Harmonia
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This week on Harmonia: music associated with coffee and coffeehouses. Grab a cup of your favorite brew as we travel from Constantinople to Leipzig, London, Paris, and back again, hearing sounds of different coffeehouses from the 16th to the 18th centuries.
About
Today’s performers bring to life the music of the distant past. Host Angela Mariani explores the world of historical performance, presenting music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, and beyond. Thursdays at 8 PM on WFIU and Sundays at noon on WFIU2. Harmonia is a co-production of WFIU and Early Music America.
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When it comes to the early music of Britain, Tudor England tends to dominate the historical imagination. But there was plenty going on north of the border, as we’ll hear this hour. We’re exploring over five centuries of music in and about Scotland, so tune in for rarely heard gems from Celtic chant to heartfelt ballads and snappy dance tunes. Click title for playlist. -
We're exploring how Renaissance musicians captured the sounds of animals in their music as we take a trip through a musical zoo. Along the way, we’ll hear the beautiful calls of the Nightingale, see the mighty crocodile, and hear a choir of all the animals singing together.
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We’re exploring the sounds of our musical bird friends. Hold on to your cats and open your windows as we listen to music inspired by the cuckoo, a bird whose simple call has been recognized as the onset of spring and summer from the medieval period onwards. This summery bird’s unusual behaviors are also the subject of songs about human relationships. -
We're taking a journey across Europe to explore the many types of dances that inspired music from the 16th to 18th centuries. Along the way, we’ll hear stately pavanes, lilting allemandes, and playful polonaises. -
There’s an antiphon that features in the masses for Easter Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Its words begin: “This is the day the Lord has made,” and ends with a joyous Alleluya. This hour, exultant music for Easter. -
Since 2018, Early Music America has hosted its Emerging Artists Showcase, a series presenting the rising stars of early music and historical performance. This hour, we’ll conclude our celebration of their 2025 laureates with Comtessa’s program entitled Florilegium: Songs of Medieval England from 1150 to 1300. -
Since 2018, Early Music America has hosted its Emerging Artists Showcase, a series presenting the rising stars of early music and historical performance. This hour on Harmonia, we’ll hear a fifteenth century French program by ensemble Ars Poetica, one of three laureates to perform on the 2025 showcase. -
Since 2018, Early Music America has hosted its Emerging Artists Showcase, a series presenting the rising stars of early music and historical performance. This hour on Harmonia, we’ll hear from 2025 laureate Charlotte Tang, whose program transports us to a fashionable drawing room in nineteenth-century England. -
We’re exploring music in and about the Americas during the first centuries of European colonization. We begin our journey in New France with the musical legacies of Jesuit missions, fur trading outposts, and occupied indigenous nations. -
Gather around, because we’re listening to folktales and fables! Musical storytelling has a long history beyond the dramatic stage, so follow along for tales of Aesop’s animals, magical beings, Robin Hood, and more. -
For hundreds of years, the goddess Fortune and her wheel have offered us a way to comprehend the unpredictability of life. This hour on Harmonia, we’ll look back to the fourteenth century and explore the appearances of Fortune in music as people try to make sense of famine, plague, political and religious strife. Join us! -
We often think of disguise as a deception of the eye, but this week on Harmonia, we’re exploring deception of the ear. For centuries, musicians have experimented with sonic trickery: to tell a story, to emphasize meaning, or just for fun. We’ll hear voices pretending to be instruments, instruments pretending to be each other, and more.
