1564: The Queen’s Gambit

Available for 36 days

1564. England. Elizabeth I uses music as a powerful tool of statecraft. A skilled musician herself, she exploits music’s intimacy in her diplomatic relations and its potential for grandeur and symbolism to project authority. She also uses music in her attempt to regulate religious tension, balancing Protestant reform with the rich musical traditions of the Catholic church, sustaining composers like Tallis and Byrd. And music also helps in her construction of her image as the Virgin Queen. 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 Suzannah Lipscomb is in the chair, as together they travel from the late sixteenth to the early eighteenth century. Anon: My Lady Carey’s Dompe Trevor Pinnock, virginals Tallis: Spem in alium I Fagiolini, directed by Robert Hollingworth Anon (arr. Praetorius): La Volta Bellot Ensemble Britten: Symphonic Suite from Gloriana, III. The Courtly Dances BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Edward Gardner Robert Parsons: First Great Service, Nunc dimittis Voces Cantabiles, directed by Barnaby Smith Byrd : O Lord, Make Thy Servant Elizabeth BBC Singers, conducted by Owain Park Byrd: Civitas Sancti Tui The Sixteen, directed by Harry Christophers Weelkes: As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending Cambridge Singers, directed by John Rutter Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis Producer: Chris Taylor 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.