Early Music

The Early Music Show
Date: Sunday 21st January 2007
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Lucie Skeaping talks to harpsichordist Robert Woolley and music editor Dr Richard Jones about Johann Froberger, whose influence is of great importance in the development of baroque keyboard music. His toccatas provided the model for Buxtehude and Bach. They also discuss a recently discovered manuscript, dating from Froberger's final years, that was sold in November at Sotheby's.

This Saturday at 1.00pm:

Andrew Manze visits Stockholm to meet recorder player Dan Laurin. Music includes pieces by Van Eyck, Telemann, Vivaldi and John Eccles.

van Eyck - Courant, of Harte diefje waerom zoo stil
Dan Laurin (recorder)
RECORDED LIVE AT WIGMORE HALL

van Eyck - Blydschap van myn vliedt
segue van Eyck - France Air
Dan Laurin (recorder)
RECORDED LIVE AT WIGMORE HALL

Eccles - Division on a ground
segue Anon - Johnny cock thy beaver
Dan Laurin (recorder) / Jakob Lindberg (lute)
RECORDED LIVE AT WIGMORE HALL

Blavet - Sonata Seconda
Dan Laurin (recorder) / Mogens Rasmussen (viola da gamba) / Leif Meyer (harpsichord)
BIS CD 745
Tracks 25-27

Vivaldi - Concerto in C minor RV.441 (1st mvt)
Dan Laurin (recorder) / Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble
BIS CD 635
Track 1

Telemann - Trio 7 in F major from "Essercizi Musici"
Dan Laurin (recorder) / Mogens Rasmussen (viola da gamba) / Anders Modigh (cello) / Leif Meyer (harpsichord)
BIS CD 855
Tracks 1-3

Boni - Sonata in D minor Op.2, No.2
Dan Laurin (recorder) / Parnassus Avenue
BIS CD 945
Tracks 17-19

Finger - Division on a ground
Dan Laurin (recorder) / Jakob Lindberg (lute)
RECORDED LIVE AT WIGMORE HALL

On the Early music show tomorrow, a discussion about Bach's cello suites, comparing different versions.

Bach Cello Suites 1/2
Saturday 17 March 2007 13:00-14:00 (Radio 3)

Andrew Manze examines the six solo suites for cello by JS Bach, and the problems and decisions facing cellists as they approach the suites. He plays recordings by Casals, Fournier, Wispelwey, Tortelier and Bylsma.

Suite No 1 in G major BWV 1007
Pablo Casals
Pearl GEMS0045
Tracks 23-30
(16.09)

Suite No 2 in D minor BWV 1008: Courante
Pierre Fournier
Accord 206372
Track 9
(1.56)

Suite No 3 in C major BWV 1009: Courante + Sarabande
Pieter Wispelwey (baroque cello by Barak Norman 1710)
Channel Classics CCS12298
Track 15 + 16
(3.00 + 4.19)

Suite No 5 in C minor BWV 1011: Sarabande
Paul Tortelier
EMI CDC7490352
Track 18
(3.17)

Suite No 4 in E flat BWV 1010
Anner Bylsma (baroque cello by Mattio Goffrileri, Venezia 1699)
RCA RD70950
CD 2 Tracks 1-6
(21.42)

Should be fascinating.

And on Sunday:

Suite No 2 in D minor BWV 1008
Mstislav Rostropovich
EMI CDS 553632
Tracks 1-7
(21.20)

Suite No 5 in C minor BWV 1011: Prelude
Pieter Wispelwey (baroque cello by Barak Norman 1710)
Channel Classics CCS12298
Track 7
(5.39)

Suite No 6 in D major BWV 1012: Prelude
Jaap ter Linden (piccolo cello by Antonius & Hieronymus, Amati c. 1600)
Harmonia Mundi HMX 290734647
Track 13
(4.35)

Suite No 3 in C major BWV 1009
Yo-Yo Ma
Sony Classical S2K 63203
Tracks 13-18
(21.00)

Another anniversary: Scarlatti's 250th.

