Musica Antiqua on WORT

08/02/2025

Join Musica Antiqua this Sunday, August 3, 2025, for a special guest and a ticket giveaway! Sarah Brailey, artistic director of the Handel Aria Competition (HAC), joins host Carol Moseson in the 10 o’clock hour for a preview of next Friday’s competition. Sarah and Carol will share a few of the arias the seven finalists will perform live with Madison Bach Musicians at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, August 8, at Grace Episcopal Church in Madison. You'll also have a chance to win one of two pairs of tickets to the competition.

There will also be earlier music on the show—13th century Italian hymns of praise, songs by 15th century Franco-Flemish composers Dufay and Binchois, early 17th century German instrumental music, and music for viol consort by Leonora Duarte and John Blow.

Musica Antiqua airs every Sunday morning from 8-11 on WORT 89.9 fm, Madison and wortfm.org. Our playlists and two weeks of archived music programs are also available online. Thank you for listening to Musica Antiqua and community radio. Your financial support is always welcome too.

Image: Handel Aria Competition program cover.

07/26/2025

Musica Antiqua’s Carol Moseson will explore music by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber on Sunday, July 27, 2025--inspired by cohost Natalie Fields’s sharing of Rachel Podger’s new “Just Biber” release on July 13. Biber, best known for his “Mystery” or “Rosary” sonatas for solo violin, wrote sacred choral music and instrumental music for church and court. Today you’ll hear examples of some of Biber’s gorgeous, but lesser-known music from these categories as well as music for violin. Music for viol consort, renaissance and baroque dances, medieval songs, and works by John Dowland and Francesca Caccini will round out the program.

Musica Antiqua airs every Sunday morning from 8 to 11 on WORT, 89.9 FM in Southcentral Wisconsin and everywhere via wortfm.org or the free WORT app. You can also find our playlists and two weeks of archived shows on the website. Thank you for listening.

Image: Detail from a memorial plaque shows Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s coat of arms, awarded to him by Archbishop Johann Ernst in 1691. A beaver surrounded by wings stands on a crown and holds sheet music.

07/18/2025

For this Sunday’s Musica Antiqua, host Terri Felton will be featuring two releases – first, a brand-new release entitled “In Wilhelmine’s Footsteps”, which focuses on the music of Wilhelmine von Bayreuth and her contemporaries of the late Baroque period in Germany, and the second a 2011 release entitled “Il Concerto delle Viole Barberini”, which focuses on Italian viol music of the early Baroque era. We will hear canzonas and madrigals of Cherubino Waesich, as well as madrigals of Domenico Mazzocchi.

Other selections for the program will include English and Italian lute songs, a sonata for solo violin by Guiseppe Tartini, medieval songs from France and England, and Guillaume Dufay’s Mass for St. Anthony of Padua.

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: Wilhelmine von Preussen by Antoine Pesne, c. 1725 (public domain).

07/15/2025

a contemporary flourishing of Hildegard von Bingen:

​A mystic who turned visions into beautiful chants, Hildegard von Bingen has inspired everyone from Grimes to David Lynch. Musicians including Julia Holter explain the hold she has on them

07/13/2025

Sunday, July 13, 2025’s Musica Antiqua welcomes harpsichordist Sean Kleve as a special guest. Host Natalie Fields will preview Sean’s July 19 harpsichord and historical violin concert “Sonate di Luce: Luminous sonatas from 17th and 18th century Italy” during the 10 o’clock hour. Sean, known to Madison audiences from Bach Around The Clock, will share a few examples of the music he and Benjamin Lenzmeier will be performing.

Earlier in the program Natalie will showcase early music from new releases—Ala Aurea’s “Epistolæ - Hildegard of Bingen and Her Letters,” The London Oratory Schola Cantorum’s “Sacred Treasures of Rome,” Camerata Øresund’s “In Wilhelmine’s Footsteps,” and Rachel Podger’s “Just Biber.” Expect a range of music from medieval song to sacred music by Palestrina and his contemporaries to brilliant interpretations of Biber’s difficult but joyous violin sonatas.

Musica Antiqua airs every Sunday morning 8 – 11 on WORT 89.9 FM in Madison, Wisconsin and wortfm.org. Your comments and requests are welcome here on Facebook. Thank you for listening, and please encourage your friends to try us too.

Image: Poster for “Sonata di Luce” concert on Saturday, July 19, 4 p.m. at MUSO Madison, 2040 Winnebago Street. Tickets are at the door or at musomadison.com.

07/05/2025

Happy Fourth of July - a little late! And Happy Canada Day, which our neighbors to the north celebrated on July 1. In honor of both nations' birthdays, pn Sunday's Musica Antiqua host Alan Muirhead will play selections from CDs celebrating the music either found or written in both countries.
Among the many composers who were born or died in early July was William Byrd, often considered among the greatest English composers of early music, who died on July 4, 1623. We'll hear his Mass for Four Voices as well as several other pieces throughout the show. Byrd exchanged motets based on Psalm 136 with composer Philippe de Monte, who was director of music to Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, and another Catholic. De Monte died on July 4, 1623. We'll hear both motets in the third hour of the show.
Hope your holiday was happy, and that you can catch the show! You can tune in 8-11am, Sunday, July 6, on WORT, 89.9 FM, or listen to the live stream at wortfm.org, or you can catch it up to 2 weeks later from the archive at wortfm.org.

06/28/2025

On Sunday, June 29, join Musica Antiqua host Terri Felton as we celebrate the close of Black Music Month with recordings from Black composers as well as Black performers. We will hear music by Francis Johnson, Joseph Bologne, Florence Price, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, along with many others, and we will also hear performances by Kathleen Battle, Wynton Marsalis, Randall Goosby, and much, much more.

