Erasmus Abroad

1. London, by the Thames · 1:36Erasmus and Thomas More meet on Tower Wharf and argue about Brussels, rules and Utopia. Two friends, one argument – five centuries on. Watch ›

2. Brou: Requiem for a Battle · 3:03Autumn 1515, after Marignano: Margaret of Austria and Erasmus in her church at Brou, built for her husband Philibert of Savoy. War, princes who will not listen – and Pierre de la Rue's Requiem, sung from the very floor of the human voice. Watch ›

3. Leipzig: Two Stubborn Men · 4:22Erasmus climbs to the organ loft of St Thomas's in Leipzig to meet Johann Sebastian Bach. Two men at odds with their authorities, Silbermann's organ in Dresden and how a fugue is made – ending on the final chord of the Fugue in A minor, BWV 543. Watch ›

4. San Marco: Two Practices · 3:21Under the golden mosaics of St Mark's, Erasmus finds Claudio Monteverdi in the pulpit. Gold leaf under glass, the Pantocrator of 1506 – and the quarrel that changed music: prima and seconda prattica. With the close of the Magnificat from the Vespers of 1610, recorded live in San Marco. Watch ›

5. Rome: Popes, Gold and a Cornett · 3:11By the Trevi Fountain Erasmus meets Benvenuto Cellini, goldsmith to the popes. Coins and indulgences, the Sack of Rome, an escape down knotted bedsheets – and how a cornetto brought Cellini into the service of Clement VII. With Giovanni Priuli's Magnificat for twelve voices. Watch ›

6. Paris: A Mass in Any Mode · 3:03In the Sainte-Chapelle, under walls made of light, Erasmus meets Johannes Ockeghem – spectacles on his nose, choirbook on the lectern. Canons, puzzles and a Mass that can be sung in any mode. With the Agnus Dei from the Missa cuiusvis toni, sung in fa by the sound and the fury. Watch ›

7. Manchester: The Theme That Is Not Played · 3:33In the Free Trade Hall, home of the Hallé, Erasmus meets the conductor Sir Hamilton Harty – organist at twelve, prince of accompanists, Irishman from Hillsborough. Elgar's riddle, the hunter behind Nimrod and a theme that is never played. With Nimrod and the finale of the Enigma Variations, conducted by Harty himself. Watch ›

8. Asolo: Bitter, Sweet, Divine · 3:45In the garden of Queen Caterina Cornaro at Asolo, Erasmus meets Pietro Bembo – poet, Ciceronian and later cardinal. The three voices of the Asolani on love, letters from Lucrezia Borgia with a lock of her hair, and why love speaks the vernacular. With Cara Lucia, sung by Marco Beasley with Accordone. Watch ›

9. Venice: A Woman in Armour · 3:28In Palazzo Mocenigo on the Grand Canal, where Monteverdi first staged his Combattimento, Erasmus meets the painter Artemisia Gentileschi. A trial in Rome, Judith and Holofernes, the first woman in the Florentine Academy – and Clorinda, the woman in armour who never gives her name. With the duel from Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, sung by Mauro Borgioni. Watch ›

10. Venice: Make Haste Slowly · 3:27In the Aldine Press in Venice, Erasmus meets his printer Aldus Manutius. Three thousand proverbs set in type as fast as he could write them, Greek at dinner, a stingy father-in-law, the first italics and the first pocket books – and the war of 1509 that silenced the presses. With Heinrich Isaac's A la battaglia, played by La Caccia. Watch ›

11. Ferrara: Never Drink the Duchess's Wine · 2:57In the Orange Garden of the Castello Estense, Erasmus meets Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara. A pope for a father, three husbands, a brother with a sword and a poisoner's legend invented three centuries later – plus Bembo's love letters, a lock of blonde hair and Aldus' italics. With Cipriano de Rore's Anchor che col partire, sung by Marco Beasley with Accordone. Watch ›

12. Stockholm: I Think, Therefore I Freeze · 3:11In Queen Christina's library at Tre Kronor, at five on a January morning, Erasmus meets René Descartes – the philosopher who thought best in bed and now freezes in Stockholm. A stove-heated room, I think therefore I am, a book locked in a drawer after Galileo, a mask, the Index – and a skull that went its own way. With Johann Jacob Froberger's Toccata in a, played by Wolfgang Glüxam. Watch ›