobairitz (female troubadours)
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1235 Guilhem Anelier
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1235 Thomas Herier
Trouvère. From the standard chansonnier corpus; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
c. 1235 – present The Sosso-Bala (tradition)
Niagassola, Guinea. A single named instrument: the balafon said to have belonged to Sumanguru Kanté of Sosso and taken by Sundiata Keita at the founding of the Mali Empire, around 1235. It has been kept and played by the Dökala Kouyaté family for nearly eight hundred years, guarded by an appointed balatigi and sounded only on prescribed occasions — an unbroken custodial line as long as anything in the European part of this table. UNESCO inscribed its cultural space in 2008.
—
2009UNESCO, The Cultural Space of Sosso-Bala
—
—
c. 1240–c. 1320 Juan Gil de Zamora▾
A theorist, not composer — no surviving music of his own, included here as author of the Ars musica, the only surviving work of music theory from medieval Castile, written for the same literary circle around Alfonso X, above, dated to either the 1250s or 1296–1304 depending on the scholar. A Castilian Franciscan friar and prolific writer across hagiography, history, natural science, and poetry as well as music theory
—
— none; no music by him survives, and the Ars subtilior "Egidius" recording previously linked here is by a different, later composer of a similar name
—
—
fl. 1240–1260 Colart le Boutellier
A well-connected Arras trouvère, dedicatee/dedicator with Jehan Bretel, Jehan de Nuevile, and Guillaume le Vinier, above
—
—
—
—
fl. mid-13th c. Konrad von Würzburg
Didactic poetry, building on Walther von der Vogelweide's model
—
—
—
—
fl. mid-13th c. Ulrich von Türheim
Three works survive: a conclusion to Gottfried von Strassburg's unfinished Tristan (already elsewhere in this table), a continuation of Wolfram von Eschenbach's Willehalm, and fragments of a Cligès based on Chrétien de Troyes — called "the wise Türheimer" by fellow poet Rudolf von Ems
—
—
—
—
d. c. 1240 (fl.) Neidhart von Reuental▾
A substantial corpus of Sommerlieder and Winterlieder (summer and winter songs) survives, several with melodies
—
n.d.Minnesänger Tannhäuser — historical-song performance/reenactment
—
—
fl. mid-13th c. Petrus de Picardia ▾
A theorist, not composer — French, active in the same mensural-notation tradition as Franco of Cologne and Petrus de Cruce, both elsewhere in this table
—
—
—
—
fl. mid-13th c. Raoul de Beauvais
Six songs, three also ascribed to Jehan Erart.
—
—
—
—
fl. to c. 1240 Bruder Wernher
Among the latest poets of the Kleine Heidelberger Liederhandschrift.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1240 Adam de Givenchy
Arras trouvère.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1240 Chardon de Croisilles
Melodies survive.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1240–1257 Bonagiunta Orbicciani
Named by Dante as the poet the dolce stil novo superseded.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1240 Bertran de Preissac
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1240 Peire Guilhem de Luserna
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1240 Duran Sartre de Paernas
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1240 Jacques d’Ostun
Trouvère. From the standard chansonnier corpus; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1240 Robert de Castel
Trouvère. From the standard chansonnier corpus; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
c. 1240–1300 Adenet le Roi
Trouvère and minstrel to the Duke of Brabant; his romances carry lyric insertions.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1241–1280 Ulrich von Winterstetten
40 minnelieder and 5 Minneleichs — a real genre specialist alongside Tannhäuser and Frauenlob elsewhere in this table
—
—
—
—
d. 1244 Otto von Botenlauben
A count and Minnesänger named in the Codex Manesse (folio 27r)
—
—
—
—
c. 1245–1288 Adam de la Halle▾
Le Jeu de Robin et Marion (a pastoral play with music, sometimes cited as an early ancestor of comic opera)
—
n.d.Ensemble Perceval, YouTuben.d.Le Jeu de Robin et Marion, complete
—
—
fl. 1245–70 Perrin d'Angicourt
35 songs survive, two or three of them crowned at the puy d'Arras.
—
—
—
—
c. 1245–1290 Kirakos Erznkatsi
Armenian hymnographer.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1245–1265 Guiraut d’Espanha
Dansas; melodies survive.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1245 Bonifaci de Castellana
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1245 Granet
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1245 Perrot de Neele
Trouvère. From the standard chansonnier corpus; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
c. 1250–1331 Engelbert of Admont
A theorist, not composer — a genuinely versatile Benedictine abbot of Admont, Austria, whose writings span theology, philosophy, history, political science, and the natural sciences alongside music, including real treatise material on the hexachord and its solmization
—
—
—
—
fl. 1250–1293 Simon Doria
Six tensos survive, four composed with Lanfranc Cigala, above — a Genoese statesman of the important Doria family
—
—
—
—
c. 1250/60–1318 Heinrich Frauenlob▾
Three long strophic Leiche survive with melodies — the Marienleich (his best-known and most complex work, an elaborate poem on the Virgin Mary conflated with divine Wisdom and the Song of Songs), the Kreuzleich, and the Minneleich — plus 13 minnelieder and roughly 330 further strophic stanzas (Sangsprüche)
—
n.d.Sequentia, "Frauenlob's Leich, oder der Guldin Fluegel: Interludium," YouTube
Palästinalied
—
—
d. c. 1250 Giuliano of Spira
The rhymed office for St Francis.
—
—
—
—
1250–1337 Shifu Wang
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1250 Carasaus
Named in the chansonniers.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1250 Baude de la Kakerie
One rondeau with music.
—
—
—
—
c. 1250–1318 Heinrich von Meissen
Called Frauenlob; his melodies survive in the Jena and Colmar manuscripts, and the Meistersinger took him as founder.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1250 Cielo d’Alcamo
Rosa fresca aulentissima, a contrasto meant to be performed.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1250 Bernart de Rovenac
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1250 Raimon Bistortz d’Arles
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1250 Luquet Gatelus
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1250 Pujol
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1250 Jehan de Renti
Trouvère. From the standard chansonnier corpus; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1250 Der Kanzler
Minnesinger. Named in the Manesse, Jena or Weingarten manuscripts; melodies survive for some.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1250 Der Meissner
Minnesinger. Named in the Manesse, Jena or Weingarten manuscripts; melodies survive for some.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1250 Sunburc
Minnesinger. Named in the Manesse, Jena or Weingarten manuscripts; melodies survive for some.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1250 Zilies von Sayn
Minnesinger. Named in the Manesse, Jena or Weingarten manuscripts; melodies survive for some.
—
—
—
—
d. 1252 Gilles le Vinier▾
Seven surviving songs, including Amors ki me le comande and Au partir de la froidure, both featuring "echo rhymes" (repeated final syllables with shifted meaning)
—
n.d.Gilles le Vinier (?) — attribution uncertain
—
—
fl. 1252–1270 Jehan de Louvois
A French nobleman-trouvère from the County of Champagne
—
—
—
—
fl. 1253–1266 Bonifaci Calvo
19 poems and two descorts survive — the most notable Genoese troubadour after Lanfranc Cigala, above
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1255 Raimon Gaucelm de Beziers
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1255 Jehan le Cuvelier d’Arras
Trouvère. From the standard chansonnier corpus; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1255 Friedrich von Sonnenburg
Minnesinger. Named in the Manesse, Jena or Weingarten manuscripts; melodies survive for some.
—
—
—
—
documented 1257 Rudolf von Rotenburg
A Minnesänger from a ministerialis family near Lucerne, in service to the Vögte of Rotenburg
—
—
—
—
c. 1260 (MS copied 1261–1264) Anonymous
Sumer is icumen in (the "Reading Rota") — the oldest known six-part polyphonic composition, and the oldest known complete polyphonic secular song in English. Composer unknown; possibly W. de Wycombe (above) or John of Fornsete, a monk of Reading Abbey, though most scholars consider both attributions tenuous. Survives with both a secular Middle English text and a later-added Latin sacred contrafactum, "Perspice Christicola," on the same manuscript page
—
n.d.Hilliard Ensemble, YouTube
—
—
c. 1260 Ars cantus mensurabilis (Franco of Cologne, treatise)
The foundational treatise of mensural notation — the first system to assign fixed, independent durations to individual note shapes (longa, brevis, semibrevis) rather than relying on context. Directly enabled Petrus de Cruce's Petronian motets, below. No music by Franco himself survives with reliable attribution — he is a theorist here, not a composer. Notably, Grove's Dictionary (1880, read directly from the original public-domain edition) observes that the exact notational system Franco describes — his "Fifth Mood," with perfect/imperfect breves — is the same system actually used in "Sumer is icumen in," already in this table above, a real cross-reference independently confirming both entries
—
—
—
—
1260–1318 Frauenlob
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1260–1280 Jaque de Cambrai
Twelve songs, every one a contrafactum of a named model — including one on a melody of Raoul de Soissons.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1260 W. de Wycombe
English; five works survive, and he is one of very few English composers of the century known by name.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1260–1270 Guilhem d’Autpol
Esperanza de totz ferms esperans, with music.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1260–1300 Hermann Damen
Melodies in the Jena manuscript.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1260 Folquet de Lunel
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1260 Peire Salvatge
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1260 Bernart Arnaut d’Armagnac
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1260 Der Unverzagte
Minnesinger. Named in the Manesse, Jena or Weingarten manuscripts; melodies survive for some.
—
—
—
—
1139 AD Kingdom of Portugal
Reached at King Dinis, directly below — one of only two Galician-Portuguese trovadores whose music survives, the other being Martin Codax. Independent from 1139 under Afonso Henriques.
—
—
—
—
1261–1325 King Dinis of Portugal
A real troubadour-king, closing a genuine gap for Portugal — musicologists have recently identified surviving fragments of his own music, genuinely rare for a monarch of his period; his poetry is preserved in the same cancioneiro songbook tradition as João Soares de Paiva, above
—
—
—
—
c. 1261–1328 Immanuel of Rome
Hebrew poet in Italy; his Mahbarot adapt the sonnet to Hebrew, and were sung.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1262–1268 Paulet de Marselha
Eight works survive — a Provençal troubadour from Marseille, exiled to Catalonia after a failed rebellion, later at the courts of Peter III of Aragon and Alfonso X of Castile
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1265 Joan Esteve
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1266–1273 Bertolome Zorzi
18 works survive — a Venetian merchant taken prisoner by Genoa, who composed many "songs from prison," some in collaboration with Bonifaci Calvo, above
—
—
—
—
fl. mid-late 13th c. Simon Tailler
A real Scottish music theorist who studied in Paris before returning to settle with the Dominicans at Dunblane, introducing several reforms to Scottish church music — closes a genuine gap: this document had zero representation from Scotland. His own four theoretical works on music, once "much admired by later historians," have not survived. He is plausibly connected to compiling the real Wolfenbüttel 677 manuscript, associated with St Andrews — mostly French compositions by Léonin and Perotin, already elsewhere in this table, but scholars note some pieces "seem to point to a more insular origin, perhaps even Tailler himself," though no specific piece is confirmed as his
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1270–1320 Johannes de Garlandia
A theorist, not composer — author of De Mensurabili Musica, a foundational treatise on rhythmic notation directly connected to the Notre-Dame school of Léonin and Perotin, elsewhere in this table, and their real system of rhythmic modes
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1270 Magister Lambertus
A theorist, not composer — a Parisian master, author of the real Ars musica, a Latin treatise praising philosophical wisdom before turning to musical theory grounded in the work of Dominicus Gundissalinus
—
—
—
—
fl. late 13th c. Elias Salomo
A theorist, not composer — author of a real 31-chapter treatise covering the fundamentals of Gregorian chant theory and practice
—
—
—
—
fl. 1270s–1280s W. de Wycombe▾
Alleluia settings, mostly surviving only as fragments in the Worcester Fragments (about a third of all surviving English polyphony from the 1200s)
—
n.d.Alleluya Christo iubilemus — W. de Wycombe (?)
—
—
fl. mid-late 13th c. Jehan de Grieviler
Cleric-trouvère; 34 jeux-partis survive, 28 exchanged with Jehan Bretel, three with surviving melodies probably his own
—
—
—
—
fl. mid-late 13th c. Mahieu de Gant
A Flemish trouvère from Ghent; four chansons and several jeux-partis survive, all melodies in bar form
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1270–1300 Petrus de Cruce▾
Aucun ont trouvé / Lonc tans / Annuntiantes and Je cuidoie bien metre jus / Se j'ai folement amé / Solem — two motets identified as his by Jacques de Liège; cited in the Historical Anthology of Music (HAM 34, 35)
—
n.d."Aucun ont trouvé," YouTube; also "Je cuidoie," YouTube
Aucun ont trouvé
—
—
fl. 1270–1300 Rustichello da Pisa
Wrote down Marco Polo's travels.
—
—
—
—
c. 1270–1341 Ioannes Glykys
Byzantine composer and teacher of Koukouzeles; his works survive in the Akolouthiai.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1270 Rostanh Berenguier
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1270 Konrad von Kilchberg
Minnesinger. Named in the Manesse, Jena or Weingarten manuscripts; melodies survive for some.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1270 Wachsmut von Kunzingen
Minnesinger. Named in the Manesse, Jena or Weingarten manuscripts; melodies survive for some.
—
—
—
—
1271–1306 Konrad, der Schenk von Landeck
A Minnesänger of Thurgau named in the Codex Manesse (folio 205r)
—
—
—
—
d. after 1272 Jerome of Moravia▾
A theorist, not composer — a Dominican friar in Paris, author of a real, substantial treatise on music compiling several earlier authorities alongside his own material
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1273 – after 1286 Meister Rumelant
First writer to name the twelve tones of the Meistersinger; melodies in the Jena manuscript.
—
—
—
—
c. 1274–after 1326 Marchetto da Padova▾
Ave regina celorum / Mater innocencie / [Ite missa est] — one of only three motets reliably attributed to him, confirmed via an acrostic spelling "MARCUM PADUANUM" in the text itself; a second acrostic suggests the piece was composed for the dedication of the Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel in Padua, March 25, 1305 — the same chapel famous for Giotto's frescoes, though this specific link remains debated among scholars
—
n.d.Sator Musicae, YouTube; also Naxos recording, YouTube
—
—
fl. 1275–1310 Bruno von Hornberg
A Minnesänger named in the Codex Manesse (folio 251r)
—
—
—
—
1275–1326 (documented) Konrad von Kirchberg
A Minnesänger of the Swabian counts of Kirchberg, near Ulm — shown in the Codex Manesse on horseback, delivering a poem to a lady in a tower window
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1275–1290 Boppe
Jena manuscript; a named Meistersinger tone.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1275 Jaufre de Foixa
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
d. 1279 Gottfried von Neifen
A Minnesänger named in the Codex Manesse (folio 32v)
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1280 Albrecht von Rapperswil
Three songs survive (Codex Manesse, fol. 193r), each with a nature-in-springtime opening verse followed by verses on the beloved lady's beauty — a ministerialis in service of the counts of Rapperswil
—
—
—
—
681–1018 / 1185–1396 AD Bulgarian Empire ▾
A real medieval Balkan great power, reaching a genuine cultural golden age under Simeon I (r. 893–927); its most significant composer, John Koukouzeles, appears directly below
—
—
—
—
c. 1280–c. 1360 John Koukouzeles
Of Bulgarian origin (born in Dyrrhachium, modern Durrës, Albania, to a Bulgarian mother), one of the most important reformers of Byzantine chant, creator of a new, more elaborate "kalophonic" (beautiful-sounding) style and its own late Byzantine notation system. About 90 of his works survive. His most celebrated piece, the Polyeleos "To the Bulgarian Woman," was written in tribute to his own mother and incorporates real Bulgarian folk melodies he had heard from her as a child — genuinely moving, and a rare direct folk-to-liturgical crossover this early. Canonized a saint after his death, still venerated as the patron of church singers
—
—
—
—
c. 1280–1360 John Koukouzeles
The "angel-voiced" chanter of the imperial choir, who created the kalophonic style. The most important named figure in late Byzantine music, and his notation survives.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1280 Ioannes Lampadarios
Byzantine chanter, of the generation before Koukouzeles.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1280 Uc de Lescura
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
1284–1320 Wernher von Homberg
Eight extant Minnelieder survive — a knight in the service of Emperor Henry VII and later Frederick the Fair, who inherited territories forming the northern part of the modern canton of Schwyz
—
—
—
—
fl. 1285 Matieu de Caersi
A planh on the death of James I of Aragon, with melody.
—
—
—
—
d. 1286 Adam de la Bassée
His Ludus super Anticlaudianum carries notated music, including O constantie dignitas on a melody of Raoul de Soissons.
—
—
—
—
c. 1290–d. after 1304 Jehan de Lescurel
A late trouvère whose surviving corpus (rondeaux, ballades, and diz entez) appears bound directly alongside the Roman de Fauvel manuscript — no other works by him survive
—
n.d.Ensemble Gilles Binchois, Dominique Vellard — YouTube
—
—
fl. c. 1290 Heinrich von Freiberg
Best known for his own continuation of Gottfried von Strassburg's Tristan, above — preserved in three complete manuscripts and five fragments; active at the court of Wenceslaus II of Bohemia
—
—
—
—
c. 1290/95–1344 Johannes de Muris
A theorist, not composer — no surviving music of his own, but among the most significant medieval music theorists. Author of Notitia artis musicae (1321) and Musica speculativa (1323), foundational texts for the mensural notation reforms of the whole Ars Nova era — the same tradition that shaped Philippe de Vitry and Guillaume de Machaut, elsewhere in this table
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1290 Nikephoros Ethikos
Byzantine composer in the Akolouthiai.
—
—
—
—
c. 1290–1349 Jean de le Mote
Franco-Flemish poet-composer; his motets are lost but named, and Vitry addressed him directly.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1290 Peire Duran
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
c. 1291–1361 Philippe de Vitry▾
Motets in the Roman de Fauvel (c. 1316), among the earliest surviving Ars Nova compositions
—
n.d.YouTube
n.d.Colla iugo subdere / Bona condit cetera
n.d.Música medieval: Philippe de Vitry
Documentary: Philippe de Vitry and the Ars Nova · his place in the medieval period
—
Music from the 1300s AD (1300–1399)
fl. c. 1300 Johannes de Grocheio
A theorist, not composer — genuinely significant as one of the only medieval writers to seriously discuss secular, urban, and popular music (chansons de geste, dance forms) alongside sacred music, in his real treatise De musica, a real departure from the purely liturgical focus of most contemporary theory
—
—
—
—
fl. before 1300 – d. after 1316 Walter Odington▾
A theorist, not composer — an English Benedictine monk of Evesham Abbey, later at Oxford. Author of De speculatione musice, likely written before 1300, a real, substantial compilation of contemporary music theory with original additions; credited by Hugo Riemann with theoretically establishing the consonance of minor and major thirds before the end of the 13th century
—
—
—
—
fl. 1st half 14th c. Johannes Vetulus de Anagnia
A theorist, not composer — an Italian writer of the early Ars Nova period, author of the real treatise Liber de musica
—
—
—
—
c. 1300–1377 Guillaume de Machaut▾
Messe de Nostre Dame (c. 1360s) — the earliest surviving complete Mass Ordinary setting attributable to a single named composer
—
1985Hilliard Ensemble, YouTube; also 2000sEnsemble Organum, YouTube; also 2017MEC Early Music Consort, YouTube
n.d.Je vivroie liement / Liement me deport
Documentary: n.d."Music of the Ars Nova and Ars Subtilior (1350–1400)," YouTube collection
Documentary: Great Courses: Europe on the Brink of the Black Death — Machaut lived through the plague of 1348–49 and wrote about it in the Jugement dou roy de Navarre
—
~140 more surviving works: lais, motets, ballades, virelais, rondeaux — 14-work anthology: Pour quoy me bat mes maris?; Ma chiere dame; Tres douce dame que j'aour; Tres bonne et belle; Douce dame, tant com vivray; De toutes flours; Douce dame jolie; Dame, je sui cilz; Rose, liz, printemps, verdure; Mes esperis; Loyaute, que point ne delay; Amours me fait desirer; Se je souspir parfondement; Plus dure que un dyamant
—
1956 / YouTube 2021Collegium Musicum anthology, YouTube; also alternate upload with track timestamps, YouTube
—
—
fl. 14th c. Guilielmus de Francia▾
Alta serena luce (ballata); Donna, s'amor m'invita — two surviving pieces
—
— none for his own two ballatas; the "Egidius" recording previously linked here is a different composer
—
—
b. before 1300–d. shortly after 1350 Maestro Piero▾
Known mainly for his madrigals — one of the earliest-datable bodies of Trecento work
—
n.d.Quando l’aire comença
—
—
fl. second half of 14th c. Niccolò da Perugia▾
41 surviving compositions with reliable attribution, 36 of them in the Squarcialupi Codex — the second-largest surviving Trecento corpus by piece count in that manuscript, after Landini himself
—
n.d.Gherardello da Firenze — Trecento performance
—
—
fl. 14th c. Philippe Royllart
A composer active at the time of Charles V, King of France; one of the 34 named Chantilly Codex composers
—
—
—
—
fl. 14th c. Regenbogen
A minnesinger of lower social standing than most in this tradition (reportedly a blacksmith by trade) — real documented poetic tributes exchanged with both Heinrich Frauenlob and, generations later, Oswald von Wolkenstein, both elsewhere in this table
—
—
—
—
14th c. Chandidas
Bengali Vaishnava poet; his padavali are sung in kirtan to this day.
—
—
—
—
fl. 14th c. Xenos Korones
Byzantine chanter and composer; works survive in the Akolouthiai manuscripts.
—
—
—
—
fl. 14th c. Rosso de Chollegrana
Squarcialupi Codex.
—
—
—
—
fl. 14th c. Guglielmo di Francia
Trecento; possibly the Guilielmus de Francia already in this table.
—
—
—
—
fl. 14th c. Theodoros Manougras
Byzantine composer in the Akolouthiai manuscripts.
—
—
—
—
c. 1300–1352 Denis le Grant
Bishop of Senlis; the chace Se je chant survives, an early canonic form.
—
—
—
—
c. 1300–1325 Codex Las Huelgas
The Burgos manuscript — 186 pieces, the largest surviving collection of Spanish medieval polyphony, copied at and for a convent of nuns who sang it.
—
—
—
—
c. 1300–1372 Jehan de Meurs
Also Johannes de Muris; the Notitia artis musicae, which set the Ars nova on a mathematical footing.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1300 Gausbert Amiel
Troubadour. From the standard corpus of named troubadours; poems survive, melodies in some cases.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1300 Der Junge Meissner
Minnesinger. Named in the Manesse, Jena or Weingarten manuscripts; melodies survive for some.
—
—
—
—
1304–1374 Francesco Petrach
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1310–1369 Simon Tunsted
A theorist, not composer — an English Franciscan friar from Norwich, master of the Minorites at Oxford from 1351. Traditionally credited with Quatuor Principalia Musicae, a real treatise setting out the musical principles underlying the whole Ars Nova movement, though modern scholarship notes the attribution rests on genuinely thin evidence — a single colophon, with internal textual evidence suggesting a foreign author
—
—
—
—
fl. early 14th c. Petrus frater dictus Palma ociosa
A theorist, not composer — French, author of the real treatise Compendium de discantu mensurabili (1336)
—
—
—
—
ARS NOVA BEGINS (c. 1320) — c. 1320–1370
Music from the 1300s AD (1300–1399)
1316–1395 John Barbour
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1316 Chaillou de Pesstain
Compiled the interpolated Roman de Fauvel (BnF fr. 146), which preserves 169 pieces spanning a century and a half of music.
