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Bloomsday

Inspired by Ulysses, Stanley Townsend and Kathy Kiera Clarke take us on a virtual journey through the city of Dublin, reading from Joyce's classic novel, published in 1922.

Ulysses, James Joyce's groundbreaking novel of 1922 is the inspiration for this programme. A modernist retelling of The Odyssey, principally following the characters of Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom through the city of Dublin across one day (16th June 1904), we track the novel's own winding journey through Ireland's capital, from the shoreline of Sandycove, to the Freemason's Journal, the National Library of Ireland, Davy Byrne's Pub, right through to Molly Bloom's bed in Eccles Street.
As we travel through the city, Stanley Townsend and Kathy Kiera Clarke read extracts from Ulysses itself as well as a host of other works - some referenced directly in Joyce's text such as the Iliad and Shakespeare's Hamlet, plus other writings inspired by Joyce's work. The programme also reflects Joyce's huge passion for music, with works by Wagner, Mozart, Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini and Friedrich von Flotow representing the author's love of opera. Elsewhere we hear two music-hall favourites alluded to throughout Ulysses - James Lynam Molloy's 'Love's Old Sweet Song' and 'Those Lovely Seaside Girls' by Harry B. Norris. Classic Irish folk songs also feature alongside songs by Radiohead and Dublin post-punk band Fontaines D.C., and listen out for a very special traditional number called 'Carolan's Farewell', played on the guitar once owned by none other than James Joyce himself.

You can find a discussion about James Joyce’s book Finnegan's Wake on BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking website – Matthew Sweet’s guests include Eimear McBride and New Generation Thinker Eleanor Lybeck:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00061kl

Readings:
Ulysses - James Joyce
Lycidas - John Milton
My Grief on the Sea - Douglas Hyde
Iliad - Lotus Eaters episode - Homer, trans. Alexander Pope
Hamlet - William Shakespeare
Excerpt from the introduction to the ‘Dictionary to Dublin’, 1907 - E. MacDowel Cosgrave
James Joyce Interviews and Recollections’ - E H Mikhail
'All About People' - gossip column The Princess's Novelettes magazine, 16th June 1904
Finnegans Wake - James Joyce
Big Fish - Daniel Wallace
The Sixteenth of June - Maya Lang

Producer: Nick Taylor

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Christmas Eve 2020 18:15
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

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

  • 00:01

    James Lynam Molloy

    Love’s Old Sweet Song

    Performer: Ruby Murray.
    • EMI GBAYE6000479.
    • Tr12.

  • James Joyce

    Ulysses: Part 1 (Telemachus), read by Stanley Townsend

  • 00:02

    Sir Hamilton Harty

    Variations on a Dublin air for violin and orchestra

    Performer: Ralph Holmes (violin), Ulster Orchestra, Bryden Thomson (conductor).
    • Chandos CHAN7033.
    • Tr1.

  • John Milton

    Lycidas, read by Kathy Kiera Clarke

  • 00:07

    Trad, John Feeley

    The Immigrant’s Song

    Performer: John Feeley (guitar).
    • Overture Music 53.
    • Tr3.

  • James Joyce

    Ulysses: Part 2 (Nestor), read by Stanley Townsend

  • 00:08

    The Dubliners

    Rocky Road to Dublin

    Performer: The Dubliners.
    • Universal Music Operations Ltd GBAJE6400382.
    • Tr10.

  • Douglas Hyde

    My Grief on the Sea, read by Kathy Kiera Clarke

  • 00:10

    Radiohead

    How To Disappear Completely

    Performer: Radiohead.
    • EMI GBAYE0000813.
    • Tr4.

  • James Joyce

    Ulysses: Part 4 (Calypso), read by Stanley Townsend

  • 00:17

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Cello Suite No 1 - Prelude

    Performer: Karen Ashbrook (dulcimer).
    • Maggie’s Music 095182020724.
    • 12.

  • Homer, trans. Alexander Pope

    The Iliad - Lotus Eaters episode, read by Kathy Kiera Clarke

  • 00:22

    James Lynam Molloy

    Love’s Old Sweet Song

    Performer: Kathryn Rudge (mezzo-soprano), James Baillieu (piano).
    • CHAMPS HILL CHRCD092.
    • Tr3.

  • James Joyce

    Ulysses: Part 5 (Lotus Eaters), read by Stanley Townsend

  • James Joyce

    Ulysses: Part 7 (Aeolus), read by Stanley Townsend

  • 00:26

    Friedrich von Flotow

    Martha – Overture

    Performer: Johannes Schuler (conductor), Staatskapelle Berlin.
    • BERLIN CLASSICS 0021632BC.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:26

    Frédéric Chopin

    4 Mazurkas for piano (Op.6), no.3 in E major

    Performer: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
    • LONDON 4437382.
    • CD9 Tr3.

