By 
Long before period instruments became a familiar sight in major concert halls, Nuremberg had already embraced them. On 16 November 1956, the Germanisches Nationalmuseum and the Bayerischer Rundfunk radio studio launched Musica Antiqua with a programme of Baroque chamber music featuring, among others, Bach and Fasch, centred on the oboist Helmut Winschermann. Seventy years later, the series stands as a privileged witness to the rise of historically informed performance.
From the outset, its distinctive character lay in the dialogue between concerts, research and the museum’s collection of musical instruments: from 1962 onwards, specialists were appointed to study and restore the instruments, while their precise measurements encouraged the construction of replicas and the rediscovery of forgotten sounds. For its part, the Bayerischer Rundfunk, Germany’s public radio and television broadcaster, brought these new approaches to a wide audience through its recordings.
Over the decades, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gustav Leonhardt, Ton Koopman, Jordi Savall, Trevor Pinnock, Andreas Scholl, Dorothee Mields and Dorothee Oberlinger have all appeared in the series, as have Musica Antiqua Köln, Il Giardino Armonico, L’Arpeggiata and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. The 70th season opened on 16 September with Katharina Bäuml and Capella de la Torre, who chose a symbolic work: Monteverdi’s Vespers of the Blessed Virgin, still almost exotic in 1956 and since become one of the emblems of the Baroque revival. The anniversary season continues until May 2027, ranging from German Renaissance song to Notre-Dame organum, with Leila Schayegh and the splendour of Baroque trumpets along the way.
Official website: https://www.br.de
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