Harpsichord works
Saturday 2 June 2007 13:00-14:00 (Radio 3)

To mark the 250th anniversary of the death of Domenico Scarlatti, Catherine Bott presents a programme of harpsichord works performed by Carole Cerasi at the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music. Plus a feature in which David Vickers examines Scarlatti's years in Spain.

Hello, everybody., and thanks to antimuzak for the invitation to join the group.

I’m afraid I don’t listen to Radio 3 as much as I used to (I spend too much time surfing the Net), but the Early Music Show is one programme that I try to catch when I can, and I’m glad I heard yesterday’s programme on Jeremiah Clarke. “Apart from the …. Trumpet Voluntary, what is known of …. Jeremiah Clarke?” asked the Radio Times. In my case the answer was “Nothing at all.” Clarke’s life seems to have been remarkably similar to Henry Purcell’s: a boyhood in the Chapel Royal, posts as a cathedral organist and composer for the London stage, and an early death. The music sounds very Purcellian too – the programme finished with an ode that he wrote on Purcell’s death. The programme certainly whetted my appetite to hear a bit more of Clarke.

The Early Music Show 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long). Catherine Bott presents highlights of an all Vivaldi-concert by Fabio Biondi and his ensemble Europa Galante given earlier this year as part of the Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival and recorded by the European Broadcasting Union. The festival theme is Venice - musica serenissima, a survey of 500 years of musical life in the lagoon city. The programme includes a couple of arias sung by mezzo Marina de Liso and various concerti including the much-loved mandolin concerto played by Sonia Maurer.

The Early Music Show 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long). Lucie Skeaping visits Notre Dame where she meets Benjamin Bagby and Katarina Livljanic, both performers and directors of medieval music ensembles as well as lecturers in director of medieval music performance practice at the Sorbonne, Paris. They talk about some of the composers of the medieval period and how they influenced the development of Western music. Katerina and Benjamin also take Lucie to the Left Bank to discover how the Sorbonne evolved from the group of colleges, and into the Sorbonne itself, now a vibrant urban centre. The music includes works by Leonin and Perotin, and also examples of the earliest motets and the conductus form.

The Early Music Show 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long). Spitalfields Festival 2008. His Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornetts. Catherine Bott talks to Jeremy West and Jamie Savan from the group - which is now in its 25th year and has a reputation as one of the foremost wind ensembles in the world - and introduces items from a concert given recently at the 2008 Spitalfields Festival, featuring music by Grillo and Gabrieli.

Sunday 9th November 2008. Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long). Lucie Skeaping uncovers the origins of the symphony, encountering medieval hurdy-gurdies, spinets and virginals, a tale suggesting that the dulcimer is as old as the Bible, and a royal wedding as well as overtures, interludes, sonatas, canzonas and concertos.

Sunday 16th November 2008. Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long).

Lucie Skeaping presents a portrait of Italian composer Alessandro Stradella. Born in the 17th century into a noble family in Tuscany, he was a much-respected composer in his day and capitalised on his family connections with noble patrons. Although he seemed to have led a charmed life, it was also peppered with various scandals and ended tragically early at the age of 42 when he was stabbed by an assassin for reasons which are still not clear. The programme includes a selection of Stradella's music, including part of his oratorio San Giovanni Battista.

Saturday 22nd November 2008. Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Dufay's Europe.

Lucie Skeaping reflects on the career of Guillaume Dufay. One of the most famous and successful composers of the mid-15th century, he spent much of his career working in some of the most active European political centres of the day.

Saturday 17th January 2009
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Catherine Bott talks to distinguished conductor, keyboardist and musicologist Christopher Hogwood about his career as one of the major proponents of the early music movement. Included in their discussion is Christopher's early work with David Munrow in the Early Music Consort of London as well as the orchestra he founded in 1973, the Academy of Ancient Music, of which he is Emeritus Director. The music on the programme is from his celebrated collection of recordings including a work from Byrd's My Ladye Nevell's Booke, vocal music by Henry Purcell, a keyboard fantasia by CPE Bach and part of Handel's opera Handel: Rinaldo.