—
—
—
—
c. 1319–1380 Heinrich von Mügeln
Court poet and Meistersinger; tones survive.
—
—
—
—
c. 1320–1382 Nicole Oresme
A theorist, not composer — Bishop of Lisieux and a real, close friend of Philippe de Vitry, above. A scientist of remarkable range: contributed real work on musical acoustics, the physiology and psychology of hearing, and the mathematics of musical measurement, alongside his better-known achievements in economics and early wave mechanics — one of the most intellectually versatile figures connected to medieval music theory
—
—
—
—
c. 1320/25–1362/63 Gherardello da Firenze▾
Ten madrigals, five ballatas, and the famous three-voice caccia Tosto che l'alba — most preserved in the Squarcialupi Codex
—
n.d.Gherardello da Firenze — Trecento performance
—
—
fl. 1324–1340 Raimon de Cornet
Troubadour of the last generation, and a leading figure of the Consistori del Gay Saber at Toulouse.
—
—
—
—
c. 1325–1397 Francesco Landini▾
Ballate (secular songs) — over 150 survive, the largest single-composer corpus of Italian Trecento music
—
n.d.YouTube
n.d.Che pena è quest'al cor
n.d.Ecco la primavera
n.d.Per allegrezza
n.d.Musica son — Ensemble Micrologus
—
—
fl. 1326 Robert de Handlo
A theorist, not composer — an English writer, likely of the de Handlo family of Kent, author of the Regule cum maximis magistri Franconis, a real, substantial 1326 treatise on mensural notation that genuinely preserves the names of several early composers not recorded anywhere else, and is the only medieval treatise to prescribe specific durations for plicas
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1330s–1340s Vincenzo da Rimini▾
Six pieces survive in the Squarcialupi Codex
—
n.d.Giovanni da Cascia — madrigal
—
—
fl. c. 1330 Jehan Acart de Hesdin
La Prise amoureuse, 1332, with lyric insertions.
—
—
—
—
1332–1386 William Langland
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1335–c. 1386 Jacopo da Bologna▾
Non al suo amante (c. 1350) — genuinely significant: the only surviving contemporary musical setting of any Petrarch poem, made while Petrarch himself was still alive. 34 known compositions total, mostly madrigals, 28–29 preserved in the Squarcialupi Codex; also composed the famous madrigal Fenice fu' (c. 1360)
—
n.d."Non al suo amante," YouTube; also Project Ars Nova, YouTube
Giovanni da Cascia — madrigal
—
—
fl. c. 1340–1350 (d. c. 1351/1362) Giovanni da Cascia▾
Around 35 surviving pieces, mostly madrigals, preserved largely in the Squarcialupi Codex and Rossi Codex
—
n.d.Various early-music ensembles; specific tracks not independently verified for this pass
Giovanni da Cascia — madrigal
—
—
fl. mid-14th c. P. des Molins▾
Two surviving works — De ce que fol pensé (ballade) and Amis, tout dous vis (rondeau) — both tremendously popular in their time, found in 12 and 8 medieval manuscript sources respectively
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1340–50 Magister Piero
One of the three founding madrigalists of the Italian Trecento — the other two, Jacopo da Bologna and Giovanni da Cascia, have been in this table all along.
—
—
—
—
c. 1340–1500 (copied c. 1613) Cerdd dant / the Robert ap Huw manuscript
The bardic harp music of Wales, in a tablature of its own — the earliest body of music written expressly for the harp anywhere in Europe. Around thirty pieces with playing instructions. The compositions date from between 1340 and 1500 and were transmitted orally for generations before Wiliam Penllyn devised a notation for them; Robert ap Huw copied that lost source at the court of James I. Some hold this is the kind of music Gruffudd ap Cynan brought from Ireland around 1100, which is why an Irish harper recorded it.
—
n.d.Paul Dooley, on the metal-strung Irish harp
—
—
d. 1348 Egidius de Pusiex
One of the 34 named composers of the Chantilly Codex
—
— none; the "Egidius" recording previously linked here is the Chantilly Codex Egidius (fl. c. 1350–1400), a different man
—
—
fl. c. 1350–1400 Egidius▾
Roses et lis (ballade); Courtois et sage (ballade, dedicated to Pope Clement VII)
—
n.d.Egidius — Ars subtilior performance
—
—
fl. c. 1350–1370 Donato da Cascia▾
Seventeen surviving compositions, all secular, nearly all found in Tuscan sources
—
n.d.Donato da Cascia — Trecento performance
—
—
fl. c. 1350 Nicolò del Preposto
Trecento; fifteen or so works in the Squarcialupi Codex.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1350 Ser Feo
Trecento composer named in the Florentine sources.
—
—
—
—
c. 1350–1399 Bianco da Siena
Laude, including the text later famous as Come down, O Love divine.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1351–1392 John of Tewkesbury
A theorist, not composer — an English friar whose real treatise cites Boethius, Isidore of Seville, Guido d'Arezzo, Magister Lambertus, and Franco of Cologne, all elsewhere in this table, and discusses Ars Nova principles alongside a genuinely interesting commentary on the working practices of contemporary scribes
—
—
—
—
c. 1355–after 1436 Paolo da Firenze▾
A substantial surviving corpus of ballate and madrigals — second only to Landini's output among Trecento composers
—
n.d.Paolo da Firenze — Trecento performance
—
—
c. 1357–1423 Hugo von Montfort
Austrian nobleman-poet whose songs were set by his own harpist, Burk Mangolt, already in this table.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1360–1370s Der Mönch von Salzburg
A prolific late-medieval Austrian poet-composer of both sacred and secular song, active at the Salzburg court under Archbishop Pilgrim II — real recorded alongside Oswald von Wolkenstein, below, as one of the last significant Minnesänger-tradition figures
—
—
—
—
c. 1360–1426 Giovanni Mazzuoli▾
At least 10 works recovered from the San Lorenzo palimpsest, mostly ballate and madrigals; two further attributions proposed by Nino Pirrotta under other names in other sources
—
n.d.A’ piè del monte
—
—
c. 1360 Robertsbridge Codex
The earliest surviving manuscript of keyboard music anywhere — two estampies and three intabulated motets, anonymous.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1360–1390 Jehan Vaillant
Ars subtilior; the virelai Par maintes foys, with its birdsong.
—
—
—
—
1360–1435 Abdülkadir Meragi
Persian-Ottoman composer and theorist, the towering figure of the eastern art-music tradition of his century. Recorded, and absent from every Western roster diffed so far.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1360s Pierre des Molins
Two widely copied works, including De ce que fol pense.
—
—
—
—
d. 1362 Pope Innocent VI
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1364–1389 Pykini
A French composer in the Chantilly Codex, possibly identifiable as Robert de Picquigny
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1365–c. 1405 Bartolino da Padova▾
27 ballate and 11 madrigals survive, mostly vocal duets
—
n.d.Bartolino da Padova — Trecento performance
—
—
d. 1366 Heinrich Suso
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
d. 1367 Johannes Boen
A theorist, not composer — a Dutch theorist of the mid-14th century
—
—
—
—
ARS SUBTILIOR (late 14th c. — extreme rhythmic/notational complexity, Avignon court style) — c. 1370–1397. A date band, not a claim about every entry in it: the early Burgundian and English composers of the same generation sit here too, and did not write in this style
Music from the 1300s AD (1300–1399)
fl. late 14th c. Solage▾
Fumeux fume par fumée (rondeau)
—
n.d.Fumeux fume par fumée
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Philippus de Caserta▾
En remirant vo douce pourtraiture (ballade), further ballades, and a recently discovered Credo — his reputation was significant enough that Johannes Ciconia, elsewhere in this table, borrowed directly from his music
—
n.d.En remirant — in Early Music Consort anthology
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Trebor▾
Se Cuers Ioyeux (ballade)
—
n.d.Trebor — ballade performance
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Grimace▾
A l'arme, a l'arme (ballade)
—
n.d.Fumeux fume par fumée
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Rodericus▾
Angelorum Psalat (ballade, two voices) — his only known surviving work
—
— none for Angelorum Psalat; the link previously here was La harpe de melodie, which is Jacob de Senleches's piece, not his
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Jehan Vaillant▾
Chantilly Codex ballades and virelais
—
n.d.Jehan Vaillant — medieval song
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Goscalch▾
En nul estat (ballade) — his only known surviving work
—
1987Ensemble Organum / Marcel Pérès, Codex Chantilly: Airs de Cour (Harmonia Mundi), Spotify
Trebor — ballade performance
—
—
fl. late 14th c. (d. 1377 or later) F. Andrieu▾
Armes, amours / O flour des flours — a déploration mourning Machaut's death, written the same year
—
1987Ensemble Organum / Marcel Pérès, Codex Chantilly: Airs de Cour (Harmonia Mundi), Spotify
Armes, amours / O flour — playable MP3
Armes, amours / O flour des flours
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Hymbert de Salinis
One of the 34 named composers of the Chantilly Codex
—
—
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Johannes de Meruco
One surviving four-voice ballade, De home vray, in the Chantilly Codex
—
—
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Johannes Haucourt▾
A French composer whose style is described as originally very florid and rhythmically complex
—
—
—
—
c. 1370–1408/10 Johannes Tapissier▾
One of the first members of the Burgundian School, the group of composers from which the Franco-Flemish style developed — a valet de chambre and composer for the court of Philip the Bold from 1391
—
—
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Garinus
One of the 34 named composers of the Chantilly Codex
—
—
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Taillandier
Documented as working alongside Grimace, Gacian Reyneau, and Philippus de Caserta at the Aragon court in Barcelona and Girona — all elsewhere in this table
—
—
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Johannes Galiot
One of the 34 named composers of the Chantilly Codex; four attributed works, discussed in modern scholarship for their citational links to other "En attendant" songs of the period
—
—
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Johannes Olivier
One of the 34 named composers of the Chantilly Codex
—
—
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Petrus Fabri
One of the 34 named composers of the Chantilly Codex — genuinely thin surviving biographical record, known only by name in this source
—
—
—
—
c. 1370–1412 Johannes Ciconia▾
Ligiadra donna (ballata) and various motets
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
c. 1370/1385–1445 Leonel Power▾
Mass on Alma Redemptoris Mater, and various motets — 40 surviving pieces securely attributed to him
—
n.d.Hilliard Ensemble, "Power & Dunstaple: Masses and Motets," YouTube (22 tracks); also , real confirmed tracklist
n.d.Ave Regina coelorum
n.d.Beata progenies
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Nikola the Serb
A Serbian Orthodox hieromonk and protopsaltes, part of the same Serbo-Byzantine school as Kir Stefan, below — real surviving Cherubic hymn in the late Byzantine kalophonic style
—
—
Arrangement: n.d.Collégiale Saint-Martin de Champeaux performance, YouTube
—
fl. late 14th c. Bartolo da Firenze
Trecento composer.
—
—
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Zacharias
Squarcialupi Codex; distinct from Antonio Zacara da Teramo, with whom he is routinely conflated.
—
—
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Corrado da Pistoia
Ars subtilior.
—
—
—
—
fl. late 14th c. Egidius de Murino
Composer and theorist; motets survive, and a treatise on how to write them.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1370 Guglielmo di Santo Spirito
Florentine; Trecento polyphony.
—
—
—
—
d. Dec. 1372/Jan. 1373 Lorenzo da Firenze▾
17 pieces in the Squarcialupi Codex (10 madrigals, 6 ballate, 1 caccia); also two surviving mass movements, one of disputed attribution
—
n.d.Lorenzo da Firenze — Trecento performance
—
—
fl. c. 1372–d. after 1387 Johannes Cuvelier▾
Se Galaas et le puissant Artus (ballade)
—
1987Ensemble Organum / Marcel Pérès, Codex Chantilly: Airs de Cour (Harmonia Mundi), Spotify
Se Galaas — playable MP3
Se Galaas et le puissant Artus
—
—
fl. 1372–1374 Guido (probably Guido de Lange)▾
Three works survive in the Chantilly Codex: Dieux gart qui bien le chantera, Or voit tout en aventure, and the bitextual rondeau Robin, muse, muse, muse / Je ne say fere fusee.
—
n.d. Dieux gart qui bien le chantera — ARTE performance
—
—
fl. c. 1372 – after 1387 Johannes Cuvelier
Four works in the Chantilly Codex, plus the Chanson de Bertrand du Guesclin.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1375 John Hanboys
A theorist, not composer — English, author of the real Summa, written around 1375, taking Robert de Handlo, elsewhere in this table, as its point of departure and incorporating an abbreviated version of his Regule. Hanboys genuinely expanded the mensural notation system to a total of eight figures, an exhaustively systematic survey of the whole Ars Nova formal apparatus
—
—
—
—
c. 1375–1456 Nicolas Grenon
Fewer than a dozen works survive, including motets Ad honorem sancte trinitatis and Ave virtus virtutum — genuinely significant here as a direct collaborator of Dufay's late in both their lives: in the 1440s the two worked together at Cambrai on a complete revision of the cathedral's polyphonic liturgical music. An unusually long career, beginning in the late 14th century at Notre Dame in Paris and continuing through the Burgundian court and the Papal Chapel under Pope Martin V
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1375 Demetrios Dokeianos
Byzantine chanter and composer.
—
—
—
—
1376/77–1445 Oswald von Wolkenstein
Over 130 surviving works, personally supervised into luxurious illuminated manuscripts (now in Innsbruck and Vienna) — an unusually large and unusually well-preserved corpus for the period, and an unusually well-documented life: left home at age ten, lost an eye in a Trostburg carnival mishap, served King Sigismund at the Council of Constance, traveled as far as Georgia, and was inducted into both the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and the Order of the Dragon. Poet-tributes survive from both Heinrich Frauenlob and Regenbogen, above — real evidence of his standing among his poetic peers. Sometimes called the last of the Minnesänger, though stylistically transitional toward the early German Renaissance
—
n.d.Ensemble Leones, The Cosmopolitan: Songs (Christophorus); also Ensemble für frühe Musik Augsburg, Ritter und Minnesänger
—
—
fl. 1378–1395 Jacob de Senleches▾
Je me merveil; La harpe de melodie; En ce gracieux tamps; En attendant esperance; other surviving chansons.
—
n.d.Je me merveil — MP3
La harpe de melodie — MP3
La harpe de melodie
—
—
fl. c. 1380–1440 Baude Cordier▾
Belle, Bonne, Sage (rondeau, heart-shaped notation) — a predecessor of Dufay in style, notated somewhat later than most of the Chantilly Codex's other pieces
—
2018Les Délices, YouTube
—
—
fl. c. 1380 (d. after 1411) Johannes Susay (Jehan Suzay)
Three surviving ballades — A l'albre sec, Prophilias un des nobles, and Pictagoras Jabol et Orpheus — plus a Gloria in fauxbourdon-like style attributed to him in the Apt Codex
—
—
—
—
c. 1380–1452 Ugolino of Forlì▾
Genuinely both theorist and composer — a real canon of Forlì Cathedral from 1415, later archpresbyter at Ferrara Cathedral. His five-book treatise Declaratio musicae disciplinae, written at the start of his Ferrara period, is described by real musicology as the last of the great speculative treatises of the whole Middle Ages; later theorists no longer regarded such speculative justification as necessary to musical practice, marking a real intellectual turning point
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1380–1454 Robert Chirbury
One of the named composers of the Old Hall Manuscript
—
—
—
—
1380–1443 Thomas Simonsson
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1380 Agathon Korones
Byzantine composer, of the Korones family.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1380–1395 Johan Robert
Also called Trebor; Ars subtilior at the Aragonese and Foix courts.
—
—
—
—
c. 1385–c. 1450 Beltrame Feragut▾
An early Renaissance composer, part of the same generation as Dufay's own Italian sojourn
—
—
—
—
d. 1385 Niccolo Soldanieri
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1385–1447 Grigor Khlatetsi
Armenian scribe and hymnographer.
—
—
—
—
c. 1386–1430 Piero Mazzuoli▾
Nine works recovered from the San Lorenzo palimpsest
—
n.d.A’ piè del monte
—
—
c. 1390–1453 John Dunstaple▾
Quam pulchra es and other motets — also captured in the same Hilliard Ensemble album cited above under Leonel Power. Individually named surviving pieces, per your own collection: Sanctus, Kyrie, Gloria, Magnificat, Sub tuam protectionem (I & II), Ave regina celorum, Salve Regina, Regina celi letare, Beata Dei genitrix, Et propter hoc, and Veni Sancte Spiritus/Veni Creator Spiritus (from the Old Hall Manuscript, distinct from the disputed Hermannus Contractus setting elsewhere in this table)
—
n.d.YouTube; also individually: Magnificat, Sanctus, Sub tuam protectionem I, Kyrie, Gloria, Ave regina celorum, Et propter hoc, Salve Regina, Regina celi letare, Sub tuam protectionem II, Beata Dei genitrix, Veni Sancte Spiritus/Veni Creator Spiritus
Documentary: n.d."The Church Music of John Dunstable," YouTube; also Clemencic Consort, "Cathedral Sounds," YouTube
—
fl. c. 1390–1420 Rodrigo de la Guitarra
Aragonese court minstrel, named in the archives.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1390 Manuel Argyropoulos
Byzantine composer.
—
—
—
—
d. 1391 Matheus de Sancto Johanne▾
Are post libamina
—
1991Hilliard Ensemble, "The Old Hall Manuscript" (EMI)
Are post libamina
—
—
1025 AD Kingdom of Poland
Reached at Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz, directly below — the first composer from the Polish lands in this table, and one whose works were long catalogued as anonymous under the acrostic "Petrus".
—
—
—
—
1392–after 1452 Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz▾
Between 20 and 40 known compositions, per ongoing scholarship — a Central European composer explicitly described by Czech musicologist Jaromír Černý as "an unknown composer of the age of Dufay" upon his rediscovery in the 1970s. Studied at Kraków from 1418, later chaplain to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III in Vienna; his music, similar in idiom to the Burgundian School, remained popular in Bohemia into the 16th century
—
n.d.La Morra, Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz: Fifteenth-century music from Central Europe
—
—
fl. c. 1392–1421 Antonio da Cividale
Italian composer of the generation between the Trecento and Dufay.
—
—
—
—
1394–1437 James I
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
b. c. 1395/1405–d. after 1432 Arnold de Lantins
19 securely attributed works — possibly related to Hugo de Lantins, below. Sang alongside Dufay himself in the Papal Chapel choir in Rome for six months in 1431–32, right as political turmoil following Pope Martin V's death scattered many of that chapel's musicians
—
—
—
—
RENAISSANCE BEGINS — Guillaume Dufay, first Renaissance composer per scholarly consensus — from 1397, Dufay's birth year. Contemporaries born earlier, such as Dunstaple and Power, remain in the band above
Music from the 1300s AD (1300–1399)
1397–1474 Guillaume Dufay
  • Widely considered the leading composer of his generation and "of almost unparalleled eminence" (UC Davis).
  • Synthesized French, Italian, and English (Dunstaple-influenced) styles into a new international idiom.
  • Encyclopedia.com states plainly his works "marked the beginning of the Renaissance" — the traditional endpoint of this whole document.
  • Roughly 200–220 attributed works survive across masses, motets, hymns, magnificats, and secular chansons. Charles Hamm's landmark study, A Chronology of the Works of Guillaume Dufay (Princeton, 1964), sorts the whole catalog into nine chronological groups based on mensural notation and datable historical events — the definitive modern framework for his output
THE FIRST COMPOSER OF THE RENAISSANCE ERA, per scholarly consensus. Nuper rosarum flores (1436), an isorhythmic motet composed for the dedication of Florence Cathedral's dome, per Hamm's Group 4 (the "High Italian Renaissance Era," 1433–37). Per Grove's Dictionary (1880, read directly from the original public-domain edition, citing his surviving will): on his deathbed in 1474, Dufay requested that eight choristers sing, very softly, the hymn "Magno salutis gaudio" — distinct from his motet Ave Regina caelorum, which he asked to be sung afterward, in the chapel, over his body. That same late motet's four-voice setting embeds a real personal plea in its own text — "Miserere tui labentis Du Fay," his own name written directly into the prayer
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Ecclesiae militantis (1431) — a five-voice isorhythmic motet for the coronation of Pope Eugenius IV, per Hamm's Group 3 (the "Rise of Isorhythm and Roman Chapel" period, 1429–33)
—
n.d.Hilliard Ensemble, YouTube
—
—
Missa Se la face ay pale (c. 1450–52) — the first mass in history built on a secular cantus firmus rather than a Gregorian one, based on his own earlier ballade of the same name; per Hamm's Group 7 (the "Master Cyclic Masses," 1450–55)
—
n.d.Chiaroscuro, Kyrie, YouTube; also Cantica Symphonia, 2013 recording
—
—
Missa L'Homme armé (c. 1450s) — one of the earliest and finest settings of the "L'homme armé" tune, which became the single most popular cantus firmus for mass composition across the whole next century; per the same Hamm group as above
—
n.d.Hilliard Ensemble, Agnus Dei, YouTube; also Oxford Camerata, full mass, YouTube
—
—
Missa Sancti Jacobi (c. 1450s) — a complete Mass Proper setting for the feast of St James, more medieval in character than his later cyclic masses but genuinely significant as an unusually complete liturgical unit for its era
—
n.d.La Reverdie, Guillaume Dufay: Missa Sancti Jacobi (Arcana)
—
—
Vasilissa ergo gaude (1420) — a motet written for the wedding of Cleofe Malatesta to Theodore II Palaiologos, Despot of the Morea, per Hamm's Group 1 ("Early Youth and First Italian Journey," 1415–23), the earliest datable phase of his output
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Apostolo glorioso (1426) — a motet written for the church of Saint Andrew in Patras, Greece, per Hamm's Group 2 ("The First Papal Period," 1423–29)
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Supremum est mortalibus bonum (1433) — an isorhythmic motet written for the real peace treaty between Pope Eugenius IV and Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, per Hamm's Group 3
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
The Hymn Cycle (c. 1437–43) — a complete set of Office hymns (Conditor alme siderum, Christe redemptor omnium, A solis ortus cardine, Ad cenam Agni providi, Audi benigne Conditor, Vexilla regis prodeunt, Pange lingua gloriosi), marking his real stylistic shift toward the sweeter parallel-harmony "contenance angloise" absorbed from Dunstable, already elsewhere in this table, per Hamm's Group 5
—
—
—
—
Missa Ecce ancilla Domini (by 1463, per real Cambrai cathedral copying records) — a late cyclic mass from Hamm's Group 8, his final Cambrai period
—
n.d.Complete Mass (26:56) · n.d.USER PLAYLIST — complete Mass (exact supplied URL)
—
—
Requiem — noted in his own surviving will but now entirely lost; historically documented as the first polyphonic Requiem Mass ever written, per Hamm's Group 9, his final period (1465–74)
—
—
—
—
Mon chier amy (1427) — a chanson written on the death of Pandolfo Malatesta, per Hamm's Group 1
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Balsamus et munda cera (1431) — an isorhythmic motet written for the Papal distribution of Agnus Dei wax medallions, per Hamm's Group 3
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
C'est bien raison de devoir essaucier (1433) — a chanson written for Niccolò III d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara, per Hamm's Group 4
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Missa Caput and Missa La mort de Saint Gothard — early cantus-firmus mass cycles built on pre-existing melodies anchored in the tenor voice, per Hamm's Group 6 (1443–50); Missa Caput's attribution to Dufay is long-standing but the identity of its original English model remains genuinely debated among scholars
—
—
—
—
O tres piteulx (Lamentatio sanctae matris ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae, c. 1454) — a real, historically significant lament for the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans on 29 May 1453, one of the defining events of the whole late medieval world, per Hamm's Group 7. Dufay actually composed four such laments, which he later called "assez bonnes" in a surviving letter — only this one survives. Long, colorfully claimed to be the exact song performed by a woman in mourning riding an elephant at Philip the Good's 1454 "Feast of the Pheasant" in Lille; David Fallows's modern scholarship shows this was probably a different, now-lost piece, and that O tres piteulx was composed slightly later as a direct appeal to Pope Calixtus III
—
—
Arrangement: n.d.Binchois Consort, YouTube; also Gothic Voices, YouTube
