| Year |
World Events |
Significant Musical Events |
Composer Births & Deaths |
|
1550 |
Thomas Cranmer publishes A Defence of the Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament |
· John Marbeck's Book of Common Prayer is the first musical setting of English liturgy
· Thomas Tallis: "Hear the Voice and Prayer" |
|
|
1551 |
Turk armies invade Malta, lose battle |
Giovanni Palestrina takes post of Music Director at St. Peter's Basilica (Rome) |
|
|
1553 |
Lady Jane Grey is Queen of England for all of nine days after the death of Edward VI |
The violin takes on its present form |
|
|
1554 |
· Lady Jane Grey is executed
· Queen Mary I marries Philip of Spain
· Catholic restoration in England |
· Palestrina publishes his First Book of Masses dedicated to Pope Julius III
· Giovanni Palestrina: Requiem Mass |
|
|
1555 |
Augsburg Peace decreed: Lutheran states to be on equal basis with Catholic states |
|
Barolomaus Gese born |
|
1556 |
Charles V abdicates his Holy Roman Empire throne and joins a monastery |
Orlando di Lasso publishes his first book of motets |
|
|
1557 |
Europe gripped with influenza epidemic |
|
· Giovanni Gabrielli born
· Thomas Morley born |
|
1558 |
· Calais is lost by the English
· Mary, Queen of Scots, finally marries the Dauphin |
Institution Harmoniche by Gioseffo Zarlino is first work to define modern major/minor scales |
|
|
1560 |
· The Spanish Fleet loses a series of key battles to Turkish galleys
· Huguenot conspiracy |
· Orlando di Lasso made Court Kapellmeister
· Giovanni Palestrina - Missa Papae Marcelli |
|
|
1562 |
· Massacre of Vassy
· Queen Elizabeth I contracts smallpox
· Paris hit with plague |
|
· John Bull born
· Jan Sweelinck born |
|
1563 |
London plague kills more than 20,000 |
William Byrd becomes Lincoln Cathedral organist |
|
|
1570 |
Nagasaki becomes first Japanese port to accept overseas trade |
First St. Cecilia festival (Normandy, France) |
|
|
1571 |
· England's Parliament outlaws wool exports
· Pope Pius V forms alliance with Spain/Venice against Turkish invaders |
|
Michael Praetorius born |
|
1572 |
· Sir Francis Drake's fleet attacks Spanish Armada in American waters
· St. Bartholomew Day massacre in Paris |
William Byrd and Thomas Tallis serve as organists at the Royal Chapel |
|
|
1573 |
· Fourth French war of religion ends
· Turks and Venice reach peace accord
· Wan-Li becomes 13th emperor in Ming Dynasty |
Thomas Tallis: Spem in Alium |
|
|
1575 |
· Spain declares bankruptcy
· Italian city of Milan is hit by plague |
Thomas Tallis and William Byrd publishes a collection of 34 motets: Cantiones Sacrae |
|
|
1576 |
Clusius's writings about Spanish/Portuguese flowers marks beginning of modern botany |
Tomas Luis de Victoria: Liber Primus |
|
|
1580 |
· Ivan the Terrible murders his son
· Sir Francis Drake completes circumnavigation of globe |
"Greensleeves" is mentioned in print for first time |
|
|
1581 |
· Pope Gregory XIII tries to reconcile Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches
· Siberia conquered by Russia |
Coroso's Il Ballerino is first detailed examination of dance technique |
|
|
1582 |
Gregorian Calendar adopted in several European countries |
|
Gregorio Allegri born |
|
1583 |
Plot to assassinate Elizabeth I discovered |
|
· Girolamo Frescobaldi born
· Orlando Gibbons born |
|
1584 |
· After a power struggle, Boris Godunov succeeds Ivan the Terrible as Russian Czar
· Sir Walter Raleigh 'discovers' Virginia |
|
Pietro Vinci died |
|
1585 |
· Shakespeare leaves Stratford on Avon
·
Pope Gregory XIII dies |
|
· Heinrich Schutz born
· Thomas Tallis died |
|
1586 |
Mary, Queen of Scots, is found to be a conspirator in plot to assassinate Elizabeth I |
|
Johann Hermann Schein born |
|
1587 |
Catholic crusade for invasion of England is declared by Pope Sixtus V |
· One of earliest collections of Jewish songs is published by Zeminoth Israel
· Monteverdi has first book of madrigals published |
Samuel Scheidt born |
|
1588 |
· English fleet defeats Spanish Armada
· Bible is translated into Welsh by William Morgan
· First shorthand manual published |
William Byrd: Psalms, Sonnets and Songs |
|
|
1589 |
· Henry IV starts the Bourbon Dynasty in France
· Lisbon rebuffs Drake's overwhelming numbers in series of attacks |
Giovanni Palestrina: Stabat Mater |
|
|
1591 |
Pope Gregory XIV excommunicates French King Henry IV |
William Byrd: My Lady Nevelle's Book |
|
|
1592 |
· British Columbia discovered by Juan de Fuca
· Buried city of Pompei unearthed |
· Monteverdi publishes third book of madrigals
· William Byrd: Mass for Four Voices |
|
|
1593 |
· Christopher Marlowe killed in bar fight
· El Greco: The Crucifixion/The Resurrection |
|
Paolo Agostini born |
|
1594 |
· Huguenots granted freedom of worship
· Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet |
|
· Giovanni Palestrina died
· Orlando di Lasso died |
|
1595 |
France goes to war with Spain |
· Thomas Morley: Now is the Month of Maying
· William Byrd: John, Come Kiss Me Now |
|
|
1596 |
· Galileo invents thermometer
· Indoor toilets installed at Queen's Palace (Richmond) |
|
Nicola Amati born |
|
1597 |
· England begins practice of sentencing convicts to be shipped to American colonies
· Sir Francis Bacon: Essays, Civil & Moral |
Thomas Morley: A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music |
|
|
1598 |
· Boris Godunov returns from exile to be Czar again
· Restoration of Shogunate in Japan |
|
Johann Cruger born |
|
1599 |
· Globe Theatre built (London)
· Shakespeare: Julius Ceasar, Twelfth Night |
|
Luca Marencio died |
