Musica Antiqua on WORT

08/15/2026

For this Sunday’s Musica Antiqua, host Terri Felton will be featuring a recording of selected works of Antoine Gosswin, a Flemish composer who worked in Bavaria with Orlando di Lasso. We will also hear selections from other composers working and living in Germany, such as Ludwig Senfl and Sophie Elisabeth Herzogin (a student of Heinrich Schütz), as well as music from William Byrd, John Dowland, Vicente Lusitano, Giovanni Carbonelli, and much more.

Musica Antiqua airs every Sunday from 8-11am central time on WORT, 89.9FM, Madison. You can also hear us streaming live at wortfm.org, or listen to the archive any time over the next two weeks. Thank you for listening and supporting WORT, your community radio station. Your comments and requests are always welcome here on Facebook, by email at [email protected], or by calling 608-256-2001 during the broadcast.

Image: Portrait of Duchess Elisabeth Sophie of Mecklenburg (1613-1676), engraving by Philipp Kilian, c.1650-1676, public domain.

08/09/2026

For this Sunday, Musica Antiqua will feature 2 works by Hieronymus Praetorius. He was an early German Baroque composer, no relation to the much more famous Michael Praetorius. We’ll hear an extended organ piece, then in the third hour, we’ll hear a reconstructed Vesper service for St Michael’s day.

The show will open with a mass by Robert Fayrfax, a 15th c English composer. We will also celebrate the life of Joel Cohen, who led the Boston Camerata and other groups for many years and who passed away on July 26. All this and much, much more on Musica Antiqua, which brings you 3 hours of medieval, renaissance, and baroque music every Sunday morning from 8 to 11am on WORT, 89.9FM, Madison; also streaming live and archived for 2 weeks on wortfm.org. Hope you’ll tune in!

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07/31/2026

Sad news, Musica Antiqua friends: Joel Cohen, early music pioneer and founder of the Boston Camerata, died on July 26. For more on his extensive legacy, visit https://classical-scene.com/2026/07/27/joel-cohen-1942-2026/. Sunday’s Musica Antiqua will feature some of his music during the first hour of the program. Our condolences to his family, colleagues, friends, and all who loved his music.

Image: Joel Cohen, courtesy bostoncamerata.org.

07/30/2026

Free Handel Aria Competition (HAC) ticket alert! On Sunday, August 2 at 10:00 a.m., HAC’s Cheryl Bensman-Rowe will visit Musica Antiqua and preview the competition with Carol Moseson. Seven finalists, accompanied by Madison Bach Musicians, will perform on Friday, August 7, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. at Grace Episcopal Church on Madison’s Capitol Square (116 W. Washington Avenue). Two lucky listeners will win a pair of tickets each to this year’s HAC, so be ready to call 608-256-2001 when the giveaway is announced. Cheryl, HAC’s founding artistic director and one of this year’s judges, will provide an insider’s look at the repertoire and how to appreciate it.

Before Cheryl stops by, Carol will feature music for 17th-century viol consort, 15th-century cantigas, medieval songs, madrigals by Maddalena Casulana and Barbara Strozzi, and very danceable mixed consort works by Andrea Falconieri.

Musica Antiqua, one of the nation’s longest-running early music programs, continues to thrive, thanks to your generous support of WORT community radio. Tune in every Sunday morning from 8 to 11, CT on WORT 89.9 FM, Madison, or listen online at wortfm.org. Thank you for listening!

Image: Detail from “Portrait of Handel next to his harpsichord,” portrait (c. 1730) by Philip Mercier, Handel House, Halle, Germany.

07/25/2026

On Sunday, July 26, Musica Antiqua’s Carol Moseson will belatedly celebrate the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene (7/22). According to the gospels, Mary Magdalene witnessed Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection; legends later claimed she was a former pr******te and that she bathed Jesus’s feet and dried them with her hair. Revered in music and art throughout Europe during the 9th-16th centuries, she is the subject of Byzantine chants, French, Italian, and Spanish motets, several masses, and a basse danse. Carol will play a few examples, including compositions by Kassia, A. Gabrieli, and Guerrero. You’ll also hear baroque Polish dances, lively 15th-century Spanish music, cornetto and soprano duos by Bassani, a Buxtehude trio sonata, and a Ste. Colombe viol concert.

Looking for something different? Listen to Musica Antiqua, WORT’s program of ancient, medieval, renaissance, and baroque music hosted by Terri Felton, Natalie Fields, Alan Muirhead, and Carol Moseson on Sunday mornings, 8-11 CT, on 89.9 FM and anytime at wortfm.org. Every show is different, and you can find playlists and two weeks’ worth of programs at wortfm.org.

Thank you for listening—and for supporting WORT community radio in Madison, Wisconsin. We appreciate you.

Image: “Elevation of Mary Magdalene with angels raising her,” detail, 14th-century relief sculpture, Diocesan Museum, SS. Johns' Cathedral, Toruń, Poland. Shown here as a penitent, Mary Magdalene wears a full-body hair shirt while angels lift her to heaven.

