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The Georgians

Words by Austen, Byron and Coleridge, Felicia Hemans and Mary Robinson, and music by Handel, Haydn and Donizetti with contemporary takes from Neil Hannon and Isobel Waller-Bridge.

From Jane Austen and Bridgerton to the music of Handel, the Georgian era is constantly on our screens and playlists. Today's programme celebrates the literature and music of the Georgian era – from the reign of George I in the early 18th century to the death of George IV in 1830. We’ll hear an extract from Alan Bennett’s play The Madness of George III, and from Julia Quinn’s Regency-era Bridgerton romances, now back on our screens again in the Netflix hit. Our readers today are Kathryn Drysdale (Madame Delacroix in the series) and Luke Thompson (Benedict Bridgerton).

The Georgian public devoured Jane Austen novels and gothic horror like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The poets Wordsworth, Blake, Burns, Shelley and Byron made their names, and we’ll also hear celebrity actress and poet Mary Robinson’s description of a bustling London morning, and Felicia Hemans’s poem in praise of the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔs of England of her time. More recently, stately Georgian houses have inspired singer-songwriter Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy.

Georg Frideric Handel was top maestro in Georgian England for half a century - we'll hear from his Water Music and oratorio Messiah. We'll also hear from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, an operatic adaptation of one of Georgian author Walter Scott's popular romantic novels, Isobel Waller-Bridge's score to the 2020 film version of Austen's Emma, part of Iron Maiden’s epic heavy-metal take on Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and Keats’s Ode to a Nightingale in Russian translation set by Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov.

Producer: Graham Rogers

READINGS:
Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice
Mary Robinson: London’s Summer Morning
Samuel Richardson: Clarissa
Sally Holloway: The Game of Love in Georgian England
Julia Quinn: An Offer from a Gentleman (Bridgerton book 3)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
William Hazlitt: My First Acquaintance with Poets
Ann Radcliffe: The Mysteries of Udolpho
Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey
GK Chesterton: The novels of Jane Austen
Felicia Hemans: The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔs of England
Alan Bennett: The Madness of George III
Thomas Paine: The Rights of Man
Anna Letitia Barbauld: The Rights of Woman
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein
Percy Shelley: Ozymandias

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 9 Jun 2024 18:00
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:01

    George Frideric Handel

    Water Music: Suite in D - Allegro, Alla hornpipe

    Ensemble: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Philips 464706 2.
    • 1.

  • The Daily Courant, April 17, 1717

    The King took Water at Whitehall, read by Luke Thompson

  • 00:03

    Carl Davis

    Pride and Prejudice - Theme from the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ TV series

    Performer: Melvyn Tan. Conductor: Carl Davis.
    • EMI CDEMC3726.
    • 1.

  • Jane Austen

    Pride and Prejudice, read by Kathryn Drysdale

  • 00:04

    John Field

    Nocturne No.1 in E flat

    Performer: Elizabeth Joy Roe.
    • Decca 4789672.
    • 1.

  • Mary Robinson

    LondonΒ’s Summer Morning, read by Luke Thompson

  • 00:07

    Joseph Haydn

    Symphony No.104 in D 'London' - 4th mvt

    Ensemble: London Classical Players. Conductor: Sir Roger Norrington.
    • EMI 555002 2.
    • 8.
  • 00:11

    Valentin Silvestrov

    Ode to the Nightingale

    Singer: Ludmilla Vojnarovska. Orchestra: Kyivska Kamerata. Conductor: Virko Baley.
    • Magadisc 5413356861020.
    • 4.

  • Samuel Richardson

    The History of Clarissa Harlowe, read by Kathryn Drysdale

  • 00:14

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    The Marriage of Figaro Β– wedding march

    Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Riccardo Muti.
    • Warner 9029523360.
    • 12.

  • Sally Holloway

    The Game of Love in Georgian England, read by Luke Thompson

  • Julia Quinn

    An Offer from a Gentleman, read by Kathryn Drysdale and Luke Thompson

  • 00:18

    Robyn

    Dancing on My Own

    Performer: Vitamin String Quartet.
    • Capitol 00602445711178.
    • 4.
  • 00:23

    William Bolcom

    The Tyger (from Songs of Experience)

    Lyricist: William Blake. Orchestra: University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra. Choir: University of Michigan University Choir. Conductor: Leonard Slatkin.
    • Naxos HKI190441407.
    • 1.

  • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

    The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, read by Ralph Richardson

  • 00:25

    Steve Harris

    Rime of the Ancient Mariner

    Performer: Iron Maiden.
    • Parlophone 190295524203.
    • 8.
  • 00:27

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No.6 in F 'Pastoral' - 1st mvt

    Music Arranger: Franz Liszt. Performer: Michel Dalberto.
    • Harmonia Mundi 293119298DI.
    • 1.

