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

• early musician noun
• early-music adjective

Etymology

Origin of early music

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

Gabriel Crouch, who serves as music director, is a longtime member of the early music community as singer and conductor.

From Los Angeles Times

It's a very different picture from their early music videos, with the band performing synchronised dance moves in dark rooms under bright lights, or striding through the streets in tank tops preaching the virtues of One Love.

From BBC

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

HIP came about when the early music movement discovered that trying to re-create, say, the way a Handel opera might have sounded in the 18th century by using period instruments with what was believed to be period practice techniques proved deadly boring.

From Los Angeles Times

The music was all of our time with the exception of three small pieces of early music, but even that was modernized.

From Los Angeles Times