A listening history

400 BCto2000

Twenty-four centuries of music, from a Greek tombstone to the last film score of the millennium. Scroll slowly. Click any title and it plays.

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Begin

c. 1400 BC – AD 500

Voices Without Names

Before anyone signed a score, music was breath, string and stone. A handful of melodies outlived the long silence, carved in marble, scratched on papyrus, pressed into clay. Nobody claimed them. Press play and listen across two and a half thousand years.

4 pieces

c. 1400 BC

Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal

Pressed into a clay tablet at Ugarit, in today's Syria. Older than our timeline: the oldest notated song anyone has tried to reconstruct.

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1st century AD

Seikilos Epitaph

The oldest complete song we have, carved on a tombstone in Anatolia. Its message: while you live, shine.

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3rd century AD

Oxyrhynchus Hymn

A Christian hymn to the Trinity, notated in Greek letters on an Egyptian papyrus, the earliest of its kind.

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c. 800 – 1400

Chant, Rounds & Estampies

Then came the long candlelit centuries of plainchant: a single line sung in unison, passed from monk to monk. Even when secular music appeared, a round, a dance, it went unsigned.

4 pieces

c. 9th century

Puer natus est nobis

A Christmas introit in Gregorian chant. One unaccompanied line, barely changed in a thousand years.

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c. 1260

Sumer is icumen in

The oldest six-part music in English: a summer round sung in canon, a whole medieval spring in a few bars.

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1399

O Virgo splendens

A pilgrims' song from the Red Book of Montserrat, sung by travellers who danced as they sang.

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c. 1100 – 1400

Names Begin to Appear

Slowly, signatures emerge: an abbess with visions, cathedral masters in Paris, a poet-priest, a blind organist in Florence. Single lines learn to stack into harmony.

8 pieces · 4 composers

Francesco Landini

c. 1325 – 1397

Blind organist of Florence, the brightest star of the Italian Trecento.

  1. c. 1370Ecco la primavera

1400 – 1600

The Renaissance

Voices weave in perfect balance, four, six, even forty at once. Printing spreads the notes, and princes, popes and lute-players compete for the best composers in Europe.

32 pieces · 15 composers

Orlando Gibbons

1583 – 1625

English organist whose madrigal 'The Silver Swan' is a song of farewell.

  1. 1612The Silver Swan

1600 – 1700

The Baroque Begins

Opera is invented, the orchestra takes shape, and the bass line becomes the backbone of everything. Music turns theatrical, ornate and gloriously emotional.

25 pieces · 13 composers

Gregorio Allegri

c. 1582 – 1652

Papal singer, remembered for one piece so treasured that the Vatican guarded it.

  1. c. 1638Miserere

Marc-Antoine Charpentier

1643 – 1704

Parisian master of grave, radiant church music and comic opera alike.

  1. c. 1692Te Deum: Prélude

Johann Pachelbel

1653 – 1706

An organist from Nuremberg whose one famous canon has outlived every other piece he wrote.

  1. c. 1690Canon in D

1700 – 1750

The High Baroque

The age of the concerto: spinning violins, gleaming trumpets, castrato arias and dance suites for kings. Handel fills London's halls while Vivaldi paints the seasons in Venice.

33 pieces · 12 composers

Jean-Joseph Mouret

1682 – 1738

Court composer whose fanfare is the sound of countless TV title sequences.

  1. 1729Rondeau (Fanfares)

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

1710 – 1736

Died at 26, leaving one sorrowful Stabat Mater that outlived him in a hundred editions.

  1. 1736Stabat Mater

Thomas Arne

1710 – 1778

Songwriter of the London stage, and composer of Britain's unofficial anthem.

  1. 1740Rule, Britannia!

1685 – 1750

Bach

Then comes Johann Sebastian Bach, who took every form the Baroque had invented and brought it to a height nobody has quite reached since. Cantor, organist, teacher, father of twenty children and of modern harmony.