Sunday 18th January 2009
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Organist Simon Lole explores the Mulliner Book, one of the most important collections of Tudor keyboard music. It was compiled in the 1560s by Thomas Mulliner, an organist at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and it now resides in the British Library. Assumed by some to have been used for training choirboys, the book contains 121 keyboard works, of which over half are based on liturgical chants. The collection contains works by Thomas Tallis, John Redford, William Blitheman, John Taverner and Christopher Tye as well as several anonymous works.

Sunday 22nd February 2009
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Art and Early Music Month.

2: Lucie Skeaping visits the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge, and talks to writer and art historian Carola Hicks about the magnificent stained glass. They explore some of the background to stained glass, how it came to England from Flanders, why the chapel and glass took so long to complete, and how it symbolises the power of the Tudors and their era of great change and turbulence. These ideas are reflected in the music in the programme, which includes recordings of the Choir of King's College in repertoire by Tallis, and also sacred and secular music from the 15th and early 16th centuries.

Saturday 28th February 2009
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Art and Early Music Month.

3: The Passions of Albrecht Durer: Catherine Bott presents a series on the links between art and early music, exploring the influence of 16th-Century German artist Albrecht Durer. She travels to Nuremberg, looks back on the significance of the city's contribution to culture and visits the Durerhaus, which is now a museum devoted to the painter's work. She meets its director Jutta Tschoeke and considers the Durer movement, through his art and the music of his day, as well as his legacy and how it is mirrored in aspects of German music in later years.

Sunday 1st March 2009
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Art and Early Music Month.

4: Cesare Vecellio's Venetian Costumes. Lucie Skeaping looks at the publishing sensation of the 1590s in Venice - Cesare Vecellio's Renaissance Costume Book. She talks to two of the book's translators, Margaret Rosenthal, associate professor of Italian at the University of Southern California, and Ann Rosalind Jones, professor of comparative literature at Smith College. The book was the first to depict world costume through history and in addition to the vivid illustrations, it included a detailed and often amusing social commentary of the habits of people all over the world. Including Carnival music by Giovanni Croce, and works by both Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli.

Saturday 7th March 2009 (starting tomorrow afternoon)
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Art and Early Music Month.

5: The Bate Collection: Lucie Skeaping presents a programme celebrating musical instruments as artistic objects in their own right. She visits the Bate Collection of historical instruments in Oxford and is shown some of the most interesting exhibits by the curator, Andy Lamb. The music features recordings of specific instruments found at the museum, including a 17th-Century recorder, played by Peter Holtslag, and a beautiful English harpsichord, on which Martin Souter plays music by Henry Purcell.

Saturday 4th April 2009
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Lucie Skeaping explores the years Heinrich Schutz spent in Venice and Dresden. Music includes some of his earliest work and a set of madrigals as well as excerpts from the Psalmen David and the 1625 Cantiones Sacrae.

Sunday 12th April 2009
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

The Early Music Show.

Catherine Bott talks to harpsichordist Laurence Cummings about Handel as both a virtuoso keyboard player and composer for the keyboard. Much of Handel's keyboard music was occasional or improvised, so it is now lost. But soon after he settled in London, a collection called the Eight Great Suites was issued. Laurence has recorded these works in the Handel House Museum in Brook Street, London, and discusses them and plays excerpts.

Sunday 26th April 2009
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

As part of BBC Radio 3's marking of the 500th anniversary of the accession to the throne of Henry VIII, Lucie Skeaping looks at the manuscript of a choirbook containing six motets that was given to Henry and his first wife Catherine of Aragon and is on show at the British Library. She talks to David Skinner, who has recorded these motets for the first time with his vocal ensemble Alamire. Although Henry is perhaps now remembered for his ill-temper and succession of failed marriages, the early years of his reign were a time of great musical activity: he was passionate about music and composed accomplished pieces by himself.

