Neanderthals carve a flute from the leg bone of a young bear, in the region that is now Slovenia

The harp and the lyre are in use as musical instruments in Mesopotamia

Some ninety royal servants, including soldiers, grooms and female musicians, are buried alive in the tomb of a royal couple at Ur

A copper trumpet is in use in Egypt, forerunner of the brass instruments of the orchestra

The followers of Pythagoras discover the mathematical basis of the octave

The organ, using a mechanical device to pump air through a set of musical pipes, is invented in Alexandria by Ctesibius

Ritual intoning of the psalms, derived from Jewish synagogues, is formalized in Christian worship as Gregorian chant

Polyphony brings new complexity of interweaving vocal lines, in the choral singing of abbey or cathedral

Philippe de Vitry, in his Ars Nova ('New Art'), lays out the basis of musical notation

The keyboard of the organ is adapted in Germany to strings, thus providing the harpsichord - first mentioned in a manuscript of this year

Guilds of singers and song-writers develop in German towns, calling themselves Meistersinger, or master singers

The new pope, Sixtus IV, secures his name in history, establishing the Sistine chapel and the Sistine choir

Dafne is performed in Florence, becoming the first example of a new art form - opera

A performance in the Oratory in Rome, with music by Emilio de' Cavalieri, is in effect the first oratorio

Claudio Monteverdi presents Orfeo, the first opera to win a lasting place in the international repertory

The first public opera house, the Teatro San Cassiano, opens in Venice

Louis XIV establishes a royal dancing academy and soon follows it with a music academy

19-year-old Alessandro Scarlatti has a great success in Rome with Gli Equivoci nel Sembiante, the first of his 115 operas

Young gentlewomen in Chelsea give the first performance of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas

Domenico Scarlatti gets his first teacher

In his opera La Caduta de' Decemviri, Alessandro Scarlatti introduces a new form of prelude, later known as the Italian overture, which is an important stage in the development of the symphony

A maker of harpsichords in Florence, Bartolomeo Cristofori, develops the piano ('soft') and forte ('loud') feature which leads to the piano

In a friendly keyboard contest in Rome between Handel and Domenico Scarlatti, the result is a draw – Handel being the winner on the organ and Scarlatti on the harpsichord

Handel's success in London with his opera Rinaldo prompts him to settle in Britain

The violinist Archangelo Corelli composes his Christmas Concerto, the best known of his influential group of twelve Concerti Grossi