In the middle of the last century, Alan Lomax travelled this country with a portable (barely) recording machine and collected the folk music of America.
In 1651, John Playford travelled England with pen and paper and collected the folk dances of his land. With the publication of Playford's Dancing Master, he had an instant hit on his hands both in England and in the colonies, resulting in the printing of dozens of further volumes over the next fifty or so years.
We'll hear some of Playford's dances this week, then some keyboard music on various instruments -- including a piano from Beethoven's day.
The series of violin concerti continues with the G minor of Prokofiev, and the cycle of English composer William Boyce's symphonies concludes with No. 8.
Then it's back to English dance music with 20th century composer Gustav Holst's setting of six Morris Dance tunes for orchestra.