  • James Joyce

    Ulysses: Part 8 (Lestrygonians), read by Stanley Townsend

  • 00:30

    Vincenzo Bellini

    La Sonnambula, Act 1: Come per me sereno

    Performer: Edita Gruberova (soprano), Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Kurt Eichorn (conductor).
    • WARNER CLASSICS 5099908291752.
    • Tr1.

  • William Shakespeare

    Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 5, read by Kathy Kiera Clarke

  • James Joyce

    Ulysses: Part 9 (Scylla and Charybdis), read by Stanley Townsend

  • 00:34

    Dmitry Shostakovich

    Hamlet - suite from the film music Op.116a: no.2; Ball at the palace

    Performer: Dmitry Yablonsky (conductor), Russian Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • NAXOS 8557446.
    • Tr4.

  • E. MacDowel Cosgrave

    Excerpt from the introduction to the ‘Dictionary to Dublin’, 1907, read by Kathy Kiera Clarke

  • 00:37

    Traditional Irish/Chris Hazell

    Molly Malone – In Dublin’s Fair City

    Performer: Bryn Terfel (baritone), London Voices (choir), London Symphony Orchestra, Barry Wordsworth (conductor).
    • Deutsche Grammophon 4777865.
    • Tr6.

  • James Joyce

    Ulysses: Part 10 (Wandering Rocks), read by Stanley Townsend and Kathy Kiera Clarke

  • E H Mikhail

    James Joyce Interviews and Recollections, read by Kathy Kiera Clarke

  • 00:40

    Friedrich von Flotow

    Martha - M'appari

    Performer: Kevin McDermott (tenor), Ralph Richey (piano).
    • Sunphone Records 777215105799.
    • Tr12.

  • James Joyce

    Ulysses: Part 11 (Sirens), read by Stanley Townsend

  • 00:42

    Trad, T Bone Burnett, Gillian Welch

    Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby

    Performer: Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch.
    • Mercury Nashville USMR10000053.
    • Tr10.

  • Anon

    'All About People' - gossip column The Princess's Novelettes magazine, June 1904, read by Kathy Kiera Clarke

  • 00:45

    Harry B. Norris

    Those Lovely Seaside Girls

    Performer: Kevin McDermott (tenor), Ralph Richey (piano).
    • Sunphone Records 777215105799.
    • Tr9.

  • James Joyce

    Finnegans Wake - Anna Livia Plurabelle, read by James Joyce and Kathy Kiera Clarke

  • 00:47

    Richard Wagner

    Lohengrin - Act 3 Prelude

    Performer: Daniel Barenboim (conductor), Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
    • TELDEC 450999595-2.
    • CD1 Tr4.

  • James Joyce

    Ulysses: Part 15 (Circe), read by Stanley Townsend

  • 00:51

    Stephen Adams

    The Holy City

    Performer: Jeanette MacDonald.
    • RCA Camden ?CAL 750.
    • Tr1.
  • 00:51

    Hank Williams

    Ramblin’ Man

    Performer: Isobel Campbell. Performer: Mark Lanegan.
    • V2 VVR1035822.
    • Tr6.
  • 00:55

    Gioachino Rossini

    Allegretto "Del pantelegrafo" (1860)

    Performer: Alessandro Marangoni (piano).
    • Naxos 8.573864.
    • Tr14.
  • 00:55

    Gioachino Rossini

    Allegretto "Un rien" (1860)

    Performer: Alessandro Marangoni (piano).
    • Naxos 8.573864.
    • Tr15.

  • James Joyce

    Ulysses: Part 16 (Eumaeus), read by Stanley Townsend

  • 00:56

    John Dowland

    The Earl of Essex's Galliard

    Performer: Jacob Heringman (lute), Rose Consort of Viols.
    • Naxos 8578015-16.
    • Tr1.

  • Daniel Wallace

    Big Fish, read by Kathy Kiera Clarke

  • James Joyce

    Ulysses: Part 17 (Ithaca), read by Stanley Townsend

  • 00:59

    Amilcare Ponchielli

    La Gioconda - Act 3 sc.2 - Dance of the hours

    Performer: Ondrej Lenard (conductor), Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.
    • NAXOS 8550924.
    • Tr11.

  • James Joyce

    Ulysses: Part 18 (Penelope), read by Kathy Kiera Clarke

  • 01:07

    Rebecca Saunders

    Molly’s Song 3 – shades of crimson

    Performer: musicFabrik, Stefan Asbury.
    • KAIROS 0012182KAI.
    • Tr3.
  • 01:08

    Trad, John Feeley

    Carolan’s Farewell

    Performer: John Feeley.
    • Overture Music 53.
    • Tr12.

  • Maya Lang

    The Sixteenth of June, read by Kathy Kiera Clarke

  • 01:11

    Fontaines D.C.

    Boys In The Better Land

    Performer: Fontaines D.C..
    • Partisan Records USBQU1800212.
    • Tr10.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 16 Jun 2019 17:30
    BBC Radio 3
  • Christmas Eve 2020 18:15
    BBC Radio 3

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