In the second of four programmes across 2025 marking the 300th anniversary of the publication of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Hannah French explores the Violin Concerto in E major, RV.269 - better known as Spring. From the opening's chorus of birdsong to the rustic dance of the finale via the snoring goatherd of the second movement, Hannah considers the concerto's context and inspirations, and shares other early music influenced by the season of hope and new beginnings. Violinist and artistic dir...
Jul 01, 2025•31 min
In the third of four programmes across 2025 marking the 300th anniversary of the publication of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Hannah French explores the Violin Concerto in G minor, RV.315 - better known as Summer. In its combination of oppressive heat and violent storms, Vivaldi's concerto and the sonnet that accompanies it focus on the hardships of an Italian summer: a harsh musical depiction of tempests and high temperatures. Recorder player and artistic director of the London International Fest...
Jul 01, 2025•29 min
Hannah French presents highlights of last November's London International Festival of Early Music. There's music by Corelli from the young Korean recorder player Jiyeon Bang, viol player Robert Smith plays a set of variations by John Jenkins, harpsichordist Maciej Skrzeczkowski plays John Bull, and recorder player Erik Bosgraaf and the ensemble filoBarocco explore the world of Telemann's Polonaises.
May 30, 2025•1 hr
In the first of four programmes across 2025 marking the 300th anniversary of the publication of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Hannah French explores the Violin Concerto in F minor, RV297 - better known as Winter. From the trembling, teeth-chattering cold of the first movement to the fireside warmth of the second and the slippery ice and chill winds of the last, in this concerto Vivaldi vividly depicts the harsh brutality of the Venetian winter. Hannah considers the context and inspirations for the...
Mar 20, 2025•27 min
As part of Radio 3's European Road Trip, Hannah French is joined by musicologist and conductor Árni Heimir Ingólfsson to explore early Icelandic music - from the 13th-century poems known as “Eddas” to the influence of mainland Europe that shaped Iceland’s rich sacred choral traditions, which still continue today. To listen to this programme using most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play The Early Music Show".
Jan 30, 2025•34 min
Hannah French visits Claire van Kampen - the Tudor music advisor & arranger for both Wolf Hall TV series - to explore the music associated with many of the main characters, including King Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell, Anne Boleyn and Lady Mary, as well as some of the musicians at court: Mark Smeaton, John Taverner and John Blanke.
Jan 30, 2025•31 min
Hannah is joined in the studio by organist and director of Amsterdam Baroque as he celebrates his 80th birthday this year. They'll chat about his incredible 60-year career and choose some of his favourite recordings. To listen to this programme using most smart speakers, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play [The Early Music Show".
Jan 30, 2025•26 min
As the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris reopens its doors to the public after more than five years since fire caused its closure, Hannah French examines the early musical history of this extraordinary building. With the help of Antony Pitts, founder-conductor of the choral group Tonus Peregrinus, Hannah explores the influential Notre-Dame school of polyphony - musician-priests like Léonin and Perotin who worked in Notre-Dame in the 12th Century. These composers codified a new style of multi-voic...
Dec 08, 2024•26 min
In honour of the Paris Olympics, Hannah French explores medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music associated with gold, silver and bronze across three episodes of The Early Music Show. As the Games draw to a close, Hannah reaches the top spot on the podium, focusing on gold and its allure over composers and musicians across the centuries. Golden apples, the golden fleece, golden tresses, the golden ratio: gold glitters in musical treasures from the Tudor court in England to the opera stages of Bar...
Sep 08, 2024•27 min
Hannah French presents the second of two programmes of highlights from the 2023 London International Festival of Early Music, today focusing on their support of young, up-and-coming artists. The OAE Experience Ensemble offers students the chance to play alongside seasoned professionals, and you can hear them playing music by Haydn and Mozart, as well as students from Chethams School of Music in Manchester, and London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Junior Royal Academy, performin...
Sep 03, 2024•59 min
Hannah French presents the first of two programmes of highlights from the 2023 London International Festival of Early Music, including performances from harpsichordist Jane Chapman, recorder player Erik Bosgraaf, the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra and Ensemble Pampinea.
Sep 03, 2024•59 min
Hannah French marks the 450th anniversary of the birth of John Wilbye, the most famous of the English madrigalists. Wilbye's fame rests almost entirely on the 64 works contained in two books of madrigals which were published in 1598 and 1608.
Sep 03, 2024•25 min
For their first visit to the Beverley and East Riding Early Music Festival, Ensemble Augelletti - the newly appointed BBC New Generation Baroque Ensemble focus their musical lens on a curious and well-connected local clergyman and musician – Edward Finch. Specialising in making musical arrangements of the most popular music of his time, including Henry Purcell’s wonderful ‘Golden Sonata’, Ensemble Augelletti tell Finch’s singular story and they perform some of his compositions and arrangements a...
Sep 03, 2024•22 min
As part of Radio 3’s programming around LGBTQ+ Pride, Hannah French is joined by musicologists Berta Joncus and Lola Salem to explore the life and career of Jean-Baptiste Lully, who shot to fame at the court of King Louis XIV. Lully was an Italian violinist, guitarist and dancer, who caught the eye of the young King when they danced together in a ballet in 1653. Before long, he became an indispensable part of the Paris and Versailles music scenes, entertaining the royal family for the next thirt...
