The Early Music Show

The singer Donald Greig has established a long career performing with groups such as the Tallis Scholars and the Orlando Consort, of which he is a founder member. Last year he wrote his first novel - Time Will Tell - which recently came out in paperback. It tells parallel stories set in the 1990s world of modern early music performance, and in the 16th century world of Franco-Flemish composers and musicians including Josquin and Ockeghem. Donald Greig talks to Catherine Bott about his novel and selects music featured in the story.

At the Hermitage in St Petersburg hangs one of Caravaggio's most famous paintings: the Lute Player. An androgynous young man looks out at us as he plucks the strings of this most iconic of Renaissance instruments, and a music book lies in front of him. Close inspection reveals that not only has Caravaggio carefully painted a real piece of lute music, but we can even identify its composer - Jacques Arcadelt.Today Lucie Skeaping explores the life of Jacques Arcadelt, one of the most mysterious, fascinating, and significant figures in 16th century music. Many biographical details of his life are sketchy; but from being born in what we now know as Belgium, in the first decade of the 16th century, Arcadelt found his way to Italy where he became a driving force in the rise and popularity of the madrigal.Arcadelt's several books of madrigals were among the most prolifically-published books of the entire Renaissance - the soundtrack to a film about the period's many great artists would unquestionably need to feature a great deal of music by him. Michelangelo's paintings were barely dry when Arcadelt began singing in the Sistine Chapel, and there's every suggestion that being at the heart of the Renaissance must have been a vital source of his creative inspiration.All of Arcadelt's music is vocal, and covers a vast range of styles, from light songs to entire Masses, and also a setting of the epic Lamentations of Jeremiah. In this programme Lucie focuses on madrigals performed by the Hilliard Ensemble, the Orlando Consort, the Fires of Love; and religious music performed by the Josquin Capella from a disc released just last year. Lucie also reflects on an intriguing aspect of Arcadelt's work, namely that although he wrote no instrumental music, other composers of the period were all too ready to adapt it for instrumental performance.The picture of Arcadelt that emerges is of a musician whose senses of enterprise and adventure led to a stellar career as composer and performer, reflected both in his service of distinguished patrons including the Medici family and the Vatican, and also in the huge popular esteem in which he was so obviously held.

Catherine Bott presents a profile of the German composer and organist Matthias Weckmann, who flourished in Dresden and Hamburg during the 17th century. Weckmann was a pupil of Henirich Schütz, and the organist and composer Praetorius, and who made a major contribution to the musical life in Protestant Germany. Although few compositions survive, Weckmann wrote some exceptional music, including several beautiful sacred vocal concertos, settings of devotional texts for voices and instruments: Catherine Bott plays a recording by the Ricercar Consort of a couple of these concertos, in addition to a selection of other organ and ensemble works.

To celebrate the 850th anniversary of the first stone of Notre Dame de Paris being laid, Catherine Bott explores the beginnings of music in the great cathedral.

The Renaissance English composer John Dowland was a prolific writer of songs accompanied by the lute, and the performance of those songs has sustained and informed the careers of many great singers and lute players over the decades. Lucie Skeaping takes a look back at how the interpretation and performance style of Dowland songs has evolved over the last century and plays a selection of recordings from singers and lute players past and present. To help her are studio guests Jacob Heringman, currently one of Britain's foremost lutenists, and the singer Emma Kirkby, whose seminal recordings and performances of Dowland songs have enchanted audiences for many years.

Catherine Bott presents a programme of music by the 17th century Italian composer and virtuoso violinist, Giuseppe Torelli. Most famous for his trumpet concertos, Torelli also wrote many wonderful pieces for his own instrument and was at the forefront of the early development of the Concerto Grosso.

Lucie Skeaping enlists the expertise of Baroque flautist and recorder player Peter Holtslag to celebrate the life and music of Jacques-Martin Hotteterre "Le Romain"; performer, writer and pedagogue who died 250 years ago this week and did more than any other to enhance the popularity of the "new" transverse flute. Hotteterre's music reflects his career, achievements and enthusiasms and we'll hear performances of complete works alongside demonstrations of the instrumental techniques and ornamentation he pioneered.