—
Missa Ave regina celorum — based on his own late motet of the same name, elsewhere in this table; his actual final completed mass cycle, distinct from the earlier motet, per Hamm's Group 9
—
—
—
—
En triumphant de Cruel Deuil and Du tout m'estoie abandonné — his final surviving chansons, per Hamm's Group 9, composed in the years immediately before his death in 1474
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
Sanctus (Group 1) — his earliest datable work, written during the Council of Konstanz
—
n.d.YouTube — Q15 album, tracks 8 & 10 · n.d.YouTube — Sanctus “Vineux” direct
—
—
Gloria and Credo, Ox 213 Nos. 1–2 (Group 1)
—
—
—
—
O gemma, lux et speculum (Group 1, motet)
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Amor secundum nomen tuum (Group 1, motet)
—
—
—
—
Ce jour le doiz (Group 1, ballade)
—
—
—
—
Resvelons nous, resvelons, amoureux (Group 1, rondeau)
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
Las, que feray? (Group 1, rondeau)
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
Missa sine nomine (Group 2, early 3-voice cycle, also called Missa Resvelliés vous)
—
n.d.Full score — 20:20 · n.d.Complete performance
—
—
Gloria and Credo "du village" (Group 2)
—
—
—
—
Rite maiestatis / Johannes baptista (Group 2, motet)
—
—
—
—
Sancte Michael ora pro nobis (Group 2, motet)
—
—
—
—
Adieu ces bons vins de Lannoys (1426, Group 2, written as he left France)
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Navré je suy d'un dart (Group 2)
—
—
—
—
Gloria and Credo "de Sancto Anthonio" (Group 3)
—
—
—
—
Sanctus and Agnus Dei, Bologna MS 2216 (Group 3)
—
—
—
—
Quel fronte signorille (Group 3, rondeau referencing his time in Rome)
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Pour l'amour de ma doulce amye (Group 3)
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
Magnam me gentes (Group 4, motet for the peace of Ferrara)
—
—
—
—
Fulgens iubar ecclesiae (Group 4, motet)
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Magnificat Secundi Toni (Group 5)
—
—
—
—
Magnificat Sexti Toni (Group 5)
—
n.d.YouTube album
—
—
Alma Redemptoris Mater (Group 5, early setting)
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Bon jour, bon mois (Group 5, chanson)
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
J'atendray tant qu'il vous playra (Group 5, chanson)
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Navré je suy (Group 6, revised edition)
—
—
—
—
Donnés l'assaut à la fortresse (Group 6, chanson)
—
—
—
—
Par droit je puis bien complaindre (Group 6, chanson)
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Le serviteur (Group 8, chanson)
—
—
—
—
Adieu m'amour (Group 8, chanson)
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Kyrie eleison (KSA group) (c.1410s–20s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Sanctus–Agnus pair (KSA group) (c.1410s–20s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Gloria–Credo pair (early pair) (c.1414, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Belle, que vous ay je mesfait (1414–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Ce jour de l'an voudray joye mener (1414–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
Entre vous, gentils amoureux (1414–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
Helas, et quant vous veray? (1414–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
Invidia nimica (1414–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
J'ay mis mon cueur et ma pensée (1414–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Je donne a tous les amoureux (1414–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Je requier a tous les amoureux (1414–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Je veuil chanter de cuer joyeux (1414–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
L'alta bellezza tua, virtute, valore (1414–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Mon cuer me fait tous dis penser (1414–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Navré je sui d'un dart penetratif (1414–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Passato è il tempo omai di quei pensieri (1414–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Pour ce que veoir je ne puis (1414–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Se ma dame je puis veir (1414–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Belle plaisant et gracieuse (c.1415–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Supplied playlist
—
—
Ce moys de may soyons lies et joyeux (1415–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Helas, ma dame, par amours (1415–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
J'atendray tant qu'il vous playra (1415–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
J'ay grant dolour (1415–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Je ne suy plus tel que souloye (1415–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
La belle se siet au piet de la tour (1415–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
La dolce vista (1415–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Gloria 01 'in Dominicis' (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Gloria 02 'in gallicantu' (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Gloria 05 'In quadrigesima / de quaremiaux' (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Gloria 09 'ad modum tubae' (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Gloria–Credo I (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube album
—
—
Gloria–Credo II (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Kyrie 02a 'Fons bonitatis' I (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Fragmenta Missarum
—
—
Kyrie 02b 'Fons bonitatis' II (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Kyrie 03 'Cunctipotens genitor' (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Kyrie 04 'Rex genitor' (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Kyrie 05 'Jesu Redemptor' (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Kyrie 06a 'Orbis factor' I (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Kyrie 06b 'Orbis factor' II (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Kyrie 07 'Pater cuncta' (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube album
—
—
Kyrie 08 'Cum jubilo' (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Kyrie–Gloria–Credo group (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Kyrie–Sanctus–Agnus group (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Sanctus 'Papale' / Ave verum corpus (c.1420s–30s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Sanctus–Agnus II (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Sanctus–Agnus III (c.1420s–40s, Independent Mass movement) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
O sancte Sebastiane (c.1420s, Motet) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Rite maiorem Jacobum (c.1420s, Motet) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Resvelons nous / Alons en bien (c.1420s–30s, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Bien veignés vous, amoureuse liesse (1423–33, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
Dona i ardenti ray (1423–33, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Estrinés moy, je vous estrineray (1423–33, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
He, compaignons, resvelons nous (1423–33, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
Mon chier amy, qu'avez vous empensé (1423–29, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Resvelliés vous et faites chiere lye (1423, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Je me complains piteusement (c.1425, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Ma belle dame souveraine (c.1425, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Pour l'amour de ma doulce amye (c.1425, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Missa Sancti Iacobi (c.1426–30, Mass) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Complete — Cappella Pratensis (59:50)
—
—
Belle, veullies moy retenir (1426–31, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Belle, vueillies vostre mercy donner (1426–33, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Vergene bella, che di sol vestita (1426–33, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Alleluia. Assumpta est Maria (c.1430s–50s, Mass Proper) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Alleluia. Judicabunt sancti (c.1430s–50s, Mass Proper) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Audi filia et vide et inclina aurem (c.1430s–50s, Mass Proper) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Clarens stella (c.1430, Mass Proper) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Dilexisti justitiam (c.1430s–50s, Mass Proper) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Nos autem gloriari (c.1430s–50s, Mass Proper) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Vos qui secuti estis me (c.1430, Mass Proper) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Magnificat octavi toni (c.1430s–40s, Magnificat) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Magnificat quinti toni (c.1430s–40s, Magnificat) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube album
—
—
Benedicamus Domino I (c.1430s–40s, Benedicamus) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Benedicamus Domino II (c.1430s–40s, Benedicamus) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Hic vir despiciens mundum (c.1430s–50s, Antiphon) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Magi videntes stellam (c.1430s–40s, Antiphon) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
O gemma martyrum (c.1430s–40s, Antiphon) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Petrus apostolus et Paulus (c.1430s–50s, Antiphon) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Salve Regina misericordiae (c.1430s, Antiphon) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Aurea luce et decore roseo (c.1430s–40s, Hymn) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Deus tuorum militum (c.1430s–40s, Hymn) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube — compilation recording
—
—
Exultet caelum laudibus (c.1430s–40s, Hymn) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Exultet caelum laudibus — contratenor version (c.1430s–40s, Hymn) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Exultet caelum laudibus — fauxbourdon version (c.1430s–40s, Hymn) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Hostis Herodes impie (c.1430s–40s, Hymn) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Iste confessor (c.1430s–40s, Hymn) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Jesu corona virginum (c.1430s–40s, Hymn) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Jesu nostra redemptio (c.1430s–40s, Hymn) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
O lux beata Trinitas (c.1430s–40s, Hymn) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Sanctorum meritis (c.1430s–40s, Hymn) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Tibi Christe splendor Patris (c.1430s–40s, Hymn) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Ut queant laxis (c.1430s–40s, Hymn) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Anima mea liquefacta est (c.1430s, Motet) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Flos florum (c.1430s–50s, Motet) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Inclita stella maris (c.1430s, Motet) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Moribus et genere / Virgo, virga virens (c.1430s–40s, Motet) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
O beate Sebastiane (c.1430s, Motet) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
O gloriose tiro / Divine pastus munere (c.1430s–40s, Motet) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
O proles Hispaniae / O sidus Hispaniae (c.1430s, Motet) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Si quaeris miracula (c.1430s, Motet) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Helas, n'aray je jamais mieux (c.1430s–50s, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Supplied playlist
—
—
Liesse m'a mandé salut (c.1430s–50s, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Supplied playlist
—
—
Bien doy servir de volenté entiere (1433–35, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Ce jour le doibt, aussi fait la saison (1433–35, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Dona gentile, bella come l'oro (1433–35, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Entre les plus plaines d'anoy (1433–35, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Iuvenis qui puellam (1433–35, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Supplied playlist
—
—
Je languis en piteux martire (1433–35, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Je prens congié de vous, amours (1433–35, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Mille bonjours je vous presente (1433–35, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
Mon bien, m'amour et ma maistresse (1433–35, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Qu'est devenue leaulté? (1433–35, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Supplied playlist
—
—
Seigneur Leon, vous soyes bienvenus (1433–35, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
Las, que feray? Ne que je devenray (1434, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Or pleust a Dieu qu'a son plaisir (c.1434, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Pouray je avoir vostre mercy? (1434, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Va t'en, mon cuer, jour et nuitie (1434, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
Je vous pri, mon tres doulx ami (c.1435–60, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
S'il est plaisir que je vous puisse faire (c.1435–60, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Supplied playlist
—
—
Salve flos Tuscae gentis / Vos nunc Etruscae (c.1436, Motet) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Craindre vous vueil, doulce dame de pris (by 1436, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Magnanimae gentis / Nexus amicitiae (c.1438, Motet) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Mihi autem nimis (c.1439–50, Mass Proper) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Isti sunt duae olivae (c.1439–50, Antiphon) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Propter nimiam caritatem (c.1439–50, Antiphon) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Salva nos Domine (c.1439–50, Antiphon) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Sapiente filio (c.1439–50, Antiphon) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Missa de S. Anthonii de Padua (c.1440, Mass) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Je n'ai doubté fors que des envieux (by 1440, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Puisque celle qui me tient en prison (by 1440, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Supplied playlist
—
—
Vo regard et doulce maniere (by 1440, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Supplied playlist
—
—
Donnés l'assault a la fortresse (by 1445, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Franc cuer gentil, sur toutes gracieuse (by 1445, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Helas mon dueil, a ce cop sui je mort (c.1450, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Ma plus mignonne de mon cueur (c.1450s, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
Adieu m'amour, adieu ma joye (by 1454, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Par le regard de vos beaux yeux (by 1454, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Trop lonc temps ai esté en desplaisir (by 1454, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Adieu, quitte le demeurant de ma vie (by 1455, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Les douleurs dont me sens tel somme (1455, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
Malheureulx cueur, que vieulx tu faire? (c.1455, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Vostre bruit et vostre grant fame (c.1455–60, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Missa L'homme armé (c.1460–61, Mass) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Belle, vueilles moy vengier (c.1460s, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
De ma haulte et bonne aventure (late 1460s, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Dieu gard la bone sans reprise (late 1460s, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Supplied playlist
—
—
Du tout m'estoie abandonné (c.1460s, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
—
—
—
Ne je ne dors ne je ne veille (c.1460s, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.Playlist recording
—
—
Puisque vous estez campieur (c.1460s, Chanson) — per DIAMM/Planchart catalog
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Ma belle dame, je vous pri (1414–29) — Chanson. accepted / album attribution — Medieval Ensemble of London chronological secular set.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Gloria 03 (c.1420s–40s) — Independent Mass movement. accepted catalogue unit; no recording listed by Weber 2022 — Added in v9 from Jerome F. Weber's Planchart-based 2022 Du Fay discography.
—
—
—
—
Gloria 04 'Spiritus et alme' (c.1420s–40s) — Independent Mass movement. accepted catalogue unit; recorded — Added in v9 from Jerome F. Weber's Planchart-based 2022 Du Fay discography.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Gloria 06 (c.1420s–40s) — Independent Mass movement. accepted catalogue unit; no recording listed by Weber 2022 — Added in v9 from Jerome F. Weber's Planchart-based 2022 Du Fay discography.
—
—
—
—
Gloria 07 (c.1420s–40s) — Independent Mass movement. accepted catalogue unit; recorded — Added in v9 from Jerome F. Weber's Planchart-based 2022 Du Fay discography.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Je ne puis plus / Unde veniet (1423–33) — Chanson. accepted / album attribution — Medieval Ensemble of London chronological secular set.
—
n.d.Supplied playlist
—
—
Agnus Dei (KSA group) (c.1430s–50s) — Independent Mass movement. accepted in DIAMM composer inventory — Added in v5 from DIAMM composer inventory / historical catalogue reconciliation.
—
n.d.YouTube — Q15 album, track 10
—
—
Alleluia. Ego vos elegi (c.1430s–50s) — Mass Proper. accepted in DIAMM composer inventory — Added in v5 from DIAMM composer inventory / historical catalogue reconciliation.
—
—
—
—
Benedicta sit (c.1430s–50s) — Mass Proper. DUBIOUS: DIAMM marks Du Fay (?) — Added in v5 from DIAMM composer inventory / historical catalogue reconciliation.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
In omnem terram (c.1430) — Mass Proper. accepted; Q15 explicitly attributes the Offertory to Du Fay — Added in v6: work-level Proper/Ordinary reconciliation.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Mass Proper for St Andrew (c.1430s–50s) — Mass Proper. historical Du Fay attribution layer; no recording listed by Weber 2022 — Added in v9 from Jerome F. Weber's Planchart-based 2022 Du Fay discography.
—
—
—
—
Mass Proper for St John the Baptist (c.1430s–50s) — Mass Proper. historical Du Fay attribution layer; no recording listed by Weber 2022 — Added in v9 from Jerome F. Weber's Planchart-based 2022 Du Fay discography.
—
—
—
—
Mass Proper for the Holy Cross (c.1430s–50s) — Mass Proper. historical Du Fay attribution layer; no recording listed by Weber 2022 — Added in v9 from Jerome F. Weber's Planchart-based 2022 Du Fay discography.
—
—
—
—
Mass Proper for the Holy Spirit (c.1430s–50s) — Mass Proper. historical Du Fay attribution layer; no recording listed by Weber 2022 — Added in v9 from Jerome F. Weber's Planchart-based 2022 Du Fay discography.
—
—
—
—
Ave regina caelorum I SEPARATE WORK: this is Du Fay's Marian antiphon/motet, not a Kyrie/Gloria/etc. excerpt from Missa Ave regina caelorum. It remains in the complete-works listening sequence. (c.1430s) — Antiphon. accepted in modern/standard Du Fay corpus — Dates within broad ranges are approximate.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Ave regina caelorum II SEPARATE WORK: this is Du Fay's Marian antiphon/motet, not a Kyrie/Gloria/etc. excerpt from Missa Ave regina caelorum. It remains in the complete-works listening sequence. (c.1430s) — Antiphon. accepted in modern/standard Du Fay corpus — Dates within broad ranges are approximate.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Ave regina caelorum III SEPARATE WORK: this is Du Fay's Marian antiphon/motet, not a Kyrie/Gloria/etc. excerpt from Missa Ave regina caelorum. It remains in the complete-works listening sequence. (c.1430s) — Antiphon. accepted in modern/standard Du Fay corpus — Dates within broad ranges are approximate.
—
n.d.YouTube — Fragmenta Missarum · n.d.YouTube
—
—
Salve sancte pater patriae (c.1430s–50s) — Antiphon. accepted in Weber/Planchart catalogue; recorded — Added in v17 by finite title-by-title reconciliation of Weber, section III: Other Sacred Works.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Ad cenam agni providi (c.1430s–40s) — Hymn. accepted; source attributions to Du Fay survive — Added in completion pass.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Ad cenam agni providi (fauxbourdon / 2vv version) (c.1430s–40s) — Hymn. accepted source-attributed variant — Added in completion pass.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Audi benigne conditor (c.1430s–40s) — Hymn. accepted in modern/standard Du Fay corpus — Dates within broad ranges are approximate.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Audi benigne conditor — second setting (c.1430s–40s) — Hymn. accepted / separately catalogued second setting — Added in v4 expansion.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Ave maris stella (c.1430s–40s) — Hymn. accepted in modern/standard Du Fay corpus — Dates within broad ranges are approximate.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Ave maris stella (Trent 92 setting) (c.1430s–40s) — Hymn. separate transmitted setting/version — Added in completion pass.
—
—
—
—
Christe redemptor omnium, IGD 155 (c.1430s–40s) — Hymn. accepted / separately catalogued setting
—
—
—
—
Christe redemptor omnium, IGD 156 (c.1430s–40s) — Hymn. accepted / separately catalogued setting
—
—
—
—
Christe redemptor omnium, IGD 157 (c.1430s–40s) — Hymn. accepted / separately catalogued setting
—
—
—
—
Christe redemptor omnium, IGD 38 (c.1430s–40s) — Hymn. accepted / separately catalogued setting
—
—
—
—
Christe redemptor omnium, IGD 40 (c.1430s–40s) — Hymn. accepted / separately catalogued setting
—
—
—
—
Conditor alme siderum (c.1430s–40s) — Hymn. accepted in modern/standard Du Fay corpus — Dates within broad ranges are approximate.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Pange lingua (c.1430s–40s) — Hymn. accepted in modern/standard Du Fay corpus — Dates within broad ranges are approximate.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Veni creator spiritus (c.1430s–40s) — Hymn. accepted in modern/standard Du Fay corpus — Dates within broad ranges are approximate.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Gaude virgo mater Christi (c.1430s) — Motet. accepted core partly compromised by later contratenor addition — Dates within broad ranges are approximate.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Je vous prie / Tant que mon argent dura / Ma tres douce amie (c.1430s–50s) — Chanson. accepted in IMSLP/Du Fay catalogue
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Nuper rosarum flores (1436) — Motet. accepted in modern/standard Du Fay corpus — Dates within broad ranges are approximate.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Lamentatio Sanctae Matris Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (c.1454) — Motet. accepted in modern/standard Du Fay corpus — Dates within broad ranges are approximate.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
En triumphant de Cruel Dueil (by 1454) — Chanson. accepted / album attribution — Medieval Ensemble of London chronological secular set.
—
n.d.YouTube
—
—
Missa Ave regina caelorum M3U v32 excludes known isolated movements from this Mass whenever the complete long-form recordings are present; standalone Ave regina caelorum motets remain separately. (1471–72) — Mass. accepted in modern/standard Du Fay corpus — Dates within broad ranges are approximate.
—
n.d.USER PLAYLIST — complete Mass (~46 min) · n.d.Complete concert (~56 min)
—
—
fl. c. 1400 Ioannes Kladas
Lampadarios of the imperial choir; a substantial surviving body of kalophonic chant.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1400 Johannes Carmen
Named by Martin le Franc, with Cesaris and Velut, among those who astonished Paris before Dufay.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1400–1420 Johannes Velut
The third of Martin le Franc's Parisian trio.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1400 Muskatblut
Late Meistersinger; melodies survive.
—
—
—
—
pre-conquest – present Harawi (tradition)
The Andes. A Quechua song-poetry genre older than the conquest and widespread across the Inca empire — slow, melismatic, sung solo and unaccompanied in a high register, its texts on love, absence and death. Its archetypal form is voice alone, which is why none of it was written down. Reconstruction is not possible and is not claimed here: what survives is a living practice in Quechua-speaking communities of the central and southern Peruvian Andes, and the quena flute that now often accompanies it.
—
n.d.Andean quena and panpipe music from Peru
—
—

