Don't think john william's excellent soundtrack is too much of a tchaikovsky rip off. The musicbox instrumentation is probably what's thrown everyone off. Incidentally it is played on mansun's brilliant album six.
Found this on the internet so here's a ctrl v
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19th Century
1867
Hipps invents the Electromechanical Piano in Neuchatel (Switzerland).
1876
Elisha Gray invents the Electroharmonic (an instrument that transmitted musical tones over wires). She was also the inventer of the telephone along with A. Graham Bell.
Koenig invents the Tonametric: and instrument divided four octaves into 670 equal parts made use of microtuning.
1877
Thomas Edison invents the Phonograph.
1880
Alexander Graham Bell invenstigates and patent several ways for transmitting and recording sound in laboratory in Washington, D.C. along with Charles S. Tainter.
1893
Eric Satie composes "Vexations" the first loop compositions for piano.
1895
Julian Carillo starts the construction of a serie of instruments to reproduce divisions as small as a sixteenth tone, including the Octavina for eighth tones and an Arpa Citera for sixteenth tones based in his theories of microtones, 96 tone scale.
1897
E.S. Votey invents the Pianola, an instrument that used a pre-punched, perforated paper roll moved over a capillary bridge.
1898
Valdemar Poulson patents the Telegraphone -the first magnetic recording machine.
1900-1929
1906
Thaddeus Cahill invents the Telharmonium -a device that produces music by an alternating current running dynamos- meaning the first additive synthesis device. The Telharmonium was formerly known as the Dynamophone.
1910
The first radio is broadcasted in NYC.
1912
Luigi Russolo founds the Italian Futurist movement and writes the manifesto Musica Futurista along with poet Filippo Marinetti stating that the current musical od instrumental music was dead.
1914
Luigi Russolo and Filippo Marinetti performs the first concert of Futurist music "Art of Noises" concert in Milan, Italy.
1916
The Dadá movement is born in Zurich.
1920
Leon Theremin (Russia) invents the Theremin (formerly named the Aetherophoneor).
1922
Darius Milhaud experiments with vocal transformation by phonograph speed changes.
1926
Jorg Mager (Germany) builds the Spharophon.
George Antheil composes Ballet Mechanique featuring an airplane propeller.
1928
Maurice Martenot builds the Ondes Martenot.
Friedrich Trautwein (Germany) builds the Trautonium. Composers such as Hindemith, Richard Strauss, and Varese wrote for it.
1929
Laurens Hammond (USA) builds the Hammond Organ using 91 rotary electromagnetic disk generators driven by a synchronous motor with associated gears and tone wheels, and additive synthesis.
30's-40's
1931
Henry Cowell (USA) builds the Rhythmicon with the collaboration of Leon Theremin.
1935
Allegemeine Elektrizitats Gesellschaft (Germany) built the first tape recorder named Magnetophon.
1938
Laurens Hammond (USA) builds the Novachord.
1939
John Cage starts experimenting with indeterminacy and composes "Imaginary Landscape No. 1" where performers use multiple record players changing the variable speed settings.
The first Vocoder -called "Parallel Bandpass Vocoder"- is produced by Hommer Dudley in New Jersey .
1940
The plastic audio tape is developed in the United States.
1944
Percy Grainger and Burnett Cross (USA) invent Mechanical invention for composing "Free Music" -a machine that "freed" music using 8 oscillators and synchronizing equipment in conjunction with photo-sensitive graph paper so the projected notation is converted into sound.
1945
Harry Chamberlin invents The Chamberlin, a keyboard predecesor of The Mellotron that works with pre-recorded sample tapes.
Samuel Hoffman plays the Theremin in the soundtrack of Alfred Hitchcok's film "Spellbound" and makes it's sound popular.
1947
Georges Jenny (France) builds The Ondioline.
Constant Martin (France) builds the Solovox and the Clavioline.
Bell Labs (USA) produce the solid state transistor.
1948
John Scott Trotter (USA) builds a composition machine for popular music.
Hugh LeCaine (Canada) built the Electronic Sakbutt, an instrument that actually sounded like a cello.
Pierre Schaeffer produces several works of Musique Concrete, including "Symphonie pour un Homme Seul" along with Pierre Henry and Jacques Poullin. He also invents the Phonogene: a keyboard that could transpose a loop in 12 distinct steps.
