The Story of Classical: Part VIII

The Story of Classical is your essential nine-part companion guide to classical music. In each of our commentaries, we unlock the mystery and beauty of every musical period—from the Middle Ages to the present day—by chronicling an encounter between vital figures in music history. We journey back 900 years to the medieval period, a fertile time where music as we know it was born, from the invention of musical notation to our very understanding of the nature of rhythm and harmony. And we look in on the pioneering Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th-century German abbess and prolific composer whose liturgical music was far ahead of its time. Enjoy the commentary in full on the first track, and on subsequent tracks explore all of its featured music.