See also: List of years in music, Timeline of trends in music (1900-1949), Timeline of trends in music (1950-1969), Timeline of trends in music (1970-1979), Timeline of trends in music (1980-1989), Timeline of trends in music (1990-present)

• c. 4000 BC
  • Harps and vertical flutes are played in Egypt
• c. 3500 BC
  • Double clarinets and lyres are played in Egypt
• c. 3000 BC
  • The bamboo pipe is invented in China
• c. 2500 BC
  • The five tone system dominates Chinese music
• c. 2000 BC
  • The trumpet is played in Denmark
  • Percussion instruments are added to Egyptian orchestras
• c. 1500 BC
  • Hittites use guitars, lyres, trumpets, tambourines
  • Harps are used to accompany dances in Egypt
• c. 1000 BC
  • Music accompanies religious ceremonies in Israel
• c. 800 BC
  • Five and seven tone scales are used in Babylon
  • A cuneiform hymn from Sumeria is the earliest known written music
  • Rhapsodes, traveling musicians, appear in Greece
• c. 700 BC
  • Arion, a Greek composer, invents the strophe and antistrophe
• c. 685 BC
  • Tyrtaeus invents the trombone
• c. 675 BC
  • Terpander invents a new seven-stringed lyre and the Mixolydian scale
• c. 600 BC
  • Modes appear in music
  • The vina is invented in India
• c. 586 BC
  • Music becomes a part of the Pythian Games
• c. 550 BC
  • The diatonic scale is invented in Greece
  • Lasos of Hermione discovers that vibrations are the source of all sound
• c. 500 BC
  • Pindar begins writing odes
  • Greek choral music reaches its peak
  • aulos, citharas, lyres are played in Greece
  • Pythagoras of Samos makes great strides in musical theory
• 400 BC
  • Trumpet competitions are popular in Greece
• 340 BC
  • Aristotle lays the foundation for modern musical theory
• 320 BC
  • Aristophanes defines rhythm as tripartite
• 300 BC
  • Buddhism arrives in Sri Lanka, and its cultural aspects help establish a Sinhalese identity distinct from India
• c. 250 BC
  • Ktesibios invents the hydraulis
• c. 200 BC
• The earliest evidence of music in Japan
• 146 BC
  • The Romans conquer Greece and begin exporting its musical knowledge elsewhere in Europe
• 140 BC
  • Emperor Han Wudi takes over China and establishes an Imperial Office of Music
• c. 50 BC
  • The oboe appears in Rome
• 38 BC
  • The Chinese octave is divided into 60 notes
• c. 350
  • Antiphonal psalmody appears in Christian churches
• 386
  • Ambrose of Milan introduces hymn-singing in the Christian church
• c. 450
  • Alternating singing between precentors and parishioners is introduced in Christian churches
• 453
  • 80 Korean musicians arrive in Japan, greatly influencing gagaku
• c. 500
  • Flutes, tubas and drums are used in Peru
• 521
  • Boethius introduces Greek notation to the West
• c. 6000
  • Buddhism (and shomyo) arrive in Japan
• 600
  • Pope Gregory the Great codifies Roman Catholic chanting; it comes to be called Gregorian chanting in his honor
• c. 600
  • The first flowering of Arab music occurs in what is now Syria during the rule of the Umayyad dynasty
• 609
  • The Celtic crwth appears
• 619
  • The Chinese begin using large orchestras
• 650
  • Neumes, a system of notation, are introduced in Europe
• c. 700
  • In Romania, letters are used to signify tempo and intensity
• 710
  • Beginning of the Nara period in Japan, and the introduction of komagaku and togaku music
• c. 750
  • Gregorian chanting is popular throughout Europe
  • Byzantine wind organs begin to replace water organs
• 850
  • Hucbald writes rules for composing the organum
• c. 850
  • Vocals in church music begins moving in parallel; this is the beginning of polyphony (see organum)
• 980
  • Antiphonarium Codex Montpellier is written
• c. 1000
  • Gryffull ab Aynam separates the positions of bard and minstrel in Wales
  • Hat cheo begins to develop in Vietnam
• c. 1015
  • Sight singing is introduced at Pomposa Monastery near Ravenna
• 1050
  • "sys willekommen heirre kerst" is the oldest surviving German Christmas carol
• c. 1050
  • The harp is introduced to Europe
• 1050
  • The earliest reference to what are believed to be Gypsies as musicians in Constantinople
• c. 1030
  • Guido of Arezzo develops a method to learn music by ear, solfège
• c. 1095
  • Le Chanson de Roland composed
• c. 1100
  • Bagpipes appear in England
  • The rondeau appears
• 1116
  • Chinese ritual music (aak) appears in Korea