22 pieces · 1 composer

Johann Sebastian Bach

1685 – 1750

Cantor of Leipzig, half-forgotten for a generation after his death, then rediscovered as the fountain of Western music.

  1. c. 1705Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
  2. c. 1710Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582
  3. 1713Sheep May Safely Graze
  4. c. 1720Cello Suite No. 1 in G major
  5. c. 1720Violin Partita No. 2: Chaconne
  6. c. 1720Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043
  7. 1721Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
  8. 1721Brandenburg Concerto No. 5
  9. 1722The Well-Tempered Clavier: Prelude in C major
  10. 1723Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
  11. 1727St Matthew Passion
  12. c. 1730Orchestral Suite No. 3: Air on the G String
  13. 1731Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Cantata BWV 140)
  14. 1733Magnificat in D
  15. 1734Christmas Oratorio
  16. 1735Italian Concerto
  17. c. 1738Harpsichord Concerto No. 5 in F minor
  18. c. 1739Orchestral Suite No. 2: Badinerie
  19. 1741Goldberg Variations
  20. 1747A Musical Offering
  21. 1749Mass in B minor
  22. 1750The Art of Fugue

1750 – 1800

The Classical Age

Elegance replaces ornament. The symphony and the string quartet are born, melodies become clear as speech, and Vienna becomes the capital of music. Reason, wit and proportion are the fashion.

16 pieces · 4 composers

1756 – 1791

Mozart

He was writing music at five and dead at thirty-five, and in between wrote what may be the most natural music ever set to paper: operas that read people like a novel, concertos where the piano sings, and a Requiem left unfinished.

28 pieces · 1 composer

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1756 – 1791

Salzburg-born prodigy who conquered Vienna. Thirty-five years, more than six hundred works.

  1. 1773Symphony No. 25 in G minor
  2. 1773Exsultate, jubilate
  3. 1774Symphony No. 29 in A major
  4. 1775Violin Concerto No. 5 'Turkish'
  5. 1778Concerto for Flute and Harp
  6. 1779Sinfonia concertante in E-flat
  7. 1780Laudate Dominum
  8. c. 1781Serenade No. 10 'Gran Partita'
  9. c. 1783Piano Sonata No. 11: Rondo alla Turca
  10. 1783Mass in C minor 'Great'
  11. 1785Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor
  12. 1785Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major
  13. 1786The Marriage of Figaro: Overture
  14. 1786Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major
  15. 1786Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat
  16. 1787Eine kleine Nachtmusik
  17. 1787Don Giovanni
  18. 1788Piano Sonata No. 16 'Sonata facile'
  19. 1788Symphony No. 40 in G minor
  20. 1788Symphony No. 41 'Jupiter'
  21. 1789Clarinet Quintet in A major
  22. 1790Così fan tutte: Soave sia il vento
  23. 1791The Magic Flute: Queen of the Night aria
  24. 1791The Magic Flute: Overture
  25. 1791Clarinet Concerto in A major
  26. 1791Ave verum corpus
  27. 1791Requiem in D minor
  28. 1791Requiem: Lacrimosa

1800 – 1830

Beethoven & His Age

Then a thunderclap. Beethoven turns music into a personal struggle and drags the orchestra into the modern age, while Schubert writes songs of infinite tenderness, Rossini makes Europe laugh, and Paganini makes it faint.

59 pieces · 6 composers

Ludwig van Beethoven

1770 – 1827

Deaf, defiant and unstoppable: the man who broke the mould and built Romanticism out of the pieces.