  • William Hazlitt

    My First Acquaintance with Poets, read by Luke Thompson

  • 00:29

    Kristina Arakelyan

    I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

    Choir: National Youth Choir. Conductor: Ben Parry.
    • NMC NMCDL3048.
    • Tr 3.
  • 00:35

    LΓ©on BoΓ«llmann

    Suite Gothique - Toccata

    Performer: Kerry Beaumont.
    • Priory PRDVD13.
    • 1.

  • Ann Radcliffe

    The Mysteries of Udolpho, read by Luke Thompson

  • 00:38

    Isobel Waller-Bridge

    Emma Suite

    Orchestra: The Chamber Orchestra of London. Conductor: Alastair King.
    • Universal City Studios USQ4E2005324.
    • 1.

  • Jane Austen

    Northanger Abbey, read by Kathryn Drysdale

  • G K Chesterton

    The novels of Jane Austen, read by Luke Thompson

  • 00:40

    Fanny Mendelssohn

    There be none of beauty's daughters (3 Byron Songs)

    Librettist: George Gordon Byron. Singer: Francine van der Heijden. Performer: Ursula DΓΌtschler.
    • Claves 829410611664.
    • 13.
  • 00:42

    George Frideric Handel

    'Largo'

    Ensemble: Desford Colliery Band. Conductor: Stephen Roberts.
    • EMI 0724353796754.
    • 20.

  • Felicia Dorothea Hemans

    The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔs of England, read by Kathryn Drysdale

  • 00:45

    Neil Hannon

    Assume the Perpendicular

    Performer: The Divine Comedy.
    • Divine Comedy Records GBNFD1000007.
    • 7.

  • Charlotte Louisa Henrietta Papendiek

    Court and private life in the time of Queen Charlotte, read by Kathryn Drysdale

  • 00:47

    Maddalena Laura Sirmen

    String Quartet No.2 in B flat - 2nd mvt

    Performer: Allegri String Quartet.
    • Cala CACD1019.
    • 12.
  • 00:48

    Gaetano Donizetti

    Spargi d'amaro pianto (Lucia di Lammermoor)

    Singer: Natalie Dessay. Orchestra: Mariinsky Opera Company.
    • Mariinsky MAR0512D.
    • 13.

  • Alan Bennett

    The Madness of George III, read by Luke Thompson

  • 00:54

    Arthur Sullivan

    When Britain really ruled the waves (Iolanthe)

    Librettist: William Gilbert. Singer: Donald Adams. Ensemble: D'Oyly Carte Opera Chorus. Orchestra: New Symphony Orchestra of London. Conductor: Isidore Godfrey.
    • Decca 00028947364122.
    • 19.
  • 00:55

    Howard Goodall

    Blackadder the Third - Theme

    Performer: [unknown].
    • ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Audio ZΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ 1270.
    • 8.

  • Ben Elton, Richard Curtis

    Blackadder the Third: Sense and Senility

  • 00:56

    Thomas Arne

    Alfred - Overture

    Ensemble: Collegium Musicum 90. Conductor: Simon Standage.
    • Chandos CHAN 0722.
    • 30.

  • Thomas Paine

    The Rights of Man, read by Luke Thompson

  • 00:57

    Joan Tower

    Fanfare No.2 for the Uncommon Woman

    Performer: Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop (conductor).
    • Koch 3-7469-2 H1.
    • 4.

  • Anna Laetitia Barbauld

    The Rights of Women, ready by Kathryn Drysdale

  • 00:59

    Trad.

    Afton Water (poem: Robert Burns)

    Lyricist: Robert Burns. Music Arranger: John Rutter. Choir: The Cambridge Singers. Orchestra: City of London Sinfonia. Conductor: John Rutter.
    • Collegium COLCD 120.
    • 23.
  • 01:03

    Hector Berlioz

    Harold in Italy Β– 1st mvt

    Performer: Tabea Zimmermann. Orchestra: Les SiΓ¨cles. Conductor: FranΓ§ois‐Xavier Roth.
    • Harmonia Mundi 902634DI.
    • 1.

  • Mary Shelley

    Frankenstein, read by Kathryn Drysdale

  • 01:05

    Warren Ellis

    Ozymandias

    Lyricist: Percy Bysshe Shelley. Performer: Warren Ellis. Performer: Marianne Faithfull.
    • BMG 4050538651157.
    • 6.
  • 01:08

    George Frideric Handel

    I know that my redeemer liveth (Messiah)

    Singer: Susan Hamilton. Ensemble: Dunedin Consort. Conductor: John Butt.
    • Linn CKD 285.
    • 17.

  • Public Advertiser, 22 March 1770

    Letter from Oxford, read by Luke Thompson

Broadcasts

  • Sun 23 Apr 2023 17:30
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
  • Sun 9 Jun 2024 18:00
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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