The Early Music Show

German-born Johann Christoph Pepusch spent much of his career working in London, where he founded the Academy of Ancient Music and found fame with his music for John Gay’s “Beggar’s Opera”. Lucie Skeaping talks to Robert Rawson of Canterbury Christ Church University about the extraordinary life and music of this now-neglected 18th-century composer.

The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge is home to a priceless collection of manuscripts bequeathed to the university by the extraordinary 18th-century polymath, the 7th Viscount Fitzwilliam. Harpsichordist Sophie Yates visits the museum to explore the life and legacy of Fitzwilliam, whose now-famous Virginal Book is considered to be the primary source for late Elizabethan and early Jacobean keyboard music.

Sicilian-born composer Alessandro Scarlatti had a love/hate relationship with the city of Rome. In the early part of his career, he was employed there by the self-exiled Queen Christina of Sweden, and he returned to the city for the last six years of his life, composing some of his finest work there. Lucie Skeaping explores Scarlatti's Roman years and some of the music he produced during his time in the Italian capital.

Harry Christophers, Founder & Conductor of the Sixteen, celebrates 40 years of the ensemble in conversation with Lucie Skeaping, and chooses some of his favourite recordings from the choir's extensive discography. With music by Mundy, Victoria, Monteverdi, Purcell and Handel.

A fascinating exploration of three extraordinary Catalonian brothers: Joan, Manuel and Josep Pla, who performed and composed in Barcelona, Lisbon and Madrid during the mid-18th century, including at the Spanish and Portuguese Royal courts. Presented by Hannah French.

The Elizabethan Dance Band: Lucie Skeaping is joined by William Lyons to explore music for the Broken Consort, an ensemble heard at dances and theatre productions, and for which Thomas Morley compiled a rarely-heard repertory.

Lucie Skeaping talks to Dr Sam Barrett and Benjamin Bagby about Sequentia’s project to reconstruct songs from Boethius’ seminal work, “The Consolation of Philosophy” - one of the most widely read books of the Middle Ages. It’s a fascinating piece of research, musical detective work, detailed reconstruction... and some imagination too!

On the day before Bonfire Night, Hannah French explores music for fireworks, with music by Corelli, Bach, Rameau and Gluck, and Handel's celebrated Music for the Royal Fireworks.

Hannah French explores Francois Couperin's extraordinarily dark and powerful vocal music for Holy Week - his settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah - the Lecons de Tenebres.

Countertenor Iestyn Davies marks the 450th anniversary of the birth of composer Philip Rosseter, and his role in a thriving scene that included Thomas Campion, John Dowland and Robert Johnson.

Lucie Skeaping takes her second musical journey through the mysterious world of possession, featuring witchcraft, demons, sorcery and madness, and including pieces by Handel, Tartini, Purcell and Charpentier.

Lucie Skeaping takes the first of two musical journeys through the mysterious world of possession, featuring music associated with the ecstatic trances of Hildegard of Bingen, Teresa of Avila and Joan of Arc, Sufi dervishes, musical exorcisms performed to the wild rhythms of the tarantella and initiation rites of the Afro-Brazilian Candomblé.

Hannah French explores the simple melody "The Western Wind" that inspired the early 16th Century masses by John Taverner, John Sheppard and Christopher Tye.

Hannah French marks the 300th anniversary of the premiere of Handel's Acis & Galatea on the terraces overlooking the gardens at Cannons - the seat of the Duke of Chandos.

A tale of two printers: Estienne Roger in Amsterdam and John Walsh in London. Hannah French discovers how and why they changed the publishing scene and how musical taste spread across Europe as a result.

Robert Hollingworth looks at Orazio Vecchi's madrigal comedy L'Amfiparnaso, which was premiered in Modena in in 1594. It's a particular form of musical theatre that flourished briefly in Italy, just before the dawn of opera, combining music and commedia dell'arte, the down-to-earth improvised street comedy of the time.

Lucie Skeaping talks to cornett player Gawain Glenton about the history of the Hanseatic League - a trade route that developed across the Baltic Sea and beyond from our own shores right up to Estonia - which engendered its own musical tradition too. They are joined in the studio by Dr Bettina Varwig, lecturer in early modern music at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge. Gawain has just released a disc of music from the Hanseatic cities with his ECHO Ensemble.

Hannah French looks at music celebrating the Feast of the Ascension through the eyes of father and son JS and CPE Bach.

Lucie Skeaping presents a musical exploration of the Greek myth of Ariadne, the daughter of Minos and granddaughter of Zeus, as told in works by Handel, Porpora, Monteverdi, Benda and Marcello.