  1. 1798Piano Sonata No. 8 'Pathétique'
  2. 1800Symphony No. 1 in C major
  3. 1801Piano Sonata No. 14 'Moonlight'
  4. 1802Symphony No. 2 in D major
  5. 1803Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor
  6. 1803Violin Sonata No. 9 'Kreutzer'
  7. 1804Symphony No. 3 'Eroica'
  8. 1804Piano Sonata No. 21 'Waldstein'
  9. 1805Piano Sonata No. 23 'Appassionata'
  10. 1806Leonore Overture No. 3
  11. 1806Violin Concerto in D major
  12. 1806Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major
  13. 1806Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major
  14. 1807Coriolan Overture
  15. 1808Symphony No. 5 in C minor
  16. 1808Symphony No. 6 'Pastoral'
  17. c. 1810Für Elise
  18. 1810Egmont Overture
  19. 1811Piano Concerto No. 5 'Emperor'
  20. 1811Piano Trio No. 7 'Archduke'
  21. 1812Symphony No. 7 in A major
  22. 1812Symphony No. 8 in F major
  23. 1818Piano Sonata No. 29 'Hammerklavier'
  24. 1822Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
  25. 1823Missa Solemnis
  26. 1824Symphony No. 9 'Choral'
  27. 1825String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132
  28. 1826Grosse Fuge

Franz Schubert

1797 – 1828

The prince of song. Dead at 31, he wrote more than 600 lieder and left symphonies to be found by others.

  1. 1814Gretchen am Spinnrade
  2. 1815Erlkönig
  3. 1817An die Musik
  4. 1819Piano Quintet 'Trout'
  5. 1822Symphony No. 8 'Unfinished'
  6. 1823Rosamunde: Incidental Music
  7. 1823Die schöne Müllerin
  8. 1824String Quartet No. 14 'Death and the Maiden'
  9. 1824Arpeggione Sonata
  10. 1825Ave Maria (Ellens dritter Gesang)
  11. 1826Symphony No. 9 'The Great'
  12. 1827Winterreise
  13. 1827Impromptu in G-flat major, Op. 90 No. 3
  14. 1827Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat major
  15. 1828Ständchen (Schwanengesang)
  16. 1828String Quintet in C major
  17. 1828Piano Sonata No. 21 in B-flat major

1830 – 1860

Romantic Piano & Orchestra

Now the artist is a hero. Pianists become rock stars, symphonies tell stories and poems, and every feeling, love, dread, moonlight, the sea, must be put into music at full volume.

57 pieces · 7 composers

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel

1805 – 1847

Felix's sister, equally gifted: she wrote hundreds of works, though society let few be published under her name.

  1. 1841Das Jahr
  2. 1846Piano Trio in D minor

Frédéric Chopin

1810 – 1849

The poet of the piano: born in Poland, exiled in Paris, homesick in every bar.

  1. 1830Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor
  2. 1830Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor
  3. 1830Étude Op. 10 No. 5 'Black Key'
  4. 1831Étude Op. 10 No. 12 'Revolutionary'
  5. 1832Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9 No. 2
  6. 1833Étude Op. 10 No. 3 'Tristesse'
  7. 1835Ballade No. 1 in G minor
  8. 1835Fantaisie-Impromptu
  9. 1836Étude Op. 25 No. 11 'Winter Wind'
  10. 1838Polonaise 'Military' in A major
  11. 1839Prelude Op. 28 No. 15 'Raindrop'
  12. 1839Piano Sonata No. 2 'Funeral March'
  13. 1842Polonaise 'Heroic' in A-flat major
  14. 1842Ballade No. 4 in F minor
  15. 1846Barcarolle in F-sharp major
  16. 1847Waltz in D-flat major 'Minute'
  17. 1847Waltz in C-sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2

1830 – 1890

The Age of Opera

Opera is the pop music of the century. Verdi's melodies are hummed in the streets, Wagner builds a theatre to fit his myths, and in Vienna a Strauss keeps the whole city waltzing.

38 pieces · 10 composers

Johann Strauss I

1804 – 1849

The 'Father of the Waltz': he made Vienna dance and his son made it dance harder.

