Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Composers Unveiled

Henry Purcell lived only 36 years, rarely strayed beyond Westminster, and yet became the defining English composer of the Baroque age. In this episode, we follow his remarkable story from Restoration London’s musical rebirth to the courts, churches, theatres, taverns, and coffeehouses that shaped his world. Discover the prodigy who held England’s most prestigious musical posts, hid dazzling musical architecture inside his sonatas, and transformed English speech into music of startling emotional power. It is a story of genius, ambition, political upheaval, grief, reinvention—and a legacy that took two centuries to be fully heard. 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/3tMLo1k3iUo82coMLWXzxq?si=yilmm-uNQLyS8ClcHnaDDA

Tomb: https://de.findagrave.com/memorial/7062/henry-purcell

Society: http://www.henrypurcell.org.uk/

How did a fatherless boy from a small village in northern Italy become one of the most influential composers in European history? In this episode, we follow Arcangelo Corelli from Fusignano to the palaces of Rome, where he rose from church violinist to one of the defining musical voices of the Baroque. Along the way, we meet queens, cardinals, rivals, and pupils. We explore the quiet perfectionism behind his six published collections, the deeply personal bond with Matteo Fornari, and the music that shaped Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, and generations to come. This is the story of the man who gave the violin a new voice.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/5dmMpIyAVaH6b9FLFgWPrF?si=-AgQE6RuQiG1vwVeHhe4Wg

Tomb: https://de.findagrave.com/memorial/4550/arcangelo-corelli

Ensemble: https://corelliensemble.co.uk/About-us.php

Everyone knows Pachelbel’s Canon in D—but few know the remarkable life behind it. In this episode, we follow Johann Pachelbel from post-war Nuremberg to imperial Vienna, through friendship with the Bach family, professional triumphs, financial strain, plague, bereavement, and a final return home. 

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber fled an instrument-buying errand and never returned—then became Salzburg’s greatest Baroque musical visionary. Discover the runaway violin virtuoso behind bizarre retunings, drunken-soldier sound effects, colossal cathedral music, and the beaver on his own noble coat of arms.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/2kMM5v3f7rti00gIbVc1Tk?si=yKHBwKF8SaeEtFfTJkhd1g

Museum: https://www.salzburgmuseum.at/ausstellung/heinrich-ignaz-franz-biber-1644-1704/

International Biber Competition: https://fiorimusicali-biberwettbewerb.com/wettbewerb/Biber_competition_e.html

A mysterious birth, a prestigious church post, a marriage condition that reportedly sent Handel and Mattheson running—and a young Bach walking hundreds of miles to hear him play. Meet Dieterich Buxtehude, the Lübeck organist whose daring music and spectacular Abendmusik concerts helped define the North German Baroque. In this episode, we follow his path from Scandinavia to Lübeck, explore the drama behind his career, and discover why he was far more than simply “Bach’s predecessor.”

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/2YfFYZnshSzgfLsKZMM4VL?si=HEm8dN-6QjuxkenW6kXKOg

Grave: https://de.findagrave.com/memorial/9928792/dietrich-buxtehude

Society: http://www.dieterich-buxtehude.org/

From a teenage street performer in Florence to the musical force behind Versailles, Jean-Baptiste Lully transformed French opera—and built an empire around the Sun King’s court. Discover his rise, rivalries, scandals, and the bizarre accident that ended his life.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/19v0Cnq5D4SKom8SVlXhkw?si=TRnPQ8ZXSJugMQ_k61aH1A

Grave: https://de.findagrave.com/memorial/9912582/jean-baptiste-lully

Society: https://associationlully.com/association/

Meet Heinrich Schütz, the pioneering composer who helped shape the future of classical music in Germany. From his early life in Saxony and studies in Venice to his survival through the Thirty Years’ War, this episode explores a life marked by artistic innovation, profound loss, and extraordinary resilience. Discover lost operas, sacred masterpieces, and the lasting legacy of a composer who transformed words into music with unmatched intensity.

#HeinrichSchütz #ClassicalMusic #BaroqueMusic #MusicHistory

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/4Fw8f0YbjBs9suGEwInPJe?si=_VKImi_yTy6M0mTJOOuOOQ

Schütz House: https://schuetzhaus-weissenfels.de/museum/heinrich-schutz/

Weißenfels Music Week: https://www.schuetz-musikfest.de/

Birthplace Museum in Bad Köstritz: https://heinrich-schuetz-haus.de/

International Heinrich Schütz Society: https://www.schuetzgesellschaft.de/

Heinrich Schütz Choir: https://www.hsc-hn.de/

A man between two musical worlds: discover Michael Praetorius, the hidden genius who transformed Lutheran sacred music, embraced Italian innovations without ever visiting Italy, and left an extraordinary legacy in just fifty years. Join us on a journey through the courts of early Baroque Germany to meet a composer, organist, theorist, and visionary whose music is still waiting to be fully rediscovered.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/0OTPgUKkDp058dC3czXFM2?si=qUD5p94JTH-hAn7S0U2Vsw

Grave: https://de.findagrave.com/memorial/20472947/michael-praetorius

Society: https://www.michael-praetorius.de/?page_id=39

Collegium: https://www.michael-praetorius.de/?page_id=30

Youth orchestra: https://www.praetoriusleipzig.de/

Plague, war, unpaid wages, a furious music critic, and a composer quietly reinventing what music could do. 

