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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: Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Composer of the Week: Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Episode 3: Debussy's Premiere Rhapsodie

Music: Classical: Chamber & Recital

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Episode 3

Episode 3: Debussy's Premiere Rhapsodie

Debussy's Premiere Rhapsodie

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Claude Debussy (1862-1918), Debussy's Premiere Rhapsodie

Why Debussy turned to conducting and wrote new chamber music for the Paris Conservatoire.

Donald Macleod explores how, struggling financially, Debussy turned to conducting and wrote new chamber music for the Paris Conservatoire.

He had a profound impact upon music and musicians in his day, and created new genres for the piano and orchestra, this week Donald Macleod explores Claude Debussy through his chamber music.

Debussy, in the early twentieth century, had settled down with Emma Bardac, with whom he had a daughter Claude-Emma. The family struggled financially and Debussy had to take on conducting work. For the Paris conservatoire, he produced a sight-reading test piece, his Petite Pièce, and also an examination work, the Première Rhapsodie, both for clarinet and piano.

The prospect of generous commission fees drew Debussy to compose for the stage. He started work on a ballet project, called Khamma, which was to be set in Egypt. Another commision came from the dancer Ida Rubenstein, who asked for a new work based on the Martyrdom of St Sebastian. The finished piece caused much controversy and the Archbishop of Paris forbade Catholics to attend performances, under threat of excommunication!

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 chamber music of Claude Debussy

Donald Macleod explores a less celebrated, but important, area of Debussy's output - his chamber works

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Composer of the Week

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Episode 3: Debussy's Premiere Rhapsodie

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