• 1121
  • The earliest performance of roi nuoc, or water puppetry, is recorded in Vietnam
• c. 1125
  • Trouveres and troubadours appear in France
• c. 1150
  • French troubadours become more organized
• 1151
  • Leoninus, a French composer, develops the ars antigua style
• 1176
  • The first eisteddfod, or music contests, are held in Cardigan, Wales
• c. 1180
  • Minnesingers appear in Germany
• c. 1182
  • Lauda appear in Italy
• c. 1200
  • The faux bourdon style begins in England
  • Hat tuong, which evolved from Chinese opera, appears in Vietnam
  • Cymbals are invented
  • In England, France and Germany, wandering musicians form collectives to help each other
  • Trumpets are used as signals in battle in Europe
• 1225
  • "Summer is icumen in" is the first English round
• c. 1250
  • Pérotin moves the ars antiqua school of music to its peak
  • Amir Khusrau is said to have invented qawwali, the sitar and the tabla in Pakistan
• 1253
  • Kublai Khan arrives in Yunnan, supposedly bringing with him baisha xiyue
• 1262
  • Adam de la Halle writes the first operetta, "Le Jeu de la Feuillee"
• c. 1265
  • Franco of Cologne and Pierre de la Croix develop the motet
• c. 1300
  • Jongleurs appear in France
• 1309
  • Marchettus of Padua tries to introduce counterpoint
• 1322
  • The Pope expressly forbids counterpoint
• c. 1325
  • Organ pedals are invented
  • "Tournai Mass", the first polyphonic Mass, is written
• c. 1330
  • The ars nova style is invented
• c. 1350
  • Meistersingers appear in Germany
  • First evidence of anyckelharpa in Sweden, specifically a carving in K¨lunge church in Götland
• 1360
  • Original forms of the clavichord and cembalo appear
• 1377
  • Musicians at the papal chapel in Avignon move to Rome, making it the capital of music in Europe
• 1385
  • The marriage of Charles the VI and Isabella of Bavaria is the first French court ball
• 1392
  • The Choson Dynasty begins in Korea; a rich tradition of court music arises during this dynasty
• c. 1400
  • The dulcimer is invented
  • Secular songs with French lyrics, chansons, are popular
• 1400
  • The Thais sack Angkor and bring apsara dancers back to the royal Thai court
• c. 1420
  • The Burgundian School begins
• c. 1426
  • Holland becomes the musical capital of Europe
• 1428
  • The Le dynasty comes to power in Vietnam; it will go on to restrict music like cheo, which is perceived as anti-establishment
• 1430
  • The Renaissance begins, leading to the increasing popularity of secular music as well as the diversification of musical styles across Europe
  • Aak music in Korea is reconstructed from surviving 12th century compositions
• 1465
  • First printed music appears in Europe
• c. 1490
  • Ballet appears
• c. 1500
  • Broadside ballads begin their period of popularity in England
  • Italian madrigalss appear
• 1505
  • The Portuguese begin colonizing Sri Lanka, forever influencing its culture
• 1508
  • The Spanish begin their domination of Puerto Rico
• 1522
  • The Spanish begin mass importation of African slaves to Cuba and other Caribbean islands
• 1553
  • Ancestral forms of the violin are invented
• 1562
  • Pius IV's Counter-Reformation eliminates all instrumentation except the organ, as well as all secular elements, harmony and folk melodies
• 1565
  • Women are banned from singing in Christian churches; the desire for adult female voices leads to the practice of castration
• 1574
  • Castration is common in Europe, resulting in castrati
• 1578
  • Jean De Léry publishes the first account of Brazilian music, Viagem à Terra do Brasil
• 1587
  • Gabriel Soares de Sousa publishes the first account of native Brazilian musical forms, Tratado Descritivo do Brasil
• 1588
  • Thomas Morley is the guiding force in the English madrigal school
• 1590
  • Count Giovanni de Bardi gathers a group of artists, leading to the invention of opera
• c. 1590
  • Son is known in Cuba
• 1594
  • Jacopo Peri's Dafne is the first Italian opera
• c. 1600
  • The European Renaissance ends and the Baroque period begins; this is marked by increasing rigidity and codification in music
  • The harp is added to European orchestras
  • Slaves brought to Morocco from Mali lead to the development of gnawa
• 1601
  • Giulio Caccini's Le nuove musiche, including a manifesto on the new monodic style, is published
• 1606