Sunday 14th June 2009
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Catherine Bott talks about at some of the composers who worked at the court of the colourful Christian IV of Denmark. The music includes works by imports to the court including Dowland, Bertolusi and Schutz, but also homegrown composers such as Hans Nielsen, Mogens Pederson and Soren Terkelsen.

Saturday 11th July 2009 (starting tomorrow afternoon)
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Lucie Skeaping introduces highlights of the concert entitled Unquiet Thoughts given by Mark Padmore and Elizabeth Kenny at this year's Aldeburgh Festival. The concert explores the melancholic music of Elizabethan England, focusing on the songs of perhaps the most famous exponent of Elizabethan melancholy - John Dowland.

Saturday 21st November 2009 (starting in 5 hours and 6 minutes)
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Purcell's Organ Music.

As part of BBC Radio 3's 2009 Purcell celebrations, Lucie Skeaping presents a programme of organ music by Purcell and some of his contemporaries, including voluntaries and fantasias by John Blow, Christopher Gibbons and John Bull, performed by BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Mahan Esfahani on the organ of St John's College, Oxford.

Sunday 22nd November 2009
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Purcell Symphony Songs.

Catherine Bott presents highlights from a concert featuring some of Henry Purcell's rarely performed symphony songs and court odes given at London's Wigmore Hall by the ensemble Concordia, with singers Sophie Daneman, James Gilchrist and Roderick Williams. Most of these symphony songs were found in a manuscript in the composer's own hand - likely to have been compiled between 1681 and 1690 - which also contains a number of court odes.+

Sunday 13th December 2009 (starting in 5 hours)
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Claudio Scimone.

Catherine Bott travels to Padua to meet Italian conductor and pioneering champion of the baroque Claudio Scimone of I Solisti Veneti. Founded in 1959, they were one of the first groups to give performances of the 18th-century music from the Veneto region of Italy. They made some of the first recordings of many concertos and opera by Vivaldi as well as music by Tartini and Albinoni. Scimone talks about how and why he established I Solisti Veneti back in 1959; about his ideas on interpretation; and about the fruits of some of his research, such as the rediscovery of important Italian scores by Albinoni and Tartini.

Sunday 10th January 2010
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Le Jardin Secret.

Lucie Skeaping presents a profile of the ensemble Le Jardin Secret, winners of the Early Music Network International Young Artists' Competition in York in 2007, and talks to two members of the ensemble - soprano Elizabeth Dobbin and harpsichordist David Blunden. With examples of their recent recordings of Rossi, Campra and Fux, as well as specially-recorded music including two traditional French songs.

Sunday 21st February 2010
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Ebu - Zefiro Ensemble.

Lucie Skeaping presents highlights of a concert given by Ensemble Zefiro in Prague in 2009. The ensemble takes its name from the god of the west wind and much of its repertoire gives prominence to wind instruments. Zefiro is a chamber orchestra which also performs in smaller groups, and here it appears as a quartet: baroque oboe and bassoon, cello and harpsichord. The music includes chamber works by CPE Bach, Telemann, Handel and two less well-known composers - Christoph Schaffrath and Giovanni Benedetto Platti.

Sunday 28th February 2010
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

The Court of Mary, Queen of Scots.