Lucie Skeaping recreates a possible day in the life of King Louis XIV. Upon waking in his sumptuous bedchamber, the king follows a busy schedule before entertaining guests at supper and retiring late in the evening. At every part of the day, musicians were on hand to entertain him, to soothe him or to trumpet his arrival. Olivier Baumont - harpsichordist and expert on French Baroque music - guides Lucie through the palace of Versailles to illustrate some of the music the king may have heard.

The National Gallery's exhibition of paintings by Vermeer and his Dutch 17th-century contemporaries - every one of which depicts musicmaking of one kind or another - opened earlier this week. Lucie Skeaping takes a tour of the exhibition with curator Marjorie E. Wieseman, and chooses music to go with it, including works by Sweelinck, Van Eyck and Johann Schop.

Lucie Skeaping and musicologist David Skinner consider the music that might have been heard by Richard III.In September last year archeologists from Leicester University made the exciting discovery in a car park of a Medieval skeleton which was later proved to be that of King Richard III. Thanks largely to Shakespeare's portrayal of Richard as a dysfunctional, ambitious and murderous villain, the character of the Yorkist king has been much discussed over the centuries, in spite of the fact that he was only on the English throne for two years before being killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.For this edition of The Early Music Show, the Cambridge musicologist and director of the vocal ensemble Alamire - David Skinner - takes Lucie Skeaping to the Northamptonshire village of Fotheringhay, where Richard III was born, and talks about the kind of music he might have heard during his lifetime, which spans an exciting and fast moving period in the history of musical composition in England.

As part of Radio 3 Celebrating British Music, Catherine Bott presents a comprehensive profile of the composer William Byrd and some of his most glorious music, in conversation with conductor Andrew Carwood.

David McGuinness visits Stirling Castle and the Palace of Holyrood House in Edinburgh, to trace the story of Mary Queen of Scots' reign, and the music which surrounded her. 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 confidante 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.

Celebrating British music, Lucie Skeaping samples the sounds that would have been heard in the inner circles of the English royal courts from Henry VIII to George III. Includes works by Henry VIII himself, plus Lawes, Purcell and JC Bach.

The Villa d'Este's gardens are a triumph of Baroque architecture and design. Catherine Bott travels to Tivoli to explore the many fountains there and the music connected with the gardens and the man who commissioned them: Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este, patron of many composers, among them a no lesser figure than Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.First broadcast in March 2009.

Immortalised by Wagner in his famous opera, Lucie Skeaping looks back on the life and music of the real Hans Sachs and his fellow Mastersingers in 16th Century Germany.First broadcast in March 2007.

On today's Early Music Show Catherine Bott talks to David Wulstan, a pioneering figure in the understanding and interpretation of early music in general, and of music of the Tudor period in particular.In the 1960s and 1970s David Wulstan created The Clerkes of Oxenford. With this group of singers he worked tirelessly to produce revelatory recordings of the music of Tallis, Sheppard, Gibbons, Tye, White, and others, which revolutionized the way it was interpreted, and the way we now hear it today.The debt owed to David Wulstan by many of today's performers and practitioners of early music is immense, and many important figures, such as Harry Christophers, began their careers studying or performing with him. One of those people joins in today's conversation: Sally Dunkley, the singer and scholar who first encountered David Wulstan at a University of Oxford entrance interview, studied with him, and has continued to work with him and share his friendship until today.David Wulstan is a fascinating, erudite and colourful contributor to the appreciation of early music. When the word musicologist is mentioned, he threatens to make use of his martial arts skills. How will Catherine Bott fare...?(photography of David Wulstan by Lyndon Jones)

Lucie Skeaping looks at music and the 18th-century French painter Antoine Watteau. No fewer than a third of Watteau's canvases depict musical scenes. The Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels is currently running an exhibition of Watteau's work "underscored" by musical items chosen by the great French Early Music specialist, William Christie. With this in mind, this programme examines the "musical" world of the 18th-century's artistic master of evocative sensuality and the fete galante.

