Medieval music

Medieval music encompasses the sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the first and longest major era of Western classical music and followed by the Renaissance music; the two eras comprise what musicologists generally term as early music, preceding the common practice period. Following the traditional division of the Middle Ages, medieval music can be divided into Early (500–1000), High (1000–1300), and Late (1300–1400) medieval music.

Early music . Medieval music . Renaissance music
Other topics: Classical music
Part of a series on
Medieval music
Overview
Movements and schools
Major figures
Major forms
Major eras of
Western classical music
Early music
Medieval c. 500–1400
Transition to Renaissance
Renaissance c. 1400–1600
Transition to Baroque
Common practice period
Baroque c. 1600–1750
Transition to Classical
Classical c. 1730–1820
Transition to Romantic
Romantic c. 1800–1910
Transition to Modernism
Neue Musik
Modernism c. 1890–1975
Transition to Postmodernism
Postmodernism from c. 1960
Contemporary from c. 1945
 • 20th-century
 • 21st-century

Medieval music includes liturgical music used for the church, other sacred music, and secular or non-religious music. Much medieval music is purely vocal music, such as Gregorian chant. Other music used only instruments or both voices and instruments (typically with the instruments accompanying the voices).

The medieval period saw the creation and adaptation of systems of music notation which enabled creators to document and transmit musical ideas more easily, although notation coexisted with and complemented oral tradition.

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