Henry Purcell, 1659 - 1695, was a British composer of the Baroque time period. He is one of the greatest English composers of all time. He wrote music for the courts and eventually wrote for theater as well. His last work was the funeral music for Queen Mary, he died a few weeks later and his last composition was played at his own funeral.
Read MoreFrancesca Caccini (1587 - 1645) was an Italian female composer and music teacher. She came from a strong msuical family, worked for the highly influential Medici family, and even composed a song for the artist/poet Michaelangelo the Younger (the grand nephew of the famous Michealangelo). She was the first woman to have written and published an Opera, La Liberazione di Ruggiero.
Read MoreClaude Guodimel (1514 - 1572), a French composer who arranged four part harmonies for all 150 of the psalms. The arrangements were simple and popular enough that people would often sing the psalms at home rather than just in church.
Read MoreGuido d'Arezzo (991 - 1033) was a Benedictine monk who created the still used system for written music. Prior to Guido, music was passed on through hearing and memorizing. After Guido's system of written notes on lines and spaces, music was able to spread around the world and beyond the present.
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