Catherine Bott presents a profile of Andre Campra - a musical innovator, and something of a rebel at the turn of the 18th Century. His stint as Music Director of Notre Dame Cathedral was wracked with controversy, thanks to Campra's wishes to branch out into music for the theatre...a pastime which was abhorred by the ecclesiastical authorities.When Campra produced the first ever opera-ballet in 1697, he did so under a thinly-disguised pseudonym, but the acclaim he received as a result of the success of "L'Europe Galante" catapulted him into Parisian celebrity and set him up for a glittering operatic career which lasted for another 40 years.Recordings of Campra's motets and operatic dances are played from Paul Agnew, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, William Christie and Les Arts Florissants.

Lucie Skeaping considers the importance of wind music in the middle ages, through the work of one of today's award winning period ensembles.The ensemble of shawms, bombards and trumpet or sackbut (trombone), known as the alta capella, was one of the most striking and influential ensembles of the middle ages. It was the ensemble most often heard in mediaeval cities, and one of the first ensembles to be placed on the civic payroll. The alta capella was the nearest that the middle ages had to our symphony orchestra. Lucie Skeaping reflects on the work and music of the alta capella, focusing on one of today's foremost ensembles in this field - Les haulz et les bas.The multi national ensemble, Les haulz et les bas, are:David Yacus (USA/Italy) - buisine, slide trumpet, sackbut Andrea Piccioni (Italy) - tamburello Gesine BÃnfer (Germany) - shawm, bombard, bagpipe Michael Metzler (Germany) - percussion Ian Harrison (GB) - shawm, bombard, bagpipe Christian Braun (Swiss) - buisine, slide trumpet, sackbut.

Catherine Bott looks at music marking the ceremonial signing of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, with celebration pieces by Handel and William Croft.Handel's "Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate" was written to celebrate the Treaty of Utrecht, which established the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, ending the War of the Spanish Succession. The treaties between several European states, including Spain, Great Britain, France, Portugal, Savoy and the Dutch Republic, helped end the war. The treaties were concluded between the representatives of Louis XIV of France and Philip V of Spain on the one hand, and representatives of Anne, Queen of Great Britain, the Duke of Savoy, the King of Portugal and the United Provinces on the other.

Catherine Bott explores the diverse music associated with the Medieval texts of the Carmina Burana. She talks about the difficulty of turning the original manuscript into music and the variety of interpretations that have ensued. Although commonly associated with drinking and bawdiness the Carmina Burana also contains religious texts. Marcel Peres's extensive research into these has resulted in some deeply emotive music that is not to be missed.

In today's edition of the Early Music Show, and as part of Radio 3's Baroque Spring season, Catherine Bott goes in search of the unknown baroque. Vivaldi, Handel, Bach and the Scarlattis are familiar names to us, composers synonymous with one of the richest periods in musical history. But Venice, Leipzig, and London weren't the only places experiencing the ear-shock of baroque music - Prague, Warsaw, and Ljubljana were home to composers whose names haven't had quite the same impact on posterity, but who were also playing a key part in shaping this musical revolution. So today familiar names give way to others such as Erlebach, Pekiel, Posch and Zarewutius, as Catherine Bott looks to eastern Europe in search some of the baroque's hidden musical riches. The programme includes an interview with Eamonn Dougan, Associate Conductor of the Sixteen, about the choir's new disc featuring the music of Bartlomiej Pekiel.

As part of Baroque Spring Catherine Bott uses the themes of gods and monsters to look at the brilliant characterisation in Monteverdi's operas. Looking specifically at L'Orfeo and L'Incoronazione di Poppea Catherine shows how Monteverdi treats works of mythological stories with very modern dramatic devices.Broadcast as part of Radio 3's "Baroque Spring".