07/18/2026

Each hour of this Sunday's Musica Antiqua will feature a selection from the Eton Choirbook, sung by a different choir. We’ll start with Harry Christophers conducting The Sixteen in a Magnificat by John Nebett. Not much is known about him; the only recorded position is as master of the Lady Chapel at Canterbury Cathedral from 1475 to 1488.
The 2nd hour will begin with Richard Davy’s setting of Salve Jesu Mater vera, sung by the Christ Church Cathedral Choir conducted by Stephen Darlington.
The 3rd hour will present a Stabat Mater by John Browne, with Paul van Nevel leading the Heulgas Ensemble. We’ll also hear music by Jacob Handl (Jacobus Gallus), Ciconia, Ockeghem, Machaut, and others. One highlight will be a flute trio by Anna Bon di Venezia, and we will also sample a brand-new recording by Bruce Dickey, The Breathtaking Collective, and Ca****la Mariana.
The show will conclude with a little something by P.D.Q. Bach (Peter Schickele.)
You can hear all this live on WORT, 89.9FM, 8-11am this Sunday; you can also hear it at wortfm.org, where you can time-shift it to whatever suits your schedule. Many thanks to Terri Felton, who will be keeping the studio going while my back recovers from a recent fall.

07/12/2026

For this Sunday’s Musica Antiqua, host Terri Felton will be featuring two 2026 releases – one featuring a collection of madrigals by Pomponio Nenna, a Neapolitan composer of the Renaissance, and the other a collection of Italian laude from the early Renaissance. We will also hear works by George Friderich Handel, Salamone Rossi, Francesca Campana, and many others.

Musica Antiqua airs every Sunday from 8-11am central time on WORT, 89.9FM, Madison. You can also hear us streaming live at wortfm.org, or listen to the archive any time over the next two weeks. Thank you for listening and supporting WORT, your community radio station. Your comments and requests are always welcome here on Facebook, by email at [email protected], or by calling 608-256-2001 during the broadcast.

Image: “Female Musicians”, Master of the Female Half-Lengths (anonymous South Netherlands), ca. 1530.

07/05/2026

Happy July 4!!!

Musica Antiqua, of course, airs on Sunday, the day after the United States’ 250th anniversary. We will play some celebratory music later in the program but first we will hear lots of medieval and renaissance music from Sequentia and from Jordi Savall.

Composers featured during the show include Hildegard von Bingen, Richard Davy, Alfonso Ferrabosco, William Corkine, Luis Milan, Marin Marais and the very prolific anonymous.

We will also observe the 400th anniversary of the death of composer and lutenist John Dowland in 1626.

You will also hear Anonymous 4 singing traditional American folk songs and, if time allows, we will play Richard Harvey conducting Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man.

Muisca Antiqua airs every Sunday morning from 8 to 11 am, featuring medieval, renaissance, and baroque music – well, usually, as we will step out of that area toward the end of today’s show. You can hear us live on WORT, 89.9FM, or on the web at wortfm.org, where the show is also archived for 2 weeks after the broadcast. Tell your friends about the show and the station!

06/24/2026

This Sunday, June 28, Musica Antiqua’s Natalie Fields offers an amazing theme, “From Seville to the New World—Spain’s Golden Age and its Crossings.” The program will feature Iberian new releases. Pluhar’s “La Torre del Oro” traces the route from Seville’s harbor to the Americas, and Bestion’s “Bomba Flamenca” conjures the Spain of Charles V. The Sixteen’s “Morales and Moreno,” and Rial’s vihuela songs supply the Siglo de Oro (Spanish Golden Age) core. Scarlatti’s Spanish-flavored sonatas and Saint-Georges (born in Guadeloupe) widen the circle. And finally, we have the seasonal anchor: Mudarra’s “La mañana de Sant Juan”—a song for St. John’s Day (June 24).

Musica Antiqua, one of the nation’s longest-running early music programs, airs every Sunday morning from 8 to 11, CT on WORT 89.9 FM in Madison and wortfm.org everywhere.

Your comments and requests are always welcome here on Facebook, [email protected], or 608-256-2001 during the broadcast (follow the prompts). Thank you for listening—and huge thanks to everyone who donated during WORT’s recent fund drive. We appreciate you.

Image: Frescoes painted by Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527 – 1596), Library of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain. Philip II founded the library during Spain’s Golden Age (1492 – 1681).

06/20/2026

So many holidays! On Sunday, June 21, Musica Antiqua will celebrate summer’s arrival with early music praising the new season. Two later holidays, Father’s Day (1910) and last Juneteenth (1865), will also receive a nod.

For Father’s Day, host Carol Moseson will highlight 16th- and 17th-century women composers who had the support of their fathers: Francesca Caccini (daughter of composer Giulio Caccini), Barbara Strozzi (her adopted father founded a musical academy to promote her talent), Vittoria Aleotti (her father recognized her talent and sent her to a convent for musical training), and Leonora Duarte (born into a musical family headed by her father, a harpsichordist). You’ll also hear music from the Bassanos. Their father, a Venetian master of the shawm and trumpet, raised six sons, two of them and a grandson became composers. To end with a flourish, Carol will share music by Francis Johnson, a Philadelphia abolitionist and tremendously popular composer and bandleader.

Thank you to everyone who donated to WORT community radio during our recent pledge drive. Cohosts Alan, Natalie, Terri, and Carol deeply appreciate your generosity, and hope you will reach out whenever you have a musical request, comment, or questions—here on Facebook, [email protected], or 608-256-2001 (follow the voicemail prompts) during the show. Musica Antiqua airs every Sunday morning, 8 to 11, CT, on WORT 89.9 FM, wortfm.org, or on the WORT app. Thank you for listening!

Image: The Merry Family by Jan Steen, 1668, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam