Programme Index

Discover 11,128,835 listings and 277,887 playable programmes from the BBC

The constant broadcasting of poetry has made it clear to many, who never realized it before, that poetry is essentially meant to be heard as well as seen. Poetry, in fact, has its roots in the spoken word : the written word is only a moans of saving poetry from the oblivion of time. No small part of the appeal of poetry is in the very sound, and Mr. Ridley's second talk will consider, among other kindred aspects of the subject, how poetry may best be road.

Eda Kersey (Violin)
The Wireless Orchestra
Conducted by John Ansell

The Stella-Mary Dances were written in memory of the composer's daughter who died on May 30, 1917, in her thirteenth year. For the passing of a young and beautiful life the gloom of funeral music seems unsuitable, and this wish to preserve a happier and more vivid remembrance of a vanished child-presence is expressed in these dances and in a short series of poems, 'Songs in Memory of Stella-Mary Austin,' written by her father. It is not possible to quote the verses here in full, but the following lines show that their author contemplated some musical memorial to the daughter he had lost:
'Now would I keep her living,
Imprisoned in bars of tone' and again:
'You were music to my eyes !
And music to the lips!'
Music, from your ribbon'd hair,
To your dainty finger tips!'

Arranged and composed by Frederic Austin
Sylvia Nelis
Frederick Ranalow
The Wireless Chorus
Chorus-Master, Stanford Robinson
The Wireless Orchestra
(At the Harpsichord, Eleanor Wilkinson)
Conducted by Frederic Austin

This, one of the most popular stage pieces with music which the English theatre has ever known. is not an opera in the ordinary sense. The book was made by John Gay, and the music consisted of popular ballads of the time, some seventy of them, which were fitted to the text by Dr. Pepusch, a leading London musician of his day. The opera had a long and successful run when it first appeared, and has been so often revived since, that only short periods have elapsed when it was not or the stage somewhere.

Frederic Austin, who is responsible for the brilliantly successful arrangement of the opera known to the present generation, has had an unusually, varied career. Making his reputation first as a cultured baritone singer, he has been an organist, conductor, director of the British National Opera Company, as well as of other important musical undertakings.

His successes in all those directions have tended rather to overshadow his gifts as composer, but in that sphere too, he has done really distinguished work.

5XX Daventry

Appears in

About this data

This data is drawn from the Radio Times magazine between 1923 and 2009. It shows what was scheduled to be broadcast, meaning it was subject to change and may not be accurate. More