As part of Radio 3's Baroque Spring season, Lucie Skeaping introduces the first of two Early Music Shows this weekend dedicated to French Baroque music. Today, Lucie explores the relationship between King Louis XIV and his favourite composer - Jean-Baptiste Lully.

Catherine Bott explores the idea of Telemann the Everyman: how he absorbed and excelled at so many musical styles, and purposely made his music available and appealing to the widest possible audience. She's joined by musicologist, flautist and all-round Telemann expert Steven Zohn.

Lucie Skeaping finds out how the Marian hymn "Salve Regina" fascinated European composers throughout the Renaissance era. The original chant is itself an exquisitely beautiful melody and it inspired several generations of composers to write soaring polyphonic settings around it, including Guerrero, Ockeghem, Victoria, Lassus and many others. As well as the chant itself, Lucie Skeaping introduces a selection of these settings and talks to Dr Owen Rees, Reader in Music at Oxford University, about how the chant became popular, its liturtigal significance and its musical legacy.

Lucie Skeaping explores the wedding of Princess Elizabeth Stuart and Frederick V, Elector Palatine, which took place in Whitehall 400 years ago this Valentine's Day. The celebrations were organised by Sir Francis Bacon, and included over a week of lavish entertainments including music by, among others Robert Johnson, Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Campion and John Coperario, their contributions heard alongside popular ballads, catches and toe-tapping dance tunes.

Catherine Bott visits the Handel House in London where Ruth Smith has curated an imaginative exhibition on the life of Handel's librettist, Charles Jennens. It was Jennens who created the libretto for Handel's Messiah, he might even have suggested the idea to Handel, and he also furnished the composer with words for several other of his oratorios including Saul, Belshazzar, L'Allegro and perhaps Israel in Egypt. As such, Jennens often features as a footnote in Handel's biography, but the academic and author Ruth Smith believes more credit should be given to Jennens for the contribution he made to 18th century artistic life in this country. Not only did he provide Handel with libretti, he was also one of the first to faithfully edit the works of Shakespeare. Ruth Smith has curated an exhibition about Jennens at the Handel House in London and Catherine Bott visits and Dr Smith to find out more about the man and his achievements.

For centuries it's been widely accepted that the composer Daniel Purcell was the younger brother of the more celebrated Henry. Now, though, it's thought that they may actually have been cousins rather than brothers. Apart from a much loved Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis, Daniel Purcell's music has remained largely in the shadow of his older relative, but thanks to a handful of recent recordings, it's now being considered much more on its own merits. Lucie Skeaping looks at the life and music of Daniel Purcell, with performances from the Parnassian Ensemble, Chichester Cathedral Chor, and violinist Hazel Brooks and harpsichordist David Pollock, who have recently released some of Purcell's previously unrecorded chamber music.

The revered French actor Gerard Depardieu is frequently in the news these days and not always for his acting. In the early 1990s Depardieu gave a brilliantly nuanced performance as the 17th/18th Century composer and viol player Marin Marais. The acclaimed film "Tous Les Matins du Monde" was one of the few movies to celebrate and popularise early music. Lucie Skeaping remembers the film and considers some of the music.

Lucie Skeaping explores the Accademia di Arcadia, a literary academy founded in the late 17th Century which boasted musician members including Corelli, Scarlatti and Pasquini.

The Baroque era saw some of the most significant developments in the history of western musical instruments, not least the appearance of the modern violin family which superseded the viols as the dominant string group. Not all the developments were as long lasting as the violin though. Catherine Bott looks back on the story and the music of the viola d'amore - or the "love viol" - an instrument much loved in the baroque for its distinctive tonal colours.

Catherine Bott talks about 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.

Catherine Bott is in Cambridge for a look at the Trinity Carol Roll, one of the earliest sources of English polyphonic carols. She visits the Wren Library where the manuscript is kept and talks about the music and the significance of the collection with David Skinner who has recently recorded it all with his group Alamire. The thirteen works preserved in this manuscript include the patriotic 'Agincourt' carol, celebrating Henry V's victory over the French in 1415, and the most famous of all early English carols 'Ther is no rose'.

