Czech ensemble Capella Mariana, founded in 2008, presents a program of motets from the German Renaissance and Baroque perfect for the Christmas season. Recorded live in concert December 6, 2016, from Prague’s Klementinum. PROGRAM Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) Nun komm de Heien Heiland Veni redemptor gentium Ecce Dominus veniet   J.S. Bach (1685-1750) Lobet den Herrn all Heiden, BWV 230   …

Polyphonic sacred choral music flourished throughout the Iberian Peninsula during the Renaissance, even as Protestant countries were turning toward homophony. The Montreal Early Music Studio presents works by some of the masters of 16th- and 17th-century sacred polyphony from Spain and Portugal. Presented by Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, recorded live in concert in the Church of Saint-Léon, a …

Known as the “Spanish Palestrina,” Tomás Luis de Victoria has been called the greatest of all Iberian composers. Corund, the Swiss vocal ensemble specializing in sacred music of the Renaissance and Baroque, tonight presents a concert of a capella sacred works by Tomás Luis: three motets, followed by the Requiem of 1603. Recorded live in concert in the Valère Basilica, …

The new organ in the Basílica of the Montserrat Abbey (Barcelona) is the largest organ in Catalonia and one of the largest in Europe. Built by Albert Blancafort and his atelier and completed in 2010, it has 4,242 pipes and 63 registers. The Montserrat International Organ Festival invited virtuoso organists for a recital to inaugurate the new organ. Tonight we’ll …

Czech composer Jan Lukáš (Dismas) Zelenka’s music was admired by Bach and other contemporaries for its harmonic and rhythmic inventiveness. His Missa Omnium Sanctorum (Mass for All Saints), written in 1741, is one of Zelenka’s few remaining masses, and  the last work he composed before his death. This concert, recorded live on September 9, 2016, as part of the St. …

Baroque&Before will not be heard this week, due to WFMT’s live broadcast of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of Wagner’s Die Walküre. Baroque&Before returns to our regular time on Wednesday, November 8th, with the Missa Omnium Sanctorum (Mass for All Saints) by Baroque Czech master Jan Dismas Zelenka.

The world renowned Czech harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková died September 27, 2017 at the age of 90. In a career spanning more than half a century, she recorded over 100 albums, and was the first harpsichordist to record Bach’s complete works in a collection of 35 CDs. On this edition of Baroque&Before, we bring you excerpts from a recital featuring some …

L’Archéron, a consort of viols, devotes its entire live recital to the music of Anthony Holborne, specifically, a selection of instrumental dances from The Fruit of Love, published in 1599. Recorded live in concert in L’Église de Gruyères, at the closing recital of the Douxième Atelier de Musique Ancienne (Early Music Workshop.)

On last week’s program, we heard the Ricercar Consort, Ensemble Oltremontano , and vocal soloists in the first ten sections of the Vespers of 1610, recorded live in concert as part of the  Basel Early Music Festival. Tonight, we’ll hear the rest of the Vespers Monteverdi’s masterpiece. But before we get to the sacred, we’ll turn to the secular, and …