Classical Music Warped Timeline: Part II

A few years ago, I wrote this post with warped timeline facts about classical music. It blew up on Instagram, with several symphony orchestras around the world sharing the video version.

Today, I’m sharing even more warped timeline facts about classical music that will mess with your perception of time!

• György Ligeti was alive when Facebook launched. Facebook launched in 2004, and Ligeti passed away in 2006.
• People didn’t know about dinosaurs at the time of the clarinet’s creation. The clarinet was invented around 1700, more than a century before scientists began identifying dinosaurs as a distinct group. A fossil now thought to be from a dinosaur had been illustrated as early as 1677, but its true identity wasn’t understood
• The metronome didn’t exist during Mozart’s lifetime. It was invented in 1812 and patented in 1815-1816, whereas Mozart wrote his famous clarinet concerto in 1791. (For this matter, the metronome also didn’t exist when Weber wrote his Concertino or Concerto No. 1.) Learn more about the history of the metronome here.
• Jean Sibelius lived during the first coast-to-coast color TV broadcast. The first TV broadcast in color was a coast-to-coast broadcast by NBC in 1954, and Sibelius died in 1957.
• Berlioz theoretically could have ridden one of the first roller coasters in the world. The world’s first wheeled and tracked roller coaster was opening in Paris in 1817 (called the Promenades-Aériennes), and Berlioz moved to Paris in 1821. Who’s to say he didn’t take a break from composing by riding this early roller coaster? (Note: There is no evidence to support this – I just like to imagine the possibility of Berlioz riding a roller coaster!)
• Olivier Messiaen was alive during the premiere of The Simpsons. The Simpsons premiered in 1989, and Messiaen died in 1992.
• Respighi used electronics in his music. In the third movement of Pines of Rome, Respighi used a recording of a nightingale, making it an early use of electronics in music.
• The Aztec Empire is older than tonality. The Aztec Empire dates back to the 15th century, whereas codified major-minor tonality in music began in the late-16th century.
• Carl Maria von Weber may have been alive when the oldest surviving camera photograph was made. The image, created by Nicéphore Niépce, is dated to 1826 or 1827, and Weber died in June 1826
• Maurice Ravel was alive during the premiere of the first Disney feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This film premiered on December 21, 1937, and Ravel passed away only a week later on December 28, 1937.

Which of these facts is the most interesting to you?