Episode 6 of Tim The Composer's podcast explores Thomas Tallis's forty-part motet "Spem in alium" and its turbulent Tudor context. Tim tells the story of Tallis's life as a secret Catholic through the reigns of four monarchs, how and why "Spem in alium" came to be, the mysterious numbers and symbolism within it, why it may be a piece of cunning subversiveness in dangerous times, and how Tallis created a magnificent, magical, and enduring masterpiece from deceptively simple ingredients.

Spotify Playlist for Episode 6: Forty

Episode 5 of Tim The Composer's podcast tells the story of Haydn's Symphony No. 45, the "Farewell". Tim explores how a group of homesick musicians, stranded at a remote Hungarian palace by their fabulously wealthy employer Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, turned to their Kapellmeister for help. Haydn's response was a symphony in an impossible key, ending with musicians walking off stage one by one, extinguishing their candles as they went. It worked: the court departed the next day.

Spotify Playlist for Episode 5: Farewell

Episode 4 of Tim The Composer's podcast is all about Monteverdi's opera, Orfeo, one of the very earliest of all operas. Tim discovers the fascinating story behind the opera's creation, exploring how and why Monteverdi and his collaborator Striggio ended up picking on this story in particular and creating this new artform, and the background in the Duchy of Mantua and the influence of the remarkable House of Gonzaga.

Spotify Playlist for Episode 4: Orfeo

In Episode 3 of Tim the Composer's Podcast, Tim goes back to the earliest origins of reliably written music, and talks about Guido d'Arezzo, his life, and his solutions to the problem of writing down music such that it can be reconstructed precisely years, decades, or centuries later. Tim also discovers a number of surprising and entertaining connections between Guido d'Arezzo and the musical film "The Sound of Music"!

Spotify Playlist for Episode 3: Ut

In Episode 2 of Tim the Composer's Podcast, Tim looks at J.S. Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier". He explains what both "well-tempered" and "clavier" mean precisely, and then explores the music itself in the dramatic context of Bach’s life at around the time of the music’s composition.

Spotify Playlist for Episode 2: Tempered

In this first episode of Tim the Composer’s Podcast, Tim explores Beethoven’s First Symphony. The story starts as Beethoven leaves home in Bonn for a new life in Vienna and his friends give him a send-off, and ends 8 years later with the first performance there of his first symphony - a revolutionary moment in music!

Spotify Playlist for Episode 1: First

In Episode 0 of Tim The Composer's Podcast, Tim introduces the podcast and explains what it's all about, including why he doesn’t call it "classical" music!