Butterflies and Moths
From the Ugly Bug Ball and Alice's caterpillar to Madame Butterfly, Kaija Saariaho's Sept Papillons, John Fowles's collector of specimens and Tennessee Williams's plague of moths.
From the hookah-smoking caterpillar in Alice and Joby Talbot's ballet score, to John Fowles's collector of specimens and Poppy Adams exploration of the behaviour of moths, Shakespeare's King Lear laughing at "gilded butterflies" and WG Sebald's tracking of silkworms to Dickens' Mr Skimpole "free as a butterfly": today's programme weaves together examples of moths and butterflies in prose and poetry, set alongside music which ranges from operas by Bellini and Puccini to Harrison Birtwistle's Moth Requiem, Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road journeys, Dolly Parton's observation that "love is like a butterfly", a Hopi butterfly dance and music from film, including Silence of the Lambs. Our readers are Erin Shanagher and Rupert Hill.
Producer: Chris Wines
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
-
00:01
Orison
The Butterfly
-
William Wordsworth
To A Butterfly read by Rupert Hill
00:03Vincenzo Bellini
La Farfalletta
Performer: Cecilia Bartoli. Performer: James Levine.- Decca 4555132.
- Tr 15.
00:05Gabriel FaurΓ©
Papillon Op.77 for cello and piano
Performer: François Salque. Performer: Eric Le Sage.- Alpha ALPHA600.
- Tr 1.
Charles Dickens
Bleak House read by Erin Shanager
00:07Edward Elgar
Wand of Youth Suite No 2 - III. Moths & Butterflies
Performer: Halle (orchestra), Mark Elder (conductor).- HALLE CDHLL7548.
- Tr 10.
Emily Dickinson
Two Butterflies Went Out at Noon read by Erin Shanager
00:10David Arkenstone
On the Wings of A Butterfly
Performer: David Arkenstone.- Narada ND-64003.
- Tr 1.
Henri CharriΓ¨re trans. Patrick OβBrian
Papillon read by Rupert Hill
00:11Robert Schumann
Papillons Op.2 for piano mvt 1
Performer: Leon McCawley.- AVIE AV0029.
- Tr 1.
Rabindranath Tagore
Poems of Time read by Erin Shanager
00:12Robert Schumann
Papillons Op.2 for piano mvt XI & XII
Performer: Leon McCawley.- AVIE AV0029.
- Tr 1.
John Keats
To Fanny Brawne, Newport, 3 July 1819 read by Rupert Hill
00:16Dolly Parton
Love is Like a Butterfly
Performer: Dolly Parton.- RCA Records G010003118226I.
- Tr 1.
00:19Ralph Vaughan Williams
Symphony No. 3 "A Pastoral Symphony" IV Mvt
Singer: Andrew Staples. Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.- ONYX ONYX-4161.
- Tr 4.
Erich Maria Remarque
All Quiet on the Western Front read by Rupert Hill
00:29Antonio Vivaldi
La Farfalletta s'aggira RV.660 for soprano and continuo
Singer: Arianna Vendittelli. Ensemble: Abchordis Ensemble. Conductor: Andrea Buccarella.- NAIVE OP7257.
- Tr 15.
00:34Harrison Birtwistle
The Moth Requiem
Choir: ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Singers. Ensemble: Nash Ensemble. Conductor: Nicholas Kok.- SIGNUM SIGCD368.
- Tr 8.
Walter de la Mere
βThe Mothβ read by Erin Shanger
Sean Borrowdale
Drinker Moth read by Rupert Hill
00:36Maurice Ravel
Miroirs - I Noctuelles
Performer: Beatrice Rana.- WARNER CLASSICS 9029541109.
- Tr 1.
Poppy Adams
The Behaviour of Moths read by Erin Shanager
00:41Howard Shore
Silence of the Lambs β βFinaleβ
Performer: MΓΌnchner Symphoniker.- MCA MCD-10194.
- Tr 13.
John Fowles
The Collector read by Rupert Hill
00:44Serge Gainsbourg
Les Papillons Noirs
Performer: Michèle Arnaud.- Parlophone (France) 5099909657854.
- Tr 12.
00:47Giorgio Mainerio
Schiarazula marazula
Ensemble: Ulsamer Collegium. Conductor: Josef Ulsamer.- DG 4696412.
- Tr 1.
William Shakespeare
King Lear read by Rupert Hill
00:48Trad.
Mido Mountain
Performer: YoβYo Ma. Ensemble: Silk Road Ensemble.- SONY SK 89782.
- Tr 4.
WG Seabald
The Rings of Saturn by Erin Shanager
Li Po trans.
βChung Chou in Dreamβ read by Erin Shanager
Vladimir Nabokov
βSpeak, Memoryβ 1948 read by Rupert Hill
00:52Joby Talbot
Alice In Wonderland' - "The Prologue"
Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Christopher Austin.- HYPERION SIGCD327.
- Tr 1.
Lewis Carroll
Alice in Wonderland read by Erin Shanager
00:56Roger Glover
Butterfly Ball - Love Is All
- Universal Music 00600753874448.
- Tr 2.
00:59Roger Mase, The Singers From 2nd Mesa
Hopi Butterfly Dance
- Music Of The World CTD-126.
- Tr 4.
Gerald Dawavendewa
Hopi Butterfly Danceβ read by Erin Shanager
01:01Giacomo Puccini
Madame Butterfly. Act 2 "Humming Chorus"
Orchestra: The Vienna State Orchestra & Choir. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan.- DECCA 433067-2.
David Henry Hwang
M-BUTTERFLY read by Rupert Hill
Ray Bredbury
The Sound of Thunder read by Rupert Hill
01:04David Buckley
Greenland - βButterfly Effectβ
Performer: Studio Orchestra.- Varese Sarabande 00888072198395.
- Tr 2.
Robert Frost
Blue Butterflies read by Erin Shanager
01:07Kaija Saariaho
Sept papillons - Nos 1 & 6
Performer: Anssi Karttunen.- ONDINE ODE10472.
- Tr 1.
Tennessee Williams
βA plague has stricken the mothsβ read by Rupert Hill
01:10The Frail Ophelias
Xerces Blue
- Tr 4.
Broadcasts
- Sun 28 Aug 2022 17:30ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
- Sun 26 May 2024 18:00ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3