1150: Songs of the Troubadours

Available for 28 days

We're in the 1150s. In the south of France, a young poet-composer named Bernart leaves his home at the Castle of Ventadorn in search of a new patron and finds one in the most powerful woman in Europe: Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. Their meeting embodies the age of the troubadours - songs of longing and desire, shaping a new musical language of emotion that will echo down the centuries. Gillian Moore is joined by a roster of distinguished historians for this major new BBC Radio 3 series, charting a course through 1000 years of classical music history. For the first eight programmes, historian Michael Wood is in the chair, as together they explore the bold new sound worlds of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Producer: Amelia Parker Academic Consultant: Professor Laura Tunbridge, University of Oxford Story Consultant: Kate Leys Series Editor for BBC Audio: Emma Harding Key Changes theme tune composed by Joseph Howard and performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Kerem Hasan. Bernart de Ventadorn: Can l’erba fresc Ensemble Céladon William of Aquitaine: Farai un vers de dreit rien Grupo Vocal Nuba Bernart de Ventadorn: Can vei la lauzeta mover Paul Hillier, bass baritone Stephen Stubbs, lute Lena-Liis Kiesel, organ Marcabru: L’autrier jost una sebissa Belladonna Anonymous: Baron de mon dan covit (extract) Studio der Frühen Musik Thomas Binkley, conductor Anonymous: Saltarello II Studio der Frühen Musik Thomas Binkley, conductor Kaija Saariaho: L’amour de loin – Act I: Première tableau (excerpt) Daniel Belcher, tenor (Jaufré Rudel) Rundfunkchor Berlin Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin Kent Nagano, conductor Comtessa de Dia: A chantar m’er de so non volria Ensemble Apotropaïk Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – Overture BBC National Orchestra of Wales Ryan Bancroft, conductor Richard the Lionheart: Ja nus hons pris James Bowman, countertenor Early Music Consort of London David Munrow, conductor