The Renaissance, before Monteverdi

The first table stops at Dufay, where the chronology of surviving music before the Renaissance ends. This one carries the line forward from him to Monteverdi's birth in 1567 — the generations of Ockeghem, Josquin, Palestrina, Lassus and Byrd. Entries moved down from the first table keep their sources; the newly added names carry dates and a note only, and have not yet been given the score, recording and arrangement links the first table demands. Several were previously set aside as falling outside the period and have been brought back rather than deleted.

Chronological · Dufay's successors to Monteverdi's birth
MUSIC SIMULTANEOUS LITERATURE
Composer or TraditionWorkScore RecordingArrangements, documentaries & adaptations
fl. c. 1350–1400 Egidius de Francia
Chantilly Codex; possibly the Egidius already listed.
—
—
—
—
1217–1918/1922 Serbian Empire / Kingdom CCCC▾
A real historical polity — the medieval Kingdom (from 1346, Empire) of Serbia under the Nemanjić dynasty, later absorbed by the Ottomans; its first identifiable named composer, Kir Stefan the Serb, appears directly below
—
—
—
—
1282–1816 (as a distinct crown) Kingdom of Naples (defunct)
A real medieval and early modern Italian kingdom; its first group of native named composers, per Grove Music, appears directly below — closes a genuine gap: this document previously had zero representation specifically from the Kingdom of Naples, as distinct from the rest of Italy
—
—
—
—
fl. 1378–1395 Jaquemin de Senleches
Listed by Naxos under this spelling; the same man as the Jacob de Senleches already in this table.
—
—
—
—
c. 1385–1450 Beltrame Feragut
Milan cathedral; motets in the Bologna manuscripts.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1400 Daughter of Ioannes Kladas
Named in the Byzantine manuscripts only as her father's daughter — one of very few named women in that repertory.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1400 Ugolino da Montegiorgio
Franciscan; the Actus beati Francisci, source of the Fioretti.
—
—
—
—
1407–1458 Maffeo Vegio
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. late 14th/early 15th c. (d. 1373) Johannes Alanus (J. Alanus)
Author of the motet Sub Arturo plebs / Fons citharizancium / In omnem terram, plus two lieds and a virelai. Long identified with "Aleyn," an Old Hall Manuscript composer, but Margaret Bent's scholarship has since shown this conflation is likely incorrect — Aleyn now appears to be a distinct composer, added separately below
—
n.d.Sub Arturo plebs — YouTube
—
—
1380–1430 Burk Mangolt
Minnesinger; harpist to Hugo von Montfort, whose songs he set.
—
—
—
—
1383–1446 Leonardo Giustiniani
Venetian poet and composer; the giustiniana is named after him.
—
—
—
—
1391–1407 Gratiosus de Padua
Composer of the Paduan fragments.
—
—
—
—
1394–1465 Charles d'Orléans
Poet and prince, captured at Agincourt; his lyrics were set across two centuries.
—
—
—
—
1394–1437 James I of Scotland
Credited with The Kingis Quair; a king who composed.
—
—
Documentary: Scotland's story: James and the crowns united
—
1395–1460 Hermann Edlerawer
Composer in the Trent Codices.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1397–1409 Borlet
One surviving virelai, He tres doulz roussignol (plus a variant setting) — possibly an anagram-pseudonym for the composer Trebol/Trebor, already elsewhere in this table
—
—
—
—
fl. 1398–1429 Gacian Reyneau
One surviving rondeau, Va t'en mon cuer — a Burgundian composer at the court of Martin of Aragon, its simpler style looking forward to the early 15th century
—
—
—
—
c. 1399 Llibre Vermell de Montserrat▾
A manuscript of pilgrim songs compiled by monks at the Montserrat monastery, Catalonia — 10 anonymous musical works survive (of possibly more originally), including O Virgo splendens, Stella splendens, Laudemus Virginem, Mariam Matrem Virginem, and Ad mortem festinamus. Likely built on pre-existing secular folk melodies given devout new texts for pilgrims to sing — canons, virelais, and dances, not composed music in the courtly Ars Nova sense
—
1979Hespèrion XX / Jordi Savall (the classic recording); also 1992New London Consort / Philip Pickett, Pilgrim Songs & Dances
—
—
b. c. 1399–d. after 1447 Hugo de Lantins
Wrote the ballata Tra quante regione for the same 1421 wedding of Cleofe Malatesta to Theodore II Palaiologos that Dufay's own Vasilissa ergo gaude, elsewhere in this table, was written for — Dufay directly mentioned him by name in a rondeau text written during his own stay with the Malatesta family (1420–24). His use of imitation is unusually advanced for the period, more prevalent than in any other known composer of the early 15th century
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1400 Egardus
Only three works survive — a canon and two Glorias, stylistically simpler than his mid-century contemporaries; possibly identifiable with a chaplain, Johannes Ecghaerd, in Bruges and Diksmuide
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1400–1420 Queldryk▾
Gloria (opening piece of the Old Hall Manuscript)
—
1991Hilliard Ensemble, "The Old Hall Manuscript" (EMI)
Gloria — Old Hall Manuscript
—
—
fl. c. 1400–1420 (d. 1436/7) Thomas Damett▾
Beata Dei genitrix (c. 1400)
—
1991Hilliard Ensemble, "The Old Hall Manuscript" (EMI)
Beata Dei genitrix
n.d.Beata Dei genitrix — the Hilliard Ensemble
—
—
fl. c. 1400s–d. 1442 John Cooke▾
Ave regina celorum
—
1991Hilliard Ensemble, "The Old Hall Manuscript" (EMI)
Ave regina celorum
n.d.Stella celi
—
—
fl. c. 1400–1420 Pierre Fontaine
A French Burgundian court composer, part of the same generation as Matheus de Sancto Johanne, above, whose work also crossed into English manuscript sources
—
—
—
—
d. 1400 Martinus Fabri▾
Four complete works survive: Or se depart, N’ay je cause d’estre lies et joyeux, Eer ende lof heb aventuer, and Een cleyn parabel.
—
n.d. Eer ende lof heb aventuer — Egidius Kwartet
—
—
fl. c. 1400–after 1440 Mikołaj z Radomia▾
Magnificat; three Gloria–Credo pairs; two ballades — nine works total, all signed "Opus Nicolai de Radom" or equivalent in the sources
—
1990Ars Nova Ensemble / Jacek Urbaniak, Mikołaj z Radomia: Complete Works (DUX); also 2025Ensemble Dragma / Ensemble Peregrina / Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett, The Krasiński Codex (Raumklang) — 2025 Gramophone Award for Early Music
Credo I
—
—
c. 1400–1460 Gilles Binchois
A genuine major omission until now — alongside Dufay and Dunstable, elsewhere in this table, Binchois was one of the three most celebrated composers of the whole early Renaissance. A central figure of the Burgundian School, renowned as a melodist and miniaturist who generally avoided large-scale works, most admired for his shorter secular chansons. Contemporary musicologists typically rank his importance below Dufay and Dunstable, but the three were regularly named together by contemporaries as the leading composers of their generation
—
n.d.— no recording linked yet; the link previously here was Ensemble Gilles Binchois performing Jaufre Rudel, a 12th-century troubadour, matched on the ensemble's name rather than the composer
—
—
fl. c. 1400 Aleyn
Two works survive in the Old Hall Manuscript — a Gloria and a Sarum Agnus Dei discant, later scratched out and ascribed to "W. Aleyn." Long conflated with Johannes Alanus, elsewhere in this table, but Margaret Bent's scholarship indicates this identification is likely incorrect — a genuinely distinct composer
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1400 Franchois Lebertoul
An early 15th-century composer of the transitional Ars Subtilior/early Renaissance generation
—
—
—
—
c. 1400–before 22 October 1455 Johannes Brassart
A composer of the early Burgundian School — much of the surviving repertoire connected to his native Liège was destroyed when Charles the Bold sacked the city in 1468, making his own survival more fortunate than most
—
—
—
—
1400–1440 Johannes de Lymburgia
Around 45 works survive, mostly in the Bologna Q15 manuscript.
—
—
—
—
1400–1476 Domenico da Piacenza
Dance master; De arte saltandi, the first surviving treatise on the art.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1405–1449 Guillaume Legrant (Lemacherier)
Four virelais and three mass movements survive — one of the first composers to distinguish solo from multi-voice passages within a single part, a real notational innovation
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1405–1427 Bartolomeo da Bologna
An Italian composer represented in several early 15th-century Italian manuscript sources
—
—
—
—
fl. 1405–1433 Jacobus Vide
An early Burgundian School composer
—
—
—
—
fl. 1406–1417 Johannes Cesaris
One motet, two ballades, and five rondeaux survive — active at the Burgundian court, praised as a popular Paris composer in Martin le Franc's poem Le Champion des Dames, the same manuscript famous for its portraits of Dufay and Binchois
—
—
—
—
fl. early 15th c. (1409–1411 at Cambrai) Gilet Velut
A petit vicaire ("little vicar") at Cambrai Cathedral, elsewhere in this table via Dufay's own connection there, before traveling to Cyprus in 1411 with Charlotte of Bourbon as a chaplain. Real scholarship suggests he may be the composer of all the secular music in the Codex Cyprius, a real, distinct manuscript source
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1410–1420 Byttering▾
Nesciens mater; En Katerine solennia / Virginalis contio / Sponsus amat sponsum
—
1991Hilliard Ensemble, "The Old Hall Manuscript" (EMI)
Nesciens mater
n.d.Nesciens Mater — the Hilliard Ensemble
—
—
fl. c. 1410 Pycard▾
Gloria a 4 (canon structure)
—
1991Hilliard Ensemble, "The Old Hall Manuscript" (EMI)
Gloria II — Old Hall Manuscript
—
—
fl. c. 1410 John Excetre
One of the named composers of the Old Hall Manuscript
—
—
—
—
b. c. 1410 Richard Smert
An English composer and rector of Plymtree, Devon — a real body of surviving carols is attributed to him alongside his collaborator John Trouluffe
—
—
—
—
c. 1410–1497 Johannes Ockeghem
The dominant figure of the generation after Dufay; the Missa prolationum and the 36-voice Deo gratias attributed to him.
—
—
—
—
1410–1473 Conrad Paumann
Blind organist of Nuremberg and Munich; the Fundamentum organisandi, foundational for German keyboard music.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1414–1415 Roy Henry▾
A real royal composer — a Gloria and Sanctus in the Old Hall Manuscript are directly attributed to "Roy Henry," almost certainly King Henry V himself, reigning at the exact time the manuscript was compiled
—
—
—
—
d. 1415 Andrea da Firenze▾
29 pieces in the Squarcialupi Codex — the fourth-largest single-composer share in that manuscript
—
n.d.Andrea da Firenze — ballata
—
—
compiled after 1415 Trinity Carol Roll (tradition)
A real, genuinely significant anonymous manuscript of 13 English carols — the earliest surviving example of polyphonic music written in English. Contains one of two surviving sources for the real Agincourt Carol, commemorating Henry V's 1415 victory
—
—
—
—
c. 1415–?1477 Johannes Fedé
A Burgundian School composer whose career extended unusually late relative to this document's own scope
—
—
—
—
1417–1487 Nicholas of Flüe
Swiss hermit; his prayers have been set since.
—
—
—
—
d. 1418 Richard Loqueville
A harpist and teacher at Cambrai Cathedral, genuinely significant here as Guillaume Dufay's own likely teacher — Dufay's earliest compositions were probably written under his direct instruction. Four rondeaux survive, including Je vous pri and Pour mesdisans
—
—
—
—
fl. 1418–1421 Estienne Grossin
An early Burgundian School composer
—
—
—
—
d. 1418 Matheus de Perusio
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1420–1440 Johannes Legrant
Four rondeaux, a ballade, and four sacred pieces survive — an early Burgundian School composer whose elegant melodic style closely resembles the young Dufay and Gilles Binchois; scholars remain unsure which direction the influence actually ran
—
—
—
—
fl. 1420–1450 John Benet
An English composer of the transitional Old Hall/early Renaissance generation, alongside Dunstable and the Old Hall Manuscript figures elsewhere in this table
—
—
—
—
c. 1420–1497 Gilles Binchois
Already in the timeline above — listed here for continuity of the generation.
—
—
—
—
1420–1484 Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro
Jewish dance master at the Italian courts; his treatise preserves the music of the basse danse.
—
—
—
—
1422–1460 Johannes Bedyngham
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1425–c. 1496 Johannes Regis (Jehan Leroy)
A well-known composer at the close of the 15th century; principal contributor to the Chigi Codex; personally served as secretary to Guillaume Dufay, already extensively covered in this table
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1425–1435 Reginaldus Libert
Four compositions survive — two rondeaux and a complete three-voice mass setting containing some of the earliest known use of fauxbourdon, the very technique that would come to define the Dufay generation's sound; possibly the same Reginaldus employed as a singing teacher at Cambrai Cathedral in 1424
—
—
—
—
1425–1475 Antonio Caprioli
—
—
—
—
—
d. 1428 Johannes Symonis Hasprois
Four works survive, in four different manuscripts — an itinerant career at the courts of Ferdinand I of Portugal and Charles V of France before serving as a chaplain to Antipope Clement VII at Avignon
—
n.d.Puis que je sui fumeux — playable MP3
—
—
d. 1428 Prosdocimus de Beldemandis
A theorist, not composer — no surviving music of his own, included here as a genuinely significant figure directly tied to two composers already in this document. Taught at the University of Padua alongside Johannes Ciconia, above, at the same time and in the same city, without documented direct contact between the two, though modern scholarship analyzes Ciconia's motets through Prosdocimus's own counterpoint treatise. In his Tractatus musicae speculativae (1425), he directly attacked Marchetto da Padova's division of the whole tone, elsewhere in this table. Wrote the last significant treatise on Italian mensural notation before it fell out of use; Luca Pacioli later ranked him alongside Euclid and Boethius
—
—
—
—
b. c. 1430–d. 1483/84 John Plummer
An English composer, first Master of the Choristers of St George's Chapel, Windsor, from 1447 — a real, substantial body of surviving sacred works, including a Missa Sine Nomine, and one of the earliest named composers to set the Magnificat antiphon "Anna mater matris Christi"
—
—
—
—
c. 1430–1492 Antoine Busnois
Burgundian chansonnier; probable author of the L'homme armé melody that every later Mass cycle is built on.
—
—
—
—
1430–1497 Johannes Martini
Ferrara; Masses, motets and chansons.
—
—
—
—
1430–1479 Robert Morton
English composer at the Burgundian court; chansons in the Mellon Chansonnier.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1433–1454 Clement Liebert
Sang in the Papal Chapel in 1433 and the Burgundian court chapel from 1441–1454. Only one piece is securely attributed to him, the song Comment porray — genuinely poignant, its sole surviving manuscript source (formerly in the Strasbourg municipal library) was destroyed in the 1870 Siege of Strasbourg during the Franco-Prussian War
—
—
—
—
c. 1435–1511 Johannes Tinctoris
Theorist and composer; the first dictionary of musical terms. Moved up from the backlog, where he had been set aside as too late.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1440 Othmarus Opilionis de Jawor
Recorded alongside Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz, Nicolaus de Radom, and Johannes Tourout, all elsewhere in this table, as part of the same real cluster of Central European composers absorbing Franco-Flemish, Italian, and French Ars Nova influence in the mid-15th century
—
—
—
—
c. 1440–1521 Josquin des Prez
The most celebrated composer in Europe in his lifetime and for a century after it.
—
—
—
—
1440–1547 Erasmus Lapicida
A life of over a century, if the dates are right.
—
—
—
—
1440–1484 Pietro Oriola
—
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1445–1455 Petrus de Domarto
A contemporary and probable acquaintance of Johannes Ockeghem, credited with composing one of the first unified continental cyclic mass settings — the Missa sine nomine, likely from the 1440s, imitating features of English composers like Leonel Power, elsewhere in this table. His second mass, Missa Spiritus almus (1450s), is a genuinely influential cantus-firmus mass whose changing rhythmic profile across mensuration shifts shaped the next musical generation
—
—
—
—
c. 1445–1505 Adam von Fulda
Composer and theorist, De musica (1490). Brought back from the backlog.
—
—
—
—
1445–1497 Hayne van Ghizeghem
Burgundian chansonnier; De tous biens plaine was set and reset for generations.
—
—
—
—
1445–1501 Johannes de Stokem
—
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1445–1460 Barbingant
Chansons in the Mellon and Dijon chansonniers.
—
—
—
—
d. 1446 John Forest▾
Qualis est dilectus; Ascendit Christus
—
1991Hilliard Ensemble, "The Old Hall Manuscript" (EMI)
Qualis est dilectus
n.d.Qualis est dilectus
—
—
1449–1491 Philippe Basiron
—
—
—
—
—
fl. late 1450s–before 1467 Johannes Tourout
17 compositions survive, including three complete masses — a real, substantial corpus for the period. Documented in a Vatican record dated 3 July 1460 as a cantor to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III and a cleric of the diocese of Tournai; his surname suggests origin in Torhout, western Flanders, though his career apparently began in Western Europe before his Central European period. Preserved chiefly in the Bohemian Strahov Codex and Codex Speciálník
—
—
—
—
fl. 1450–1465 Guillaume Le Rouge
One song survives, Se je fais duel je n'en ouis mais — served the chapel of Charles d'Orléans, 1451–65; a real contrafactum, adapting the plague-deliverance prayer Stella celi extirpavit to the melody of his song "So ys emprentid," is also attributed to him
—
—
—
—
c. 1450–1517 Heinrich Isaac
Choralis Constantinus; served the Medici and the Emperor Maximilian.
—
—
—
—
c. 1450/55–1505 Jacob Obrecht
Twenty-odd Mass cycles; died of plague in Ferrara.
—
—
—
—
c. 1450–1499 Walter Lambe
Eton Choirbook; one of the finest English composers before Taverner.
—
—
—
—
c. 1450–1508 Niccolò da Correggio
Poet at the Este court; his verse was set as frottole.
—
—
—
—
c. 1450–1514 Benedetto Gareth (Chariteo)
Neapolitan poet; strambotti set to music.
—
—
—
—
c. 1450–1521 (written down c. 1550) Cantares Mexicanos
Mexico City. Ninety-one Nahuatl songs written down in the sixteenth century — over half of all known traditional Nahuatl song, and the largest such collection. Sahagún and other observers record that they were performed to the huehuetl skin drum and the teponaztli log drum, each sounding two pitches a fifth or a third apart, with costumed dance. The words survive and the music does not: what can be heard is reconstruction from the instruments and the drum patterns colonial observers notated.
—
n.d.pre-Columbian flute replicas, Rey Ortega
—
—
1451–1522 Franchinus Gaffurius
Maestro di cappella at Milan Cathedral and the most influential theorist of his generation.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1451–1482 Juan de Urrede
At the Spanish court; Nunca fue pena mayor was set across Europe.
—
—
—
—
c. 1452–1518 Pierre de la Rue
The Habsburg-Burgundian court chapel; the Requiem in low clefs.
—
—
—
—
fl. early 15th c. (d. c. 1454) Nicholas Sturgeon
One of the named composers of the Old Hall Manuscript, later a canon of St George's Chapel, Windsor
—
—
—
—
1454–1494 Poliziano
His Orfeo, c. 1480, is the earliest secular drama in Italian with music.
—
—
—
—
c. 1455–1518 Loyset Compère
—
—
—
—
—
c. 1455–1491 Jacobus Barbireau
Antwerp; Masses and chansons.
—
—
—
—
c. 1455–1507 Johannes Ghiselin
Also called Verbonnet; Josquin's colleague at Ferrara.
—
—
—
—
1455–1530 Galeotto del Caretto
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1457–1505 Alexander Agricola
—
—
—
—
—
d. 1459/60 John Bedyngham
Represented in the Trent Codices — his chansons in the Burgundian style of Dufay, elsewhere in this table, were genuinely popular throughout Europe, unusual reach for an English composer who probably never left England. Real, specific attributed works: O rosa bella (long misattributed to Dunstable, elsewhere in this table, before Fallows reassigned it), Mon seul plaisir, Durer ne puis, and the ballade So ys emprentid, also contested with Walter Frye, below. David Fallows judged that if all music ascribed to him is genuinely his, "Bedyngham must be accounted one of the more important composers of the mid-15th century." His Mass Deuil angoisseux, based on a Binchois chanson, shows real early parody-mass technique
—
—
—
—
c. 1459–1537 Heinrich Finck
—
—
—
—
—
c. 1459–1522 Jean Mouton
Teacher of Willaert; the French royal chapel.
—
—
—
—
c. 1460–1502 Ninot le Petit
Chansons and motets, long confused with other composers of the name.
—
—
—
—
c. 1460–1529 Marbrianus de Orto
Papal chapel; Josquin's contemporary there.
—
—
—
—
c. 1460–1521 Arnolt Schlick
Blind organist; Spiegel der Orgelmacher, the first printed treatise on organ building.
—
—
—
—
d. c. 1460 Heinrich von Laufenberg
Some 90 German sacred songs.
—
—
—
—
c. 1460–1524 Garci Sánchez de Badajoz
Cancionero poet, set repeatedly.
—
—
—
—
c. 1460–1520 Lope de Baena
Cancionero de Palacio.
—
—
—
—
c. 1460–1502 Francesco Varoter
—
—
—
—
—
c. 1460–1514 William Smyth
—
—
—
—
—
1464–1521 Robert Fayrfax
The dominant English composer of Henry VIII's early court.
—
—
—
—
c. 1465–1525 Marchetto Cara
Mantua; with Tromboncino, the master of the frottola.
—
—
—
—
c. 1465–1538 Richard Davy
Eton Choirbook; his Passion is the earliest surviving English setting.
—
—
—
—
1465–1536 Gil Vicente
Founder of Portuguese drama; his plays are built around songs.
—
—
—
—
c. 1468–1548 Giacomo Fogliano
Modena; frottole and keyboard music.
—
—
—
—
c. 1470–1536 Pierre Alamire
Music scribe and spy; his manuscripts preserve much of the Franco-Flemish repertoire.
—
—
—
—
c. 1470–1548 Elzéar Genet (Carpentras)
Papal chapel under Leo X.
—
—
—
—
c. 1470–1512 Antoine de Févin
Called by Glarean "the fortunate follower of Josquin".
—
—
—
—
c. 1470–1528 Francisco de Peñalosa
The leading Spanish composer between Cornago and Morales.
—
—
—
—
c. 1470–1528 Michele Pesenti
Among the first frottolists.
—
—
—
—
c. 1470–1504 Alonso Pérez de Alba
Cancionero de la Colombina.
—
—
—
—
1470–1548 Elzear Genet Carpentras
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1473–1515 Jean Lemaire
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
d. 1474? Walter Frye
An English composer, little known with certainty about his life — masses, motets, and songs survive, all vocal, including ballades and a single rondeau. His best-known work, an Ave Regina motet, occurs unusually in several continental sources, real evidence of his cross-Channel reputation
—
—
—
—
1474–1548 Vincenzo Capirola
His lute book, copied by a pupil, is illuminated to make it worth preserving.
—
—
—
—
c. 1474–1507 Jean Japart
Chansons in the Odhecaton.
—
—
—
—
c. 1475–1515 Robert Wilkinson
Eton Choirbook; the 13-part Salve Regina.
—
—
—
—
c. 1475–1538 Ludovico Fogliano
Theorist; Musica theorica, 1529.
—
—
—
—
c. 1475–1522 Conrad Rein
—
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1475 Pietrequin Bonnel
Chansons in the Odhecaton.
—
—
—
—
c. 1476–1520 Juan Ponce
Cancionero de Palacio.
—
—
—
—
1478–1556 Francesco Patavino
—
—
—
—
—
d. c. 1478 Johannes Pullois
Papal chapel; among the earliest Franco-Flemish there.
—
—
—
—
c. 1480–1562 Cristóbal de Morales
The first Spanish composer of international standing.
—
—
—
—
c. 1480–1538 Marco dall'Aquila
Early lute music.
—
—
—
—
c. 1480–1551 Jean L'Héritier
Motets widely reprinted.
—
—
—
—
c. 1480–1547 Jean Richafort
Requiem in memory of Josquin.
—
—
—
—
c. 1480–1526 Thomas Stoltzer
The leading German composer of his generation.
—
—
—
—
c. 1480–1528 Gabriel Mena
Cancionero de Palacio.
—
—
—
—
c. 1480–1556 Nicolò Pifaro
—
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1480 Alexander Demophon
—
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1480 Andreas de Silva
Papal chapel.
—
—
—
—
fl. c. 1480 Guilielmus Monachus
De preceptis artis musicae; the source for English faburden.
—
—
—
—
1480–1551 Jean Lheritier
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1480–1526 Thomas Stolzer
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1481–1553 Mateo Flecha el Viejo
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1483–1559 Jacquet of Mantua
Thirty years at Mantua cathedral.
—
—
—
—
1484–1564 Purandara Dasa
Called the father of Carnatic music; his compositions remain the foundation of its pedagogy.
—
—
—
—
1484–1550 Pierre Moulu
Motets on the death of Josquin.
—
—
—
—
c. 1485–1512 Johannes Prioris
French royal chapel.
—
—
—
—
c. 1485–1532 Philippe Verdelot
The first great madrigalist.
—
—
—
—
c. 1485–1520 Adam Rener
Torgau court.
—
—
—
—
1485–1546 Nikolaus Decius
Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr.
—
—
—
—
c. 1485–1541 Hans Kotter
Organ tablature; a pupil of Hofhaimer.
—
—
—
—
c. 1485–1549 Richard Pygott
Cardinal Wolsey's chapel.
—
—
—
—
c. 1485–1544 Balthasar Resinarius
Lutheran responsories.
—
—
—
—
1486–1543 Ludwig Senfl
Isaac's pupil and successor; the central German composer of the age.
—
—
—
—
1487–1567 Robert Carver
The Scotish Carver Choirbook, including a Mass in nineteen parts.
—
—
—
—
1487–1553 Wolfgang Dachstein
Strasbourg organist; An Wasserflüssen Babylon.
—
—
—
—
1488–1548 Georg Rhau
Printer of the Lutheran repertoire, and a composer.
—
—
—
—
c. 1489–1553 Johannes Heer
His songbook preserves a broad Swiss repertoire.
—
—
—
—
1489–1551 Paul Speratus
Among the first Lutheran hymn writers.
—
—
—
—
c. 1490–1562 Adrian Willaert
Founder of the Venetian school at St Mark's.
—
—
—
—
c. 1490–1545 Costanzo Festa
—
—
—
—
—
c. 1490–1560 Claudin de Sermisy
—
—
—
—
—
c. 1490–1560 Marco Antonio Cavazzoni
The first published Italian keyboard music.
—
—
—
—
c. 1490–1546 Fridolin Sicher
His organ tablature preserves a large early repertoire.
—
—
—
—
c. 1490–1545 John Taverner
The Western Wynde Mass; the In nomine tradition begins in his Gloria tibi Trinitas.
—
—
—
—
c. 1490–1561 Pierre Sandrin
Chansons, reprinted for decades.
—
—
—
—
1490–1568 Albert, Duke of Prussia
Hymn writer and patron.
—
—
—
—
c. 1490–1520 Johannes Galliculus
Theorist and composer at Leipzig.
—
—
—
—
c. 1490–1552 Wolff Heintz
Organist at Halle; Luther's circle.
—
—
—
—
1490–1548 Bernardo Pisano
The first composer whose secular music was printed as a single-author collection.
—
—
—
—
1490–1568 Albert Duke of Prussia
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1492–1550 Sylvestro Ganassi
La Fontegara and Regola Rubertina — the first tutors for recorder and viol.
—
—
—
—
c. 1492–1540 Francesco de Layolle
Florence and Lyon.
—
—
—
—
1492–1566 Johann Agricola
Hymn writer.
—
—
—
—
c. 1494–1541 Lupus Hellinck
Bruges.
—
—
—
—
1494–1576 Hans Sachs
The Meistersinger of Nuremberg; over 4,000 songs.
—
—
—
—
1494–1550 Matthias Greiter
Strasbourg; the melody later known as Old 113th.
—
—
—
—
c. 1495–1560 Clément Janequin
Programme chansons — birdsong, battles, street cries.
—
—
—
—
c. 1495–1560 Nicolas Gombert
Pupil of Josquin; sentenced to the galleys, and wrote his finest music there.
—
—
—
—
c. 1495–1524 Sebastiano Festa
Madrigals, with his relative Costanzo.
—
—
—
—
c. 1495–1556 Leonhard Kleber
Organ tablature.
—
—
—
—
c. 1495–1550 Valentin Schumann
Printer of the 1539 Leipzig hymnal.
—
—
—
—
1495–1533 James Wedderburn
The Gude and Godlie Ballatis.
—
—
—
—
1496–1570 Johann Walter
Luther's musical collaborator; the first Lutheran hymnal, 1524.
—
—
—
—
1496–1575 Adam Reusner
—
—
—
—
—
1496–1570 Johann Walther
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1497–1543 Francesco Canova da Milano
"Il Divino"; the most widely copied lutenist of the century.
—
n.d.Renaissance lute, part one
n.d.part two
n.d.Fantasia no. 41
—
—
1497–1553 Mattio Rampollini
Florence; settings of Petrarch.
—
—
—
—
1497–1567 Johannes Schneesing
—
—
—
—
—
1497–1543 Francesco da Milano
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1498–1547 Mirabai
Rajput princess and poet-saint; her bhajans are sung across India.
—
—
—
—
c. 1498–1561 Julio Segni
Ricercars; the first generation of independent instrumental form.
—
—
—
—
1499–1539 Anarg von Wildenfels
—
—
—
—
—
c. 1500–1568 Jacques Arcadelt
The first book of madrigals, 1539 — reprinted for a century.
—
—
—
—
c. 1500–1560 Luys Milán
El Maestro, 1536 — the first published vihuela book, and the first printed music with verbal tempo marks.
—
—
—
—
c. 1500–1570 Hans Gerle
Nuremberg lute and viol tutors.
—
—
—
—
c. 1500–1551 Alberto da Ripa
Lutenist to François I.
—
—
—
—
c. 1500–1556 Enríquez de Valderrábano
Silva de sirenas, vihuela.
—
—
—
—
c. 1500–1553 Philip van Wilder
Lutenist to Henry VIII; ran the king's musicians.
—
—
—
—
c. 1500–1563 Francisco de Soto
Spanish royal chapel.
—
—
—
—
c. 1500–1552 Luys de Narváez
Los seys libros del Delphín — the first published variations.
—
—
—
—
b. 1500 Luis Velez de Guevera
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
b. 1500 Francisco Millan
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
d. 1500 Marc'Antonio Pifaro
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1500–1564 Maurice Sceve
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
b. 1500 Sheryngham
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1500–1582 Cheng-en Wu
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1502–1546 Alfonso D'Avalos
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1502–1552 Mathieu Gascongne
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1502–1574 Damiao de Gois
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1503–1553 Pierre Passereau
