Harmonia Uncut

The 18th century Italian cellist, Antonio Vandini, was like his contemporary, Antonio Vivalidi, also a priest.

The 18th century Italian cellist, Antonio Vandini, was like his contemporary, Antonio Vivalidi, also a priest.

From PRI, Public Radio International, welcome to Harmonia. I’m Angela Mariani. On this week’s program we journey to the 15th century for a program of music from Cyprus. We’re spending some quality time with music that was very nearly lost when it caught fire. We’ll be exploring a beautiful book that contains a large and […]

Our guest on Harmonia this hour is harpist Cheryl Ann Fulton, one of the foremost practitioners of Historical Harp, who joins me for a program featuring the soundtrack to her short documentary film The Harps in the Trees, which tells the story of a musical pilgrimage to Scotland by her ensemble Angelorum. There they meet the luthier who […]

This hour on Harmonia, we explore the Jewish spring holiday of Purim. A commemoration of the Book of Esther, Purim celebrations are best known today for their gift-giving, wild costume parties, and delicious triangle-shaped cookies called hamentashen. The story of Esther was also the inspiration for a number of musical works, as we will see. […]

This hour, the third in a series of four programs exploring canons and fugues, from the earliest written music to J. S. Bach – who gets a whole program to himself in the fourth installment. This week, it’s Round Three. Plus, keyboard music of Georg Ludwig Böhm, from a 2013 compilation of Böhm’s complete works […]

What do the Mardi Gras parades of New Orleans, the famous Carnival of Venice, and the Jewish holiday Purim all have in common? Why, costumes, of course!

Music by Biber and Biber--father and son, Heinrich and Carl.

Music by Biber and Biber--father and son, Heinrich and Carl.

A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but would it sound as lovely?  This hour on Harmonia we’re offering a bountiful bouquet of music featuring that age-old symbol of love, the rose.  Even our featured release is coming up roses – we’ll sample tracks from O florens rosa: La rosa nella musica […]

When we think of music in Vienna, names such as Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss, and Schoenberg might come to mind. However, these musical giants are only a few in the long line of influential composers and musicians to come out of Vienna. This hour on Harmonia, we explore the work of Viennese composers from the Middle […]

“Musick will give our hardest Labours Ease; The Hautboy charms in War, the Flute in Pease. Where Love or Honour calls, these Sounds inspire; This charms with Love, That Courage sets on fire.” This hour on Harmonia, we explore what Playford describes as an honorable and courageous instrument: the oboe. Then, stay tuned for our […]

A Renaissance Christmas from Venice, Naples, Milan and Beyond

Tired of jingle bells yet? This week on Harmonia, join us for something a little different.

Once upon a time, in 14th century France, there was a nobleman who was able to bring people from opposite sides of, oh, say, a papal schism, together for a meal and some entertainment. His name was Gaston, and he also had very sophisticated tastes in music. We’ll hear music that was composed for this […]