Overture - a podcast by BBC Radio 3

Jerry Brotton is Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary University of London and wants us to take a fresh look at a period in European history usually associated with beauty, harmony and art. His approach contains a health warning: the Renaissance was a lot darker and violent than many of us have imagined. Retracing the life of Benvenuto Cellini through his shocking autobiography, Jerry reveals how this was a time of conflict as well as beauty, creativity as well as tyranny.

Music is at the heart of the Renaissance, and Cellini’s early years are spent training as a musician. Renaissance music was all about harmony, but Cellini was ruled by other passions. Jerry looks at his early years and the conflicts that soon arise in a volatile youth.

With specially commissioned music to recreate the sound of Renaissance Florence.

Reader Marco Gambino

Producer Mark Rickards

A Whistledown Scotland Production

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