  • The first open-air operas appear in Rome
• 1607
  • Claudio Monteverdi writes Orfeo, an influential early Baroque opera
• 1609
  • Japan begins its domination of Okinawa
• 1631
  • The first professional female singers in Europe for several centuries appear in England for a production of Chloridia
• 1639
  • Virgilio Mazzocchi and Marco Marazzoli write the first comic opera, Chi Soffre Speri
• 1648
  • The aria and the recitative became separate parts of opera
• c. 1650
  • Beginning of modern harmony
  • The overture emerges
• 1652
  • The minuet becomes popular in French courts
• c. 1660
  • The seis arises in southern Spain
• 1664
  • The French horn is added to European orchestras
• 1675
  • Matthew Locke's Psyche is the oldest surviving English opera
• 1685
  • Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederick Handel are born; they will be the two most influential Baroque composers
  • First ballets arrive in Germany
• c. 1690
  • Andalusian ballads arrive in Puerto Rico, vastly influencing future forms of music including the decima
• 1692
  • Christopher Columbus arrives in the Americas, leading to European, African and American musical forms mixing, especially in the Caribbean
• 1696
  • The sonata is introduced
• c. 1700
  • The pianoforte is invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori
• 1705
  • French horns appear in an opera for the first time -- Octavia by Reinhard Keiser
• 1711
  • The clarinet is added to European orchestras
• 1719
  • Dimitrie Cantemir writes the first book on Turkish music
• 1725
  • Vivaldi writes The Four Seasons
• 1742
  • Handel's Messiah premieres in Dublin
• 1750
  • Bach dies; this is often considered the end of the Baroque period and the beginning of the relatively simple Classical period
• 1751
  • The minuet becomes the most popular dance in Europe
• 1762
  • Christoph Willibald von Glück writes Orfeo ed Euridice with the express purpose ofreturning opera to its roots
• 1767
  • The Burmese sack Ayuthaya and bring Thai musicians to their homeland, thus leading to a mixture of Burmese, Thai and Cambodian musics in Burma and elsewhere in southeast Asia
• 1772
  • The barrel organ is invented
• 1773
  • Waltz is popular in Vienna
• 1774
  • Earliest flamenco appears in Spain
• 1780
  • Sebastiano Carezo invents the bolero in Spain
• 1783
  • Spain adopts a policy of encouraging Roman Catholics to move to its colonies, leading to a French majority on the island of Trinidad; the French immigrants bring Carnival and the roots of calypso
• 1786
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro premiers
• 1787
  • Mozart's Don Giovanni premiers
• c. 1790
  • Bumba-meu-boi, a form of comedic dance, is popular in Brazil
• 1791
  • The waltz is popular in England
  • The Haitian Revolution sends refugees to Cuba, bringing with them native musical forms (see: charanga)
• 1794
  • "Tammany, or The Indian Chief" by James Hewitt is one of the first American operas
• 1802
  • The Garifunas arrive in Belize (then British Honduras) and soon develop paranda music
• 1803
  • Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, the Eroica, marks the beginning of the Romantic period
• 1807
  • Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is written; this is perhaps the most popular classical symphony ever
• 1814
  • The metronome is invented
• 1821
  • Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber debuts, marking the beginning of his primacy in German opera
• 1829
  • The accordion is invented in Vienna
  • Fado may have existed in Brazil
• c. 1830
  • "Jump Jim Crow" by Thomas Rice becomes popular in the United States
  • The growth of Carnival in Trinidad begins, leading to the development of calypso music
  • The Great Awakening (a religious revival) sweeps the United States, inspiring slaves to use their own vocal styles with English hymns; these songs are called negro spirituals
• c. 1835
  • Lundu is developed in Brazil
  • Tamburitza is developed into increasingly complex forms in Croatia
• 1835
  • The first music conservatory in Switzerland opens in Geneva
  • Elias Lönnrot's collection of runolaulu traditional Finnish song, the Kalevala is first published
• 1836
  • Maria Severa's performance of a fado for the Comte de Vimisio causes him to fall in love with her and an ensuing public controversy; this is the earliest certain example of fado's existence
