Baroque&Before

Wednesdays at 10:00 pm

A fresh feast of early music every week.

Join host Candice Agree for WFMT’s exciting weekly program of early music. Baroque&Before explores works written before 1750, featuring live concert recordings from some of the world’s most prestigious early music festivals, as well as commercially released recordings from WFMT’s vast library. From Russia to the Americas, from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean and Middle East, Candice presents internationally known artists on the early music scene, crafting a delightful mix of musicianship, music, and history.

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The instrumental ensembleLe Concert des Nations being conducted by Jordi Savall in concert in the ornate Palau de la Música Catalana.

Jordi Savall: The Elements and the Furies

September 27, 2023, 10:00 pm

Jordi Savall and Le Concert des Nations take us on a journey through a variety of sound environments of the eighteenth century.

A man plays the violin and sings; a woman plays the lute and smiles, a young man in the background holds up a glass

Melancholy and Nonsense: Madrigals for Every Mood

October 4, 2023, 10:00 pm

British vocal ensemble I Fagiolini brings us madrigals for every mood in a program titled “Melancholy and Nonsense.” I Fagiolini’s recital took place November 11, 2022 in the Kreuzkirche in Herne, Germany, as part of Herne Early Music Days, founded in 1976. Madrigals by Monteverdi, Purcell, Banchieri and others echo the Festival’s 2022 theme: “Tragic-Comic.” Thanks to WFMT’s association with ...

Samson, shorn and bound by the Philistines, kneels in a large hall of stone, with men, women, and children wih expressions of laughter and derision.

Les Arts Florissants: Carissimi Monteverdi

October 11, 2023, 10:00 pm

Les Arts Florissants, founded in 1979 by William Christie and directed by Paul Agnew, brings us a program of sacred vocal and instrumental works. Monteverdi’s collection of sacred music titled Selva morale e spirituale and Carissimi’s oratorio Jephta anchor works by Frescolbaldi and Salamone Rossi. Tonight’s program, recorded live in concert September 4, 2022 on the Main Stage of Stockholm’s ...

Sacred Bridges: Psalms of David

September 20, 2023

Creating a musical exploration of the complex intertwinings – the sacred bridges – between Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.

some 20 female warriors, known as Amazons, on horseback

Amazone: Jupiter Ensemble & Léa Desandre

September 13, 2023

Opera composers found irresistible the allure of the Amazons, the mythical race of female warriors whom no man could match in strength of body or mind.

Ferdinand I, seated at a table, surrounded by seven musicians. One holds an archlute; Two violas da gamba are present. A brown dog wearing a collar looks up at his master.

Dueling Viols: Vivaldi, Gregori, Dall’Abaco & Brescianello

September 6, 2023

Along with being known as a composer, Antonio Vivaldi was a renowned violin virtuoso; no further evidence is needed than the famous violin concertos The Four Seasons.

Three men are engaged in a game of primero, a forerunner of poker. The mark, far left, is unaware that the older cardsharp at center signals his accomplice, far right,with a raised, gloved hand (the fingertips exposed, better to feel marked cards). At right, the young cheat looks expectantly toward the mark, and reaches behind his back to pull a hidden card from his breeches.

Concerto Italiano: Alessandro Scarlatti, Handel & Francesco Mancini

August 30, 2023

Founded in 1984, Concerto Italiano has earned the reputation as one of the finest ensembles to specialize in Baroque music. On this week’s edition of Baroque&Before, we’re treated to a select chamber group from Concerto Italiano, joined by soprano Sonia Tedla and bass Gabriele Lombardi, in works by Handel, three works by Handel’s older contemporary Alessandro Scarlatti plus another, formerly ...

The Court of Mantua. At the left, secretary Marsilio Andreasi o Raimondo Lupi, Ludovico II Gonzaga. Beside him his wife Barbara von Brandenburg and their siblings Ludovico Gonzaga, Paola Gonzaga, and Rodolfo Gonzaga. Walnut oil on plaster fresco.

The Days & Seasons of Renaissance Mantua

August 23, 2023

Voces Suaves and Basel’s Capricornus Consort join forces for a program of madrigals and instrumental works by Monteverdi, Giaches De Wert, and their contemporaries.

Josquin at the Vatican

August 16, 2023

The first master of the high Renaissance style of polyphonic vocal music worked for some five years as a papal cantor at the Sistine Chapel.

Bach, Goldberg & Vogt

August 9, 2023

Lars Vogt, one of the most talented and internationally acclaimed pianists, died on September 5, 2022, after a valiant struggle with cancer.

some thirty men, women, and children dressed in garb from Ancient Greece are involved in reading and discourse.

La Foresta Incantata: Geminiani, Handel & Vivaldi

August 2, 2023

A program of well-known works by Handel and Vivaldi.

A rosette stained glass window at the Cathedral Church of Seville, Spain

Cererols Choir from Festival Llums d’Antiga

July 26, 2023

Among Francisco Guerrero's sacred works, the Missa pro defunctis of 1582 takes pride of place tonight.

Lahti International Organ Festival & Showdown

July 19, 2023

Four of today's best-known organ virtuosos – Olivier Latry (France), Shin-Young Lee (Korea/France), Guy Bovet (Switzerland,) and Hans-Ola Ericsson (Sweden) – try to outplay one another in a light-hearted competition of Who Played it Better?

a winged figure observes a supine dead man, his loins covered, and a clothed kneeling woman

Secular Baroque Cantatas

July 12, 2023

Five solo cantatas by Handel and his contemporaries.

gods and godesses beneath a fruit tree with Cupid above pointing his arrow

Devotional Music from 15th-century Veneto

July 5, 2023

Fifteenth-century Europe overflowed with sacred song, and Veneto was an important destination for composers throughout the continent.

a bucolic setting of animals and naked humans relaxing in nature

Songs for Troubled Times: Music from Reformation England

June 28, 2023

Male vocal ensemble Cinquecento, specializing in music of the sixteenth century, brings us works by Tallis, Byrd, Tye, and others.

A female flutist and female lutenist are among seven women and four men, enjoy the outdoors and each others' company.

The Gesualdo Six: Josquin’s Legacy

June 21, 2023

Chansons, motets, and antiphons that illuminate the music of Josquin des Prez and his Franco-Flemish circle in the late 15 and early 16th centuries.

a young shepherd plays recorder, while a young woman with a tambourine and violin observes him.

Handel’s “Aminta e Fillide” with Opera Settecento & Fair Oriana

June 14, 2023

Handel was twenty-two when he wrote this pastoral cantata about a love-struck shepherd and the nymph he's fallen for.

The Paumgartner family, kneeling on the ground. On the left are the brothers Lucas and Stephan with their father Martin, and Barbara Paumgartner's second husband, Hans Schönbach. Barbara Paumgartner with her two daughters.

Sacred works of Hieronymus Praetorius

June 7, 2023

Spanning the late Renaissance and the early Baroque, North German composer and organist Hieronymous Praetorius is revered for his polychoral settings of masses and the Magnificat.

Vault of the central nave of the Thomaskirche, Leipzig

Missa Amabilis

May 31, 2023

Among Venetian Antonio Caldara’s seventy-plus operas, thirty-plus oratorios, motets, and sonatas is the work we’ll hear on this edition of Baroque&Before: the Missa amabilis, a gem of inventive melody, daring harmony, and skillful counterpoint. Tonight’s program was recorded live in concert May 28, 2022 in St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, as part of the German Chorus Festival. Fabian Enders leads the ...

musicians of Collegium 1704 taken in a church4

Fiesta! with Elbio Barilari