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Description of Early

 
Early Music refers to compositions of the Medieval and Renaissance eras. From the haunting parallel voices of a group of Gregorian monks to the sublime French polyphony of poet/musician Guillaume de Machaut, much Early Music reflects the strong Catholic influence that governed the works of this era. Secular musicians -- troubadours, minstrels, etc. -- helped bring wind, string and percussion instruments into prominence, which were then assimilated into the works of more respected composers. In recent years, many contemporary ensembles have rediscovered the power of stark polyphonic pieces by church composers like Giovanni Da Palestrina, and the chromatic, oddly modern-sounding madrigals of Carlo Gesualdo, whose music flourished before the rules of harmony were standardized in the Baroque and Classical periods.
 

Top Early Tracks

 
Play Track Artist Price
1. II. Psalm 109: Dixit Dominus Claudio Monteverdi
$0.99
2. Justorum Animae William Byrd
$0.99
3. Motet- O Magnum Mysterium Giovanni da Palestrina
$0.99
4. Kingdom Hearts Slovak National Symphony Orchestra
$1.29
5. Missa Papae Marcelli: Kyrie Giovanni da Palestrina
$0.99
6. Le Nozze di Figaro, '(The) Marriage of Figaro' K492, ACT 3: Canzonetta sull'aria Gianna Rolandi
$0.99
7. Concerto in G major for 2 mandolines and strings RV532: II. Andante Sonia Maurer
$0.99
8. Serenade No. 10 in B flat 'Gran Partita' K361/370a: III. Adagio London Philharmonic Orchestra Wind Ensemble
$0.99
9. Clarinet Quintet in A K581: II. Larghetto Wiener Streichsextett
$0.99
10. Sancte Fiona Pears
$0.99
11. Halo Suite Marcus Henderson
$1.29
12. String Quintet in C D956 (1992 Digital Remaster): II. Adagio (opening) Laslo Varga
$0.99
13. Warcraft Suite Slovak National Symphony Orchestra
$0.99
14. Stabat Mater: Stabat Mater dolorosa The London Session Orchestra
$0.99
15. I viridissima virga Hildegard von Bingen
$0.99
16. Wood Carving Partitia Michiru Yamane
$0.99
17. Concerto for Clarinet and Strings: Slowly and Expressively Gerard Schwarz
$0.99
18. Schindler's List - Theme Ian Sutherland
$0.99
19. Konzert für Klarinette und Orchester A-dur KV 622 · Rekonstruierte Fassung für Bassettklarinette: II. Adagio Hans Vonk
$0.99
20. Any Other Name (American Beauty) Sally Herbert
$0.99
21. Miserere a 9 (vv.1-4 & 17-20) Timothy Beasley-Murray
$0.99
22. Vespro Della Beata Vergine-I. Deus In Adjutorium/ Domine Ad Adjuvandum Claudio Monteverdi
$0.99
23. Es ist ein Ros entsprungen Michael Praetorius
$0.99
24. 3. Adagio Neil Black
$0.99
25. Castlevania Slovak National Symphony Orchestra
$0.99
26. Ave Maria Josquin des Pres
$0.99
27. Rawhide Geoff Love
$0.99
28. Rusalka: Song to the Moon (Act I) Stefan Soltesz
$0.99
29. Motet- Surrexit Pastor Bonus Orlande de Lassus
$0.99
30. O Euchari Hildegard von Bingen
31. Lamento del Marchese Cinq-Mars Barbara Strozzi
32. 3. Polacca (Andantino vivace) Salvatore Accardo
33. La bohème (2007 Digital Remaster), Act One: Questo Mar Rosso mi ammollisce (Marcello/Rodolfo) Giuseppe Giuliano
$0.99
34. Advent Rising Suite Slovak National Symphony Orchestra
$0.99
35. Introitus Johannes Ockeghem
$0.99
36. Andante, un poco sostenuto - attacca: Salvatore Accardo
37. Mass in B minor BWV 232, Missa: Kyrie eleison (chorus) Ghent Chorus of Collegium Vocale
38. Carmina Burana: In trutina Highcliffe Junior Choir
$0.99
39. Ricercar Francesco da Milano
$0.99
40. Fantasia William Mundy
$0.99
41. Lost Painting Michiru Yamane
$0.99
42. La bohème (2007 Digital Remaster), Act One: Aguzza l'ingegno (Rodolfo/Marcello/Colline) Giuseppe Giuliano
$0.99
43. Ave Maria Fiona Pears
$0.99
44. 12. Sicut Erat In Principio Claudio Monteverdi
$0.99
45. God of War Montage (Live) Cindy Shapiro
$0.99
46. O successores ofrtissimi leonis Hildegard von Bingen
$0.99
47. Veni Creator Spiritus Hildegard von Bingen
$0.99
48. Canarios Gaspar Sanz
$0.99
49. Lakmé (Act I) (1987 Digital Remaster): Flower Duet Orchestre Du Theatre National De L'opera-comique
$0.99
50. Eighteenth Variation From Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini Op. 43 Amy Dorfman
$0.99
 

Early Key Albums

 
Consort Music and Songs
$7.99
Heavenly Revelations
$7.99
Mass for Four Voices / Motets
$7.99

 

Filed Under

 
 

Early Key Artists

 
Claudio Monteverdi

An early Baroque
composer, Monteverdi
borrowed many of his
melodies and scales from
the Medieval and Renaissa...

Consort Of Musicke

Lutenist Anthony Rooley
formed Consort of Musicke
in 1969 to play early music.
They perform English and
Italian works from the Re...

Don Carlo Gesualdo

When not murdering
people, this Italian Prince
wrote inventive and
progressive madrigals.

Giovanni da Palestrina

Church composer whose
life spanned the sixteenth
century. Plenty of voices
going every which way, all
singing about God. After t...

Giovanni Gabrieli

Gabrieli's music, born in
sixteenth century Venice,
demonstrates the earliest
beginnings of the Baroque
era. Giovanni Gabrieli (155...

Guillaume de Machaut

This French poet/musician
demonstrates the Ars Nova
musical style of the
fourteenth century.
Contemporary of Chaucer...

Guillaume Dufay

Dufay hung around with
popes in the fifteenth
century and wrote
complex vocal polyphony,
both sacred and secular.

Hildegard von Bingen

Born in 1098 and raised in a
convent, Hildegard became
a prolific author and an
advisor to popes and rulers.

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

Sweelinck's life as an
organist, composer, and
lifelong Amsterdam resident
straddled the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries.

Johannes Ockeghem

This fifteenth century
Dutchman achieved
success creating highly
complex contrapuntal
choral works, masses, an...

John Dowland

Dowland's a Londoner and
European court musician
best known for his lute
accompanied songs. His
sensitive technique was s...

Orlande de Lassus

Lassus' prolific output from
his Bavarian chapel
appointment represents all
the sixteenth century's
major musical genres.

Orlando Gibbons

Gibbons was an English
composer of the
Elizabethan era who held
the post of organist at
Westminster Abbey.

Thomas Morley

Morley was a composer and
music editor of Elizabethan
England, and once held a
monopoly over all printed
music in England.

Tomas Luis de Victoria

This serious minded
composer of sacred Latin
music has become history's
best-known
Renaissance-era Spanish...

William Byrd

An expressive early
composer, Byrd distributed
his talent over both the
sacred and secular realms.

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