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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 5: 'I am going to London to die'

Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826)

Episode 5

Episode 5: 'I am going to London to die'

'I am going to London to die'

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826), 'I am going to London to die'

Weber visits London for his opera Oberon, but his health deteriorates and he dies aged 39.

...Carl Maria von Weber. 5/5. 'I am going to London to die.': Donald Macleod follows Weber to London for the premiere of his opera Oberon where exhaustion impacts on his health.

Donald Macleod traces Weber to London for the premiere of his opera Oberon at Covent Garden. But exhaustion from travelling and the stress of the new production combined with the pollution in London, caused Weber's health to deteriorate and he died aged 39.

In 1844, 18 years after Weber's death, Richard Wagner oversaw the transfer of Weber's coffin from London to its final resting place in Dresden. Year later he recalled: "In my youth, I had learned to love music by way of my admiration of Weber's genius; and the news of his death came as a terrible blow to me. To have come in contact with him again, so to speak, and after so many years by this second funeral, was an event that stirred me to the very depths of my being."

Oberon Overture
Orchestra of Bayerischen Rundfunks
Rafael Kubelik, conductor

Oberon (Kavatine: Trauer mein Herz)
Birgitt Nilsson, singer
Orchestra of Bayerischen Rundfunks
Rafael Kubelik, conductor

Piano Sonata No 4
Garrick Ohlsson, piano

Oberon (Final 2 movements)
Orchestra of Bayerischen Rundfunks
Rafael Kubelik, conductor


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 5: 'I am going to London to die'

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