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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: Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

Composer of the Week: Edward Elgar (1857-1934): Episode 1: The Roots of an Enigma

Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

Episode 1

Episode 1: The Roots of an Enigma

The Roots of an Enigma

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Edward Elgar (1857-1934), The Roots of an Enigma

Donald Macleod follows Elgar from birth to the brink of his first acknowledged masterpiece

Donald Macleod follows Elgar from birth to the brink of his first acknowledged masterpiece.

Celebrating British Music: Donald Macleod explores the life and work of the 'quintessentially English' composer, Edward Elgar, whose musical roots lay firmly in Europe, and whose Catholicism and class background bequeathed him a lifelong sense of isolation from mainstream British society.

Today's programme follows Elgar from birth to the brink of his first acknowledged masterpiece via unrequited love, wind quintets written for performance in the family shed, a spell as music director at a lunatic asylum, marriage, early recognition, the advent of 'Nimrod' (August Jaeger), and the first glimmerings of success beyond the confines of his native Worcestershire.

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 Edward Elgar

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of the 'quintessentially English' Edward Elgar, a composer who nevertheless had musical roots firmly in Europe

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Composer of the Week

Edward Elgar (1857-1934)

Episode 1: The Roots of an Enigma

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