Sep 03, 2024•33 min
In honour of the Paris Olympics, Hannah French explores medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music associated with gold, silver and bronze across three episodes of The Early Music Show. In second place, it's silver: from silver cymbals to South American silver mines, silver swans to Judas's 30 pieces of silver, Hannah considers the 'second best' metal and examines its connections with early music from Bach to Bolivia.
Sep 03, 2024•28 min
In honour of the Paris Olympics, Hannah French explores medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music associated with gold, silver and bronze across three episodes of The Early Music Show. Starting in third place, Hannah considers music relating to bronze, from the extraordinary sound of Bronze Age horns to the magnificent music that would have floated over Bernini's famous bronze altar canopy in St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. She also showcases some of the composers who came in third - including...
Sep 03, 2024•22 min
Lucie Skeaping looks at the life and music of German organist and composer Matthias Weckmann, who died 350 years ago this month.
Feb 21, 2024•20 min
Mark Seow looks at 18th Century Europe's fascination with the Orient, including music by Purcell and Couperin, and he explores the lives of certain musicians living in 18th Century Beijing.
Jan 14, 2024•33 min
From her home in North London, Hannah French presents a selection of medieval carols, plus Renaissance & Baroque music for Christmas Eve, including festive pieces by Corelli, Vivaldi, Charpentier, Manfredini, Byrd, Manchicourt & Handel. Join Hannah in the French kitchen as she also tucks in to some Yuletide treats fit for a cosy Christmas Eve.
Dec 24, 2023•36 min
Alessandro Stradella's star burned brightly but briefly. His music was glorious; his lifestyle was dissolute: embezzlement, sexual imprudence and political intrigue - Stradella fell foul of his misdemeanours in 1682 when he was murdered by a hitman at the age of just 38. Hannah French is joined in the studio by the University of Birmingham's Professor Andrew Kirkman, who conducted a recent performance of Stradella's opera "La forza dell'amor paterno" with Barber Opera. Together they'll explore S...
Dec 19, 2023•42 min
Lucie Skeaping delves into the life and music of the extraordinary 18th-century German viol player and composer Carl Friedrich Abel, who was born 300 years ago this year. Plus, your weekly edition of Early Music News from Mark Seow.
Dec 10, 2023•27 min
The National Trust's Senior Curator John Chu takes Hannah French around two stunning properties in Derbyshire: Hardwick Hall & Kedleston Hall to explore the musical links in the buildings, furnishings and art works.
Dec 03, 2023•46 min
The Tallis Scholars mark their 50th anniversary this year so today, founder Peter Phillips and two of the group's singers meet with Hannah French to choose some highlights from the last five decades of recording and giving concerts at home and abroad.
Oct 29, 2023•29 min
The Academy of Ancient Music celebrates its golden anniversary this year - 5 decades since harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood and record producer Peter Wadland cooked up the idea of forming a historically-informed orchestra one evening in London's Marquis of Granby pub. Since then, they have produced hundreds of recordings, launched the careers of many international soloists and brought fantastic period performances of Baroque and Classical music to the public's attention. Today, Hannah French t...
Oct 15, 2023•34 min
Lucie Skeaping discovers the remarkable Guillaume de Machaut, as both poet and composer in 1300s France, in conversation with Machaut experts Elizabeth Eva Leach and Uri Smilansky. With thanks to French Radio, Le Miroir de Musique, the Orlando Consort and Sollazzo Ensemble for making recordings available for this programme.
Oct 01, 2023•36 min
The Taverner Consort and Players emerged in 1973 and has since become a world leader in the period performance of Baroque and Classical music. Hannah French talks to its founder Andrew Parrott about the group's extraordinary five decades of success and discovery.
Aug 27, 2023•35 min
"The most celebrated Italian musician of his generation"...but what do we know now about the 17th century composer Antonio Cesti? In his quatercentenary year, Lucie Skeaping delves into his life and music to find out more, and we'll hear excerpts from his many operas. Plus, your weekly bulletin of Early Music News from Mark Seow.
Aug 13, 2023•23 min
International performer and lecturer Sietz de Vries takes Hannah French on an organ tour of the Dutch province of Groningen to explore its still thriving tradition of improvisation.
Jul 16, 2023•50 min
Although best known for his vocal music, William Byrd's keyboard music was rich and diverse, leading the way for composers such as Giles Farnaby and Thomas Tomkins. Lucie Skeaping speaks to Professor of Harpsichord and Fortepiano Carole Cerasi about how Byrd set the future style of English keyboard music and why it remains important now 400 years after his death.
Jul 02, 2023•22 min
Mark Seow explores the cantata with which JS Bach exploded onto the musical scene in Leipzig in 1723 – Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV75. Bach composed the piece at a decisive turning point in his career. After various positions in churches and courts, he assumed his post of Thomaskantor in Leipzig on the first Sunday after Trinity, performing this cantata. Plus, there's a round-up of the week's Early Music News with Hannah French.
May 28, 2023•28 min
