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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: Irving Berlin (1888-1989)

Composer of the Week: Irving Berlin (1888-1989): Episode 4: God Bless America

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Irving Berlin (1888-1989)

Episode 4

Episode 4: God Bless America

God Bless America

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Irving Berlin (1888-1989), God Bless America

Donald Macleod explores Irving Berlin's songs from the 1940s, including White Christmas.

Donald Macleod explores Irving Berlin's songs from the 1940s, including the biggest-selling single of all time, White Christmas.

In the run up to the Second World War Berlin once again judged the mood of the American people perfectly by writing the patriotic song God Bless America, and similarly, once the war had begun, the songs he wrote for the film Holiday Inn affirmed the values of hearth, home and country. These included White Christmas, which Berlin considered the best song he ever wrote, and it was particularly popular with soldiers posted overseas. During the war Berlin led his own military troupe around the world with a revue, This is the Army, which 2.5 million soldiers saw between its Broadway debut in 1942 and the Hawaiian finale in 1945. Donald Macleod looks at Berlin's role as national minstrel during the 1940s.

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 Irving Berlin

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Irving Berlin, a composer whose career spanned Dvorak to The Beatles. A celebrated songwriter, he composed for both Hollywood and Broadway

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Composer of the Week

Irving Berlin (1888-1989)

Episode 4: God Bless America

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