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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: Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826)

Composer of the Week: Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826): Episode 1: 'You will never be a musician!'

Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826)

Episode 1

Episode 1: 'You will never be a musician!'

'You will never be a musician!'

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826), 'You will never be a musician!'

Weber's childhood as travelling player - first opera at 14 and banishment from Württemberg

Donald Macleod explores Weber's childhood in his family of travelling players; his first opera aged 14 and his arrest and banishment from the kingdom of Württemberg.

Carl Maria von Weber's father wanted a child prodigy like his niece's husband Mozart. But he was unimpressed by his son's attempts at learning the violin and rapped him over the knuckles with the bow, telling him: "Whatever will be made of you Carl, it will never be a musician!"

Donald Macleod traces Weber's childhood in the Weber family of travelling players through to the staging of his first opera in Freiburg aged 14. Then came a near tragic episode when the young composer somehow managed to mistake a bottle of nitric acid for a bottle of wine, which left his voice badly affected for the rest of his life. He eventually got a job at the Court at Württemberg in Stuttgart, but he and his father were arrested there for a scam and were banished from the kingdom.

Overture Der Freischütz 
Berlin Philharmonic
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor

Variations for the Pianoforte Op 2 
Alexander Paley, piano

Piano Quartet 
Isabelle Faust, Violin
 Alexander Melnikov, piano
Boris Faust, viola
Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, cello

Ein steter Kampf ist unser Leben
Martin Hill, singer
Christopher Hogwood, piano


Producer: Rosie Boulton for BBC Wales.

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.

Five-part series examining the life and work of German composer Carl Maria von Weber

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Composer of the Week

Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826)

Episode 1: 'You will never be a musician!'

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