Early Music Show

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.

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.

David Wulstan is 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 he created The Clerkes of Oxenford, and with this group of singers he worked tirelessly to produce revelatory recordings of the music of Tallis, Sheppard, Gibbons and others, which revolutionized the way it was interpreted, and the way we now hear it today. Joining him in conversation with Catherine Bott is singer and scholar Sally Dunkley.

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

Catherine Bott looks at the career 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.

Lucie Skeaping considers the importance of wind music in the middle ages, through the work of one of today's award-winning period ensembles, Les Haulz et les Bas.

Catherine Bott looks at music marking the ceremonial signing of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, with celebration pieces by Handel and William Croft.

Exploring the diverse music associated with the Medieval texts of the Carmina Burana. Catherine Bott considers the difficulty of turning the original manuscript into music and the variety of interpretations that have ensued.

Catherine Bott looks to eastern Europe in search of some of the baroque's hidden musical riches. Including an interview with Eamonn Dougan, Associate Conductor of the Sixteen, about the choir's new disc featuring the music of Bartlomiej Pekiel.

Catherine Bott - as part of Baroque Spring - 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.

As part of Radio 3's Baroque Spring season, Lucie Skeaping explores the relationship between King Louis XIV and his favourite composer - Jean-Baptiste Lully.

Exploring 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. Catherine Bott talks to 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 and Lassus. Lucie also talks to Dr Owen Rees, Reader in Music at Oxford University, about how the chant became popular, its liturgical significance and its musical legacy.

The wedding of Princess Elizabeth Stuart and Frederick V, Elector Palatine 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. Presented by Lucie Skeaping.

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.