The Making of Music
BBC's Radio 4 attempts the rather ambitious project of tracing the last 1000 years of music history. From monasteries to kings' courts, listeners are invited to follow the changes in musical venues over the ages.
Host James Naughtie incorporates lyric analysis and historical research into his discussions of various periods in early music, situating each period within its cultural and geographic context.
Program Length
Each weekly program is divided into 5 segments that air sequentially on weekdays. The segments add up to a mini music history course, offered in 15-minute doses that are just enough time to get a feel for the style and a handle on the key historical figures.
To listen to past and upcoming programs in the series, please visit BBC Radio 4. The program lists on the website act as useful jumping off points to further explore the music of each era.
Synopsis
The program will run from June 4-July 13, 2007. Weeks 1 and 2 are already available for streaming on the BBC website. A brief synopsis of the first ten segments follows below.
Week 1 covers music from the early church to the Renaissance.
1. Origins - Monasteries were one of the first centers of Western music.
2. Notre Dame - During the 13th century, names of composers began to be recorded. French composers Perotin and his pupil Leonin were among the first names to survive.
3. Troubadours - While much music was composed for church services, traveling musicians circulated secular music in European courts.
4. Burgundy - The court at Burgundy was especially influential in the 15th-century world.
5. The Renaissance - As painters and poets turned to more humanistic rather than religious themes, composers such as Josquin Desprez wrote a mass based on the syllables of his Italian patron's name.
Week 2 covers music from the Reformation to Baroque opera.
6. The Reformation - While humanists were turning away from the Catholic Church, Protestants also developed a music of their own, led by Martin Luther.
7. The Counter Reformation - In response to the Reformation's call for understandable music, the Catholic Church streamlined its own liturgy, enlisting the aid of Palestrina.
8. Venice - But for those who just wanted a little fun, there was always the music of the Carnival. And Andréa and Giovanni Gabrielli filled St. Mark's Cathedral with polychoral music.
9. Elizabeth I - Elizabeth may have been a Protestant Queen, but 2 Catholic musicians flourished under her reign: Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.
10. The Birth of Opera - In 1600, a group of Italian intellectuals inspired by Greek and Roman theatre set stories to music.
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