David McGuinness visits Stirling Castle and the Palace of Holyrood House in Edinburgh to trace the story of Mary, Queen of Scots and the music that surrounded her during her reign. From the devotional masses and motets by Robert Carver - so popular with Mary's father King James V - to the jolly French dances she would have enjoyed during her first marriage to Francis Dauphin of France, Mary remained a music lover throughout her short life. Queen Mary's favourite attendant and confidant during her second marriage to her cousin, Lord Henry Darnley, was an Italian musician called David Rizzio. Darnley and David Rizzio spent long hours together on the tennis court at Falkland Palace, but Darnley's jealousy grew at the Italian's familiarity with his new wife and he planned to do away with Rizzio at the earliest opportunity. The political assassination that followed was carefully staged, with 500 armed men keeping the Palace of Holyrood House secure while Lord Ruthven and his accomplices burst in to Mary's chamber, where she and Rizzio were sharing supper with guests. Rizzio was dragged from the dinner table and stabbed more than 50 times in front of the Queen.

Saturday 20th March 2010 (starting tomorrow afternoon)
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Catherine Bott presents an exploration of Bach's 'phantom' setting of the St Mark Passion. According to the catalogue of works in his obituary, Bach composed five Passions, but only two works remain intact - the justly celebrated settings of the Passions by St Matthew and St John. The first performance of the St Mark Passion was probably given on Good Friday - 23 March - in 1731, but a score of the music has not survived. The text is all that remains, written by poet Christian Friedrich Henrici or 'Picander', with whom Bach worked on the St Matthew Passion. But there is a lot of evidence to suggest that Bach's music from the passion exists in other forms, notably in some of Bach's Cantatas, and so reconstructions of the Passion have been made possible. Catherine recalls the background to Bach's lost work and plays music from three different reconstructions - by Ton Koopman, Simon Heighes and from a new recording by Amacord and the Kolner Akademie, based on some 1964 detective work by Diethard Hellmann.

Sunday 18th April 2010
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Catherine Bott talks to harpsichordist Gary Cooper about the role of the continuo, from its early beginnings around the turn of the 17th century, up to vocal and instrumental music by Bach. They discuss the use of different instruments as part of the continuo ensemble, including a simple organ in very early examples, and the use of chitarrone in Monteverdi, and viola da gamba in Rameau. Catherine and Gary also talk about the impact the continuo makes to a musical performance. Repertoire in the programme includes works by Viadana, Monteverdi, Frescobaldi and JS Bach.

Saturday 1st May 2010
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Lucie Skeaping interviews countertenor Andreas Scholl about his successful career as a live performer and as a recording artist, and chooses some recordings from his discography. Including a focus on Scholl's most recent project - Songs of Myself - a semi-staged production which includes songs by 14th-century diplomat, poet and composer Oswald von Wolkenstein. The production, which involved the ensemble Shield of Harmony, has just finished a European tour.

Sunday 4th July 2010
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Lucie Skeaping presents a concert given by the ensemble La Nuova Musica at Blythburgh church in Suffolk, as part of the 2010 Aldeburgh Festival. The group - founded by the countertenor David Bates in 2007 - comprises some of Europe's finest early music specialists who share a common desire to shed new light on standard repertoire and bring neglected gems to the fore. The performance features music by Giovanni Gabrieli and Heinrich Schutz.

Saturday 4th September 2010 (starting in 5 hours and 35 minutes)
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Dartington 2010.

Lucie Skeaping visits the 2010 Dartington Summer School to speak with some of the various tutors about events there and the importance of the event for early music in this country. The summer school grew out of the very first Edinburgh Festival in 1947 and has run every year since, attracting luminaries in the musical world to work alongside talented amateurs and professionals. This is the last year the summer school will be under the stewardship of artistic director Gavin Henderson, who has been running it since 1985.

Sunday 10th October 2010 (starting in 5 hours and 43 minutes)
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Lucie Skeaping looks at the life and music of one of England's most misunderstood composers - Thomas Arne. Considered one of the most creative tunesmiths of his day, Arne's fame never really reached its true potential during his lifetime. His operas were largely overshadowed by those of Handel, and his other works barely even considered. His catholic faith held him back from Royal patronage, and his belligerent nature caused squabble after squabble with fellow musicians and collaborators. Arne's fame rests today on Rule Britannia, from his masque Alfred, but he has 100 or so stage works to his name, as well as chamber music, orchestral pieces and some exquisite songs.

