Grout History of Western Music:

Outlines and Time Lines

Ed. note: This material was compiled and organized by David Papandrew, in the course of his
preparation for qualifying exams in music history at Harvard (which he passed). It's been on GeoCities
forever; GeoCities is going to be closing down (October 26, 2009), and I did not want this material to
be lost. I have attempted to contact David, but have not heard back from him.

Grout/Burkholder:
A History of Western Music, (Ninth Edition) J. Peter Burkholder,
Donald Jay Grout, Claude V. Palisca. W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.
New York. 2014.

Publication Date: April 15, 2014 | ISBN-10: 0393918297 | ISBN-

13: 978-0393918298 | Edition: Ninth Edition

The definitive history of Western music, now with Total Access.

Combining current scholarship with cutting-edge pedagogy, the
Ninth Edition of A History of Western Music is the text that students
and professors have trusted for generations. Because listening is
central to music history, the new Total Access program provides a
full suite of media resourcesincluding an ebook and premium
streaming recordings of the entire Norton Anthology of Western
Music repertoirewith every new text. Combining thoughtful
revisionsparticularly to chapters on the twentieth and twenty-first
centurieswith exceptional media resources, A History of Western Music provides all the resources
that students need in a text that will last a lifetime.

Chapter Outlines
Please visit http://beststudentviolins.com/GROUT.html#chapteroutlines
for links to David's Outline
Chapter 01: Music in the Ancient World
Chapter 02: Chant in the Middle Ages
Chapter 03: 13th Century Polyphony
Chapter 04: 14th Century French and Italian Music
Chapter 05: Medieval to Renaissance
Chapter 06: Ockeghem to Josquin
Chapter 07: 16th Century Music

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Chapter 08: Late Renaissance Church Music
Chapter 09: Early Baroque Music
Chapter 10: 17th Century Opera and Vocal Music
Chapter 11: Late Baroque Instrumental Music
Chapter 12: Early 18th Century Music (Baroque)
Chapter 13: Early Classical Style
Chapter 14: Late 18th Century Music (Classical)
Chapter 15: Beethoven
Chapter 16: 19th Century Vocal Music
Chapter 17: 19th Century Instrumental Music
Chapter 18: 19th Century Opera
Chapter 19: Post-Romanticism
Chapter 20: 20th Century Music

Medieval Period c. 500-1400

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Renaissance c. 1400-1600

3
Baroque c. 1600-1750

4
Classical Period c. 1750-1825

5
Romantic Period c. 1815-1900

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Modern Period c. 1900-1950

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 Musicology
Note that human life does not lend itself well to restricted categories
and both the dates and the styles are subject to change and debate among scholars.
Approximate Representative Composers
Historical Era
dates (Small sample)
Hildegard von Bingen, Machaut,
Medieval ca. 500-1450 Landini, Lonin, Protin.
See: Wikipedia List
Josquin, Dufay, Palestrina.
Renaissance 1450-1600
See: Wikipedia List
Baroque Bach, Vivaldi, Tartini, Geminiani,
Also see: 1725-1770 Roccoco (and/or 1600-1750 Handel.
Galant) See: Wikipedia List
Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven.**
Classical 1750-1820
See: Wikipedia List
Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Paganini,
Romantic
1820-1910 Brahms.
Also see: Nationalism - Grieg, Sibelius
See: Wikipedia List
Contemporary, also referred to as 20th
Century or Modern. Includes
subcategories such as:
Impressionism: Debussy, Ravel
Expressionism: Schoenberg, Berg,
Webern
Americana: Copland Bartk, Bernstein, Cage, Babbit,
Neo Classicism: Stravinsky, Gershwin, Varese, Messiean,
1910-present
Copland Stockhausen, Takemitsu.
Neo Romanticism: Piston, Barber, See: Wikipedia List
Hanson
Experimentalism: Brown, Cage
Minimalism: Glass, Reich

Also see: Further Discussion:

Contemporary Musicology
** From A History of Western Music: "Through external circumstances and the force of his own genius
he transformed this heritage and became the source of much that was characteristic of the Romantic
period. But he himself is neither Classic nor Romantic; he is Beethoven, and his figure towers like a
colossus astride the two centuries." [Donald Jay Grout. (3rd Edition with Claude V. Palisca.) W. W.
Norton & Co., Inc. New York. 1973. p. 521.]

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Musicology Texts:
Studying Music History, 2nd ed., David Poultney
A History of Western Music, Sixth Edition, Donald J. Grout, Claude V. Palisca. Newest ed. of
the Grout, 7th ed., Burkholder
Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music: Ancient to Baroque (6-CD set), Donald J. Grout.
Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music : Classic to Modern (6-CD set), Donald J. Grout.
Study and Listening Guide for Concise History of Western Music and Norton Anthology of
Western Music, J. Peter Burkholder.