In the context of European classical music, which had its best-known pieces written in the 1700s & 1800s, the "early music" means earlier than that.
In this way, early music usually designates the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods of Western music.
Medieval music is Western music written during the Middle Ages. This era begins with the fall of the Roman Empire.
Consensus among music historians – with notable dissent – has been to start the Renaissance era music around 1400, with the end of the medieval era, and to close it around 1600, with the beginning of the Baroque period, therefore commencing the musical Renaissance about a hundred years after the beginning of the Renaissance as understood in other disciplines.
Baroque music is a style of Western art music composed from approximately 1600 to 1750. This era was followed by the Classical era. The word "baroque" comes from the Portuguese word barroco, meaning misshapen pearl, a negative description of the ornate and heavily ornamented music of this period. Later, the name came to apply also to the architecture of the same period.
(All the info above is compiled from Wikipedia).
Juilliard musicians share their talent with the community in these free, hour-long lunchtime concerts on Wednesday afternoons throughout the season.
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