Olivier Messiaen composes his "Mode de Valeurs et d'Intensities" -a piano composition that established scales of duration, loudness, and attack.
Harald Bode (Germany) invents The Melochord.
50's
1950
Luciano Berio (Italy) establishes the Milan Studio for investigation of electronic music.
1951
Clara Rockmore starts performing on the Theremin worldwide.
The Groupe de Musique Concrete is established in Paris including Georges Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and George Barraque, opening the RTF studio.
John Cage presents "Music of Changes" -a work of indeterminacy based on the the Chinese book of Oracles "I Ching".
Eimert and Beyer produce the first compositions using electronically-generated pitches.
1952
Herbert Eimert extablishes The Cologne station of Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk and is soon joined by Stockhausen to create Elektronische Musik.
John Cage composes "4'33" using only sounds produced by the audience.
The first portable keyboard synthesizer -the Clavivox - is invented by Raymond Scott using Robert Moog's circuitry.
1953
Robert Beyer, Werner Meyer-Eppler and Eismert start experimenting with electronically-generated sounds.
Louis and Bebe Baron produce soundtracks for sci-fi films like "Forbidden Planet" using electronic sounds.
Karlheinz Stockhausen composes "Studie I" and "Studie II" using complex synthesized sounds from simple pure frequencies.
1954
The Cologne Radio Series "Music of Our Time" start using only electronically-generated sounds.
1955
Harry Olson and Belar (USA) invent the Electronic Music Synthesizer -called the Olson-Belar Sound Synthesizer-, a synthesizer that uses sawtooth waves and filters.
The Columbia-Princeton Studio establishes for the investigation of electronic music.
Lejaren Hiller and Leonard Isaacson compose the "Illiac String Quartet" being the first piece of computer-generated music, using a Univac computer at the University of Illinois
Karlheinz Stockhausen composes "Gesang der Junglinge" using samples of boys' voices and synthesized sounds, composed for four loudspeakers.
Martin Klein and Douglas Bolitho (USA) use a Datatron computer called Push-Button Bertha to compose popular tunes derived from random numerical data.
1958
Edgard Varese composes "Poeme Electronique" for the World's Fair, Brussels and is performed on 425 loudspeakers being one of the first large-scale multimedia productions.
Iannis Xenakis composes "Concret PH" using as a single sound source an amplified burning charcoal.
1959
Karlheinz Stockhausen composes "Kontakte" for four-channel tape.
Mauricio Kagel (Argentina) composes "Transicion II" being the first piece using a tape recorder as part of the live performance.
Max Mathews starts experimenting with computer programs to create sound material at Bell Labsand write "MUSIC4", the first wide-spread computer sound synthesis program.
Raymond Scott builds the first sequencer-"the Wall of Sound"-.
Wurlitzer produces the first drum machine: the Wurlitzer Sideman.
The RCA Mark II synthesizer is built at Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center containing oscillators and noise generators, and a conventional equal-tempered 12-note scale.
60's
1960
Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros, and Ramon Sender establish the San Francisco Tape Music Center.
John Cage composes "Cartridge Music" for several performers playing gramophone cartridges and amplifying different objects.
1961
The first electronic music concerts at the Columbia-Princeton Studio are held, including Edgar Varese's "Deserts".
Robert Moog and Herbert Deutsch create a voltage-controlled synthesizer.
Gottfried Michael Koenig use PR-1, a computer program to provide data to calculate structure in musical composition.
Milton Babbitt composes "Ensembles for Synthesizer" at the Columbia-Princeton Studio.
1963
Lejaren Hiller and Robert Baker compose the "Computer Cantata" .
Raymond Scott releases "Soothing Sound for Baby" being a pioneering work of Ambient electronica.
Moog releases the first modular system.
Don Buchla produces the 100 Modular Electronic System.
1964
Karlheinz Stockhausen composes "Mikrophonie I" using microphones moving around the instrumenta to pick up different timbres and electronic processing.
1965
Steve Reich composes "It's Gonna Rain".
The first Mellotron is produced.
1966
The Moog Quartet perform world-wide concerts.
Pop band The Beach Boys release "Pet Sounds" featuring electronic manipulation, samples, and a Theremin.
The Beatles use tape manipulation methods in the album "Revolver".