• 1838
  • Indians begin arriving in the Caribbean, especially Trinidad, in large numbers
• 1839
  • Barzaz-Breizh, the first collection of Breton folk song, is published
  • "Te voglio bene assaie" is written; this is often said to be the beginning of canzone napoletana
• 1840
  • Harmonium invented
• c. 1840
  • The danza is invented in Puerto Rico
• 1841
  • Adolphe Sax invents the saxophone
• 1848
  • The Kalevala, a collection of traditional Finnish runolaulu, inspires a rise in Finnish nationalism
• c. 1850
  • UPA moves from Cuba and Puerto Rico to other Caribbean islands, most importantly Hispaniola
• 1852
  • Fredrik Pacius publishes the first Finnish opera
  • The earliest known appearance of mariachi music in Mexico
• 1854
  • Franz Liszt invents the symphonic poem
• 1860
  • Indian musicians move to the royal court in Kabul, Afghanistan, bringing their musical influences
  • The rise of the Pocomania and Revival Zion churches in Jamaica influences developing folk forms across the island
  • The bandoneon was invented in Germany
• 1865
  • Ernest Gagnon publishes the first collection of traditional Quebecois folk songs
• 1866
  • Celesta invented
• 1868
  • The Meiji Restoration revolutionizes and democratizes Japanese music
• 1869
  • The golden age of flamenco is usually said to begin
• c. 1870
  • Christian missionaries bring gospel music to Australian Aborigines
  • Choro is invented in Rio de Janeiro
  • Tin Pan Alley begins to dominate popular music in the US
• 1870
  • A Hindustani theater group, Elphinstone, comes to Colombo, and Hindustani theater and song soon dominates the island of Sri Lanka
• 1871
  • African-American spirituals are popular in Europe, even being played for Queen Victoria, who is said to have been moved to tears by the performance
• 1874
  • Society for Culture and Education is founded in Finland
• 1875
  • Earliest origins of plena in Puerto Rico
• 1876
  • Richard Wagner's cycle of four operas, Der Ring des Nibelungen debuts at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus
• 1877
  • Thomas Edison invents the first machine to record sound
• 1878
  • N'Dusseldorf forms in Vienna, soon becoming the pioneers of modern schrammelmusik
• 1880
  • John Paine's In Spring is the first symphony published in the US
  • Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado premiers
  • Spanish zarzuela is introduced to the Philippines
  • The Canboulay Riots in Trinidad led to the British banning some forms of celebration during Carnival
• c.1880
  • A gold rush prompts large-scale Caribbean immigration to Venezuela, leading to the development of a distinctive style of Trinidadian calypso referred to as Venezuelan calipso.
  • Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe begin a period of large-scale immigration to the United States, establishing North America as the hub of klezmer music
  • The Ghost Dance spreads from Paiute Native Americans in Nevada to other tribes across the United States
  • Auvergnat bal-musette is popular in Paris
  • Miguel Failde helps invent habanera music out of danzón
• 1882
  • Jewish immigration to what is now Israel begins
• c. 1890
  • Jean Sibelius' Kullervo inspires a rise in Finnish nationalism, greatly influencing music in his native land
  • The sabha (paying classical concert performances) associations begin to shit from music into dance
  • The accordion is introduced to Mexico by Bohemian immigrants
  • Uilleann pipes are introduced to Ireland in their modern form
  • Augusto Hilario pioneers student fado at Coimbra University
• 1895
  • The National Czecho-Slavonic Ethnographical Exhibition is held in Prague, leading to a revival of traditional music and nationalist pride
  • Béla Vikár makes the first recordings of Hungarian folk music
• 1896
  • Ragtime and cakewalk are popularized in the United States
  • Nicholas Bennett's Alawon Fy Nghwlad, a compilation of traditional Welsh songs, is published; this, along with the formation of London-based Welsh Societies, is part of a revival of Welsh folk music
• 1898
  • F. Myers made some of the first field recordings ever in Papua New Guinea
• 1899
  • Mariachi bands begin playing at weddings in Jalisco, Mexico
  • Komitas Vartabet, already known for introducing polyphony to Armenia, begins collecting local folk songs