Lucie Skeaping talks to harpsichordist Carole Cerasi about the keyboard music of Francois Couperin, in the light of her recent release of the complete works for harpsichord.

Lucie Skeaping profiles the life, times and music of the 18th-century Czech composer Jan Dismas Zelenka, who won the admiration of many distinguished contemporaries, among them Johann Sebastian Bach. One of the most neglected figures of the late baroque, Zelenka composed some of the most sumptuous and glorious church music ever written.

As part of the commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of Debussy's death, Hannah French asks what it was about Rameau that inspired the composer's "Hommage a Rameau".

Looking ahead to International Women's Day, Lucie Skeaping talks to Rebecca Cypess of Rutgers University in New Jersey about music played, collected and commissioned by the Jewish salon hostess Sara Levy (1761-1854), student of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and great-aunt of Felix Mendelssohn. Levy was a remarkable woman and was hugely important in the preservation and perpetuation of the Bach family tradition in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, before Mendelssohn ignited the widespread craze for Bach's music in 1829. At a time before Jews had legal rights in Prussia, Levy's father received special status as a "court Jew" (ie, financier) to Frederick the Great. Sara and her siblings benefited from his wealth and position, and received the finest musical education available. By 1774 she was studying harpsichord with no less a teacher than Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784), eldest son of the great JS Bach). In 1783, when she married Salomon Levy, Friedemann presented her with a song, "Herz, mein Herz sey ruhig" (Heart, my heart, be still) as a gift. Around the time of her marriage, Sara began to host salon gatherings in her home, in which men and women, Jews and Christians, gathered to socialize and to discuss new cultural ideas. However, unlike other salons hosted by women in Enlightenment Berlin, which were centred primarily around literature, Sara's salon was musical. She became a keyboard virtuoso, defying the expectation documented in the many collections of "Damen Sonaten" (Ladies' Sonatas) of the late 18th century that women could play only easy pieces. By the mid-1790s she was performing outside of her salons as well, in concert series and, later, as a concerto soloist at the amateur music society known as the Singing Academy of Berlin. Sara Levy was also a collector - among the first to take an interest in the preservation and performance of music of previous generations, especially that of J.S. Bach. This was at a period when older music in general was neglected in favour of newer music, and when the music of Johann Sebastian in particular was viewed as old-fashioned and overly difficult to understand. Yet Sara Levy, along with her sisters and her husband, played solos, chamber music, and concertos by Bach and his contemporaries, and their soirées constituted what the composer Johann Friedrich Reichardt called a "Bach cult." Around 1813, Sara donated the majority of her enormous collection of manuscript scores and printed sheet music to the Singing Academy of Berlin. It was there, in 1829, that her great-nephew Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy staged his famous performance of J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion - the event that sparked the so-called "Bach revival" of the 19th century. Sara was also a patron of new music. Some of the keyboard fantasies of W.F. Bach are preserved only in manuscripts associated with Levy and her circle, suggesting that she or her family may have commissioned them, heard the composer play them, and played them themselves. It's thought she may also have commissioned the late quartets of C.P.E. Bach.

Lucie Skeaping looks at the life and music of John Wilbye, who spent the majority of his career in the service of the Cornwallis family of Hengrave Hall in his home county of Suffolk.

Hannah French delves into the battle between the two opera companies in London in the 1730s - King George II's Royal Academy of Music with its musical director Handel - and the Prince of Wales' Opera of the Nobility under the guidance of Nicola Porpora. After four seasons of in-fighting and warring between the two factions, expensive set and costume designs and overpaid starry performers, both companies went bankrupt in 1737.

Lucie Skeaping marks the 350th anniversary of the birth of François Couperin with a programme devoted to the four suites of chamber music he wrote for Louis XIV in 1715 - Les Concerts Royaux.

Lucie Skeaping talks to Prof Armand D'Angour of Jesus College Oxford about the music and poetry of ancient Greece, from Homer to Mesomedes via Sappho, Euripides, Pindar and Athenaeus.

Hannah French with music and stories from Les vingt-quatre violons du Roi - an ensemble based at the French court of Versailles but renowned throughout Europe during the 17th century, with music by Lully, Rebel, Delalande, Boesset, Aubert, Dumanoir and many others.

As part of the Spirit of Bach season, Dame Emma Kirkby shares some of her memories of singing Bach alongside some of her favourite recordings of other performers, including Christoph Prégardien, Barbara Schlick, Peter Kooi and Hana Blažíková.

Lucie Skeaping looks at the operas of Telemann. It's said he composed more than 50 works for the stage, although only 35 of them appear in his catalogue. Most of them were premiered in either Leipzig or Hamburg, where he made his home for the major part of his career.

