Words and Music

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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

Radio 3

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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: Vikings

Vikings

BBC Radio 3 - Words and Music, Vikings

The seafaring Norse warriors and their gods and mythology.

A journey into the realms of Norse gods and mythology, and the often brutal seafaring people who conjured them, through music, ancient Scandinavian verse and contemporary novels.

The Edda, Noggin, Wagner, Neil Gaiman - today's programme journeys into the realms of Norse gods and mythology, and the seafaring Scandinavian warrior people who conjured them - the Vikings. The name 'Viking' is an Old Norse term meaning a pirate raid, and their invasions sent terror into the hearts of many but new archaeological finds are changing our understanding of this civilisation.  Our readers are Leo Suter, star of the new Netflix TV series Vikings: Valhalla, and Natalie Simpson, and our readings include extracts from novels by Neil Gaiman and Douglas Adams. In his poem, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow conjures a Viking skeleton to life in full gothic horror, and P.G. Wodehouse muses on the Viking notion of going "Berserk". And in the beginning was the Edda - the ancient Scandinavian poetry that first recorded the myths of the gods such as Odin, Thor, Loki and Angrboda. 

The music includes classics such as Grieg's Peer Gynt and Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries into Valhalla (the realm of the Viking gods), Jon Leif's choral epic inspired by the Edda, contemporary Scandinavian composers including Ola Gjeilo and Rebecca Karijord, and Moondog, the New York-based "Viking of 6th Avenue". 

Producer: Graham Rogers 

Readings:
Old Norse - The Poetic Edda (translated by Carolyne Larrington) (excerpt)
Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin - Noggin the Nog (excerpt)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - The Skeleton in Armor (excerpt)
Alcuin - Letter to the king of Northumbria (excerpt)
Cat Jarman - River Kings (excerpt)
Douglas Adams - The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (excerpt)
Old Norse - The Poetic Edda (translated by Carolyne Larrington) (excerpt)
Genevieve Gornichec - The Witch's Heart (excerpt)
Helen E. Wieand - The Viking-Maid
P.G. Wodehouse - Summer Lightning (excerpt)
Anon. 19th Century - God bless the Lifeboat and its crew
Neil Gaiman - American Gods (excerpt)
Neil Price - The Children of Ash and Elm (excerpt)
Neil Oliver - Wisdom of the Ancients (excerpt)
Old Norse - Havamal (translated by Carolyne Larrington) (excerpt)

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.

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