In Time to the Music – BBC Radio 4 – 7th February 2023, 11:30am

The story of a piece of music, song, an air or melody travelling through time as a folk tune, a theatre melody, a hymn, a composition, a symphony – reinterpreted on two or more occasions, across years, centuries or millennia through revival, musical revolution, social fashions or archaeological discovery.

We examine why certain tunes have managed to reach out over time, across genres, class, race and continents; how some are reimagined by oppressors even though they were written by its oppressed; how melodies from earlier periods are ‘borrowed’ by subsequent composers and how these illusive musical ‘engravings’ change genre – from hymn to reggae, from court song to rock and roll – all with the passage of time.

Series begins Tue 7 Feb 2023 at 11:30 BBC Radio 4