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Discantus positio vulgaris. An anonymous treatise written before 1150; is said to contain the earliest rules for “measured music,” i.e. for music in which different voices can sing different rhythms.

The Reading MS., c. 1240 (British Museum, MS. Harl., 978, fol. 11 b.), contains the rota “Sumer is icumen in.”

Walter Odington, fl. 1280. English writer on music, and composer.

John Dunstable, died 1453. English contrapuntal composer.

G. Dufay, died 1474. Netherland contrapuntal composer. (These two are the principal founders of artistic counterpoint.)

Josquin Des Près, 1445–1521. The first great composer.

[In the following list when a name is not qualified as “church composer” or “madrigalist,” the composer is equally great in both lines; but the qualification must not be taken as exclusive.]

Netherland Masters.

J. Arcadelt, c. 1514–1560. Madrigalist.

Clemens non Papa, died before 1558.

Orlando di Lasso, born between 1520 and 1530; died 1594.

Jan P. Sweelinck, 1562–1621. Organist, theorist and church composer.

French Masters.

E. Genet, surnamed Carpentrasso, fl. 1520. Church composer.

C. Goudimel. Killed in the massacre of Lyons, 1572.

Italian Masters.

Palestrina, c. 1525–1594.

L. Marenzio, c. 1560; died 1599.

Anerio, Felice c. 1560–1630, and G. Francesco, c. 1567–1620, brothers. Church composers.

Spanish Masters. English Masters.

T. Tallis, c. 1515; died 1585. Church composer.

W. Byrd, 1542 or 1543–1623. Greatest as church composer.

J. Wilbye, fl. 1600. Madrigalist.

T. Morley, fl. 1590. Theorist and madrigalist.

Orlando Gibbons, 1583–1625.

German Masters.

J. Handl, or Gallus, c. 1550–1591.

Hans Leo Hasler or Hassler, 1564–1612. Church composer.

G. Aichinger, c. 1565–1628. Church composer.

Peri’s Euridice, 1600. The first opera.

Monteverde, 1567–1643. Great pioneer of modern harmony.

G. Frescobaldi, 1583–1644. Organ composer.

J. B. Lulli, 1633–1687. The first classic of French opera.

H. Purcell, c. 1658; died 1695.

J. P. Rameau, 1683–1764. French opera writer, harpsichordist and theorist.

D. Buxtehude, 1637–1707.

J. S. Bach, 1685–1750.

G. F. Handel, 1685–1759.

F. J. Haydn, 1732–1809.

W. A. Mozart, 1756–1791.

Beethoven, 1770–1827.

Cherubini, 1760–1842. A classic of French opera and of church music.

[In this list the only qualifications given are those of which the complex conditions of modern art make definition easy as well as desirable; and, as throughout this table, the definitions must not be taken as exclusive. The choice of names is, however, guided by the different developments represented: thus accounting for glaring omissions and artistic disproportions.]

Weber, 1786–1826. Master of romantic opera.

Schubert, 1797–1828. The classic of song.

Mendelssohn, 1809–1847.

Chopin, 1809–1849. Composer of pianoforte lyrics.

Berlioz, 1803–1869. Master of impressionist orchestration.

Schumann, 1810–1856.

Wagner, 1813–1883. Achieves absolute union of music with drama.

Liszt, 1811–1886. Pianoforte virtuoso and pioneer of the symphonic poem.

Bruckner, 1824–1896. The symphonist of the Wagnerian party.

Brahms, 1833–1897. Classical symphonic and lyric composer.

Tschaïkovsky, 1840–1893.

Dvořák, 1841–1904.

Richard Strauss, 1864– Development of the symphonic poem.

Under separate biographical headings, the work of the chief modern composers in different countries is dealt with; and here it will be sufficient to indicate the general current of the art, and to mention some of the more prominent among recent composers.

Germany.—On the death of Brahms, the great German composers seemed, at the close of the 19th century, to have left no successor. Such merely epigonal figures as A. Bungert (b. 1846) and Cyrill Kistler (1848–1907) could not be regarded as important; and E. Humperdinck’s (b. 1854) striking success with Hänsel und Gretel (1893) was a solitary triumph in a limited genre. The outstanding figure, at the opening of the 20th century, was (q.v.); but it was not so much now in composition, as in the high excellence of executive art, that Germany still kept up her hegemony in European music, by her schools, her great conductors and instrumentalists, and her devotion as a nation to the production of musical works.

France.—From the earliest days of their music, the French have had the enviable power of assimilating the great innovations which were originated in other countries, without losing their habit of warmly appreciating that which their own countrymen produce. That which happened with the Netherlandish composers of the 16th century, and with Lulli in the 17th, was repeated, more or less exactly, with Rossini in the early part of the 19th century and with Wagner at its close. During the last quarter of the 19th century all that is represented by the once-adored name of Gounod was discarded in favour of a style as different as possible from his. The change was mainly due to the Belgian musician, César Auguste Franck (1822–1890), who established a kind of informal school of symphonic and orchestral composition, as opposed to the conventional methods pursued at the Paris Conservatoire. Massenet was left as almost the only representative of the older school, and from Edouard Lalo (1823–1892) to G. Charpentier (b. 1860), all the younger composers of France adopted the newer style. With these may be mentioned Alfred Bruneau (b. 1857), and Gabriel Fauré (b. 1845). Camille Saint-Saiëns (b. 1835), however, remained the chief representative of the sound school of composition, if only by reason of his greater command of resources of every kind and his success in all forms of music. Among the newer school of composers the most original unquestionably was (q.v.), and among others may be mentioned Ernest Reyer (b. 1823), the author of some ambitious and sterling operas; F. L. V. de Joncières (b. 1839), an enthusiastic follower of Wagner, and a composer of merit; Emanuel Chabrier (1841–1894), a man of extraordinary gift, who wrote one of the finest opéras comiques of modern times, Le Roi malgré lui (1887); Charles Marie Widor (b. 1845), an earnest musician of great accomplishment; and Vincent d’Indy (b. 1851), a strongly original writer, alike in dramatic, orchestral and chamber compositions. In the class of lighter music, which yet lies above the level of opéra bouffe, mention must be made of Léo Delibes (1836–1891) and André Messager (b. 1855). In describing the state of music in France, it would be wrong to pass over the work done by the great conductors of various popular orchestral concerts, such as Jules E. Pasdeloup (1819–1887), Chas. Lamoureux (1834–1899), and Judas [Édouard] Colonne (b. 1838).

Italy.—In Italy during the last quarter of the 19th century many important changes took place. The later development in the style of (q.v.) was only completed in Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893), while his last composition, the four beautiful sacred vocal works, show how very far he had advanced in reverence,