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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: Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

Composer of the Week: Richard Strauss (1864-1949): Episode 3: World War One and its Aftermath

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

Episode 3

Episode 3: World War One and its Aftermath

World War One and its Aftermath

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Richard Strauss (1864-1949), World War One and its Aftermath

Donald Macleod looks at the effects of the war on Strauss's life.

Donald Macleod looks at the effects of the war on Strauss's life and introduces two operas written during these challenging times.

Life carried on pretty much as normal for Strauss during the war. His strenuous conducting schedule continued at the Berlin Court Opera and he undertook punishing conducting tours. He met the soprano Elisabeth Schumann during his travels. Her voice inspired Strauss to write his first songs in 12 years, including three which trace Ophelia's descent into madness. After the war, life at the Berlin Opera House became untenable and he took on the co-directorship of the Vienna Opera, a move not without its own challenges. There, Strauss's opera Die Frau ohne Schatten received a lukewarm reception at its premiere. A few years later came his next opera, which featured the composer and his wife as the main characters and a farcical case of mistaken identity in his personal life.
Presented by Donald Macleod.

Amor (Brentano Lieder, Op 68)
Kiera Duffy (soprano)
Roger Vignoles (piano)

Die Frau ohne Schatten (excerpt)
Empress ..... Julia Varady (soprano)
Nurse ..... Reinhild Runkel (contralto)
Dyer's Wife ..... Hildegard Behrens (soprano)
Barak ..... José van Dam (baritone)
Vienna State Opera Chorus and Children's Choir
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor, Sir Georg Solti

Ophelia Lieder, Op 67
Christiane Karg (soprano)
Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Four Symphonic Interludes from 'Intermezzo'
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conductor, Franz Welser-Möst.

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 introduces some of Strauss's most profoundly felt works

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Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

Episode 3: World War One and its Aftermath

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