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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 2: Mallarme's Salon

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Episode 2

Episode 2: Mallarme's Salon

Mallarme's Salon

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

Donald Macleod explores the influence of poet Stephane Mallarme on Debussy.

Donald Macleod explores the influence of poet Stephane Mallarme on Debussy, whose poem l'apres-midi d'un faune inspired the composer's much-loved orchestral version.

Debussy's encounters with the poet Stéphane Mallarmé, whose poem "l'après-midi d'un faune" inspired Debussy's much loved orchestral version.

Over the course of the week Donald Macleod explores the musical fruits of Debussy's relationships with the society hostess Madame Vasnier, writer Pierre Louÿs, poets Stéphane Mallarmé and Maurice Maeterlinck and the ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev.

Born in 1862, Debussy's childhood was overshadowed by periods of uncertainty and poverty. His father Manuel was in and out of employment and his mother was obliged to work as a seamstress to make ends meet. During the Commune, Debussy's father enlisted in the National Guard whereupon family life hit a further stumbling block after the movement was crushed in 1871, as Manuel Debussy was put on trial and imprisoned. On identifying a natural musical talent and a potential income, young Debussy was steered towards a career as a concert pianist. He began his studies at the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 10 and the twelve or so years he spent there were the only formal education he received. By the time he graduated he had decided to dedicate himself to composition rather than performance, and he had an address book full of contacts to help him on his way, some of whom we'll meet across this week. 

Today Donald Macleod looks at Stéphane Mallarmé's influence on Debussy, through his verse and and the poet's famous Tuesday gatherings, an important rendezvous for Paris's artists, which Debussy attended regularly up until the older man's death in 1898.

Petite Suite (Cortège)
Claire Désert and Emmanuel Strosser, piano

Apparition
Natalie Dessay, soprano
Philippe Cassard, piano

Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune 
Emmanuel Pahud, flute
Berlin Philharmonic
Claudio Abbado, conductor

String Quartet, 4th movement, très modéré ? très mouvementé
Ebene Quartet 

Estampes
Pagodes; La soirée dans Grenade; Jardins sous la pluie
Noriko Ogawa, piano

La Mer, de l'aube à midi sur la mer
Orchestre National de France
Daniele Gatti, conductor.

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 discusses the fruits of a number of Debussy's important friendships

Donald Macleod discusses Debussy's friendships with society hostess Madame Vasnier, writer Pierre Louys, poets Stephane Mallarme and Maurice Maeterlinck and ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev

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Composer of the Week

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Episode 2: Mallarme's Salon

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