Early Music Show

Catherine Bott presents a whistle-stop A-Z tour of how early music has been featured in mainstream films to both poignant and ironic effect; from Allegri and Albinoni to Zadok and Zoolander. #BBCSoundofCinema

The infamous life of the Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo is full of drama, intrigue and death. Among accusations of a double murder, witchcraft and masochism stands an extraordinary body of music with its own tortured chromatic sound world. To mark the 400th anniversary of the composer's death, Catherine Bott talks with renowned Gesualdo expert Professor Glenn Watkins to explore whether an understanding of the time in which the isolated Prince lived can cast any further light on his seemingly bizarre life.

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.

Exploring 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. Presented by Lucie Skeaping.

Catherine Bott profiles 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 made a major contribution to the musical life in Protestant Germany.

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. In conversation with lutenist Jacob Heringman and soprano Emma Kirkby, Lucie Skeaping looks back at how the interpretation and performance style of Dowland songs has evolved over the last century.

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.

In conversation with Baroque flautist and recorder player Peter Holtslag, Lucie Skeaping celebrates 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.

Lucie Skeaping recreates a possible day in the life of King Louis XIV. 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.

Lucie Skeaping takes a tour of the National Gallery's new exhibition of paintings by Vermeer and his Dutch 17th-century contemporaries - every one of which depicts music-making of one kind or another - with curator Marjorie E. Wieseman, and chooses music to go with it.

Lucie Skeaping considers the music that might have adorned the court of Richard III.

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.

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.