Lucie Skeaping introduces music from the court of Catherine the Great in Russia. We hear how the queen, despite having personally little interest in music, but aware of its cultural importance, brought Italian composers to St Petersburg as she wanted to position Russia as a cultural powerhouse to compete with their European neighbours in the west. The programme focuses on opera and sacred works, some written especially for her court, some adapted, by composers such as Galuppi, Paisiello, Sarti and Traetta - but we hear how Catherine promoted local talent as well, like Dmytro Bortniansky, who wrote colourful choral works, and also a talented group of princesses, part of her inner circle, who composed mainly songs - some inspired by Russian folk music.

Lucie Skeaping celebrates 30 years of the Dufay Collective in conversation with the ensemble's Director William Lyons.

Hannah French marks the 250th anniversary of the death of Georg Philipp Telemann with a programme devoted to the composer's visit to Paris in 1737. Telemann was a huge star at this point in his career, so he was feted in France, where his celebrated Paris Quartets were performed.

Lucie Skeaping is joined by Gabriel Crouch, director of the vocal ensemble Gallicantus and Magnus Williamson, Professor of Early Music at Newcastle University, to discuss music surrounding the fascinating hopes and tragedies of Queen Mary I's "phantom pregnancy" of 1555.

Lucie Skeaping talks to violinist Bojan Cicic and musicologist Michael Talbot about the life and music of the Italian violinist and composer Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli who came to London and played in the orchestra for many of Handel's works, and had a second career as a vintner and purveyor of fine wines to the royal court.

In the fading light of December 1717, a carriage rumbles along the road to Cöthen. As the candlelit moated castle comes into view, the approaching family crane their necks to get a better look at their new home-town. The rural setting is a far cry from the hubbub of Weimar but there's promise in the air. The family are of course the Bachs, Johann Sebastian and his wife Maria Barbara, and four children: nine-year-old Catharina Dorothea, seven-year-old Wilhelm Friedman, three-year-old Carl Philipp Emanuel, and the toddler Johann Gottfried Bernhard. This journey, taken 300 years ago, marked a new and exciting development for the young family, and considerable promotion for Bach. Looking back on the moment, Sebastian would later write: a 'change in my fortunes... took me to Cöthen as Cappellmeister. There I had a gracious Prince, who both loved and knew music, and in his service I intended to spend the rest of my life. Hannah French delves into the history surrounding his move to Cöthen, his eventual departure, his relationship with the Prince Anhalt Cöthen, and the music he composed there.

Lucie Skeaping talks to lutenist and director Zak Ozmo about his project based on 18th-century Portuguese love songs, known as "modinhas". In this programme we will explore the history of the 18th-century Portuguese modinha and myths that surround the creation of this fascinating genre. The themes are recognisable, the melodies haunting, and the genre is still able to stir the passions today as it did over two hundred years ago.

Harpsichordist Sophie Yates visits Westwood Manor in Wiltshire to look at a recently restored 1538 ottavino virginals and discusses the history of the instrument, which had cult-like status in Elizabethan and Jacobean society.

Lucie Skeaping presents highlights of the York Early Music Festival Young Artists' Competition, and announces this year's winners.

Hannah French delves into the history and musical detail of one of Handel's best-known pieces - his Water Music, first performed for King George I on the River Thames in July 1717.A contemporary article from the Daily Courant reported the event thus:"On Wednesday evening, 17 July 1717, at about 8 o'clock, the King took water at Whitehall in an open barge wherein were also the Duchess of Bolton, the Duchess of Newcastle, the Countess of Godolphin, Madam Kilmanseck, and the Earl of Orkney and went up the river towards Chelsea. Many other barges with "persons of quality" attended, and so great a number of boats, that the whole river in a manner was covered. A City Company's barge was employed for the music, wherein were 50 instruments of all sorts, who played all the way from Lambeth (while the barges drove with the tide without rowing, as far as Chelsea) the finest symphonies composed express for this occasion, by Mr Handel; which his Majesty liked so well, that he caused it to be played over three times in going and returning. At eleven his Majesty went ashore at Chelsea, where a supper was prepared and then there was another very fine consort of music, which lasted till 2, after which, his Majesty came again into his barge and returned the same way, the music continuing to play till he landed." It has since become one of the most enduring compendiums of 18th-century dance music, beloved of Baroque orchestras and modern audiences alike. Hannah French explores the practicalities, conditions and acoustics of Georgian on-board entertainment and chooses some of the best recordings of the last 25 years.

