Early music
| Periods and eras of Western classical music | |
|---|---|
| Early period | |
| Medieval era | c. 500–1400 |
| Renaissance era | c. 1400–1600 |
| Common practice period | |
| Baroque era | c. 1600–1760 |
| Classical era or period | c. 1730–1820 |
| Romantic era | c. 1780–1910 |
| Modern and contemporary period | |
| Modern and high modern (style era) | c. 1890–1975 |
| 20th century (calendar era) | 1900–2000 |
| Contemporary or postmodern (style era) | c. 1975–present |
| 21st century (calendar era) | 2000–present |
Early music is Western classical music prior to the Baroque era,[1] comprising Medieval music (500–1400) and the Renaissance music (1400–1600). 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 an historically informed approach to the performance of that music.[2] 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."[3]
Revival
Performance practice
| Musical eras | |
| Prehistoric | |
| Ancient | (before 500 AD) |
| Early | (500–1760) |
| Common practice | (1600–1900) |
| Modern and contemporary | (1900–present) |
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".[4]
See also
- Ancient music
- List of early music ensembles
- Early music festivals
- History of music
- Neo-Medieval music
Sources
- ↑ Michael Kennedy, "Early Music"", in The Oxford Dictionary of Music, second revised edition, Associate Editor Joyce Bourne. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-19-869162-9.
- ↑ "About Us". National Centre for Early Music. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
- ↑ Harry Haskell, "Early Music", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001.
- ↑ Bent, Margaret. 1998. "The Grammar of Early Music: Preconditions for Analysis", p. 25. In Tonal Structures in Early Music, edited by Cristle Collins Judd, 15–59. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities 1998; Criticism and Analysis of Early Music 1. New York: Garland Publishing. ISBN 0-8153-2388-3.
Further reading
- Davidson, Audrey Ekdahl. 2008. Aspects of Early Music and Performance. New York: AMS Press. ISBN 978-0-404-64601-1.
- Donington, Robert. 1989. The Interpretation of Early Music, new revised edition. London and Boston: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-15040-3.
- Epp, Maureen, and Brian E. Power (eds.). 2009. The Sounds and Sights of Performance in Early Music: Essays in Honour of Timothy J. Mcgee. Farnham, Surrey (UK); Burlington, VT: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-5483-4.
- Haskell, Harry. 1988. The Early Music Revival: A History. London and New York: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-01449-3.
- Haynes, Bruce. 2007. The End of Early Music: A Period Performer's History of Music for the Twenty-First Century. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-518987-2.
- Judd, Cristle Collins. 1998. "Introduction: Analyzing Early Music". In Tonal Structures in Early Music, edited by Cristle Collins Judd, 3–13. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities 1998; Criticism and Analysis of Early Music 1. New York: Garland Publishing. ISBN 0-8153-2388-3.
- Kelly, Thomas Forrest. 2011. Early Music: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-973076-6.
- Roche, Jerome, and Elizabeth Roche. 1981. A Dictionary of Early Music: From the Troubadours to Monteverdi. London: Faber Music in association with Faber & Faber; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-571-10035-X (UK, cloth); ISBN 0-571-10036-8 (UK, pbk); ISBN 0-19-520255-4 (US, cloth).
- Sherman, Bernard. 1997. Inside Early Music: Conversations with Performers. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509708-4.
- Stevens, Denis. 1997. Early Music, revised edition. Yehudi Menuhin Music Guides. London: Kahn & Averill. ISBN 1-871082-62-5. First published as Musicology (London: Macdonald & Co. Ltd, 1980).
External links
- Early Music FAQ
- Renaissance Workshop Company the company which has saved many rare and some relatively unknown instruments from extinction.
- Early Music Radio – Celebrating Early Music and Early Music Performance
- Early MusiChicago – Early Music in Chicago and Beyond, with many links and resources of general interest
- Ancient Tunes, Young Ears: Teaching Early Music to Kids
- The Waits Website (designed to accumulate and disseminate historical information on Waits, and to advertise the growing number of revival bands, as well as their equivalents throughout Europe).