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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

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

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

Composer of the Week: Charles Gounod (1818-1893)

Composer of the Week: Charles Gounod (1818-1893): Episode 3: Inspirational Provence

Charles Gounod (1818-1893)

Episode 3

Episode 3: Inspirational Provence

Inspirational Provence

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Charles Gounod (1818-1893), Inspirational Provence

Donald Macleod explains how the landscape of Provence inspired Gounod's opera Mireille.

When Gounod decided to base his latest opera on the epic poem by the Provençal writer Frédéric Mistral, he went to meet the poet and soak up the atmosphere of Mistral's native land. Gounod was so inspired by the beauty and tranquillity of the countryside that he completed most of the opera within a month. He returned to Provence two years later and once again found the stimulus he needed to write his next opera, based on Shakespeare's tragic tale of star-crossed lovers. Donald Macleod introduces highlights from both works, one quickly disappearing from the stage, the other proving to be the only immediate operatic success Gounod would have in his lifetime.

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 music of Charles Gounod

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Charles Gounod, known today for little other than the song Ave Maria and the hugely popular opera Faust, yet an important French composer

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Charles Gounod (1818-1893)

Episode 3: Inspirational Provence

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