Words and Music

Original version

BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Drama

Music: Classical

A journey of discovery, weaving music with poetry and prose read by leading actors.

A weekly journey of discovery, weaving together a range of music with poetry and prose read by leading actors.

Words and Music: Bloomsday

Bloomsday

BBC Radio 3 - Words and Music, BloomsdayClose menu

Stanley Townsend and Kathy Keira Clarke read from James Joyce's Ulysses and other works.

Inspired by Ulysses, Stanley Townsend and Kathy Kiera Clarke take us on a virtual journey through the city of Dublin, reading from Joyce's classic novel, published in 1922.

Ulysses, James Joyce's groundbreaking novel of 1922 is the inspiration for this programme. A modernist retelling of The Odyssey, principally following the characters of Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom through the city of Dublin across one day (16th June 1904), we track the novel's own winding journey through Ireland's capital, from the shoreline of Sandycove, to the Freemason's Journal, the National Library of Ireland, Davy Byrne's Pub, right through to Molly Bloom's bed in Eccles Street. 
As we travel through the city, Stanley Townsend and Kathy Kiera Clarke read extracts from Ulysses itself as well as a host of other works - some referenced directly in Joyce's text such as the Iliad and Shakespeare's Hamlet, plus other writings inspired by Joyce's work.  The programme also reflects Joyce's huge passion for music, with works by Wagner, Mozart, Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini and Friedrich von Flotow representing the author's love of opera. Elsewhere we hear two music-hall favourites alluded to throughout Ulysses - James Lynam Molloy's 'Love's Old Sweet Song' and 'Those Lovely Seaside Girls' by Harry B. Norris. Classic Irish folk songs also feature alongside songs by Radiohead and Dublin post-punk band Fontaines D.C., and listen out for a very special traditional number called 'Carolan's Farewell', played on the guitar once owned by none other than James Joyce himself.

You can find a discussion about James Joyce’s book Finnegan's Wake on BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking website – Matthew Sweet’s guests include Eimear McBride and New Generation Thinker Eleanor Lybeck: 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00061kl

Readings:
Ulysses - James Joyce
Lycidas - John Milton
My Grief on the Sea - Douglas Hyde
Iliad - Lotus Eaters episode - Homer, trans. Alexander Pope
Hamlet - William Shakespeare
Excerpt from the introduction to the ‘Dictionary to Dublin’, 1907 - E. MacDowel Cosgrave
James Joyce Interviews and Recollections’ - E H Mikhail
'All About People' - gossip column The Princess's Novelettes magazine, 16th June 1904
Finnegans Wake - James Joyce
Big Fish - Daniel Wallace
The Sixteenth of June - Maya Lang

Producer: Nick Taylor

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.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Words and Music

Bloomsday

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3