Saturday 16th October 2010
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Catherine Bott talks to Dutch organist, harpsichordist and conductor Ton Koopman about his career. As a young student Ton was fascinated by authentic instruments and his performance style has remained steeped in scholarship. He formed his first baroque orchestra aged 25 and in 1979 he founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, as well as the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in 1992. Catherine talks to Ton about how he balances his career as a soloist and conductor, and his championing of Buxtehude's music. Repertoire includes Biber's 32-part Dixit Dominus - a movement from a Bach cantata and from Buxtehude's cantata Membra Jesu Nostri.

Sunday 31st October 2010 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Opera Profiles: 6.

As part of a series of reflections on great baroque operas, presented as part of the Opera on the BBC season, Catherine Bott delves into the music and history surrounding Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso. Based on the epic poem by Ariosto, Grazio Braccioli's libretto provided Vivaldi with some very intense dramatic opportunities, including star-crossed lovers, dark magic and ultimate madness. Catherine focuses mainly on a recent recording by Jean-Christophe Spinosi's Ensemble Matheus, which featured Philippe Jaroussky as Ruggiero. Jaroussky is preparing to play that role on stage in Paris in 2011, and speaks very enthusiastically about the opera, and about Vivaldi's much-neglected music for the stage.

Sunday 21st November 2010 (starting in 5 hours and 50 minutes)
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Composer Portrait - Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.

Catherine Bott presents a profile of Johann Sebastian Bach's eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann on the 300th anniversary of his birth in 1710. His father loved him deeply, and supervised his musical education and career with great attention. Despite being renowned as an organist and composer during his lifetime, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach's income and employment were unstable, and he died in poverty. His compositions include cantatas and instrumental works, of which the most notable are the fugues, polonaises and fantasias for clavier, and duets for two flutes. He incorporated more elements of the contrapuntal style learned from his father than any of his three composer brothers, but his use of the style has an individualistic and improvisatory edge which endeared his work to musicians of the late 19th century, when there was a revival of his reputation. Music played includes the Sinfonia in D minor, F65 and a harpsichord concerto in F minor.

Sunday 12th December 2010
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Robert Hollingworth explores Monteverdi's Fifth Book of Madrigals, which was a pivotal work in the development of the form. The composer developed the expressive and dramatic style from his previous book of madrigals and he introduced instruments to the five-voice ensemble, the beginning of the 'madrigale concertato' style. The forward-looking declamatory style of this book of madrigals heralded a new dramatic era; just two years later Monteverdi wrote his opera Orfeo.

Saturday 18th December 2010
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Opera Profiles: 9.

As part of a series of reflections on great baroque operas, presented as part of the Opera on the BBC season, Lucie Skeaping delves into the music and history surrounding Jean Phillipe Rameau's comic masterpiece, Platee. Rameau wrote the opera when he was in his 60s, for an entertainment at a court wedding at Versailles. The story tells of a foolish and ugly nymph who believes she is loved by Jupiter. The sense of the absurd permeates Rameau's score, with the composer and his librettist managing to create an imaginative and colourful piece which turned many of the operatic conventions of the time on their head. Rameau's contemporary Melchior Grimm considered the piece 'sublime', while for Jean-Jacques Rousseau it was a 'divine' work. Even today it succeeds in firing the imaginations of opera producers and conductors, not least the French conductor Marc Minkowski who explains why in the programme.

Saturday 15th January 2011
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Harmonic Inspiration.

Lucie Skeaping explores Vivaldi's ground-breaking Op 3 set of concertos for one, two or four violins entitled L'Estro Armonico, which were published 300 years ago. Vivaldi had them published in Amsterdam, which meant they were readily available throughout northern Europe. The eight partbooks even landed on the desk of Bach, who found them so inspirational he set about making transcriptions of some of them for keyboard instruments. Lucie presents some of Vivaldi's concertos in recordings by The English Concert and I Musici, as well as one of Bach's transcriptions - the Concerto for four harpsichords in a performance by Bach Collegium Stuttgart conducted by Helmuth Rilling.

