Early music is
Western art music prior to the
Classical era, comprising
Ancient music (before 500 AD),
Medieval music (500–1400) and
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 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."