  1. 1848Radetzky March

1860 – 1890

Brahms, Bruckner & the French

While Wagner blazes, others keep faith with pure music: Brahms in Vienna, Bruckner in his cathedral of sound, Saint-Saëns and Bizet in Paris with their lightness and their sun.

56 pieces · 13 composers

Édouard Lalo

1823 – 1892

French composer of Spanish descent, and of one dazzling Spanish symphony.

  1. 1874Symphonie espagnole

Johannes Brahms

1833 – 1897

The heir of Beethoven: he polished for decades, then unveiled works of granite warmth.

  1. 1858Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor
  2. 1868A German Requiem
  3. 1868Lullaby (Wiegenlied)
  4. 1869Hungarian Dance No. 5
  5. 1873Variations on a Theme by Haydn
  6. 1876Symphony No. 1 in C minor
  7. 1877Symphony No. 2 in D major
  8. 1878Violin Concerto in D major
  9. 1880Academic Festival Overture
  10. 1881Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major
  11. 1883Symphony No. 3 in F major
  12. 1885Symphony No. 4 in E minor
  13. 1887Double Concerto in A minor
  14. 1891Clarinet Quintet in B minor
  15. 1893Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118 No. 2

Emmanuel Chabrier

1841 – 1894

Civil servant turned composer whose vivid 'España' fired up the next generation of French and Spanish music.

  1. 1883España

Pablo de Sarasate

1844 – 1908

Spanish violinist for whom Saint-Saëns, Lalo and Bruch wrote concertos.

  1. 1878Zigeunerweisen

1840 – 1900

Nations Find Their Voice

Russia, Bohemia and Norway put their folk songs, their forests and their winters on the concert stage. Tchaikovsky writes ballets that are also symphonies, and Dvořák discovers America.

52 pieces · 9 composers

Mily Balakirev

1837 – 1910

Leader of the 'Mighty Handful' and creator of the piano's most fearsome showpiece.

  1. 1869Islamey

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

1840 – 1893

Russia's great melodist: fragile, tormented, and able to make an entire hall weep.

  1. 1869Romeo and Juliet: Fantasy-Overture
  2. 1871String Quartet No. 1: Andante cantabile
  3. 1875Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor
  4. 1876Swan Lake
  5. 1876Marche slave
  6. 1876The Seasons: June (Barcarolle)
  7. 1877Variations on a Rococo Theme
  8. 1878Symphony No. 4 in F minor
  9. 1878Violin Concerto in D major
  10. 1879Eugene Onegin: Letter Scene
  11. 18801812 Overture
  12. 1880Serenade for Strings in C major
  13. 1880Capriccio italien
  14. 1888Symphony No. 5 in E minor
  15. 1889The Sleeping Beauty
  16. 1892The Nutcracker
  17. 1893Symphony No. 6 'Pathétique'

1890 – 1914

Fin de Siècle

Gold-leaf Vienna, Belle-Époque Paris, and fifty-piece orchestras the size of small cities. Mahler tries to put the world in a symphony, Strauss paints heroes, Puccini breaks hearts, Sibelius freezes the North.

86 pieces · 19 composers

1890 – 1930

Impressionism & the French Spirit

Harmony dissolves into colour. Debussy paints with sound, Ravel builds precise little clockwork marvels, and Satie shrugs at all of it with a tiny, unforgettable piano piece.

36 pieces · 7 composers

Cécile Chaminade

1857 – 1944

French pianist-composer, the first woman to receive the Légion d'honneur for music.

  1. 1902Flute Concertino

1900 – 1945

The Modern Age

Every rule is broken at once. Stravinsky's Rite of Spring causes a riot, Schoenberg abandons the old harmony, Bartók listens to Hungarian peasants, Prokofiev and Ravel play with old forms. Some listeners walk out, others never look back.

66 pieces · 17 composers

Arthur Honegger

1892 – 1955

Swiss-French composer of trains and oratorios.