In this episode, we dive into the life of Claudio Monteverdi, the man who turned stiff court entertainments into living, breathing drama. From the explosive premiere of *Orfeo* to the heartbreak and genius behind his famous laments, you’ll hear how one stubborn, rule‑breaking composer gave opera its emotional value—and why his music still hits unnervingly close to home today.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/5iAhVgz6P8Nylxijb0C65v?si=p5tiucaBR5a71sU32bOXSg

Society: https://www.fondazionemonteverdi.it/

Monteverdi Festival: https://www.monteverdifestivalcremona.it/en/

Museo del Violino: https://museodelviolino.org/it/

Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists: https://monteverdi.co.uk/

Grave: https://de.findagrave.com/memorial/7571/claudio-monteverdi

Step into Florence around 1600, where a gifted singer with magnificent golden hair quietly changed music forever. This episode tells the vivid, often messy life story of Jacopo Peri: court musician, municipal treasurer, survivor of two plagues, father of ten, and composer of Euridice, the oldest complete opera we have. You will hear about artistic rivalries, political games at the Medici court, spectacular premieres that went wrong, and the moment recitative was invented almost by accident. If you love Monteverdi, Mozart, Verdi, or Wagner, this is the unlikely origin story of the art form they all inherited.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/2Qm0WBKIumxRTbeIpx1DnO?si=3M7twZtiTymfQ9mpGObh6g

Grave: https://www.smn.it/en/

Thomas Morley (c.1557–1602) was one of the brightest voices of Elizabethan music: organist, singer, teacher, theorist, publisher, and the composer who helped make the English madrigal a true national art. In this episode, we follow his journey from chorister in Norwich to the Chapel Royal in London, exploring how he learned from William Byrd, navigated religious and political tension, and turned Italian styles into vivid English songs sung in homes across the country. We also look at his role in music printing, his possible work as an intelligence agent, his great treatise on music, and why his pieces are still performed and loved today.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/6nLcghsTUtvQzu7aiu8HbO?si=jLm_4F-RRo27gvlY-uB4eQ

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCybsXzqmCLiYhUima-WRK6A

Step into sixteenth‑century Venice and discover Andrea Gabrieli, the organist‑composer who turned San Marco into a vast, shimmering sound laboratory and helped invent the Venetian School’s breathtaking polychoral style. Hear how a working‑class Venetian became a court‑favoured innovator, scored music, and left a rich legacy.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/61tgIUsrOcw3AMTLxuZHr1?si=dhLvpjUARjmuhH4ZsfuFCQ

Kidnapped three times for the beauty of his voice, knighted by a pope, adored by emperors – yet almost forgotten today. This episode uncovers the extraordinary life and music of Orlando di Lasso, a Renaissance superstar whose witty, deeply human works still speak to us.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/66hSfMemmixjY58p7KcTV6?si=tGAweMM0Q_6rtTozZVRFRw

Society: https://www.orlanduslassus.de/was-ist-die-orlandus-lassus-stiftung/

Tour: https://musikspaziergang.de/events/auf-den-spuren-orlando-di-lassos/

Monument: https://municharttogo.zikg.eu/items/show/337

Gravestone: https://www.bayerisches-nationalmuseum.de/sammlung/00037200

Projects: https://lasso.badw.de/das-projekt.html

This episode invites listeners into the world of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, where sacred music, ambition, grief, and legend converge in one extraordinary Renaissance life. Expect a portrait of a composer who not only shaped the sound of Catholic worship but also survived professional setbacks, devastating personal losses, and the pressures of a changing Church—emerging as one of Western music’s most enduring voices.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/0BS8IrFmvK1tXenMULjwem?si=FVUDqyPJTLSP8Og8nDJYKg

Museum & Society: https://www.italia.it/de/latium/palestrina/kulturstaetten/stiftung-giovanni-pierluigi-da-palestrina

Monument: https://www.walksinrome.com/blog/february-2nd-1594-death-in-rome-of-the-composer-palestrina

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We warmly invite you to join us on a fascinating journey through the history of classical music.