Lucie Skeaping explores the life and work of Cristóbal de Morales, by all accounts a difficult man to work with, but the greatest Spanish composer of his age, and the first Spanish composer of international renown.

Catherine Bott explores the life and musical settings of the work of the Italian poet Torquato Tasso, who was one of the most widely read writers in 16th Century Europe. His words were set by the great composers of the day and for many centuries after his death, but he was a troubled man who suffered from mental illness and died just days before he was due to be crowned as the king of poets by the Pope. Featuring Tasso settings from Monteverdi, Gesualdo and Handel among others.

On the first Sunday of Advent, Catherine Bott introduces a selection of early music for the Advent season. Including music from Bach, Charpentier and Praetorius and lesser known composers Vaclav Karel Holan Rovensky and Thomas Stoltzer.

Lucie Skeaping explores the tender art of the lullaby, from ancient melody to Elizabethan song, and discovers how this most intimate of forms offers inspiration to the world of early music. The act of rocking a child to sleep with a gentle tune is one of our most simple and natural forms of music-making. They are common to all cultures and ages, and though they are varied, they all share remarkable similarities. Their words are soothing, using onomatopoeic and nonsense sounds, like the 'ninna nanna' of Italy and the English 'lulla lulla'. Often these lullabies are passed down from generation to generation and are known throughout regions and countries. But they are also transformed by this oral transmission. Many look outward to nocturnal themes, or to daily chores and the baby itself.Religious themes are also widespread. By its very nature, the lullaby has a certain gentle spirituality and its serenity is particularly suited to the Nativity. It reminds us of Mary's pure devotion to the baby Jesus, her gentle care and the universality of this particular kind of miracle. Many Christmas carols incorporate gentle rocking rhythms, simple structures, repetitive motifs or common phrases, like the 'Lully Lullay' of the well-known Coventry Carol. Many were also well-known secular tunes that were given devotional subjects in an attempt to lead audiences away from profane subjects. Others depict holy figures in easily-recognised scenes from daily life - Joseph rocking the cradle or Mary washing nappies.As well as featuring traditional music, and anonymous composers from around the world, the programme features pieces by English composers Anthony Holborne, William Byrd and John Bennet.

Catherine Bott talks to the vocalist, harpist and scholar, Benjamin Bagby, about his career that has spanned more than 30 years. He founded the ensemble Sequentia with the late Barbara Thornton in 1977, a versatile group specialising in the performance and recording of Western European music from the period before 1300. They discuss his many projects with the ensemble and play music from his recordings including Hildegard of Bingen, Philippe le Chancelier and the 'Lost Songs' project - a collection of anonymous Latin and German songs copied into a manuscript a thousand years ago.

The Muiderkring or Muider Circle was a group of contributors to the arts and sciences in the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, when Dutch trade, science and art was among the most important in the world. Chief among this group was the historian, poet and playwright Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, who was appointed as Sheriff and Bailiff for the Gooiland, the area around Hilversum, in 1609, and was given a medieval moated castle to live in, the Muiderslot. Over the next four decades, he spent his summers there, entertaining house parties of distinguished friends from the worlds of art, music and philosophy. They discussed current affairs, read their poetry to each other, debated philosophical and moral issues and of course, made music. Hooft seems to have had impeccable taste and his guestlist reads like a who's who of the Dutch cultural elite: with the poets Caspar Barlaeus and Hooft's great friend Joost van den Vondel, the wealthy merchant and poet Pieter Roemers Visscher and Constantijn Huygens among the castlist.In today's Early Music Show, Catherine Bott investigates this mysterious cultural group.

Lucie Skeaping presents a profile of the Baroque group Florilegium with their director Ashley Solomon and takes a look at the character and nature of the baroque dance suite.Florilegium have a reputation as one of this country's most outstanding early music groups. Founded in 1991 by the recorder player and flautist Ashley Solomon, the group specialises in baroque music and they have appeared in some of the most prestigious concert halls around the world.Lucie joins Ashley Solomon for a look at the group's work and ethos, and together they explore a major form of the baroque era, the dance suite, in preparation for the launch of the 2013 NCEM/Radio 3 Young Composers' Award.*** Lucie Skeaping appears on BBC Radio 2's Jools Holland show this coming Monday, 5th November at 23:00.