Il est bel et bon.
—
—
—
—
1503–1556 Giovanni della Casa
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1503–1565 Benedetto Varchi
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1503–1542 Thomas Wyatt
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1504–1575 Diego Hurtado De Mendoza
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1504–1535 Elisabeth Kreuziger
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1504–1571 Giovan Battista Strozzi
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1504–1556 Nicholas Udall
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1505–1577 Matthaeus Le Maistre
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1505–1571 Petrus Royzius Maurus
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1505–1556 John Wedderburn
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1507–1569 Guillaume Gueroult
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1507–1514 Paolo Scotto
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1508–1563 Hans Neusidler
The largest German lute repertoire of the century.
—
—
—
—
1509–1569 Antonio Gardane
Venetian printer whose editions carried the madrigal across Europe.
—
—
—
—
1509–1590 Leone Leoni
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1510–1556 Antonio de Cabezón
Blind organist to Philip II; the first great keyboard composer of Spain.
—
—
—
—
c. 1510–1555/56 Jacobus Clemens non Papa
—
—
—
—
—
c. 1510–1559 Juan Bermudo
Declaración de instrumentos musicales, 1555.
—
—
—
—
c. 1510–1580 Alonso Mudarra
Vihuela; the Fantasía que contrahaze la harpa.
—
—
—
—
c. 1510–1570 Diego Ortiz
Trattado de glosas — the first published manual of instrumental division.
—
—
—
—
c. 1510–1556 Dominique Phinot
Double-choir motets that pointed toward Venice.
—
—
—
—
c. 1510–1576 Pierre Phalèse
Louvain printer; the tablature anthologies.
—
—
—
—
c. 1510–1560 Juan Vásquez
Spanish secular song.
—
—
—
—
c. 1510–1570 Tylman Susato
Antwerp printer; the Danserye of 1551.
—
—
—
—
c. 1510–1557 Luis Venegas de Henestrosa
Libro de cifra nueva, keyboard.
—
—
—
—
c. 1510–1564 Pierre de Manchicourt
Franco-Flemish; later Philip II's chapel in Madrid.
—
—
—
—
1510–1566 Juan de Cabezon
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1510–1569 Petit Jean De Latre
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1510–1568 Georg Forster
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1510–1576 Gregor Meyer
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1510–1558 Guillaume Morlaye
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1510–1561 Giovanni Nasco
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1510–1564 Rogier Pathie
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1510–1557 Diego Pisador
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1510–1586 Melchor Robledo
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1510–1568 Luigi Tansillo
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1510–1543 Claudio Maria Veggio
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1510–1555 Robert Wedderburn
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1511–1576 Nicola Vicentino
L'antica musica and the archicembalo — 31 notes to the octave.
—
—
—
—
1511–1569 Paul Eber
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1511–1557 John Gwynneth
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1511–1574 Giorgio Vasari
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1513–1574 Domenico Maria Ferrabosco
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1514–1572 Claude Goudimel
The Genevan Psalter settings; killed in the St Bartholomew's Day massacre.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1514–1523 Antonio de Ribera
Papal chapel.
—
—
—
—
1514–1581 Johannes Gigas
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1515/16–1565 Cipriano de Rore
The madrigal turned toward chromaticism and text-painting.
—
—
—
—
c. 1515–1558 John Sheppard
Magdalen College and the Chapel Royal; the Media vita.
—
—
—
—
1515–1562 Wolff Heckel
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1515–1592 Giovanni Domenico da Nola
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1515–1582 St. Teresa of Avila
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1516–1613 Robert Stone
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1517–1590 Gioseffo Zarlino
Le istitutioni harmoniche, 1558 — the century's central theoretical work.
—
—
—
—
1517–1595 Hubert Waelrant
Antwerp; teacher and printer.
—
—
—
—
1517–1580 Antonio Scandello
Dresden; an early German Passion.
—
—
—
—
c. 1520–1562 Perissone Cambio
Willaert's circle in Venice.
—
—
—
—
c. 1520–1598 Adrian Le Roy
Paris printer and lutenist; with Ballard, held the royal privilege.
—
—
—
—
1520–1595 Jehan Tabourot (Thoinot Arbeau)
Orchésographie, 1589 — the dances of the century, with their tunes.
—
—
—
—
c. 1520–1581 Antonio Valente
Blind Neapolitan organist; keyboard in Spanish tablature.
—
—
—
—
1520–1570 Giovanni Maria da Crema
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1520–1575 Giacomo Gorzanis
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
b. 1520 Pedro Guerrero
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1520–1572 Bernardino de Ribera
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1521–1603 Philippe de Monte
Over 1,100 madrigals — more than anyone.
—
—
—
—
1522–1560 Joachim du Bellay
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1523–1552 Perino Fiorentino
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1524–1580 Luís de Camões
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1524–1557 Girolamo Parabosco
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1524–1585 Pierre de Ronsard
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1525–1594 Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
The style later codified as the model of Renaissance counterpoint.
—
—
—
—
c. 1525–1577 Girolamo Cavazzoni
Organ ricercars and the first liturgical organ Masses.
—
—
—
—
c. 1525–1591 Vincenzo Galilei
Galileo's father; the Florentine Camerata, and the attack on counterpoint that produced monody.
—
—
—
—
c. 1525–1580 Richard Farrant
Chapel Royal; the earliest English verse anthems.
—
—
—
—
c. 1525–1566 Richard Edwards
Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal.
—
—
—
—
1525–1569 Thomas Causton
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1525–1560 Claude Gervaise
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1525–1616 Martin Peudargent
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1525–1584 Pietro Vinci
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1526–1566 Louise Labe
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1527–1575 Annibale Padovano
St Mark's organist.
—
—
—
—
1527–1586 Johann Leisentritt
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1528–1600 Andrea Gabrieli
St Mark's, Venice; the polychoral manner.
—
—
—
—
1528–1599 Francisco Guerrero
With Morales and Victoria, the third of the Spanish masters.
—
—
—
—
d. 1528 Filippo Sauli
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1529–1601 Costanzo Porta
Willaert's pupil; a formidable contrapuntist.
—
—
—
—
1530–1576 Valentin Bakfark
Hungarian lutenist at the Polish court.
—
—
—
—
c. 1530–1600 Claude Le Jeune
Musique mesurée for Baïf's Académie.
—
—
—
—
c. 1530–1588 Robert Ballard
Le Roy's partner; the Ballard press printed French music for two centuries.
—
—
—
—
1530–1586 Arnoldus De Fine
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1530–1602 Giovanni Leonardo Dell'Arpa
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1530–1600 Nicolas de la Grotte
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1530–1571 Stefano Lando
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1530–1575 Giovan Battista Pigna
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
b. 1531 Giovan Tomaso Lambertini
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1531–1611 Giovanni Razzi
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1532–1594 Orlande de Lassus
Over two thousand works in every language and genre of the age.
—
—
—
—
1532–1589 Jean Antoine de Baïf
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1532–1598 Ludwig Helmbold
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1532–1599 Bartholomäus Ringwaldt
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1532–1608 Martin Schalling
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1532–1601 Leonhard Schroeter
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1532–1592 Nikolaus Selnecker
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1533–1585 Thomas Tallis
Spem in alium, in forty parts.
—
—
n.d.Music Maker to the Tudor Dynasty
—
1533–1604 Claudio Merulo
St Mark's; the toccata as a form.
—
—
—
—
1533–1592 Michel de Montaigne
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1534–1612 Giovanni de' Bardi
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1534–1591 Antoine de la Roche Chandieu
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1534–1604 Lucas Osiander
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1534–1602 Jean Passerat
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1534–1619 Francisco Soto De Langa
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1535–1605 Fabritio Caroso
Il Ballarino, 1581.
—
—
—
—
c. 1535–1604 Cesare Negri
Le Gratie d'Amore, 1602.
—
—
—
—
c. 1535–1572 Robert Parsons
Drowned in the Trent; Byrd took his place.
—
—
—
—
c. 1535–1582 Giorgio Mainerio
Il primo libro de balli.
—
—
—
—
1535–1615 Innocentio Alberti
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1535–1617 Ghinolfo Dattari
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1535–1577 George Gascoigne
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1535–1592 James Lauder
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1535–1613 Biagio Pesciolini
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1535–1615 Rocco Rodio
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1535–1592 Bernhard Schmid
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1536–1592 Marc'Antonio Ingegneri
Monteverdi's teacher at Cremona.
—
—
—
—
1536–1614 Felix Platter
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1537–1596 Esteban Daza
The last of the vihuela books, 1576.
—
—
—
—
c. 1538–1574 Robert White
Tallis's son-in-law; the Lamentations.
—
—
—
—
1538–1556 Pierre Cadeac
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1538–1580 Jehan Chardavoine
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1538–1612 Giovanni Battista Guarini
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1538–1598 Philips van Marnix
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1538–1607 Joanne Matelart
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1539–1584 Paschal de L'Estocart
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1539–1602 Paulus Melissus
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1539–1582 Hippolito Tartaglino
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1540–1623 William Byrd
A Catholic writing for the English church and, secretly, for recusant households.
—
n.d.The Battell — Eberhard Kraus
n.d.The Earl of Oxford's March
—
—
c. 1540–1592 Alessandro Striggio
The 40-part Ecce beatam lucem, which prompted Tallis's Spem in alium.
—
—
—
—
1540–1603 Giulio Cesare Barbetta
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1540–1587 Vincenzo Bellavere
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1540–1587 Gregor Lange
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1540–1584 Florentio Maschera
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1540–1585 Giovan Leonardo Primavera
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
d. 1540 Carolus Souliaert
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1541–1602 Hernando de Cabezón
Published his father Antonio's keyboard works.
—
—
—
—
1541–1585 Luigi Groto
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1541–1597 Francesco Rovigo
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1542–1611 Gioseffo Guami
Lucca and Venice.
—
—
—
—
1542–1563 Josquin Baston
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1542–1577 Jacob Meiland
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1542–1591 San Juan de la Cruz
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1542–1591 St. John of the Cross
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1542–1587 Mary Stuart
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1543/48–1611 Tomás Luis de Victoria
The Officium Defunctorum of 1605.
—
—
—
—
c. 1543–1588 Alfonso Ferrabosco I
Brought the Italian madrigal to Elizabeth's court.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1544–1583 Maddalena Casulana
The first woman to have her music printed and published, 1568.
—
—
—
—
1544–1607 Giovanni Maria Nanino
Rome, after Palestrina.
—
—
—
—
1544–1610 Hans Christensen Sthen
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1544–1595 Torquato Tasso
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1545–1600 Jean de Castro
Franco-Flemish, widely printed.
—
—
—
—
1545–1599 Jacob Regnart
Villanellas that shaped the German song.
—
—
—
—
fl. 1545–1549 Melchiore de Barberiis
Lute intabulations.
—
—
—
—
1545–1604 Lodovico Balbi
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1545–1610 Alexander Montgomerie
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1545–1575 Ivo de Vento
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1546–1597 Cyriacus Schneegass
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1546–1613 Johann Steuerlein
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1547–1586 George de La Hèle
Philip II's chapel.
—
—
—
—
1547–1599 Cristofano Malvezzi
The 1589 Florentine intermedi.
—
—
—
—
1547–1616 Miguel de Cervantes
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
d. 1547 John Redford
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1548–1611 Giaches de Wert
Mantua; the direct model for Monteverdi's early madrigals.
—
—
—
—
1548–1614 Giovanni de Macque
Naples; chromatic keyboard music.
—
—
—
—
1548–1621 Francesco Soriano
Rome.
—
—
—
—
1548–1618 Filippo Alberti
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
d. 1548 Melchior Kugelmann
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1548–1617 Kaspar Ulenberg
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1549–1609 Eustache du Caurroy
French royal chapel.
—
—
—
—
1549–1615 Jakob Ebert
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1550–1602 Emilio de' Cavalieri
Rappresentatione di Anima et di Corpo, 1600 — arguably the first oratorio.
—
—
—
—
1550–1591 Jacobus Handl (Gallus)
Opus musicum, 374 motets.
—
—
—
—
1550–1605 Orazio Vecchi
L'Amfiparnaso, the madrigal comedy.
—
—
—
—
c. 1550–1620 Riccardo Rognoni
Ornamentation treatises.
—
—
—
—
1550–1609 Hippolito Baccusi
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1550–1615 Orazio Bassani
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1550–1608 Michelangelo Cancineo
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1550–1584 Simon Gorlier
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1550–1616 Konrad Hagius
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1550–1626 James Harding
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1550–1611 Thomas Mancinus
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1550–1608 Tiburzio Massaino
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1550–1633 Alessandro Orologio
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1550–1610 Germano Pallavicino
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1550–1605 Jacques le Polonois
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1550–1609 Thomas Robinson
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1550–1605 Francesco Stivori
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1551–1618 Giulio Caccini
Le nuove musiche, 1602 — the manifesto of monody.
—
—
—
—
1551–1622 Sebastián de Vivanco
Salamanca.
—
—
—
—
1551–1618 Martin Rutilus
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1551–1603 Orfeo Vecchi
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1552–1618 Walter Raleigh
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1552–1599 Edmund Spenser
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1553–1599 Luca Marenzio
The madrigal at its most refined.
—
—
—
—
1553–1611 Johannes Eccard
Lutheran chorale settings.
—
—
—
—
1553–1606 Leonhard Lechner
Lassus's pupil; German Passion.
—
—
—
—
1553–1615 Marguerite de Valois
Queen of France and Navarre; her verse set as airs de cour.
—
—
—
—
b. 1553 Francesco Bendusi
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
d. 1553 Jorgen Presten
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1553–1597 Andrea Rota
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1554/57–1612 Giovanni Gabrieli
Sacrae symphoniae; the first published dynamics.
—
—
—
—
1554–1609 Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi
The balletti, copied everywhere.
—
—
—
—
b. 1554 Bernardino Balletti
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1554–1586 Philip Sidney
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1555–1617 Alonso Lobo
Toledo and Seville.
—
n.d.sacred vocal works
—
—
1555–1628 Israel Najara
Hebrew poet of Safed; his songs are still sung in Sephardi liturgy.
—
—
—
—
1555–1635 Manuel Rodrigues Coelho
Flores de música, the first printed Portuguese keyboard music.
—
—
—
—
1555–1628 Francois de Malherbe
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1555–1628 Rabbi Israel N'Gara
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1555–1628 Paolo Quagliati
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1555–1616 Richard Reade
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1556–1615 Sethus Calvisius
Leipzig, before Bach's line of Thomaskantors.
—
—
—
—
1556–1613 Pomponio Nenna
Gesualdo's neighbour and probable teacher.
—
—
—
—
1556–1608 Philipp Nicolai
Wachet auf and Wie schön leuchtet.
—
—
—
—
1556–1623 Jacob Paix
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1556–1596 George Peele
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1556–1592 Thomas Watson
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1557–1602 Thomas Morley
—
—
—
—
—
b. 1557 Manfred Barbarini Lupus
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1557–1622 Martin Behm
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1557–1629 Angelo Grillo
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1557–1609 Olaus Martini
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1557–1627 Jacques Mauduit
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1557–1595 Jean de Sponde
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1558–1617 Giovanni Bassano
Venetian cornettist; the division treatises.
—
—
—
—
1558–1638 Richard Carlton
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1558–1593 Giovanni Battista Dalla Gostena
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1558–1634 Nathaniel Giles
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1558–1592 Robert Greene
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1558–1618 Ferdinando Richardson
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1558–1941 Francisco de Sá De Miranda
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1558–1622 Scipione Stella
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1558–1595 Henry Walpole
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1559–1625 Adam Gumpelzhaimer
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1559–1622 Pietro Pace
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1559–1593 Annibale Pocaterra
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
d. 1559 Thomas Preston
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1560–1627 Lodovico Viadana
Cento concerti ecclesiastici, 1602 — the figured bass in print.
—
—
—
—
1560–1629 Hieronymus Praetorius
Hamburg.
—
—
—
—
1560–1625 Ruggiero Giovannelli
Succeeded Palestrina at St Peter's.
—
—
—
—
1560–1620 Giulio Belli
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1560–1625 Francesco Martini
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1560–1613 August Nörmiger
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1560–1611 Petrus de Drusina
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1560–1641 Francesco Usper
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
c. 1561–1613 Carlo Gesualdo
Chromaticism unmatched until the twentieth century; and a double murderer.
—
—
—
—
1561–1633 Jacopo Peri
Dafne, 1598, and Euridice, 1600 — the first operas.
—
—
—
—
1561–1628 Peter Philips
English Catholic exile; the most published English composer of his day.
—
—
—
—
1561–1627 Sebastián Aguilera de Heredia
Zaragoza organ music.
—
—
—
—
1561–1596 Philippe Rogier
Madrid.
—
—
—
—
1561–1626 Francis Bacon
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1561–1604 Cornelius Becker
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1561–1642 Guido Casoni
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
b. 1561 Thomas Champion
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1561–1627 Luis Gongora Y Argote
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1561–1595 Robert Southwell
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1562–1621 Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
Amsterdam; teacher of most of the north German organ school.
—
—
—
—
1562–1621 Ottavio Rinuccini
Librettist of the first operas.
—
—
—
—
1562–1613 Bartholomäus Gesius
Lutheran hymnody.
—
—
—
—
1562–1619 Samuel Daniel
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1562–1619 Samuel Danyel
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1562–1627 Valerius Herberger
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1562–1630 Vincenzo Pellegrini
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1563–1626 John Dowland
Lachrimae — the most widely circulated instrumental piece of its day.
—
n.d.Mr Dowland's Midnight
n.d.Orlando Sleepeth
n.d.Mrs White's Nothing
n.d.My Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home
n.d.Complete Lute Galliards / Lachrimae
n.d.Dowland's Galliard, original version
—
—
c. 1563–1640 Giles Farnaby
The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book.
—
—
—
—
1563–1632 William Baldwin
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1563–1621 Christoph Knoll
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
b. 1563 Samedaner Lautenbuch
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1563–1639 Richard Nicholson
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1564–1612 Hans Leo Hassler
—
—
—
—
—
1564–1626 John Danyel
Lute songs, 1606.
—
—
—
—
1564–1620 Pierre Guédron
The air de cour.
—
—
—
—
1564–1646 Duarte Lôbo
Lisbon.
—
—
—
—
d. 1564 Girolamo Casoni
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1564–1637 John Gerard
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1564–1593 Christopher Marlowe
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1564–1598 Francisco de Peraza
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1564–1616 William Shakespeare
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1565–1628 Gregor Aichinger
Augsburg; brought the Venetian manner north.
—
—
—
—
1565–1627 Ascanio Mayone
Naples keyboard, with Trabaci.
—
—
—
—
1565–1615 Simone Molinaro
Genoa; lute.
—
—
—
—
1565–1614 Valentin Haussmann
German dances and songs.
—
—
—
—
1565–1628 Michael Cavendish
English madrigals and lute songs.
—
—
—
—
1565–1624 Ridolfo Campeggi
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1565–1618 Diomedes Cato
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1565–1622 Ansaldo Cebà
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1565–1618 John Davies
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
d. 1565 Giovanni Paolo Paladino
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
b. 1565 Hans Vogel
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1566–1650 Manuel Cardoso
Portuguese polyphony at its height.
—
—
—
—
1566–1638 Alessandro Piccinini
The archlute, and claims to have invented it.
—
—
—
—
1566–1664 Angelo Notari
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1567–1643 Claudio Monteverdi
Where this table stops and the third begins: the last great madrigalist and the first great composer of opera.
—
n.d.L'Orfeo, Act I
—
—
1567–1620 Thomas Campion
Poet and composer of his own lute songs — a rare double.
—
—
—
—
1567–1643 Christoph Demantius
Exactly Monteverdi's dates; the St John Passion of 1631.
—
—
—
—
1567–1623 Philip Rosseter
Campion's collaborator.
—
—
—
—
d. 1567 Richard Edwardes
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1567–1628 Girolamo Giacobbi
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1567–1601 Thomas Nashe
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1567–1625 Bernhard Schmid
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1567–1635 Aurelio Signoretti
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1568–1634 Adriano Banchieri
Madrigal comedy and organ music; founder of the Accademia dei Floridi.
—
—
—
—
Music from the 1400s AD (1400–1499)
fl. 2nd half 14th–15th c. Kir Stefan the Serb
One of the earliest, if not the earliest, identifiable medieval Serbian composers — a monk, protopsaltos, and choirmaster who co-founded the "Serbo-Byzantine school" of chant alongside Isaiah the Serb and Nikola the Serb, below. His most famous work, the Psaltikia collection, was kept in Belgrade's National Library, where it disappeared during the WWII German bombing on 6 April 1941; only 12 photocopied sheets survive today. His longest surviving work is a Cherubicon, "Нинїa Сили," written in both Slavic and his own Greek version
—
—
—
—
fl. 15th c. John Herte
An English composer of the same generation and repertory as Bedyngham, Dunstable, and Frye, all elsewhere in this table — represented on 4 tracks of the real "Mi Verry Joy" collection (Medieval Ensemble of London, L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1983)
—
1983 rec., video posted 2015YouTube — full "Mi Verry Joy" album upload; not verified track-by-track against Herte's specific 4 tracks
—
—
fl. 15th c. Childe
One of only three named composers of the entire surviving 15th-century English carol repertoire, alongside Smert and Trouluffe, elsewhere in this table — credited with a single carol
—
—
—
—
fl. late 14th–early 15th c. Matteo da Perugia▾
Le greygnour bien (ballade)
—
n.d.Matteo da Perugia — Ars subtilior performance
—
—
fl. late 14th–early 15th c. Antonio Zacara da Teramo▾
Sumite, carissimi (Latin ballata)
—
n.d.Zacara da Teramo — anthology performance
—
—
fl. late 14th–early 15th c. Antonello da Caserta▾
Beauté parfaite; Amour m’a le cuer mis; additional ballades and rondeaux.
—
n.d.Beauté parfaite — MP3
Amour m’a le cuer mis — MP3
Antonello da Caserta — ballade
—
—
fl. early 15th c. Pennard▾
Credo — his only known surviving work
—
No verified YouTube performance found.
—
—
fl. early 15th c. John Burell
One of the named composers of the Old Hall Manuscript
—
—
—
—
fl. early 15th c. John Tyes
One of the named composers of the Old Hall Manuscript
—
—
—
—
fl. early 15th c. W. Typp ▾
One of the named composers of the Old Hall Manuscript
—
—
—
—
fl. early 15th c. Johannes de Limburgia
About 50 surviving works in the Q15 manuscript (Bologna) plus a Mass Ordinary in the Trent Codices — an unusually large surviving corpus, comparable in scale to Hugo and Arnold de Lantins, above
—
—
—
—
fl. late 14th/early 15th c. Niccolò da Aversa
One of the first group of native Neapolitan composers known by name, per Grove Music
—
—
—
—
fl. late 14th/early 15th c. Niccolò da Capua
One of the first group of native Neapolitan composers known by name, per Grove Music
—
—
—
—
fl. early 15th c. Fonteyns
One of the named composers of the Old Hall Manuscript, elsewhere in this table
—
n.d.Regali ex progenie
—
—
fl. early 15th c. Gervays
One of the named composers of the Old Hall Manuscript, elsewhere in this table
—
—
—
—
mid-15th c. Selden Carol Book (tradition)
A real anonymous carol manuscript held at the Bodleian Library — shares five contemporaneous carols and texts with the Trinity Carol Roll, above, including its own copy of the Agincourt Carol
—
—
—
—
fl. mid-15th c. Johannes de Quadris
Gaudeat ecclesia / O Iesu perpetua, preserved in the Trent Codices (Trent 88), elsewhere in this table
—
—
—
—
fl. late 15th c. Sir William Hawte
A composer represented in the real Ritson Manuscript (British Library, Add. 5665), a major source of 44 English carols alongside three masses and 23 motets
—
—
—
—
late 15th c. Ritson Manuscript (tradition)
A real anonymous English choirbook, containing 44 carols, three masses, and 23 motets, plus secular English and French works — includes the real "Nowell, nowell — This boar's head" (the Exeter Boar's Head Carol), attributed to Richard Smert, above
—
—
—
—
1569–1626 John Davies
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1569–1625 Giambattista Marino
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1569–1595 Nathaniel Patrick
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1569–1649 Ottavio Vernizzi
From the Naxos catalogue: recorded, therefore listenable. Dates as Naxos gives them, not independently checked; no work, score or recording linked here yet.
—
—
—
—
1593–1649 Jean de Brébeuf
Jesous Ahatonhia, the Huron Carol, c. 1642 — the oldest surviving song composed in North America, written in Wendat at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. The melody is not his and not Wendat: it is the French tune Une jeune pucelle, so this is a European melody carrying an Indigenous-language text, and the row says so rather than calling it the first North American music. No pre-contact music of the continent survives in notation at all.
—
2007Heather Dale, sung in Wendat, French and English
2021the same, in Wendat throughout
—
—