The Psychedelic secene starts in San Francisco.
Herbie Hancock writes the score to Michelangelo Antonioni's film "Blow Up" becaming one of the pioneer classic albums of Acid Jazz.
Jean Jacques Perrey records his first solo album "The In Sound from Way Out!" and started his famous serie of recording based in the use of the Moog synthesizer.
1967
Walter Carlos records "Switched on Bach" using a Moog modular synthesizer.
Iannis Xenakis writes "Musiques Formelles" which is the first studio of granular synthesis.
Morton Subotnick records "Silver Apples of the Moon".
The Hippy culture arises in San Francisco during the "Summer of Love".
The Beatles release "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" featuring electronic manipulation and samples.
1968
Bruce Haack releases "The Way Out Record for Children" -a precedent to the work of Synth Pop.
Walter Carlos releases "Switched On Bach" popularizing the Moog synthesizer and earning three Grammy Awards.
Pshychedelic band The Grateful Dead records "Anthem of the Sun" featuring electronic manipulation.
Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention records "Uncle Meat" using different ways of electronic manipulation.
Reggae scene starts in Jamaica. The first "toasting" is born as a precedent of the Rap. At the same time first Dub is produced.
The first Dub is produced in Jamaica, producers like Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Clement Dodd, and Bunny Lee do the first remixes ever.
1969
Terry Riley writes "Rainbow" in the Rock band Curved Air .
Francis Lee and Chuck Bagnaschi create American Data Sciences (later Lexicon) to develop digital audio devices such digital audio delays and reverberation and effects processors to recording studios.
Francis Grasso starts inventing the first DJing techniques at the Sanctuary club in New York.
King Crimson releases "In the Court of the Crimson King", an album that features a fusion of sound experimentation and Rock, influencing the next generation of Progressive Rock and Avant-Garde artists.
70's
1970
Krautrock band KLUSTER is formed and release the debut "Klopfzeichen", a pioneer work of Space Rock.
The Minimoog -first commercial portable synthesizer- is produced.
Glam scene started in London by the hand of artists like David Bowie, and Roxy Music.
Tangerine Dream release "Electronic Meditation", one of the most advanced experimental works of electronic music.
1971
Krautrock band Can release "Tago Mago" becoming one of the most influencial bands for the future generation of electronic, Experimental, and Punk generations, and being pioneers in the use of the drum machine.
Conrad Schnitzler starts a trilogy of albums ("Schwartz", "Blau", and "Rot") that meant the first ultra-minimalism works in electronic music.
Don Buchla produces his model 500 hybrid analog synthesizer digitally controled.
Kraftwerk releases "Kraftwerk 2" featuring drum machines.
1972
Neu! release the debut album "Neu!", an innovative work experimental Rock featuring some of the most pioneering Punk and minimalist music from the 20th Century.
Stevie Wonder releases "Talking Book", one of the most influencial albums of the Funk sound in the decade.
Vangelis starts a solo career becoming one of the first European keyboardists who experimenting and composing with electronic devices such as synthesizers and sequencers.
1973
Fripp and Eno release "No Poosyfooting", a pioneer work of Ambient and Loop electronica.
Mike Oldfield releases "Tubular Bells", a pioneer work of Ambient music.
Pink Floyd release "The Dark Side of the Moon" combining techniques of loops, sequencial synthesis, sampling, and drew a creative bridge between Rock and Ambient experimental and Avant-Garde music.
Rolf-Urich Kaiser establish the Cosmic Couriers collective of Kosmiche Music.
Rick Wakeman releases "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" featuring numerous electronic instruments and keyboards becoming the first electronic solo artist in the history of Pop music to reach the status of super-star.
Herbie Hancock releases "Head Hunters", one of the finests works Funk musicand introduce the use of synthersizers and modular systems in Jazz.
Tangerine Dream release "Phaedra" starting a series of records that drew the guidelines of the electronic spacial music.
The COUM Transmissions collective, formed in London with members from Throbbing Gristle, start a series of extreme performances and pioneer the Industrial scene.
Keith Emerson is the first artist to perform live playing a modular system.
1974
The underground Punk scene starts in New York and London under the influence of the Krautrock generation.
RMI introduces the first digital synthesizer to the market: the Harmonic Synthesizer.
