The Salve Regina

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.