Countries and states, by inception, with their earliest composer

Every state in this document’s reach, current and former, in the order they came into being — and against each, the earliest musician from that territory whose name is known. The third column is the honest answer, not the flattering one. Founding dates for ancient states are conventional and contested; for modern ones they are independence or unification, so several territories appear twice, once as an ancient polity and once as the modern republic that stands on it. The shape of the answer, with all 351 in: only 110 states can name anyone, and 241 answer A few individuals carry the column many times over — Abdülkadir Meragi is the earliest named musician of Iran, Turkey, the Ottoman lands, Safavid Persia and Uzbekistan; Ziryab of al-Andalus, Morocco and Algeria, with not one note of his surviving; Saint Yared of Ethiopia and Eritrea; Safi al-Din al-Urmawi of Iraq, the Seljuks and Azerbaijan; Ureuk of both Koreas. Sub-Saharan Africa answers Anonymous in all 34 of its entries. So do Oceania, most of Southeast Asia, and the pre-Columbian Americas. That is not because nobody composed there. It is because those traditions were carried by hereditary specialists — the jeli of Mali, the griots of Senegal, the manaschi of Kyrgyzstan, the Royal Drummers of Burundi — rather than by notation, and a chronology built on surviving written music is structurally blind to them. The blankness in this column is a fact about the method, not about the music.