Tomita releases the debut album "Snowflakes are Dancing" reaching the top 50's of the pop charts and receiving 4 nominations for Grammy awards.
1975
Kraftwerk releases the Synth Pop album "Radio-Activity", becoming one of the most influencial albums for the future generations of electronic music.
RMI produces the first popular digital synthesizer: the Synclavier.
The Disco era starts in New York's clubs by the hand of producers like Giorgio Moroder and Tom Moulton. Moulton invents the 12" single and the "Disco-Mix"
The underground Hip Hop scene emerges in New Yok's Bronx and Brooklyn neighborhoods.
1976
Grandmaster Flash releases his first album "Super Rappin'" with his new band The Furious Five, one of the first commercial albums of Hip Hop.
Jean Michelle Jarre releases his first album "Oxygene" which became a hit in the top charts and becomes one of the most important commercial success in the history of electronic music.
1977
Kraftwerk releases "Trans-europe Express ", another influencial album in electronic music.
David Bowie starts a series of 3 albums in Berlin produced by Brian Eno that would influence the whole Synth Pop and New Wave generations.
Throbbing Gristle release the debut album "Second Annual Report", a pioneer work of Industrial electronic music.
1978
Brian Eno coins the term "Ambient Music" in his album "Music for Airports".
1979
Gary Numan releases "Replicas" an influencial work of the Electro Pop genre.
The Industrial scene starts in the UK by the hand of Industrial Recordsand artists from Sheffield such as Cabaret Voltaire, and Clock DVA.
Cabaret Voltaire release "Mix Up" using tape loops and sampled "noise" being pioneers of the Industrial, Synth Pop, and Techno
genres.
80's
1980
Sugarhill Gang releases "Rapper's Delight" taking the Hip Hop culture to the mainstream.
The first digital sampler-keyboard -Fairlight CMI- is produced.
1981
Cabaret Voltaire release "Red Mecca", one of the most influencial elctronic albums of the decade.
Morton Subotnick writes "Ascent Into Air " in a 4C computer using techniques of spatially location sounds in a quadraphonic field and modulating sound timbres, being a precedent of the the MIDI.
The Human League release "Dare" becoming one of the most famous bands from the New Wave and New Romantic scene in the UK.
Juan Atkins , Kevin Saunderson , and Derrick May found the Deep Space Soundworks collective and later Detroit's Music Institute, which was one of the most important underground foundations of the Detroit Techno scene.
The first affordable digital sampler -E-MU's Emulator- is produced.
Soft Cell release the single "Tainted Love" becaming the best selling British single of the year and becaming one of the representative Synth Pop bands from the 80's.
1982
Masami Akita -aka Merzbow- establishes the very first Noise label: Lowest Music & Arts.
The Goth scene emerges in Europe.
The House scene starts in Chicago by the hand of Frankie Knuckles at the Warehouse club, who had been been resident since 1977.
Mike Harding and Jon Wozencroft found in London Touch: one of the UK essential labels for experimental music.
1983
Yamaha launches the first fully MIDI synthesizer -Yamaha DX7-.
Jesse Saunders releases the first House record ever : "On & On".
Front 242 invent the EBM with the release of the 12" "Endless Riddance".
Depeche Mode releases the album "Construction Time Again", becoming one of the most influencial Synth Pop bands of the decade.
1984
Willian Gibson publishes "Neuromante" and originates the Cyberpunk culture.
1986
Afrika Bambaataa releases "Planet Rock", a classic Hip Hop album which established the bases of Techno and Electro genres.
Detroit Techno scene is born by the hand of DJs like Juan Atkins , Kevin Saunderson , and Derrick May.
Garage scene starts in New York in the "Paradise Garage" club whose resident dj is Larry Levan.
1987
The Acid House scene starts in Chicago by the hand of Herbert J, DJ Pierre and Spanky.
The Acid House scene starts in Manchester.
European clubs such as Ministry of Sound and Cream arrive to Ibiza carrying the Trance scene to the island. In the meantime .Paul Oakenfold import the Balearic scene from Ibiza to London.
Deep House scene starts in New Jersey.
Warp label is founded in Sheffield by Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell becoming one of the most significant European electronic labels of the decade.
1988
808 State release the debut album "Newbuild", a classic from the UK's Acid House scene.
The Rave scene starts in London with the "Summer of Love".
