early music

American  

noun

1. music of the medieval, Renaissance, and early Baroque periods, especially revived and played on period instruments; European music after ancient music and before the classical music era, from the beginning of the Middle Ages to about 1750.

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early music British  

noun

1. music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, sometimes also including music of the baroque and early classical periods

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1. of or denoting an approach to musical performance emphasizing the use of period instruments and historically researched scores and playing techniques

   the early-music movement

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• early musician
  noun
• early-music
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of early music

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

Spears had phenomenal early music success in the late 1990s with hits like "...Baby One More Time" but has largely stepped back from music in recent years.

From Barron's • Apr. 30, 2026

Their early music, often represented by their first full album Dark & Wild in 2014, leaned heavily on hip-hop, set to the tune of intense beats.

From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026

“Ultimate Rose” from Salvatore Sciarrino’s 1981 opera, “Vanitas,” turns early music, along with vocal and cello production, marvelously inside out.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 19, 2026

Yet while “life happened,” as Simpson puts it, the serrated guitars and snotty-sweet vocals of her early music emerged as a key influence on younger artists making new connections between pop, rock and punk.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 26, 2025

Kassia’s haunting music has recendy been recorded for the first time in a thousand years, and it rather gracefully refutes the assumption that the development of early music is exclusively the handiwork of men.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall