1527: The Church on Fire

Available for 36 days

May 1527. Rome is under attack. As imperial troops surge through the city, looting churches and palaces, Pope Clement VII abandons the Vatican and escapes through a secret passage to Castel Sant’Angelo. The Sack of Rome devastates the capital of Catholic Europe: composers scatter, musical institutions collapse, and the city’s artistic life is left in ruins. Yet from this moment of crisis emerges a period of intense reflection, reinvention and reform. In the decades that follow, musicians, theorists and church leaders will reshape the sound of sacred music – from the madrigals and laments of those who fled, to the new ideals of clarity and devotion that take hold in Rome’s chapels and choirs. 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. MUSIC DETAILS Philippe Verdelot: Italia mia Huelgas Ensemble Paul van Nevel, conductor Hector Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini – Overture (excerpt) BBC Symphony Orchestra Colin Davis, conductor Costanzo Festa: Deus venerunt gentes BBC Singers Maddalena Casulana: Vagh’amorosi augeli The Sixteen Harry Christophers, conductor Vicente Lusitano: Regina caeli The Marian Consort Rory McCleery, conductor Thomas Tallis: If ye love me The Tallis Scholars Peter Phillips, conductor Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Sicut cervus BBC Singers Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli – Kyrie Stile Antico Anton Bruckner: Os justi Latvian Radio Choir Sigvards Klava, conductor Gregorio Allegri: Miserere mei (excerpt) VOCES8