Saturday 29th January 2011
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Catherine Bott samples Lully's opera Bellrophon with Christophe Rousset and his group Les Talens Lyriques, who recently gave the first performance in modern times of this hugely successful tragedie en lyrique at the Opera Royal at Versailles after Rousset's discovery of missing pages of the score in a bookshop in Paris. Rousset talks about his find, and about the qualities that make Lully's opera stand out as a masterpiece. Lully was one of opera's most significant figures and this opera was one of his most successful. It originally ran for nine months when it was given at the Palais Royal on 31st January 1697. But non-French speaking audiences often encounter difficulties appreciating Lully's dramatic style and some of the subtleties of his declamatory word setting. Rousset offers some insights as to why these pioneering and influential works are worth wider appreciation. With comments from tenor Cyril Autivy - who played Bellerophon - as well as highlights from the Versailles performance.

Saturday 12th February 2011
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

In the first of this weekend's programmes featuring the viol consort Fretwork, Lucie Skeaping presents a profile of the ensemble and talks to founder member Richard Boothby. Since they formed in 1985 Fretwork has explored a wide range of music, from the core English consort repertoire, to arrangements of Bach's keyboard works, to commissioning many new works. Lucie and Richard talk about the ensembles diversity of interests and play music from some of their recordings. Plus a focus on how to compose for a viol consort, to coincide with the launch of the 2011 NCEM Young Composers' Award.

Sunday 13th February 2011
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Fretwork Weekend.

Catherine Bott traces Sir Francis Drake's heroic circumnavigation of the globe through a mixture of new and old music written and compiled by Orlando Gough and performed on viols by Fretwork. The project, entitled The World Encompassed, mixes period viol pieces with new music, to evoke the period and places, as well as the different cultures and kinds of music, that Drake would have encountered. Catherine talks to Orlando Gough about the piece and some of the colourful events of the voyage. The music comes from a concert given by Fretwork at the 2010 York Early Music Festival, from the Gallery of Harewood House. As well as items by Gough, The World Encompassed includes 16th-century music by John Taverner, Robert Parsons, Luys Milan, Orlando Mudarra and Christopher Tye.

Saturday 7th May 2011
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Lucie Skeaping presents an exploration of Purcell's semi-opera, The Fairy Queen, based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Purcell did not set any of Shakespeare's original text, and instead added self-contained masques in each of the acts, which include some of Purcell's finest music. Lucie plays musical excerpts from each of the masques from various recordings, directed by Ton Koopman, Roger Norrington, Harry Christophers and Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

Sunday 28th August 2011 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Lucie Skeaping explores the life and musical legacy of 17th-century French harpsichordist, organist and composer Louis Couperin, with contributions from Christophe Rousset and performances by Rousset, Bob van Asperen, Davitt Moroney and Glen Wilson.

Sunday 4th September 2011
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Catherine Bott talks keyboard player, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor Gustav Leonhardt about his life in music, his great love of Bach and a variety of early music issues. With some of his many recordings, including music by J S Bach, Louis Couperin and Sweelinck.

Sunday 11th September 2011
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

On the 300th anniversary of the birth of William Boyce, Lucie Skeaping and Jeremy Barlow explore some of the places in London where he lived and worked. Their journey takes them from a church in central London where he had his first job, to the public gardens in south London where his music was aenjoyed by many.