Gilles Peterson founds the Acid Jazz label becaming the home of some of the most representative Acid Jazz artists from the 90's
1989
The first Loveparade is celebrated in Berlin featuring just 150 people.
Trip Hop scene emerges in Bristol by the hand of the the Wild Bunch collective.
90's
1990
LFO releases the debut single "LFO" reaching no. 10 in the national charts and starting the Techno Bleep sound.
Underground Resistance is formed by Jeff Mills, Mike Banks,Robert Hood, and Alan Oldman, becoming the most influential Techno band in the decade.
1991
Massive Attack release the debut album "Blue Lines" making popular the Bristol Trip Hop scene.
Gabber scene starts in Rotherdam by the hand of artists like Paul Elstak and Darkraver.
Trance scene starts in Frankfurt by the hand ofs artists like Sven Vath , Paul Van Dyke and , Laurent Garnier.
1992
Frankie Bones starts organizing parties atracting an audience of 5,000 people, and spreading the Rave scene in the U.S.
The Goa Trance scene starts taking shape in the Western island.
Jungle scene starts at the "Jungle" club in London where artists like DJ Hype mix House music and Hip Hop at 45 rpm.
Moonshine Music is founded becoming the main platform to spread dance music to a wider audience in the U.S.
1993
Aphex Twin releases "Selected Ambient Works 85-92", compliling some of the most influencial Ambient works.
Björk releases the "Debut" album fusioning Pop music with different genres of electronic music and other genres.
Plastikman releases the debut album "Sheet One", one of the main Minimal Techno albums from the decade.
Speed Garage emerges in UK.
1994
Loveparade in Berlin is attended by more than 120,000 people.
The Drum 'N' Bass scene is born in London by the hand of several artists from the Metalheadz collective.
Future Sound of London is the first band to record live using ISDN transmissions via telephone right from their studio to radio stations in the recording of the "ISDN" album.
Tricky releases debut album "Maxinquaye", one of the most influencial works of the 90's, featuring a very personal fusion of Trip Hop, and other genres.
Ramon Bauer, Peter Meininger and Andreas Pieper found the Austrian label Mego, an imprescindible referenfe for the electronic music of the 90's.
1995
Chemical Brothers release "Exit Planet Dust " making the Big Beat popular and taking electronic music to the mainstream.
Pansonic release the debut album "Vakio" -one of the most influencial Experimental electronica works of the decade.
DJ Spooky releases the debut album "Songs of a Dead Dreamer", a pioneer work of Illbient.
Goldie releases the debut album "Timeless", one of the most important works of early Drum 'N' Bass.
Hardhouse is born in Chicago by the hand of artists such as Paul Johnson, Cajmere, and Bad Boy Bill.
1996
Armando releases the album "One World One Future" compiling his classic tracks and dies in December 17th of leukemia.
808 State release the debut album "Newbuild", a classic from the UK's Acid House scene.
Techno Bass emerges in Detroit and Miami.
Electro is recovered by artists like Anthony Rother and DJ Assault.
Hallucinogen's first release "Twisted" becames one of the pioneer records of Psychedelic Trance in the UK.
Hardstep genre is born.
Hard Trance starts in Frankfurt by the hand of Pascal F.E.O.S,and DJ Scot.
1997
Roni Size's Reprazent release the debut album "New Forms" becoming one of the most reputed Drum 'N' Bass works of the decade.
Speedbass is born in San Francisco.
1999
Glitch aesthetic is born by the hand of digital artists like Pan Sonic, Noto, Taylor Deupree and Kim Cascone.
Raster Noton label is born from the fusionof Raster Music and Noton labels, becoming one of the most important experimental and minimal platforms.
00's
2000
Mille Plateaux label releases the "Clicks and Cuts" compilation featuring the most relevant artists of the Clicks and Cuts aesthetic.
2001
The 1st Electroclash festival is celebrated in New York as a reflection of a growing scene in USA and other European cities.
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Currently, 2002-2005, there's the entire folktronica scene, cut ups from guys like four tet, and a resurgance of folk, dubbed free folk from guys like devendra barnhart and joanna newsom. Not to mention that remarkably interesting latest album from venetian snares where he applies his 7/8 jump edits drill and bass techniques to ... classical music. If only the stores here would stock it. This'll be the most interesting decade yet.
