Early music
| Periods and eras of Western classical music |
|
|---|---|
| Early | |
| Medieval | c. 500–1400 |
| Renaissance | c. 1400–1600 |
| Common practice | |
| Baroque | c. 1600–1750 |
| Classical | c. 1730–1820 |
| Romantic | c. 1780–1910 |
| Impressionist | c. 1875–1925 |
| Modern and contemporary | |
| c. 1890–1975 | |
| 20th century | (1900–2000) |
| c. 1975–present | |
| 21st century | (2000–present) |
| Music eras | |
|---|---|
| Prehistoric | |
| Ancient | before 500 AD |
| Early | c. 500–1760 |
| Common practice | c. 1600–1900 |
| c. 1900–present | |
Early music is music, especially Western art music, composed prior to the Classical era. The term generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1760), and, according to some authorities such as Kennedy (who excludes Baroque),Ancient music (before 500 AD). According to the UK's National Centre for Early Music, the term "early music" refers to both a repertory (European music written between 1250 and 1750 embracing Medieval, Renaissance and the Baroque) – and a historically informed approach to the performance of that music. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises, instruments and other contemporary evidence."
According to Margaret Bent, "Renaissance notation is under-prescriptive by our standards; when translated into modern form it acquires a prescriptive weight that overspecifies and distorts its original openness. Accidentals … may or may not have been notated, but what modern notation requires would then have been perfectly apparent without notation to a singer versed in counterpoint".
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