351 states · 264 current, 87 former · earliest named musician of each territory
InceptionStateStatus Earliest named musician of that territory
c. 3100 BCEgypt
current
Anonymous — the sistrum and clapper players of the Old Kingdom, c. 2686 BC; no named composer until the Coptic tradition
c. 3000 BCIraq
current
Anonymous — the Lipit-Ishtar tuning tablet, c. 1950 BC, the oldest musical document in this collection
c. 2500 BCElam
former
Anonymous — the silver lyre of Susa
2334 BCAkkadian Empire
former
Enheduanna, c. 2285–2250 BC — the first named author of anything, though no music survives
c. 2070 BCChina
current
Qiu Ming, 493–590 — Jieshi Diao Youlan, the oldest surviving notated piece for the qin
c. 2017 BCDynasty of Isin
former
Anonymous — the Lipit-Ishtar tablet is named for its king
c. 2000 BCCrete (Minoan)
former
Anonymous — the Hagia Triada sarcophagus lyre and aulos
1894 BCBabylon
former
Anonymous — the Hurrian and Babylonian tuning texts
c. 1600 BCHittite Empire
former
Anonymous — Hurrian hymns copied at Hattusa
c. 1600 BCMycenaean Greece
former
Anonymous — the Pylos lyre player fresco
c. 1500 BCMitanni
former
Anonymous — the Hurrian songs, c. 1400 BC, the oldest surviving notated melody anywhere
c. 1500 BCSyria
current
Anonymous — the Hurrian hymns from Ugarit, on the Syrian coast
c. 1500 BCNubia / Kush
former
Anonymous — the Kerma kingdom; instruments survive, no names
c. 1200 BCIsrael
current
Anonymous — the shofar tradition; the first named figure is Dunash ben Labrat, c. 920–990
c. 1200 BCPhoenicia
former
Anonymous
c. 1200 BCIsrael and Judah
former
Anonymous — the shofar and the Levitical singers
1046 BCZhou China
former
Ji Kang, 223–262 — Guangling San
1046 BCVietnam
current
Anonymous — nhã nhạc court music, from the 13th c.
c. 1000 BCOman
current
Anonymous
c. 1000 BCTonga
current
Anonymous — the lakalaka, and the nose flute of the Tuʻi Tonga court
c. 1000 BCSamoa
current
Anonymous
911 BCAssyria
former
Anonymous — the palace reliefs show ensembles; no composer named
814 BCCarthage
former
Anonymous
c. 800 BCGreece
current
Euripides, 480–406 BC — the Orestes stasimon, the earliest surviving music by a named person
c. 800 BCSri Lanka
current
Anonymous
753 BCRome / Roman Empire
former
Terence, c. 195–159 BC — his Hecyra survives as a setting; no Roman composer is named with music
753 BCEtruria
former
Anonymous — the aulos players of the tomb paintings
c. 700 BCYemen
current
Anonymous — the ṣanʿānī song tradition
660 BCJapan
current
Minamoto no Hiromasa, 918–980 — gagaku
c. 600 BCAfghanistan
current
Anonymous; Abu Sa’id Abu’l-Khayr, 967–1049, worked in Khorasan
550 BCAchaemenid Persia
former
Barbad, fl. c. 590–628 — celebrated by name, no music survives
509 BCRoman Republic
former
Terence, c. 195–159 BC
c. 500 BCNepal
current
Anonymous — the caryā songs of the Newar Buddhists
c. 400 BCKush (Meroë)
former
Anonymous
321 BCArmenia
current
Mesrop Mashtots, c. 362–440 — sharakans, though the khaz notation is undeciphered
c. 300 BCIndia
current
Jayadeva, 12th c. — the Gita Govinda
c. 300 BCIreland (Gaelic)
former
Anonymous — no notation survives from Gaelic Ireland before the 12th c.
c. 300 BCBhutan
current
Anonymous — the Drukpa Kagyu chant
250 BCThailand
current
Anonymous — piphat
247 BCParthia
former
None named
209 BCMongolia (Xiongnu)
former
Anonymous — the urtiin duu and the morin khuur
c. 200 BCTurkmenistan
current
Anonymous — the bagshy tradition
111 BCChampa
former
Anonymous
c. 100 BCEthiopia
current
Saint Yared, 505–571 — created Ethiopian chant and its notation
c. 100 BCKyrgyzstan
current
Anonymous — the Manas epic, sung by manaschi
c. 100 BCPalestine
current
Anonymous — the Temple tradition and, later, Syriac chant
63 BCJudea (Roman)
former
Anonymous — the Temple tradition, described but not notated
57 BCKorea
current
Ureuk, 6th c. — named, no music survives
30 BCRoman Egypt
former
Anonymous — the Oxyrhynchus hymn, late 3rd c. AD
30Coptic Egypt
former
Anonymous — Coptic chant, claimed as the oldest continuous Christian tradition
105Tunisia
current
Anonymous — the maʾlūf, descended from al-Andalus
224Sasanian Persia
former
Barbad, again — the court of Khosrow II
226Iraq (Sasanian)
former
Barbad, fl. c. 590–628
301San Marino
current
None named
320Gupta India
former
Anonymous — the Nāṭyaśāstra codifies what was already old
330Byzantine Empire
former
Romanos the Melodist, c. 490–556
395Iran
current
Abdülkadir Meragi, 1360–1435 — the great figure of the eastern art-music tradition
c. 400Maya
former
Anonymous — instruments and depictions survive, no notation
476Italy
current
Boethius, c. 480–524 — De institutione musica; for surviving music, Guido of Arezzo, c. 991–1033
482France
current
Hilary of Poitiers, c. 310–366; for surviving music, Albertus Parisiensis, d. 1177
c. 500Wales
current
None named with surviving music
c. 500Wales (Gwynedd)
former
Anonymous — the Robert ap Huw manuscript, 1613, preserves an older harp tradition
c. 500Malta
current
Anonymous — għana
507Portugal
current
Martin Codax, fl. c. 1230 — the Vindel parchment, seven cantigas with melodies
527Georgia
current
Mikael Modrekili, fl. c. 980 — the notated Georgian Iadgari
597England
current
Cædmon, fl. 657–684 — the earliest English poet known by name
c. 600Laos
current
Anonymous — the khene tradition
c. 600Mauritania
current
Anonymous — the iggawin tradition
618Tibet
current
Padmasambhava, 8th c.; for surviving song, Milarepa, 1052–1135
618Tang China
former
Li Bai, 701–762 — poems written to existing tunes
622Saudi Arabia
current
Ibrahim al-Mawsili, 742–804 — court musician to Harun al-Rashid
632Rashidun Caliphate
former
Ishaq al-Mawsili, 767–850
632Bahrain
current
Anonymous — the pearl-diving fijiri songs
668Silla Korea
former
Ureuk, 6th c.
680Kuwait
current
Anonymous
681Bulgaria
current
Anonymous — the Bulgarian Empire’s chant tradition; no named composer before Dufay
c. 700Sudan
current
Anonymous
710Nara Japan
former
Minamoto no Hiromasa
711Al-Andalus
former
Ziryab, 789–857 — famous by name, no music survives
750Abbasid Caliphate
former
Ibrahim al-Mawsili, 742–804
800Carolingian Empire
former
Notker Balbulus, c. 840–912 — the sequences
c. 800Chad
current
Anonymous
802Cambodia
current
Anonymous — pinpeat, and the Angkor reliefs
806Andorra
current
Anonymous
825Mercia / Wessex
former
Cædmon, fl. 657–684
830Somalia
current
Anonymous
843Germany
current
Hucbald of Saint-Amand, c. 840–930; for German vernacular song, Der von Kürenberg, fl. 1150s
843West Francia
former
Adémar de Chabannes, 989–1034
862Russia
current
Anonymous — znamenny chant, notated from the 11th c.; no named composer before Dufay
867Byzantine (Macedonian)
former
Ioannes Glykys, c. 1270–1341
882Kievan Rus
former
Anonymous — the kondakarian notation of the 12th c.
c. 900Madagascar
current
Anonymous — the valiha
930Iceland
current
Anonymous — the tvísöngur tradition
939Vietnam (Đại Việt)
former
Anonymous — nhã nhạc
960Song China
former
Jiang Kui, 1155–1221 — seventeen songs in his own notation
960Maldives
current
Anonymous — bodu beru
966Poland
current
Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz, 1392–after 1452
1000Hungary
current
Anonymous — the Pray Codex, c. 1192
c. 1000Cuba
current
Anonymous; Esteban Salas, 1725–1803, is the first named
c. 1000Micronesia
current
Anonymous
c. 1000Marshall Islands
current
Anonymous — the roro chants of the navigators
c. 1000Tuvalu
current
Anonymous — the fatele
c. 1000Nauru
current
Anonymous
1001Denmark
current
Anonymous — the Codex Runicus, c. 1300, carries the oldest notated Nordic melody
1001Ghaznavid Empire
former
Anonymous
1018Bohemia
former
Anonymous — Svatý Václave, the St Wenceslas chorale, 12th c.
1037Seljuk Empire
former
Safi al-Din al-Urmawi, 1216–1294
1054Scotland
current
Robert Carver, 1487–1567
1095Crusader States
former
Anonymous — the Templar chant of the Chantilly manuscript
c. 1100Benin
current
Anonymous
c. 1100Niger
current
Anonymous — the Tuareg imzad and tende
1139Kingdom of Portugal
former
King Dinis, 1261–1325 — the Sharrer parchment
1171Ireland
current
Anonymous — the Drummond Missal; St Columba, 521–597, is credited with Altus Prosator
1185Serbia
current
Kir Stefan the Serb, fl. c. 1400 — Byzantine-Slavonic chant
c. 1200Burkina Faso
current
Anonymous — the Mossi court drums
c. 1200Togo
current
Anonymous
c. 1200Congo (Kongo kingdom)
former
Anonymous
1206Mongol Empire
former
Anonymous
1206Delhi Sultanate
former
Amir Khusro, 1253–1325
1206Mongolia (Genghis Khan)
former
Anonymous — the Secret History records song, not notation
1230Crown of Castile
former
Alfonso X, 1221–1284 — the Cantigas de Santa María
1230Guinea
current
Anonymous — the jeli tradition, and the Sosso-Bala balafon
1237Netherlands
current
Jacob Obrecht, c. 1450–1505; earlier, Hendrik van Veldeke, 12th c.
1250Mali Empire
former
Anonymous — the jeli tradition, hereditary and unnotated
1270Ethiopia (Solomonic)
former
Saint Yared, 505–571
1282Kingdom of Naples
former
Antonello da Caserta, fl. c. 1390
1291Switzerland
current
Johannes Hadlaub, fl. 1300 — 51 songs in the Codex Manesse
1297Monaco
current
Anonymous
1299Ottoman Empire
former
Abdülkadir Meragi, 1360–1435
1299Ottoman Anatolia
former
Abdülkadir Meragi
c. 1300Aztec Empire
former
Anonymous — the Cantares Mexicanos preserve texts, not tunes
c. 1300Ivory Coast
current
Anonymous
1301Austria
current
Oswald von Wolkenstein, c. 1376–1445
1385Lithuania
current
Anonymous
1385Poland–Lithuania
former
Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz, 1392–after 1452
1397Norway
current
Anonymous — the Nidaros chant fragments
1397Sweden
current
Anonymous — the Gradual of Mariefred
c. 1400Rwanda
current
Anonymous — the royal Inanga
c. 1400Burundi
current
Anonymous — the Royal Drummers
c. 1400Central African Republic
current
Anonymous — the Aka polyphony, among the most complex unnotated music anywhere
1413Cyprus
current
Anonymous — the Cypriot-French repertory of Torino J.II.9, over 200 pieces
1428Inca Empire
former
Anonymous — the harawi tradition
c. 1450Songhai Empire
former
Anonymous
1464Songhai (Sunni Ali)
former
Anonymous
1478Muscovy
former
Anonymous — znamenny chant
1492Spain
current
Francisco de Peñalosa, c. 1470–1528; earlier, Alfonso X for Castile
c. 1500Belgium
current
Adrian Willaert, c. 1490–1562
c. 1500Cameroon
current
Anonymous
c. 1500Democratic Republic of the Congo
current
Anonymous — the Kongo kingdom
c. 1500Gabon
current
Anonymous — the Bwiti harp
c. 1500Equatorial Guinea
current
Anonymous
1501Safavid Persia
former
Abdülkadir Meragi
1526Mughal India
former
Amir Khusro, 1253–1325 — credited with founding qawwali
1526Croatia
current
Anonymous — the Glagolitic chant of the Adriatic
1526Hungary (Ottoman)
former
Anonymous — the Pray Codex
1534Turkey
current
Abdülkadir Meragi, 1360–1435 — claimed by the Ottoman tradition as its founder
1568Romania
current
Anonymous — Byzantine chant in Wallachia and Moldavia
1581Dutch Republic
former
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, 1562–1621
c. 1600Dahomey
former
Anonymous
c. 1600Comoros
current
Anonymous
1618Slovenia
current
Jacobus Gallus, 1550–1591
1648Switzerland (sovereign)
current
Johannes Hadlaub, fl. 1300
1652South Africa
current
Anonymous — the Khoisan bow traditions
1700Bosnia
current
Anonymous — sevdalinka
c. 1700Ashanti Empire
former
Anonymous — the fontomfrom drums
1707United Kingdom
former
John Dunstaple, c. 1390–1453
1719Liechtenstein
current
Anonymous
c. 1750Papua New Guinea
current
Anonymous
1776United States
current
William Billings, 1746–1800
1783Crimea
former
Anonymous
1804Haiti
current
Occide Jeanty, 1860–1936
1804Serbia (modern)
current
Kir Stefan the Serb, fl. c. 1400
1804Austrian Empire
former
Oswald von Wolkenstein
1810Mexico
current
Hernando Franco, 1532–1585 — Mexico City cathedral
1810Colombia
current
Gutierre Fernández Hidalgo, c. 1547–1623
1810Chile
current
Anonymous — the Franciscan missions
1811Venezuela
current
José Ángel Lamas, 1775–1814
1811Paraguay
current
Domenico Zipoli, 1688–1726 — the Jesuit reductions
1815Luxembourg
current
Anonymous
1815Guyana
current
Anonymous
1816Argentina
current
Domenico Zipoli, again — Córdoba
1818Bolivia
current
Juan de Araujo, 1646–1712 — the Moxos and Chiquitos archives
1821Peru
current
Juan de Araujo; earlier, Gutierre Fernández Hidalgo at Cuzco
1821Guatemala
current
Anonymous — the Guatemala City cathedral books
1821Costa Rica
current
Anonymous
1821Panama
current
Anonymous
1821El Salvador
current
Anonymous
1821Honduras
current
Anonymous
1821Nicaragua
current
Anonymous
1822Brazil
current
José Maurício Nunes Garcia, 1767–1830
1825Uruguay
current
Anonymous
1830Greece (modern state)
current
Petros Peloponnesios, c. 1730–1778 — Byzantine chant
1830Netherlands (modern)
current
Sweelinck, 1562–1621
1830Ecuador
current
Anonymous
1831Belgium (kingdom)
current
Lassus, 1532–1594
1832Belgium (independent)
current
Orlande de Lassus, 1532–1594
1844Dominican Republic
current
Anonymous
1847Liberia
current
Anonymous
1861Italy (unified)
current
Palestrina, c. 1525–1594
1861Kingdom of Italy
former
Palestrina
1867Canada
current
Anonymous — the Huron Carol, c. 1642, attributed to Jean de Brébeuf
1867Austria-Hungary
former
Oswald von Wolkenstein
1868Meiji Japan
former
Minamoto no Hiromasa
1871Germany (unified)
current
Ludwig Senfl, c. 1486–1543
1878Montenegro
current
Anonymous
1878Bulgaria (modern)
current
Anonymous — the Bulgarian chant tradition
1878Romania (independent)
current
Anonymous
1901Australia
current
Anonymous — Aboriginal song traditions, unnotated and continuous
1902Cuba (republic)
current
Esteban Salas, 1725–1803
1905Norway (independent)
current
Edvard Grieg, 1843–1907
1907New Zealand
current
Anonymous — Māori waiata
1908Bulgaria (kingdom)
former
Anonymous
1910Union of South Africa
former
Anonymous
1912Albania
current
Anonymous — Albanian iso-polyphony, unnotated
1916Hejaz
former
Ibrahim al-Mawsili
1917Finland
current
Anonymous — the Piae Cantiones of 1582
1918Czechoslovakia
former
Anonymous — Svatý Václave
1918Estonia
current
Anonymous
1918Latvia
current
Anonymous
1918Yugoslavia
former
Jacobus Gallus
1919Weimar Germany
former
Ludwig Senfl
1922Ireland (Free State)
current
Turlough O’Carolan, 1670–1738
1922Soviet Union
former
Anonymous — znamenny chant
1922Egypt (modern)
current
Anonymous — Coptic chant
1922Northern Ireland
current
Turlough O’Carolan, 1670–1738
1923Turkey (republic)
current
Abdülkadir Meragi
1926Nejd and Hejaz
former
Anonymous
1929Vatican City
current
Palestrina, c. 1525–1594 — the Cappella Giulia and Sistina
1932Iraq (independent)
current
Safi al-Din al-Urmawi, 1216–1294 — Baghdad
1932Saudi Arabia (kingdom)
current
Ibrahim al-Mawsili
1932Thailand (kingdom)
current
Anonymous — piphat
1941Croatia (Independent State)
former
Anonymous
1943Lebanon
current
Anonymous — Syriac and Maronite chant
1944Iceland (republic)
current
Anonymous — tvísöngur
1944Albania (republic)
current
Anonymous — iso-polyphony
1945Indonesia
current
Anonymous — gamelan, unnotated and continuous
1946Syria (republic)
current
Anonymous — the Hurrian hymns, and Syriac chant
1946Philippines
current
Anonymous
1946Jordan
current
Anonymous
1947India (republic)
current
Purandara Dasa, 1484–1564 — the father of Carnatic music
1947Pakistan
current
Amir Khusro, 1253–1325
1948Israel (state)
current
Dunash ben Labrat, c. 920–990
1948Korea (Republic)
current
Ureuk, 6th c.
1948Myanmar
current
Anonymous — the Mahagita repertory
1948North Korea
current
Ureuk, 6th c.
1948Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
current
Anonymous
1948South Korea
current
Ureuk, 6th c. — the gayageum
1949China (PRC)
current
Qiu Ming, 493–590
1949Taiwan (ROC on Taiwan)
current
Qiu Ming, 493–590
1951Libya
current
Anonymous
1953Cambodia (independent)
current
Anonymous — pinpeat
1956Morocco
current
Ziryab, 789–857 — the Andalusi tradition that survives in Morocco
1956Tunisia (independent)
current
Anonymous — maʾlūf
1957Ghana
current
Anonymous — Akan drum traditions
1957Malaysia
current
Anonymous — the gamelan of Terengganu
1958Guinea (independent)
current
Anonymous — the Sosso-Bala
1960Mali
current
Anonymous — the jeli tradition of the Mali Empire
1960Senegal
current
Anonymous — the griot tradition
1960Nigeria
current
Anonymous — Yoruba dùndún
1960Ivory Coast (independent)
current
Anonymous
1960Cameroon (independent)
current
Anonymous
1960Chad (independent)
current
Anonymous
1960Somalia (republic)
current
Anonymous
1960Benin (Dahomey)
current
Anonymous
1960Burkina Faso (Upper Volta)
current
Anonymous
1960Madagascar (independent)
current
Anonymous — the valiha
1960Niger (independent)
current
Anonymous — the imzad
1960Togo (independent)
current
Anonymous
1960Gabon (independent)
current
Anonymous
1960Central African Republic (independent)
current
Anonymous — Aka polyphony
1960Congo (Brazzaville)
current
Anonymous
1961Sierra Leone
current
Anonymous
1961Tanzania
current
Anonymous
1962Algeria
current
Ziryab, again
1962Uganda
current
Anonymous — the royal Entenga drums
1962Rwanda (independent)
current
Anonymous — the Inanga
1962Burundi (independent)
current
Anonymous — the Royal Drummers
1962Jamaica
current
Anonymous — the Maroon abeng and kromanti
1962Trinidad and Tobago
current
Anonymous
1962Samoa (independent)
current
Anonymous
1963Kenya
current
Anonymous
1964Malawi
current
Anonymous
1964Zambia
current
Anonymous
1965Singapore
current
Anonymous
1965Gambia
current
Anonymous — the kora of the jeli
1966Botswana
current
Anonymous
1966Lesotho
current
Anonymous
1966Barbados
current
Anonymous — tuk
1966Guyana (independent)
current
Anonymous
1968Mauritius
current
Anonymous — séga
1968Equatorial Guinea (independent)
current
Anonymous
1968Eswatini
current
Anonymous — the Umhlanga songs
1968Nauru (independent)
current
Anonymous
1970Fiji
current
Anonymous
1970Tonga (kingdom)
current
Anonymous — the lakalaka
1971Bangladesh
current
Chandidas, 14th c. — Vaishnava padavali
1971United Arab Emirates
current
Anonymous
1971Qatar
current
Anonymous
1971Bahrain (independent)
current
Anonymous — fijiri
1973Bahamas
current
Anonymous
1974Guinea-Bissau
current
Anonymous
1974Grenada
current
Anonymous
1975Mozambique
current
Anonymous — timbila
1975Angola
current
Anonymous
1975Papua New Guinea (independent)
current
Anonymous
1975Cape Verde
current
Anonymous — morna
1975São Tomé and Príncipe
current
Anonymous
1975Suriname
current
Anonymous
1975Comoros (independent)
current
Anonymous
1976Seychelles
current
Anonymous
1977Djibouti
current
Anonymous
1978Solomon Islands
current
Anonymous — the panpipe ensembles
1978Dominica
current
Anonymous — the bouyon and jing ping
1978Tuvalu (independent)
current
Anonymous — the fatele
1979Kiribati
current
Anonymous
1979Saint Lucia
current
Anonymous
1979Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
current
Anonymous
1980Zimbabwe
current
Anonymous — mbira dzavadzimu
1980Vanuatu
current
Anonymous
1981Belize
current
Anonymous — Garifuna drumming
1981Antigua and Barbuda
current
Anonymous
1983Brunei
current
Anonymous
1983Saint Kitts and Nevis
current
Anonymous
1986Marshall Islands (independent)
current
Anonymous — the roro chants
1986Micronesia (independent)
current
Anonymous
1990Namibia
current
Anonymous
1990Yemen (unified)
current
Anonymous — the ṣanʿānī tradition
1990Cabo Verde
current
Anonymous — morna, and Cesária Évora carried it out
1991Ukraine
current
Anonymous — the Kievan chant of the Rus
1991Armenia (republic)
current
Mesrop Mashtots, c. 362–440
1991Georgia (republic)
current
Mikael Modrekili, fl. c. 980
1991Uzbekistan
current
Anonymous — the shashmaqam; Abdülkadir Meragi worked in this tradition
1991Azerbaijan
current
Safi al-Din al-Urmawi, 1216–1294 — born at Urmia
1991Kazakhstan
current
Anonymous — the küy tradition
1991Tajikistan
current
Anonymous — shashmaqam
1991Belarus
current
Anonymous
1991Moldova
current
Anonymous
1991North Macedonia
current
Anonymous
1991Slovenia (independent)
current
Jacobus Gallus, 1550–1591
1991Croatia (independent)
current
Anonymous — Glagolitic chant
1992Mongolia (democratic)
current
Anonymous — urtiin duu
1993Czech Republic
current
Anonymous — Svatý Václave
1993Slovakia
current
Anonymous
1993Eritrea
current
Saint Yared, 505–571
1993Andorra (constitutional)
current
Anonymous
1994Palau
current
Anonymous
2002East Timor
current
Anonymous
2006Montenegro (independent)
current
Anonymous
2008Kosovo
current
Anonymous
2011South Sudan
current
Anonymous
2011Libya (post-Gaddafi)
current
Anonymous

