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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: Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)

Composer of the Week: Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849): Episode 1: Roots

Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)

Episode 1

Episode 1: Roots

Roots

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849), Roots

Donald Macleod explores the importance to Chopin of his home town, Warsaw.

Donald Macleod explores the importance to Chopin of his home town, Warsaw, where he spent the formative years of his life.

Donald Macleod explores the music and life of Chopin, zooming in on five key places on his lifetime itinerary - starting today in the composer's hometown, Warsaw, where he spent the formative years - 20 out of a total 39 - of his life.

Chopin's exceptional gifts - as both pianist and composer - were apparent very early. His first published piece is a creditable effort for a seven-year-old, and by the age of sixteen he was writing music that bore the hallmarks of his mature style. Trips to Berlin and Vienna - where two impromptu concerts at the Kärntnerthor Theatre caused a sensation - gave him a taste for foreign exploration, and heightened his sense that Warsaw could not give him all that he needed as an artist. So at the end of 1830, the 20-year-old Chopin set off on a coach for Vienna, little realizing that the failure of the Polish Uprising - which would be brutally crushed by Russia - was soon to make him a permanent exile.

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 focuses on five places that were important to Chopin's work

Donald Macleod explores the music and life of Chopin, focusing on five places that were important to the composer's work

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Composer of the Week

Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)

Episode 1: Roots

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