Fifty years ago, when Deutsche Grammophon started its pioneering Archiv Produktion label devoted to (increasingly authentic) performances of early music, the ambitious plan organized the works that were to be recorded in "Research Periods" and through the early 1970s all recordings on that label were classified according to the scheme. It was popular enough to be adopted (without attribution) by this country's Vanguard Bach Guild label. It still seems to us a good starting point, and as good a way as any to present information about the music, despite some deficiencies. Indeed, its schematic presentation might be considered prescient, only needing the new technology of the Internet website to realize its full potential. Start the journey here.
- Series A: The Office
- Series B: The Mass
- Series C: The Office for the Dead
- Series A: Troubadours, Trouvères and Minnesingers
- Series B: Music of the Minstrels
- Series C: Early Polyphony before 1300
- Series D: The Ars Nova in France
- Series A: The Florentine Group
- Series B: From Oswald von Wolkenstein to the Locheimer Liederbuch
- Series C: John Dunstable and his Circle
- Series D: The Netherlanders to Ockeghem
- Series E: The Meistersingers
- Series F: Codex Chantilly and L'Ars Subtilior
- Series G: The Frottolists and their contemporaries
- Series H: Sacred Music of the Italian Quattrocento
- Series A: The Netherlanders from Josquin des Prés
- Series B: At the Imperial Court of Maximilian I
- Series C: Evangelical Church Music
- Series D: Social Music in Italy
- Series E: Music for Organ and Lute
- Series F: Palestrina and his School
- Series G: Dance Music
- Series H: The German Lied
- Series I: The French Chanson
- Series K: Orlandus Lassus and Catholic Polyphony in late 16th Century Germany
- Series L: The Iberian Masters
- Series M: The Elizabethan Age (from 1500 to 1635)
- Series N: The Venetian Style
- Series O: Sacred Music in the Italian Cinquecentooutside Venice and Rome
- Series P: From the Renaissance to the Baroque
- Series A: Monody and the Vocal Concerto
- Series B: Claudio Monteverdi
- Series C: The Toccata
- Series D: The Cantata
- Series E: The Sonata
- Series F: Naples
- Series G: Sacred Music in the Seicento
- Series H Early Oratorio
- Series: A: Heinrich Schütz
- Series B: Clavier, Organ and Lute
- Series C: The Ensemble Suite
- Series D: The Lied
- Series E: The Sonata
- Series F: Spiritual Concerto and Church Cantata
- Series G: Catholic Church Music in 17th Century Germany
- Series A: Henry Purcell and his contemporaries
- Series B: At the Court of Louis XIV
- Series C: The Concerts Spirituel
- Series D: Chamber and Keyboard Music from Couperin to Rameau
- Series E: Instrumental Works from the end of the 18th Century
- Series F: Ballet and Opera
- Series G: Concerto, Concerto Grosso and Symphony
- Series H: Music in Iberia, New Spain and Colonial America
- Series J: Music In The British Isles After 1730
- Series K: Church Music in the Eighteenth Century Outside Italy
- Series A: The Concerto
- Series B: The Neapolitan Group
- Series C: The Harpsichord
- Series D: The Solo and Trio Sonata
- Series E: Vocal Music
- Series F: Sacred Music of the Italian Settecento
- Series A: Cantatas
- Series B: Motets
- Series C: Masses and Magnificat
- Series D: Passions and Oratorios
- Series E: Songs and Arias
- Series F: Organ Works
- Series G: Keyboard Works
- Series H: Works for Lute
- Series I: Chamber Music
- Series K: Instrumental Concertos
- Series L: Overtures and Sinfonias
- Series M: Musical Offering and Art of Fugue
- Series A: Orchestral Concertos
- Series B: Organ Concertos
- Series C: German Arias
- Series D: Italian Cantatas and Duets
- Series E: Chamber Music
- Series F: Harpsichord Music
- Series G: Church Music
- Series A: Georg Philipp Telemann
- Series B: At the Court of Frederick the Great
- Series C: Vocal and Instrumental Music for the Home
- Series D: Orchestral and Chamber Music in Transition
- XIE: Bach's Pupils and his Legacy
- XIF: The Dresden Virtuosi
- Series A: The Mannheim School
- Series B: Divertimento and Serenade
- Series C: From the "Galant" to the " Biedermeier"
- Series D: Christoph Willibald Gluck
- Series E: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart