1672: London Calling

Available for 36 days

30 December 1672, London. In a modest room above a tavern, a crowd gathers for something entirely new. For the price of a shilling, anyone can hear professional musicians perform. With John Banister’s concert, music escapes the court and church, and the age of the paying public begins. This programme traces the rise of public concert life in Restoration London, as political upheaval, entrepreneurial musicians and a growing middle class reshape the way music is made and heard. From Puritan restrictions to the theatrical explosion under Charles II, and from taverns to coffee houses, a new musical culture emerges, one driven not by patrons but by audiences. 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 next eight programmes, historian Suzannah Lipscomb is in the chair. 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. MUSIC DETAILS John Banister: The Musick att the Bath The Parley of Instruments Peter Holman, director John Playford (ed. Edmund Taylor): Daphne or The Shepherds Bellot Ensemble Alehouse Sessions Medley arr. Playford Barokksolistene Bjarte Eike Henry Purcell: Welcome Song – Fly, bold rebellion (Z324) Jeremy Budd, tenor The Sixteen Harry Christophers, conductor Henry Purcell: Suite from Abdelazer Bellot Ensemble Anonymous: Diddle, diddle (Bawdy Ballad) Matthew Locke: Suite No. 3 in D minor – Pavan Bellot Ensemble Benjamin Britten: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra BBC Symphony Orchestra Dalia Stasevska, conductor