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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: Cole Porter (1891-1964)

Composer of the Week: Cole Porter (1891-1964): Episode 5: Final Years

Music: Easy Listening, Soundtracks & Musicals

Cole Porter (1891-1964)

Episode 5

Episode 5: Final Years

Final Years

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Cole Porter (1891-1964), Final Years

Donald Macleod on how some of Cole Porter's triumphs were clouded by personal tragedies.

Donald Macleod explains how, with his greatest success behind him, Cole Porter's subsequent triumphs were clouded by personal tragedies.

He was one of the most famous Broadway composers of his time, and many of his songs still live on in our consciousness today, this week Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Cole Porter.

With the huge success of Kiss Me Kate, Cole Porter's backers would happily support any new venture that took his fancy. He embarked on a new whow, Out of This World, which included the serene song, Use Your Imagination. The reviewers hated it but the audience on the second night whistled their enthusiasm for over fifteen minutes.

Further triumphs came with Can-Can, second only in popularity to Kiss me Kate. It included songs which are still popular today: It's All Right With Me, and I Love Paris. By this time however, Porter's wife, Linda, was very ill and she soon died. The loss of his mother, and now his wife, was a tremendous blow.

Cole Porter's final work was something of a departure for him, a TV production of Aladdin. It was a total flop. The personal losses he had suffered were followed by the the amputation of his leg; he stopped composing altogether and started to decline. He died in 1964, aged 73.

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 Cole Porter

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Cole Porter, one of the most famous Broadway composers of his time. His achievements include a catalogue of witty, sophisticated and sometimes risque songs

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Cole Porter (1891-1964)

Episode 5: Final Years

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