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...

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...

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 seve...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 mus...

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,...

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" wo...

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 16...

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...

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 Brita...

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 so...

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, Wars...

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.