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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

The Essay Podcast

The Essay

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: Classical Music's Unsung Heroines

The Essay: Classical Music's Unsung Heroines: Episode 2: Lady Maud Warrender

Episode 2

Episode 2: Lady Maud Warrender

Classical Music's Unsung Heroines

Lady Maud Warrender

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Kate Kennedy tells the story of Lady Maud Warrender, an aristocrat and patron of music.

Kate Kennedy tells the story of Lady Maud Warrender. An aristocrat, lesbian, singer and influential patron of music, she trod the line between respectability and scandal.

In the week leading up to our celebration of International Women's Day, a series of essays celebrating five women who have been unacknowledged movers and shakers in the world of classical music down the ages. Each of these women overcame societal expectations or personal adversity to have real influence on the music of their day, and subsequently ours.

Lady Maud Warrender was a respected performer, and one of the most influential patrons of music in the early twentieth century, all while living with her lesbian lover, the opera singer Marcia Van Dresser. Her life, lived very much in the public gaze, but with whole areas that were kept so discreetly private that it is hard to find any concrete information, was an example of a tightrope successfully and deftly trodden - a perilous path between respectability and scandal.

Dr Kate Kennedy tells the story of this extraordinary woman who wielded more power in the musical world than many male professional concert promoters put together.

Produced by Simon Richardson

To find out more about Radio 3's International Women's Day programming follow @BBCRadio3 and the hashtag #womensday.

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.

Celebrating women who have been unacknowledged heroines of classical music down the ages

Series celebrating five women who have been unacknowledged movers and shakers in the world of classical music down the ages

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Episode 2: Lady Maud Warrender

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