Early Music

If you’ve spent any time in the early European wing at your local art museum, you might have noticed just how musical religious art can be. This hour on Harmonia, join us for harmonies both heavenly and terrestrial as we imagine the soundscapes of angel concerts in medieval and Renaissance art.

Put on a sweater because this hour we’re touring the Nordic countries! Often left out of the discussion when it comes to early music, the regions of modern-day Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland have fascinating musical pasts. We’ll hear from bards and religious reformers, local musicians and imported celebrities.

The longest and darkest of nights, the Winter Solstice has been observed across cultures with rituals and feasts celebrating the warmth of community and the return of the light. Nothing drives the cold winter away quite like a rousing tune, so join us this week for music in honor of the Winter Solstice.

We're sampling music of Thanksgiving in early America. From Spanish settlers in Florida to Moravians in North Carolina to the father of American Choral music, join us for Songs of Thanks and Praise. Plus, our featured release showcases music brought to the new world by the passengers on the Mayflower.

This week on Harmonia, we’re continuing our Listening to Art mini-series with the sounds of 16th and 17th century public spaces: patrolling the city walls, heading to market with its melodious fishmongers and greengrocers, and dancing in the streets.

Come along on a musical pub crawl. We’ll hear from hard-partying musicians of the past and enjoy tunes about beer, tavern life, and the consequences of imbibing. Raise a glass and join the convivial chorus for a round of intoxicating early music.

Troubadours have been romanticized and reimagined in popular culture for centuries now, but rarely does that evocative re-imagination include the many women among these elite poet-musicians of medieval Southern France. This week on Harmonia, the music of the women troubadours, known as “trobairitz.”

This week on Harmonia, we celebrate the life and music of William Byrd 400 years after his death. Byrd was Catholic in a time and place where it was easier to be Protestant. A favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, Byrd survived when others did not. Plus, our featured release is George Frideric Handel: Coronation Anthems.

We’re sounding the trumpet this week on Harmonia, with magnificent baroque trumpets in virtuosic solo music and majestic choral and orchestral works from Monteverdi to Telemann. Our featured release is Altissima: Works for High Baroque Trumpet with soloist Josh Cohen.

This hour, we’re going to hear half a dozen pieces from the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries, each of which begins with the same two words, “Quis dabit” - Latin for “who will give.” We’ll find that for hundreds of years those two words have signaled a call to mourning and have been the inspiration for unforgettable music.