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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884)

Composer of the Week: Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884): Episode 5: Cruel Destiny

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884)

Episode 5

Episode 5: Cruel Destiny

Cruel Destiny

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884), Cruel Destiny

Donald Macleod tells the story of Smetana's final years, when he composed Ma Vlast.

Donald Macleod tells the story of Smetana's final years, as he lost his hearing, became unemployed and experienced marriage woes. He also wrote his most famous work, Ma Vlast.

On 5th September 1874, Smetana wrote to the Chairman of the Board of the Provisional Theatre, where he was employed as chief conductor: "It is my cruel destiny that I may lose my hearing". Six weeks later, he was completely deaf. He immediately set to work on what would become his most famous and popular work, Ma Vlast, a brilliant evocation of the landscape of his native land. The next ten years were desperately difficult. Smetana was unemployed, with financial anxieties, marriage woes, often in pain, constantly depressed. Donald Macleod tells the story of Smetana's final years.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Bedrich Smetana

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Bedrich Smetana, a composer credited with founding a national style of Czech music

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Composer of the Week

Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884)

Episode 5: Cruel Destiny

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