In addition, we will hear some Italian madrigals and lute songs, as well as English songs and dances to keep us in the summer spirit.

Musica Antiqua, a program of medieval, renaissance, and baroque music, airs every Sunday morning 8-11 on WORT 89.9 (Madison) and wortfm.org. Your comments and requests are always welcome here on Facebook, [email protected], and at 608-256-2001 during the broadcast. Thank you for listening!

Image: Portrait of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, 1788.

06/20/2025

On Sunday, June 22, Musica Antiqua celebrates the official arrival of summer with garden- and love-themed madrigals, art songs, and dances. Carol Moseson joins her cohosts in thanking you for your very generous response during WORT’s recent pledge drive. In appreciation she will feature many of your favorite artists—TENET, The Tallis Scholars, Jordi Savall, The Rose Ensemble, and Duo Trobairitz—and music by Francesca Caccini, Palestrina, Handel, and Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (born on June 21, 1732).

Musica Antiqua, Madison’s medieval, renaissance, and baroque music program, airs every Sunday morning, 8 to 11, CT on WORT 89.9 FM and wortfm.org. Thank you for listening!

Image: “The Lover and Dame Oyseuse [Idleness]” stand outside a walled garden, while inside, four people sing to lute accompaniment near a fountain. Anonymous illustration from a British Library manuscript of the Roman de la Rose [The Romance of the Rose], c.1490-1500.

06/15/2025

On Sunday, June 15, host Natalie Fields will bring you the thank you edition of Musica Antiqua—music that portrays gratitude, beauty, and a lively spirit. She and her cohosts are grateful for your generous donations during our summer pledge drive. You can expect heavenly choral music ranging from Josquin des Prez to Tomás Luis de Victoria in anticipation of the Feast of Corpus Christi (June 19). Music by Arcangelo Corelli, Biagio Marini, Antonio Vivaldi, and Giovanni Bononcini are also likely to be featured.

Your musical requests for future shows are always welcome here on Facebook, [email protected], or during the broadcast at 608-256-2001.

Tune in every Sunday morning from 8-11 CT for Musica Antiqua, a program of medieval, renaissance, and baroque music on WORT 89.9, Madison and wortfm.org. Thank you for listening!

Image: Arcangelo Corelli, portrait by Hugh Howard (1675-1737).

06/09/2025

A huge thank you to everyone who donated during this morning's Musica Antiqua and last week's show. Thanks to your generous response, Musica Antiqua made its goals for this pledge drive. Your co-hosts--Natalie Fields, Terri Felton, Carol Moseson, and Alan Muirhead--are deeply grateful for your support. You put a spring in our collective steps, and we look forward to bringing you old favorites and new discoveries--all the medieval, renaissance, and baroque music we think you will enjoy.

Next week's host is Natalie Fields. Have a terrific week!

Image: Detail of people dancing from "St. George's Kermis with the Dance around the Maypole," oil painting on panel by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, 1550.

06/07/2025

Hello dear listeners, thank you for helping us out during the first of our two fundraising shows last week. Musica Antiqua made its goal thanks to you! On Sunday, June 8, Natalie Fields and Carol Moseson will be your genial cohosts for our final pledge drive show for the summer.

If you’ve already donated, thank you, and please join us anyway for plenty of fun—dance music, a sparking baroque concerto, cantigas de Santa Maria, a suite for viola da gamba, and vocal music ranging from sacred to cheeky to passionate. And, if it's been a while since you've supported WORT or you're a new listener, now's a great time to rejoin or join the WORT family. The more supporters, the stronger and merrier. We could all use some strength and fun during these challenging times.

Musica Antiqua, one of the nation’s oldest early music programs, airs every Sunday morning, 8 to 11, CT on WORT Community Radio, 89.9 FM in Madison and wortfm.org everywhere. Your requests are welcome anytime—here on Facebook, [email protected], in the “Listen Live” chat during the show, or when you call in with your pledge of financial support during the show at 608-256-2001 or wortfm.org. Thank you for making WORT and Musica Antiqua possible.

Image: Anonymous illumination from the Court of Alfonso X shows two musicians playing valveless trumpets, typically used for fanfares. E Codex (c. 1280), one of four surviving Cantigas de Santa Maria manuscripts, El Escorial, Madrid.

05/29/2025

Hello, Musica Antiqua friends, it’s summer pledge drive time. Three of your four cohosts— Terri Felton, Alan Muirhead, and Carol Moseson—look forward to entertaining and entreating you to keep Musica Antiqua and WORT thriving. (Natalie Fields will join us the following week.)

On Sunday, June 1, you’ll hear new discoveries and old favorites from artists like Stile Antico, The Rose Ensemble, Emma Kirkby, Paul O’Dette, The Broadside Band, Tenet, Ars Nova Copenhagen, Anonymous 4, Jordi Savall, Lorelei Ensemble, and Piffaro. Your support keeps us going during these extremely challenging times for independent media and the arts. Thank you for listening and helping us out!

Musica Antiqua airs every Sunday morning from 8-11, CT, on WORT-FM 89.9 Madison and wortfm.org. Your comments and requests are always welcome here on Facebook or [email protected]. You can pledge at wortfm.org anytime or at 608-256-2001 during the show. We appreciate your support.

Image: The “Parable of the Sower,” a stained glass panel from Canterbury Cathedral, c. 1175 – c. 1180, shows a farmer casting seed on potentially fertile ground.