Sunday 30th October 2011
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Lucie Skeaping presents highlights from a concert of music by Telemann given by Ensemble Caprice at the 2011 Lufthansa Festival inspired by the gypsy music the composer encountered in Poland, following his appointment as Kapellmeister to Reichsgraf Erdmann II at his castle in Western Poland. The composer found himself in Krakow and Pless where he encountered the local Moravian folk music alongside some of the distinctive music of the gypsies. This music made a huge impact on Telemann and inspired him to incorporate elements of it into his own compositions. Ensemble Caprice under director and recorder player Matthias Maute, and singer Belinda Sykes recreate the sounds of the Polish gypsy music alongside some of Telemann's compositions from the period.

1.00 - 2.00pm

Catherine Bott explores the historical and liturgical context of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, traditionally sung to plainchant melodies in the week before Easter. In addition to readings by actor James Quinn, the programme features contributions from former Dean of St Paul's Graeme Knowles, Rabbi YY Rubinstein and Cambridge scholar Kim Philips. Music includes settings of the Lamentations by William Byrd, Thomas Tallis, Antoine Brumel, Giovanni Palestrina and Jan Zelenka.

Sunday 20th November 2011
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

A Hidden Faith.

Catherine Bott explores the remarkable publication of the three settings of the Mass written by William Byrd at a time when the Catholic faith was outlawed in this country. This music was intended to be sung in secret, when anyone who was not seen to take part in Anglican worship could be charged with popish recusancy and punished by fines, property confiscation, and imprisonment.

Sunday 4th December 2011 (starting in 5 hours and 37 minutes)
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

Catherine Bott profiles Maria Barbara, the Portuguese infanta and Spanish queen, and the muse of Scarlatti, on the 300th anniversary of her birth. Catherine looks back on the life of a woman who was one Europe's most musically talented royal figures, and whose gifts as a keyboard player and great love for music inspired Scarlatti to devote the best part of his life serving her and prompted him to compose at least 550 sonatas for her to play. Maria Barbara's name often appears alongside Scarlatti's when talking about his music, but little is usually said about her, her court and her times.

Saturday 7th January 2012 (starting in 5 hours and 10 minutes)
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

The Students of William Byrd - 'Father of British Musick'.

Catherine Bott explores the legacy of English composer William Byrd, considered on his death to be the 'father of musick'. Catherine follows the lives and music of some of Byrd's students, introducing music from Thomas Tomkins, Peter Philips, Thomas Morley and John Bull.

Today:

Lucie Skeaping presents highlights from a concert given by the Cardinall's Musick at the 2011 Bath Mozartfest. Featuring choral music by some of the composers Mozart admired or may have met on his travels across Europe, including pieces by William Boyce, Antonio Lotti, Gregorio Allegri, Giovanni Palestrina, Bach and Mozart himself.

Sunday 15th January 2012
Time: 13:00 to 14:00 (1 hour long)

The Early Music Show goes contemporary. Lucie Skeaping introduces highlights from a concert given by Fretwork at Kings Place in London last month, featuring actor Tom Courtenay and the winners of the Radio 3/NCEM Young Composers' Award. Composers under the age of 25 were invited to write a short piece especially for Fretwork and the winning three entries were given their first official performance in this concert. The other music in the programme reflects the theme of the winter solstice through appropriate music and poetry. Lucie also announces the details for the 2012 Radio 3/NCEM Young Composers' Award.

Today:

Catherine Bott in conversation with the late Gustav Leonhardt: keyboardist, conductor, musicologist and teacher, who was one of the great pioneers of Early music.

With great sadness, we learn of the death of Gustav Leonhardt on 16th January. In a change to the schedule, we repeat an interview that Catherine Bott recorded with him last year about his life in music, his great love of Bach and about a variety of Early music issues whilst featuring some of his many recordings, including music by JS Bach, Louis Couperin, and Sweelinck. This is the last interview that Gustav Leonhardt gave to the BBC.

Early Music Show Today: Catherine Bott visits Lincoln to explore what it would have been like to be in a cathedral choir in the days of the "Father of English Music" William Byrd. Was the life of a 16th-century chorister so different to that of a 21st-century one? Byrd, Tallis, Tomkins, Gibbon.