Satire and Society
Writer and satirist Chris Addison explores how composers have used their music to challenge and cajole the status quo of the societies in which they live. 3/6
In the third episode of this six part series, writer and satirist Chris Addison (The Thick Of It, Veep) explores how music has been used to satirise the societies in which they live - from gentle mocking to broad punches. 3/6
Chris's chosen tracks show how composers have long challenged inequalities of class throughout the ages. Featuring music by Jean-Baptiste Lully, Erik Satie, John Gay, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and more.
In this series, Chris Addison - himself a classical music devotee, keen amateur choral singer and opera buff - takes listeners on a tour of how composers have used their music to question, parody, and challenge power and ideas over the years. Classical music can amplify power, but it can also undermine it - satirising and thumbing the nose of the status quo. Composers have used classical music to critique, undermine and even lampoon - often in cleverly nuanced, surprising ways that reconnect us to the flawed humans - and shared humanity - beneath the pomposity. Each episode in this series takes a big idea, and illustrates it with a playlist of entertaining and diverse music spanning the entire history of Western classical music.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro K.492 - Act 1 Scene 1 Se vuol ballare
Concerto Koln
Rene Jacobs, conductor
Lorenzo Regazzo, bass
Jean-Baptiste Lully: Le Bourgeois gentilhomme LWV.43 (extracts)
Le Poeme Harmonique
Vincent Dumestra, lute
Erik Satie: Sonatine Bureaucratique
Frank Glazer, piano
Igor Stravinsky: Soldier’s Tale - Great Choral & March of the Devil
Columbia Chamber Ensemble
Robert Craft, conductor
Gaetano Donizetti: L' Elisir d'amore Act 1. Cosi chiaro
Spiro Malas, bass-baritone
English Chamber Orchestra
Ambrosian Opera Chorus
Richard Bonynge, conductor
Paul Hindemith: Neues Vom Tage overture
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Philharmonic Orchestra
Yan Pascal Tortelier, conductor
Bert Appermont: Gulliver's Travels (selection)
Harmonie de Charlesbourg
Francois Dorion, conductor
John Gay: The Beggar's Opera Act 3. Thus I Stand Like the Turk
National Philharmonic Orchestra
Richard Bonynge, conductor
James Morris, bass-baritone
Produced by James C Taylor
An Overcoat Media Production for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
On radio
Broadcast
- Sat 11 Jan 2025 13:00Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
Knock on wood – six stunning wooden concert halls around the world
Steel and concrete can't beat good old wood to produce the best sounds for music.
The evolution of video game music
Tom Service traces the rise of an exciting new genre, from bleeps to responsive scores.
Why music can literally make us lose track of time
Try our psychoacoustic experiment to see how tempo can affect your timekeeping abilities.
Podcast
-
![]()
Music Matters
The stories that matter, the people that matter, the music that matters