As part of Radio 3's Canada 150 celebrations, Hannah French explores the vibrant early music scene in Montreal. Period performance is thriving in Canada, intriguingly more so than in the USA. Hannah visits some of Montreal's prestigious early music venues and chats to some of the scene's biggest names in the lead-up to the 15th Montreal Baroque Festival. Featuring gamba player Susie Napper - artistic director of Les Voix Humaines; soprano Suzie Leblanc - founder and director of Le Nouvel Opéra; and vocal ensemble conductor Andrew McAnerney.CANADA 150: a week of programmes from across Canada, marking the 150th anniversary of the founding of the nation and exploring the range and diversity of Canadian music and arts.

Lucie Skeaping visits the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace to take a look at the current exhibition of works by Canaletto, in the context of some of the music from the Venice of that period, including works by Vivaldi, Albinoni, Marcello, Lotti and Galuppi.

Monteverdi 450: Lucie Skeaping looks at the collection of late sacred works by Monteverdi, entitled 'Selva Morale e Spirituale'.

As part of Radio 3's Breaking Free: Martin Luther's Revolution season marking the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in Germany in 1517, Lucie Skeaping looks at music written for the Catholic church as a result of the reforms at the Council of Trent, with music by Palestrina and Giaches de Wert, and also music written by later catholic composers such as Jacobus Handl, Charpentier and Carissimi.

As part of Radio 3's Breaking Free: Martin Luther's Revolution, Lucie Skeaping looks ahead to the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation in northern Europe, and some of the composers active in the very early years of the 16th Century.500 years ago, in October 1517, the German cleric Martin Luther published what became known as his '95 theses', in which he attacked the common church practice of selling 'Indulgences' - people being led to buy their way out of God's punishment for having sinned and enriching the church in the process. To Luther, salvation was a personal matter; it came direct from the Scriptures, not from the trappings of ceremony and all the corruption that went with it. He didn't want to split from the church but to reform it - to draw in ordinary people to the faith in which he profoundly believed. And whilst this wasn't exactly a new idea, his defiant act lit the fuse for a Protestant Reformation that would have a profound effect upon all of Europe.Part of it meant encouraging people not only to come to church but to participate more in its services by joining in the singing. Luther himself was a fine musician: he sang and played both the flute and lute and was no mean composer. The poet Hans Sachs (of Meistersinger fame) described Luther's reforming work as 'the singing of the Wittenberg nightingale'. Luther also valued his friendship with many important composers of his day, among them Ludwig Senfl, composer to Emperor Maximilian I, and Josquin des Prez whose music Luther declared 'as free as the song of the finch', embodying the freedom of the gospel, as it were, in contrast to the constraint of church law. Luther and his colleagues began writing, revising, composing and arranging hymns for their new style of worship. Many appeared on broadsheets - not in Latin but in German ('for the sake of the unlearned folk'); some even (shock horror) used popular tunes! He also commissioned new polyphonic works for use in schools 'to wean the young away from love ballads and carnal songs'. Things didn't change overnight of course, but by around 1600 it was becoming customary for the organ to play all the parts while the congregation sang the tune - think of the chorales in the great masses by Bach a century later.

Hannah French presents a programme dedicated to the Swedish composer Johan Helmich Roman. He was not only one of his country's most celebrated Baroque composers and leader of the Swedish opera through the Age of Liberty, but also something of a traveller. Roman spent time in London, where he performed for Handel and Geminiani, before setting off across Europe where he met some of the leading musicians of his day, including Pepusch and Johann Jacob Bach.

Lucie Skeaping discusses the role of Mary Magdalen at Easter with Susan Haskins (cultural historian and author of the book Mary Magdalen: Myth and Metaphor) who chose the music to celebrate this day. The programme includes pieces by Bach, Crecquillon, Mazzocchi, Gabrieli and excerpts from the medieval Carmina Burana.

Lucie Skeaping presents a profile of The European Union Baroque Orchestra.

Lucie Skeaping celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of the ground-breaking vocal group I Fagiolini, in conversation with their founder and director Robert Hollingworth.

Director of The Dufay Collective, William Lyons, celebrates the life and work of one of his musical heroes - early music specialist, historian, multi-instrumentalist, broadcaster and pioneer David Munrow, who took his own life in 1976 during a state of depression at the age of just 33.Munrow perhaps did more than anyone else in the second half of the 20th century to popularise early music in Great Britain, despite a career lasting barely ten years. This was underscored when the Voyager space probe committee selected one of his recordings to be carried on it as part of the Voyager Golden Record. He left behind him not only his recordings but a large collection of musical instruments. The Munrow Archive at the Royal Academy of Music holds a collection of his letters, papers, TV scripts, scores, musical compositions and books, which is accessible to the public.