The Brilliant Classics editions, from Monteverdi on

Every row has a way in; fourteen have a direct one. Where I have confirmed a specific upload or streaming release it is linked outright and the row carries a yellow edge — Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, Schütz, Corelli, Buxtehude, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms. Every other row carries four searches instead: the label’s own YouTube channel, Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube at large. That is deliberate. Brilliant rotates and re-uploads constantly, so a fixed video ID rots within months, and the sets that matter most are too large to exist as a single video at all — Bach runs to 155 discs, Mozart 170. A query survives both problems and lands you one click from playing. Brilliant also maintains a playlist of every upload it has made, oldest to newest, adding one daily. Where the label says "complete" and the scholarship disagrees — Vivaldi, Handel — the row follows the scholarship.Two further label playlists are worth keeping open while you browse this table: the Complete Piano Library, and the channel’s own playlist index, which fronts a complete Haydn symphonies set among others.

Appendix · 106 editions, by composer's birth year
BornComposer Brilliant Classics editionListen
1567Claudio Monteverdi
Monteverdi Edition — 30 CDs, and vocal music only
Edition Vol. 1 · Vol. 2 · Vol. 3 · Frammenti
The Brilliant set omits the operas in their staged form; L’Orfeo added so the row is listenable whole. L’Orfeo, Harnoncourt 1978 · L’Orfeo, Les Arts Florissants
1583Girolamo Frescobaldi
Frescobaldi: Complete Edition — 15 CDs, keyboard and vocal
Complete Edition, CD 1 · Frescobaldi (1583–1643), full playlist
The keyboard-only repackaging, kept below the complete set rather than in place of it. keyboard-only set, Vol. 1 · Vol. 2
1585Heinrich Schütz
Schütz Collection
Schütz Edition Vol. IV — Cappella Augustana · more on the channel
1587Francesca Caccini
Francesca Caccini (in the Female Composers box)
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1616Johann Jacob Froberger
Froberger: Complete Harpsichord & Organ Works
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1619Barbara Strozzi
Strozzi Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1620Isabella Leonarda
Leonarda Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1629Jean-Henry d'Anglebert
D'Anglebert: Complete Works
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1637Dietrich Buxtehude
Buxtehude Collection
Complete Harpsichord Music, full album · more on the channel
1653Arcangelo Corelli
Corelli: Complete Edition — his output is small enough that complete really is complete: six published opus numbers and little else.
albums on the channel · Complete Edition on Spotify
1653Johann Pachelbel
Pachelbel: Complete Keyboard Works
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1665Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre
Jacquet de La Guerre: Complete Works
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1668François Couperin
Couperin Dynasty
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1678Antonio Vivaldi
Vivaldi Edition — 66 CDs, called by the label the most comprehensive Vivaldi yet assembled. Not complete, and no such set exists: of more than 50 operas only 21 survive, and the concertos run past 500.
Too large for a single upload. the Edition on Spotify · albums on the channel
1681Georg Philipp Telemann
Telemann Edition — Brilliant Classics 94104, issued 2011
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1683Christoph Graupner
Graupner: Complete Harpsichord Music
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1684Johann Gottfried Walther
Walther: Complete Organ Works
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1685Domenico Scarlatti
Scarlatti: Complete Keyboard Sonatas — all 555, Pieter-Jan Belder, recorded 2000–2007 across 36 discs. The label calls it the only digital complete edition of the sonatas, and for once that claim holds.
Issued as numbered volumes rather than one upload. Vol. 1, Apple Music · Vol. VIII, Kk 318–371, on YouTube · the rest of the volumes on the channel
1685George Frideric Handel
Handel Edition — 65 CDs, and the label is unusually straight about it: "while not Complete", it holds 12 oratorios, the complete chamber music, keyboard works, organ concertos and Concerti Grossi. The most comprehensive Handel set on the market, not a complete one.
Issued as numbered volumes; streaming carries the set. Edition Vol. 3, Spotify · Vol. 7, Spotify · albums on the channel
1685Johann Sebastian Bach
J.S. Bach Complete Edition — 155 CDs originally, 142 in the current repackaging; the label’s best-known set, over half a million sold
Too large to exist as one upload. Streaming in full: Spotify, the Edition end to end · a second Spotify sequence · individual albums on the channel · Complete Partitas, full album
1687Silvius Leopold Weiss
Weiss: Complete Lute Sonatas
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1695Pietro Antonio Locatelli
Locatelli Edition
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1710Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Pergolesi Edition
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1710Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
W.F. Bach: Complete Works
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1714Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
C.P.E. Bach Edition
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1715Jacques Duphly
Duphly: Complete Works
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1727Armand-Louis Couperin
Couperin Dynasty
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1732Joseph Haydn
Haydn Edition — 160 CDs, extended from the original 150; the label calls it the only substantial Haydn edition on the market. Ádám Fischer’s symphonies, the Buchberger Quartet in the quartets, the keyboard works on fortepiano.
Too large for one upload. The Spotify sequence follows the 160-CD box but substitutes a few recordings the box holds and streaming does not — the Lira Concertos, Die Feuerbrunst, two of the operas — and adds Dorati’s complete operas and Applausus. Not identical to the box; more complete than it. the Edition on Spotify, reconstructed · albums on the channel · Complete Symphonies playlist
1737Michael Haydn
Michael Haydn Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1743Luigi Boccherini
Boccherini Edition — Brilliant Classics 94386, issued 2012
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1745Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen
Sirmen: Complete Works
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1747Leopold Kozeluch
Kozeluch: Complete Sonatas
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1752Muzio Clementi
Clementi Edition
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1756Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart Complete Edition — 170 CDs, recordings dated 1970 to 2005, drawn from a wide array of licensed labels and in-house sessions. Distinct from the Philips Complete Mozart Edition it is often confused with.
Too large for one upload. albums on the channel · the Edition on Spotify
1760Johann Ladislaus Dussek
Dussek: Complete Piano Sonatas & Sonatinas
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1764Hélène de Montgeroult
Montgeroult: Complete Piano Works
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1770Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven Complete Edition — 85 CDs, the label’s best-selling set. Gulda, Haskil, Grumiaux, Brendel in the concertos, Schiff, Schreier; gaps in the repertoire filled with recordings made for the project. European dealers sold a variant with 15 further discs of historic performances.
Too large for one upload. the Edition on Spotify · Beethoven: The Complete Works, a second sequence · albums on the channel
1797Franz Schubert
Schubert Edition
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1797Gaetano Donizetti
Donizetti Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1801Vincenzo Bellini
Bellini Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1804Louise Farrenc
Farrenc: Complete Works
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1804Mikhail Glinka
Glinka Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1805Fanny Mendelssohn
Fanny Mendelssohn Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1809Felix Mendelssohn
Mendelssohn Edition
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1810Frédéric Chopin
Chopin Edition
Complete Études, full album · more on the channel
1810Robert Schumann
Schumann Edition
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1811Franz Liszt
Liszt Edition
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1813Charles-Valentin Alkan
Alkan: Complete Piano Works
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1819Clara Schumann
Clara Schumann: Complete Works
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1821Pauline Viardot García
Viardot Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1822César Franck
Franck Edition
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1824Anton Bruckner
Bruckner: Complete Symphonies
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1824Bedřich Smetana
Smetana Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1833Alexander Borodin
Borodin Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1833Johannes Brahms
Brahms Edition
Complete Variations, full album · more on the channel
1840Johan Svendsen
Svendsen Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1840Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1841Antonín Dvořák
Dvořák Edition
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1843Edvard Grieg
Grieg Edition
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1845Gabriel Fauré
Fauré Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1854Leoš Janáček
Janáček Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1854Moritz Moszkowski
Moszkowski: Complete Piano Works
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1856Giuseppe Martucci
Martucci Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1857Cécile Chaminade
Chaminade Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1858Mel Bonis
Bonis Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1860Paolo Tosti
Tosti: The Song of a Life
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1862Claude Debussy
Debussy Edition
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube · Complete Piano Works Vol. 1, full album
1865Carl Nielsen
Nielsen Edition
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1865Jean Sibelius
Sibelius Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1867Amy Beach
Beach Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1871Wilhelm Stenhammar
Stenhammar Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1872Alexander Scriabin
Scriabin Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1872Hugo Alfvén
Alfvén Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1873Max Reger
Reger Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1873Sergei Rachmaninoff
Rachmaninoff Edition
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube · the Complete Editions surveyed
1875Fritz Kreisler
Kreisler Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1875Maurice Ravel
Ravel Edition
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1876Manuel de Falla
Falla Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1879Alma Mahler
Alma Mahler Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1879Ottorino Respighi
Respighi: Orchestral, Chamber & Piano Works
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1881Béla Bartók
Bartók Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1882Zoltán Kodály
Kodály Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1885Dora Pejačević
Pejačević Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1886Rebecca Clarke
Clarke Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1890Bohuslav Martinů
Martinů Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1891Sergei Prokofiev
Prokofiev Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1892Darius Milhaud
Milhaud Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1892Germaine Tailleferre
Tailleferre Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1894Paul Dessau
Dessau Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1898Hanns Eisler
Eisler Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1906Dmitri Shostakovich
Shostakovich Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1907María Luisa Anido
Anido Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1909Grażyna Bacewicz
Bacewicz Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1913Benjamin Britten
Britten Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1919Galina Ustvolskaya
Ustvolskaya: Complete Works
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1923György Ligeti
Ligeti Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1923Simeon ten Holt
ten Holt: Complete Piano Works
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1923Ursula Mamlok
Mamlok Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1924Ida Presti
Presti Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1931Sofia Gubaidulina
Gubaidulina Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1941Angelo Gilardino
Gilardino Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1943Tania León
León Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1945Graciane Finzi
Finzi Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1958Errollyn Wallen
Wallen Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1969Misato Mochizuki
Mochizuki Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube
1977Anna Thorvaldsdóttir
Thorvaldsdóttir Collection
label channel · Spotify · Apple · YouTube

Reference Books

Standalone reference works that serve as the source for multiple entries above, listed by publication date.

BookSources (which entries above)Access
1879–1889 (1st ed.) A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. George Grove
The original Grove — genuinely public domain (archive.org marks it explicitly "NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT"), unlike the modern Grove Music Online below. Also on archive.org: the 1928 American Supplement, the 1940 and 1954 (5th ed.) volumes, and the 1961 supplement — a real, checkable lineage of editions, several fully free
Free, archive.org (1954 vol.)
1917 Provenzalisches Liederbuch
Bernart de Ventadorn (among other troubadours in the anthology)
Free, archive.org
1943 Curt Sachs, The Rise of Music in the Ancient World: East and West
Seikilos epitaph, Second Delphic Hymn, plus general Egyptian/Indian/Chinese/Near Eastern context
Free, archive.org
1944 (1st ed.) Willi Apel, ed., Harvard Dictionary of Music
General reference; entries on plainchant, organum, troubadour/trouvère song, medieval notation — useful cross-checks throughout this document
Free (borrow/stream), archive.org
1961 (2nd ed.) Egon Wellesz, A History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography
Standard reference for Byzantine chant; appendices contain actual musical transcriptions from the Hirmologion and Sticherarion — the most likely single source to cover Romanos the Melodist, Andrew of Crete, John of Damascus, and Kassia's melodic tradition together
Free (borrow/stream), archive.org
1970 The Oxford Companion to Music (and 1983 New Oxford Companion to Music)
General reference, 6,600 entries incl. individual works and non-Western traditions; used for cross-checks, not a primary score source
Free (borrow/stream), archive.org
2001 Pöhlmann, E. & West, M.L., Documents of Ancient Greek Music
All 61 surviving ancient Greek musical fragments — Athenaeus, Limenius, Mesomedes, Seikilos
Free, archive.org
2001 Touliatos-Banker, D., ed., Kassia: Thirteen Hymns
13 of Kassia's ~23–30 surviving hymns
Amazon, paid
2010 Michael G. Cunningham, Renaissance Counterpoint with Medieval Preliminaries
Genuinely rare among modern textbooks — most counterpoint pedagogy is 16th-century-only (species counterpoint after Fux); this one explicitly starts from medieval creativity through the Ars Nova before reaching Renaissance triadic counterpoint. A real archived Usenet discussion (rec.music.theory, "Textbook for Medieval Counterpoint??") independently confirms this gap: replies pointed toward reading original treatises (Léonin, Perotin) rather than any dedicated medieval-specific species-counterpoint method, since none exists — Cunningham's book is the closest thing on the market
Not free — Amazon, paid
n/a — checked, paywalled Grove Music Online (the modern, continuously-updated successor)
The standard scholarly reference for nearly every entry in this document; confirmed fully subscription-only, no free tier, no excerpts beyond what's quoted secondhand in other sources already cited here
Not free. Checked again: Toronto Public Library's database list does not appear to carry it, though TPL does provide Naxos Music Library free with a card — streaming recordings "medieval to modern", which covers several albums this document can otherwise only link on Spotify. For Grove itself: a university card (Toronto Metropolitan, McMaster, Carleton and Laurier all subscribe), walk-in access at a reference library, or The Wikipedia Library — 500+ edits, 6+ months, 10+ edits in the last 30 days, no active blocks; whether its bundle includes Oxford Music Online is unconfirmed
n/a — checked, borrow-only Grout (later Grout/Palisca/Burkholder), A History of Western Music
The standard undergraduate textbook covering this whole era (chapters on early organum, Aquitanian and Notre Dame polyphony, troubadour/trouvère song, Hildegard). Every edition found on archive.org — 1960 first ed. through the current 10th — is controlled-digital-lending only, not freely downloadable; unlike Grove's 1879 original, Grout's book is still within its copyright term
Borrow only (archive.org, waitlist), not free

Method

Appendix — one album, track by track

What this is. The two tables below arrived as raw, unsorted dumps appended directly into the middle of the chronological table and the Reference Books table, in a four-column shape those tables don't have — which broke the column alignment of every row after them and corrupted the entry count. The links themselves are worth keeping, so nothing has been deleted: the rows have been moved here, given a table of their own, and de-duplicated. They are not counted as entries until each one is verified and merged into the main timeline above, next to the composer or work it belongs to.

D. Musique de la Grèce Antique, track by track (23 tracks)

Atrium Musicae de Madrid under Gregorio Paniagua, recorded June 1978, issued by Harmonia Mundi in 1979 (HM 1015) and sold in aid of the restoration of the Acropolis. It is the single most complete recording of surviving ancient Greek music, and you asked long ago for all its tracks to be checked. Every track is listed here against what it actually is, and linked into the full-album upload at its start point. The timings are computed from Harmonia Mundi's published durations, summed in order — they will be within a few seconds of the mark and may drift slightly across the side break, so treat them as a place to start listening rather than an exact cue. Two tracks name people who are not in the timeline yet: Terence and Gregory of Nazianzus.

Appendix D · one album, every track linked
#TrackWhat it isListen
1
Anakrousis · Orestes stasimo
Euripides, Orestes, first stasimon — the papyrus in the timeline at 480–406 BC
0:00 — play
2
Fragments instrumentaux de Contrapollinopolis
The undated Greco-Roman Egypt instrumental fragments
3:03 — play
3
Premier Hymne Delphique à Apollon
Athenaeus, son of Athenaeus, fl. c. 138–128 BC
4:02 — play
4
Plainte de Tecmessa
Sophocles, Ajax — Tecmessa's lament. No ancient notation survives for Sophocles: this is the ensemble's own realisation, and the table says so
8:52 — play
5
Papyrus Wien 29825 · G 13763/1494
Vienna papyri, c. 2nd–3rd c. AD
10:08 — play
6
Hymne au Soleil
Mesomedes of Crete, c. AD 100–138
15:06 — play
7
Hymne à la Muse
Mesomedes of Crete
17:01 — play
8
Hymne à Némésis
Mesomedes of Crete
17:58 — play
9
Papyrus Michigan
Michigan papyrus, Greco-Roman Egypt
19:32 — play
10
Aenaoi Nefelai
Aristophanes, The Clouds — chorus
23:37 — play
11
Epitaphe de Seikilos
The Seikilos epitaph, 1st–2nd c. AD
25:02 — play
12
Pean · Papyrus Berlin 6870
Berlin paean, c. 2nd c. AD
26:53 — play
13
Anonymi Bellermann
The Bellermann anonymous treatises' notated examples
28:39 — play
14
Première Ode Pythique
Pindar's First Pythian — the ensemble's own setting, not an ancient melody
32:50 — play
15
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 2436
Oxyrhynchus musical papyrus
34:22 — play
16
Hymne Chrétienne d'Oxyrhynchus
The Oxyrhynchus hymn, late 3rd c. AD — oldest Christian hymn with notation
35:31 — play
17
Homero Hymnus
Homeric hymn setting
37:01 — play
18
Papyrus Zenon · Cairo fragment
The Zenon papyrus, 3rd c. BC
37:28 — play
19
Terencio · Hecyra 861
Terence, Hecyra — a Roman comedy, 165 BC. In the table on the row flagging Paniagua's three non-notated realisations
38:16 — play
20
Poem. Mor. 1, 11f. · Migne 37, 523
Gregory of Nazianzus, c. 329–390 — he has his own row in the timeline
38:40 — play
21
Deuxième Hymne Delphique à Apollon
Limenius, 128 BC
39:17 — play
22
Papyrus Oslo A/B
Oslo papyrus fragments
46:31 — play
23
Epilogos · Katastrophe
Paniagua's own closing collage, not an ancient source
46:50 — play