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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

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Kate Molleson

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)

Composer of the Week: Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835): Episode 5: A Flower Fades Too Soon

Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)

Episode 5

Episode 5: A Flower Fades Too Soon

A Flower Fades Too Soon

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835), A Flower Fades Too Soon

Donald Macleod focuses on Bellini's early death at the age of 33.

Donald Macleod focuses on Bellini's early death at the age of 33. With music from his two final operas: Beatrice di Tenda and Il Puritani.

Vincenzo Bellini died tragically young, at the age of just 33. His funeral was attended by the musicians and artists of Paris, 350 singers performed a mass, a quartet of the greatest opera singers of the day performed one of Bellini's arias, and composers Rossini and Cherubini were pallbearers.

We hear the final scene of the opera Beatrice di Tenda with the great 20th Century exponent of Bellini heroines, Joan Sutherland singing the title role, the duet Suoni le tromba from Bellini's final opera I Puritani, and the aria Ah! non credea mirarti / Sì presto estinto, o fiore from La Sonnambula sung by Maria Callas, which is the inscription on Bellini's tomb in Catania: 'Oh, flower, I did not believe you would fade so soon'. Presented by Donald Macleod.

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 Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini, famous for his bel canto era operas

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Composer of the Week

Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)

Episode 5: A Flower Fades Too Soon

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