Musical Correspondents
Monteverdi was the first great composer whose correspondence survives. It began when he became director of music at the court of Mantua and wrote to court functionaries on business - and continued to the end of his life. It gives a fascinating insight into the life of a composer at the beginning of the 1600s, and an idea of Monteverdi's preoccupations and interests, including alchemy, the Inquisition, and, above all, his own music. Today's programme includes excerpts from:
Orfeo English Baroque Soloists, conductor John Eliot Gardiner
Vespers New London Consort, conductor Philip Pickett Madrigals (Book 8)
Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, conductor Raymond Leppard