For our next playlist, we'd like to introduce you to the world of overtures. Motivation can be in short supply at the moment and the excitement of an overture might be just what you need to get moving and start your day! Beginning in Mantua, Italy in 1607 with Claudio Monteverdi's epic ‘Toccata’ from the opening of L’Orfeo (we have a sentimental attachment to Monteverdi as we met in a student production of this opera!) this playlist will take you to France, England, and Germany. You'll hear overtures from opera seria as well as ballets and orchestral suites.

If you've ever heard an opera, then the chances are you've heard an overture. These exciting pieces are designed to raise the listener's heart rate and build anticipation for the drama to come. You might have previously heard a lot of overtures written in a more freely-composed structure than many of the pieces here. This is because for a large part of the baroque era, the 'French Overture' was the dominant form. This style emerged alongside opera and ballet throughout the 17th century.

The French Overture starts with a stately section to grab the attention of the audience, which sometimes announced the entrance of the king. Following this stately introduction is an exciting, faster passage where you will hear each part enter one at a time. The final section is often a return to the initial stately affect allowing for a grand finale. Often the whole overture was repeated, including repeats of each individual section to allow for changes in dynamics, timbre, affect, and ornamentation. As you'll hear on this playlist, the aforementioned form is not the only one. By the time you reach Rameau's opera Zaïs (1748), the overture resembles much more the form we are used to hearing in Romantic and 20th-century music.

Click here to listen!

We hope this music brings you as much joy and excitement as it does to us. Thank you all for your continued support for our Australian Cultural Fund Boost Campaign, we look forward to playing for you very soon!

To lift your spirits during isolation, we’ve put together a Spotify playlist featuring one of our favourite dance forms: the chaconne! This playlist will take you on a dance across Europe from the early-17th to 18th centuries. We love to start the day with a coffee and a chaconne!

Known by various names such as the ‘ciaccona’ in Italy, ‘chacona’ in Spain, and the ‘chacony’ in England, the chaconne (French) is one of the most iconic dance forms of the baroque era. With its origins in the New World, the chaconne first emerged in Europe on the Iberian Peninsula, where it was a fast and raunchy dance seen as too risqué in most courts, which of course only increased its popularity! Throughout the 17th century, the dance quickly became popular in Italy, England, and France, where it underwent a drastic change to a much slower, but still sensuous, courtly dance .

Musically, the chaconne is often built on a descending bass line in triple time. The chaconnes of the late-17th and early-18th century typically feature a modulation to the major or minor version of the home key which inevitably returns home to the original key.

Great chaconnes playlist

Thank you to everyone who has supported us in the first week of our Australian Cultural Fund Boost campaign. We hope that we can play some chaconnes for you very soon!

Hannah and Nick