'One night I dreamed I had made a pact with the devil; he was my servant and anticipated my every wish. I had the idea of giving him my violin to see if he might play me some pretty tunes...'. Lucie Skeaping explores the life and works of Giuseppe Tartini, one of the great violin virtuosos of the 18th century and composer of one of its most celebrated and demonic instrumental works, yet also of some of its sweetest melodies.

As part of the Piano Season on the BBC, Lucie Skeaping presents the second of two programmes about the development of the piano during the eighteenth century.Lucie continues her survey of the development of the period piano, ending in the early nineteenth century with instruments for which Beethoven and Haydn wrote music which were recognisable precursors of the modern concert grand piano.With contributions from Steven Devine Professor of Fortepiano at Trinity College of Music, and Robert Levin.

As part of the Piano Season on the BBC, Lucie Skeaping presents the first of two programmes about the development of the piano during the eighteenth century.Lucie looks at the development of the piano from its origins in Florence with Bartolomeo Cristofori.With contributions from the period instrument restorer Kerstin Schwarz, and Steven Devine, Professor of Fortepiano at Trinity College of Music.

Jan Ladislav Dussek was a Bohemian composer and pianist of the late 18th Century. He was the first great touring piano virtuoso paving the way for the likes of Franz Liszt. It was Dussek who first thought of playing the piano sideways on to the audience - the better to show off his noble profile. Lucie Skeaping looks back on his life and music - much of which seems to anticipate the innovations and ideas of Beethoven and Schubert. Broadcast as part of the Piano Season on the BBC.

We may think of talent contests as a modern day phenomenon, but in 1683, King Louis XIV instituted an extraordinary competition to find four new composers suitable for his Chapelle Royal in Versailles. The successful applicants would each be given a season of the year to compose for the Chapel and the contest was advertised in a French gazette of the time. It attracted applications from the greatest French composers of the day, but ended in controversy with some sections of the press accusing Louis' court composer Lully of influencing the results. Lucie Skeaping investigates the competition and the composers involved.

Catherine Bott chats to Fiona Maddocks about the remarkable life of the German abbess, visionary, poet and composer Hildegard of Bingen who died on 17th September 1179. Hildegard wrote that she experienced visions from an early age and as a child entered the monastery at Disibodenberg on the Rhine; Hildegard was later to found monasteries in Rupertsburg and later in Eibingen. Throughout her life, Hildegard continued to have visions and later began to record what she experienced, 'Scivias', which contains 14 lyric texts that appeared with music. Hildegard extensive musical settings of her own poetry dated back at least to the 1140's, and totals over 70 songs, antiphons, responses, sequences, and her 'Ordo virtutum', possibly the oldest surviving morality play. Catherine Bott and writer Fiona Maddocks discuss this fascinating character, whose Saint's Day falls on September 17th.

Catherine Bott presents a portrait of the intriguing Spanish monk and composer, Padre Antonio Soler. A disciple of Domenico Scarlatti, Soler entered the monastery at El Escorial, near Madrid, in 1752, where he remained for the last 31 years of his life, composing keyboard sonatas, chamber music and choral works.

Catherine Bott profiles harpsichordist & conductor Harry Bicket - regular at Glyndebourne & the New York Metropolitan Opera, and current musical director of The English Concert - about his career and his recordings. Music includes works by Handel, Bach, Pergolesi and Gluck in performances by Renée Fleming, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Susan Graham, Andreas Scholl and Elizabeth Watts.

Catherine Bott explores the life and music of the once celebrated but now forgotten 18th Century Venetian composer Baldassare Galuppi, with the help of writer, critic and self-confessed Galuppi enthusiast Jonathan Keates.