Listen. Notice. Connect.
Music through time
Explore music across time, place and style.
48 pieces shown
Medieval
500–1400
Baroque
1600–1750
Classical
1750–1820
Romantic
1820–1900
20th century
1900–2000
Symphonic Variations on an African Air
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
1906
20th-century orchestral
Mars from The Planets
Gustav Holst
1914
20th-century orchestral
English Folk Song Suite
Ralph Vaughan Williams
1923
English orchestral & folk
Bolero
Maurice Ravel
1928
20th-century orchestral
This Little Babe from A Ceremony of Carols
Benjamin Britten
1942
20th-century choral
For the Beauty of the Earth
John Rutter
1980
Modern sacred choralContemporary
2000–present
Jazz & blues
Improvisation, swing and blues expression
Runaway Blues
Ma Rainey
1920s
Blues
A-Tisket, A-Tasket
Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb and His Orchestra
1938
Vocal swing jazz
Take the ‘A’ Train
Billy Strayhorn / Duke Ellington Orchestra
1939
Big-band jazz
C Jam Blues
Duke Ellington Orchestra
1942
Big-band jazz & blues
Every Day I Have the Blues
B. B. King
1955
Electric bluesPopular & electronic
Rock, pop, funk, R&B and electronic sound
Hound Dog
Elvis Presley
1956
Rock and roll
I Got You (I Feel Good)
James Brown
1965
Soul / funk
With a Little Help from My Friends
The Beatles
1967
Pop / rock
Le Freak
Chic
1978
Disco / funk
Smalltown Boy
Bronski Beat
1984
Synth-pop
Play Dead
Björk
1993
Art pop
Wonderwall
Oasis
1995
Britpop / rock
Say My Name
Destiny’s Child
1999
R&B
Fanfarra (Cabua-Le-Le)
Sérgio Mendes / Carlinhos Brown
2006
Brazilian samba-influenced pop
Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire
A. R. Rahman
2008
Indian filmi-pop
Wild Man
Kate Bush
2011
Art pop
Connect It
Anna Meredith
2010s
Contemporary acoustic / electronicLiving traditions
Music shaped by communities, place and continuing practice
Sea Shanties
Various traditional singers
Traditional
Maritime work song
Baris
Gong Kebyar of Peliatan
Living tradition
Balinese gamelan
Jin-Go-La-Ba (Drums of Passion)
Babatunde Olatunji
1959
Yoruba-influenced drumming
Sahela Re
Kishori Amonkar
20th century
Indian classical
Libertango
Astor Piazzolla
1974
Argentine tango nuevo
Bhabiye Akh Larr Gayee
Bhujhangy Group
20th century
British Punjabi bhangra
Tropical Bird
Trinidad Steel Band
Living tradition
Trinidadian steel band
Faraó (Divindade do Egito)
Olodum
1987
Samba-reggae / bloco afro
Inkanyezi Nezazi
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
20th century
South African isicathamiya
Sprinting Gazelle
Reem Kelani
2006
Palestinian / Arabic contemporary