Words and Music

From Shakespeare to Hilary Mantel, the Tudor era is a period rich in literature, with a king who is said to have composed Greensleeves for his future queen Anne Boleyn. Today's programme is inspired by the dynasty that ruled England from Henry VII's reign in 1485 until the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. Theirs was an era of turbulence, from the Wars of the Roses, to the seismic break with Rome under Henry VIII, and the bloody era of Protestant executions under Mary I. There is poetry by Thomas Wyatt (who was accused of adultery with Anne Boleyn), Mary, Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth I herself, and there are extracts from 20th-century takes including Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and CJ Sansom's Matthew Shardlake detective series. Music comes from William Byrd, and Thomas Tallis, who walked a dangerous line as a Catholic composer in Elizabeth I's Protestant court, and Tudor-inspired music by Donizetti and Britten.