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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

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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: Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Composer of the Week: Henry Purcell (1659-1695): Episode 2: Purcell and Fashion

Episode 2

Episode 2: Purcell and Fashion

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Purcell and Fashion

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Henry Purcell (1659-1695), Purcell and Fashion

Donald explains how Purcell tailored his music to varied contemporary styles.

Donald Macleod explains how Purcell tailored his music to a variety of styles, and paid tribute to his English predecessors even if it meant swimming against the cultural tide.

In Purcell's time if it was cool it was probably French. Today Donald Macleod finds the composer riding the wave of contemporary fashions, and wearing not just a beret but also military cravat and a sharp Italian suit. As we discover, Purcell could be all things to all men if he so desired, and he was happy to satisfy the King's French fascinations one day, and aristocratic Italian obsessions the next. We also find him paying tribute to his English predecessors, even if that meant swimming against the cultural tide.


arr Jay Bernfeld: Fantasia à5 in F Z 745 
Fuoco e Cenere
Jay Bernfeld, director

Sonata à3 in C minor Z 798 
Retrospect Trio

Retir'd from any mortal's sight Z 581 
Judith Nelson, soprano
Christopher Hogwood, harpsichord

Fantasia V à4
Fretwork

Pox on You 
The Merry Companions

If ever I more riches did desire Z 544 
Parley of Instruments
Red Byrd
Peter Holman, director

Dioclesian, conclusion 
Ann Monoyios, soprano, 
Stephen Gadd, bass
Richard Edgar-Wilson, tenor
Paul Agnew, tenor
The English Concert
Trevor Pinnock, director

Producer: Michael Surcombe.

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 Henry Purcell

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of Henry Purcell, a musical revolutionary remembered as Britain's 'musical Shakespeare'

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Composer of the Week

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Episode 2: Purcell and Fashion

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