renaissance

“Two households, both alike in dignity (In fair Verona, where we lay our scene).” So begins Shakespeare’s well-loved tragedy Romeo and Juliet. On Harmonia this week, music from Verona — from clever frottolas to masterfully set sacred texts to strange sonatas.

This week, we’re visiting The Museum of Renaissance Music, or at least, listening to it. Editors Vincenzo Borghetti and Tim Shephard curated this “paper museum,” a book exploring the history of Renaissance music in 100 artifacts. Join us as we peruse these musical objects and their fascinating stories, and enjoy our imagined soundtrack.

Claudio Monteverdi’s long career spanned a period marked by big changes to the Italian musical landscape: transitions between Renaissance and Baroque aesthetics, the rise of the violin family, and the establishment of public opera, to name a few. Join Harmonia on a sonic journey through some of the musical places and spaces he inhabited.

Before they were tragic characters in nineteenth-century opera, courtesans were the original Renaissance women: highly educated, socially refined, independent figures with significant literary, artistic, and musical training. This hour on Harmonia, we’ll explore the sound world of courtesans / from sixteenth-century Venice to Qing dynasty China and beyond.

This hour, we’re exploring opposites. First up, Jean Mouton, a court composer who writes music “smoothly flowing with melody.” In contrast, our featured release is Carlo Gesualdo: La Légende Noire, music by a complex count, composer...and murderer.

When Christian IV of Denmark visited his brother-in-law James Stuart in England, they threw some raucous, wild parties . . . so, it’s no surprise that King Christian’s fondness for the British Isles informed his musical patronage. This week on Harmonia: renaissance music from the court at Copenhagen.

Music theorists help us understand how to play and analyze music, and also shed light on how music was constructed in past eras. This hour on Harmonia, we’ll explore the work of three Renaissance theorists.

This hour, we’ll meet 3 mysteriously related, musically intricate French songs, each beginning with the words “While waiting…” We’ll also meet their common musical and poetical ancestor, which does NOT begin with those words. Intrigued?

Until quite recently, the composer Loyset Compère was considered a “lesser contemporary” of Josquin des Prez. But Compere was the source of many stylistic innovations used by Josquin. Find out more this week on Harmonia.

The best teachers challenge and inspire us in personal, meaningful ways. This week on Harmonia, we’ll explore some famous teacher-student relationships among Renaissance and Baroque composers. Plus, Himmelsmusik -- with ensemble L'Arpeggiata.