  1. 1923Pacific 231

1914 – 1916

The Planets

In the midst of the Great War, Gustav Holst turned to the stars. Seven movements, seven worlds, one of the most influential orchestral works of the twentieth century. The sound of space, before anyone had seen it.

13 pieces · 2 composers
Marsthe Bringer of WarVenusthe Bringer of PeaceMercurythe Winged MessengerJupiterthe Bringer of JollitySaturnthe Bringer of Old AgeUranusthe MagicianNeptunethe MysticPlutothe Renewer

1920 – 1975

Between the Wars & After

Jazz drifts into the concert hall, the symphony learns to live under dictatorship, and the Second World War produces some of the most searching music ever written. In America, a new voice emerges: open, wide, and unmistakably its own.

66 pieces · 16 composers

Dmitry Kabalevsky

1904 – 1987

Soviet composer and teacher of children, remembered for a galloping little tune.

  1. 1940The Comedians: Galop

1945 – 1975

Sound Broken Open

After the war, a generation begins again from zero. Composers organise pitch, rhythm and even silence by system. Tape, computers and dense clusters replace the tune. It is difficult, thrilling and at times beautiful.

24 pieces · 10 composers

Edgard Varèse

1883 – 1965

Called music 'organised sound' and wrote for sirens and percussion decades before it was fashionable.

  1. 1921Amériques
  2. 1931Ionisation

Luigi Nono

1924 – 1990

Italian composer of political conviction and shimmering sound.

  1. 1956Il canto sospeso

1964 – 2000

Repetition, Stillness & New Simplicity

A counter-revolution arrives: pulse, patterns and consonance return. Minimalists shift tiny loops in and out of phase, while a very different group, the holy minimalists, write music of near silence and prayer.

38 pieces · 16 composers

Terry Riley

b. 1935

Californian whose 'In C' (1964) began the whole movement.

  1. 1964In C

Einojuhani Rautavaara

1928 – 2016

Finnish neo-romantic, who set birdsong to orchestra.

  1. 1972Cantus Arcticus

Sofia Gubaidulina

1931 – 2025

Tatar-Russian mystic of the orchestral spirit.

  1. 1980Offertorium

John Rutter

b. 1945

Choral composer of carols and gentle Requiems.

  1. 1985Requiem

Thomas Adès

b. 1971

English wunderkind of the 1990s.

  1. 1997Asyla

Kaija Saariaho

1952 – 2023

Finnish spectral composer, whose first opera opened a new century.

  1. 2000L'amour de loin

1930 – 2000

The Silver Screen

In the twentieth century the great symphony orchestra found a new home: the cinema. Composers trained in Vienna, Rome and Paris wrote the sound of heroes, lovers, cowboys and monsters. And one man in particular kept its flame burning brighter than any other.

60 pieces · 22 composers

John Williams

b. 1932

Five decades, five Oscars, the sound of a thousand childhoods. He took Holst, Korngold and Wagner and gave them to the movies. Enter the hero, the shark, the flying bicycle and the Force.

  1. 1972The Cowboys: Overture
  2. 1975Jaws: Main Title
  3. 1977Star Wars: Main Title
  4. 1977Star Wars: Princess Leia's Theme
  5. 1977Close Encounters of the Third Kind
  6. 1978Superman: March
  7. 1980The Empire Strikes Back: The Imperial March
  8. 1981Raiders of the Lost Ark: Raiders March
  9. 1982E.T.: Flying Theme
  10. 1984Olympic Fanfare and Theme
  11. 1987Empire of the Sun: Exsultate justi
  12. 1990Home Alone: Somewhere in My Memory
  13. 1991Hook: Flight to Neverland
  14. 1993Jurassic Park: Theme
  15. 1993Schindler's List: Theme
  16. 1996Summon the Heroes
  17. 1998Saving Private Ryan: Hymn to the Fallen
  18. 1999Star Wars: Duel of the Fates