This video links a joyous movement of Haydn with some gorgeous paintings of ships in watercolour from the 18th Century. The playing cards featured in this video can be viewed here.

This video links a movement of J.S. Bach to a set of 19th Century playing cards that depict a church Bach famously walked to in order to hear the organ there. The card featured in this episode can be viewed here.

This ace of spades from 1720 shows a dancing master holding a pocket violin or a ‘kit’ and leading a lady in a dance. We combine it with the most popular of 18th Century dance forms, the minuet. Here written by Telemann. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

With a playing card from 1644 which shows Catherine Medici, we perform a piece entitled ‘La Cattarina’ by Tarquinio Merula. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

This episode shows how a sketch for a queen of diamonds was turned into a double-ended playing card. We combine it with a canon by Telemann. The cards featured can be viewed online here.

This video tells the story of an intriguing fictitious 17th Century conspiracy and combines it with music by the Italian violinist Nicola Matteis. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed online here.

Here we celebrate dances and sheep that come from the town of Bergamo in Northern Italy. The cards featured in this video can be viewed online here.

The 18th century court in Berlin was full of dog lovers, and this episode combines music by Anna Amalia of Prussia with a dog from a set of 19th Century cards published in Berlin. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

This video features some circular playing cards with unusual suit markings with a gigue by Handel. The cards in this episode can be viewed online here.

This episode features some Viennese playing cards that are incredibly intricate 17th Century maps. We combine the map of Saxony with music by the composer Christoph Schaffrath (1709–1763). The playing cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

This pack of cards from 1700 features incredibly detailed drawings of mathematical instruments and combines them with the last movement of a concerto by Johann Gottlieb Graun The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here:

In this episode, we feature some West end show memorabilia with an arrangement of an aria by Giovanni Bononcini. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

This episode combines some stunning silk playing cards which are bound together as a book with a sonata by Anna Amalia of Prussia. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here:

This episode features some incredibly rare ‘humanist’ cards from 1544 and pairs them with an excerpt of an opera by Mlle Duval - the second woman to have an opera staged in Paris. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

This episode combines an unusual trio sonata by an entrepreneurial composer, Joseph Boismortier with some 18th Century playing cards that teach you to do arithmetic. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

Celebrating a connection between playing cards and chess, this episode features a hauntingly beautiful sonata by Anne Danican Philidor. The card featured in this episode can be viewed here.

G.F. Handel (1685-1759) Gigues from 'Water Music' Suite no.5 in G minor

This special Platinum Jubilee episode features a good mix of royal music and cards for Elizabeth I and Elizabeth II.

The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

This video is part of the project 'Pick a Card...' exploring historical playing cards held in the British Museum. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here:

This episode connects a card showing the story of the Judgement of Paris with a rarely-performed sonata by Gottfried Finger. The card featured in this episode can be viewed here.

This episode pairs some beautiful birds drawn by an anonymous 18th Century artist with a sonata by Arcangelo Corelli. The playing cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

This episode explores 17th Century Dutch comedy cards and combines them with a piece by Jacob Van Eyck entitled ‘Boffons’. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

This is a rather special playing card which contains the sheet music for an 18th Century social dance. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

Exploring connections between Handel and Norfolk, this video includes a true Augelletti aria - Hush, ye pretty warbling quire from Acis and Galatea. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1936-0501-1

This episode combines another movement of a Telemann Paris Quartet with juniper berries. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

In this episode, we take a look at a beautifully drawn 17th Century Paris skyline and combine it with a joyful movement from Telemann’s Paris quartets. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

This episode explores hidden histories of Exeter Cathedral…The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

This video combines dances from John Blow’s Venus and Adonis with a card from 18th Century England. The cards in this episode can be viewed here https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1879-0510-36-87

Johann Gottlieb Graun (1703-1771) - Concerto in C major for violin and recorder GraunWV Cv:XIII:96 - Allegro

In this video we combine a little dog from 1670 with a concerto written by a court composer to the dog-lover King Frederick the Great of Prussia

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525 – 1594) with diminutions by Francesco Rognoni (d. circa1626)

Vestiva I colli

Celebrating the arrival of spring, this video features as anonymous and unpublished playing card drawn in the 18th Century. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1896-0501-982

Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762) - A Treatise of Good Taste in the Art of Musick. Sonata 3. ‘The Last Time I Came O’er the Moor’

In this video, we pair an 18th Century setting of an old Scottish melody with a fragment of a card featuring a deer drawn in 1430. The two cards featured in this episode can be viewed here and here.

Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764) - Op.13, Overtures and Trio sonatas, No. 1 in G major, Minuetto

This video pairs a card illustrating the sense ‘to hear’ with a charming minuet by Jean-Marie Leclair. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

Henry Purcell (1659-1695) Two in One Upon a Ground from Dioclesian Z.627

This video features a card designed to teach the stories of Ovid’s Metamorphosis to a young Louis XIV. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

Salamone Rossi (ca. 1570 – 1630) Sinfonia undecima , Il primo libro delle sinfonie et gagliarde (1607)

Andrea Falconieri (1585 or 1586 – 1656) L’Eroica a’3 from Il primo libro di canzone, sinfonia, fantasie, Capricci, Brandi, Correnti, Gagliarde Alemane

This video travels to 17th Century Mantua. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) Sonata Corellisantes TWV42:h3 Grave – Allegro Assai

This video is pairs beautiful birds that imitate each other’s calls with Telemann, imitating Arcangelo Corelli. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) - Trio Sonata Op.2 No. 1.III. Largo IV. Untitled

This video pairs two depictions of the Roman queen Agripina. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.

C.P.E. Bach (1714-1788) - Trio sonata in C Major. H.571 (Adagio - Allegro)

This video combines a trio sonata by CPE Bach with some ‘Sentimental Conversation cards’ from Liverpool in 1770. The cards featured in this episode can be viewed here.