Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Virginia Woolf

Adjoa Andoh and Emma D’Arcy read a poem by Woolf discovered in the archives, letters from TS Eliot, Vita Sackville West, passages from The Waves & To the Lighthouse alongside music

"Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself" is the first line of one of the finest novels of the 20th century; Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, which tracks a single day in June as the wife of an MP organises a party and a war veteran visits the park. The novel is celebrated each year in mid June with "Dalloway Day" organised by the Royal Society of Literature - this year it's 100 years since the book was published. We'll hear a selection of readings from Woolf’s writing, including a recently discovered poem, extracts from biographies by Quentin Bell and Hermione Lee, and reminiscences of Cecil Beaton and Duncan Grant. Music inspired by her work includes Max Richter’s ballet score 'Woolf Works', and there are pieces she had in her own record collection. Like Mrs Dalloway, we move from day to night, from Virginia’s youth, to her later musings. Our readers are Adjoa Andoh and Emma D’Arcy
Producer in Salford: Jessica Treen

Readings:
A Sketch of the Past - Virginia Woolf
Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
Hyde Gate Gate News - Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell and Thoby Stephen
To The Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf: A Biography - Quentin Bell
Hiccoughs (recently discovered poem) - Virginia Woolf
The Years - Virginia Woolf
Mrs Dalloway: Biography of a Novel - Mark Hussey
Orlando (Drama on 3 Adaptation - Zena Edwards
Virginia Woolf - Horizon Issue III - Duncan Grant
Letter to Virginia Woolf - T. S. Eliot
Words Fail Me (ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Archive Recording) - Virginia Woolf
The Years - Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf - Hermoine Lee
Novels Thick and Thing (ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Archive Recording) - Hugh Walpole
Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
The Book of Beauty - Cecil Beaton
Virginia Woolf - Hermoine Lee
Lettter to Virginia Woolf - Vita Sackville West
No Obligation - Vita Sackville West
Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
A Sketch of the Past - Virginia Woolf

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 15 Jun 2025 18:00

Music Played

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

  • Virginia Woolf

    A Sketch of the Past

  • 00:00

    Robert Schumann

    Kinderszenen for piano (Op.15): no.12; Kind im Einschlummern

    Performer: Martha Argerich.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • Tr 12.
  • Virginia Woolf

    Mrs Dalloway

  • 00:03

    Max Richter

    Three Worlds - Music from Woolf Works: In the Garden

    Performer: Max Richter.
    • DG.
    • Tr 2.
  • 00:08

    Mozart

    Minuet in G Major, K.

    Performer: Daniel Barenboim.
    • Warner Classics.
    • Tr 62.
  • Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell and Thoby Stephen

    Hyde Park Gate News

  • 00:09

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Minuet in G Major, K.

    Performer: Daniel Barenboim.
    • Mozart: The Complete Piano Sonatas & Variations.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 62.
  • Virginia Woolf

    To The Lighthouse

  • 00:11

    Maurice Ravel

    Mother Goose Suite; The Fairy Garden

    Performer: Daniel Dodds.
    • Giulini in America: Los Angeles Philharmonic/Giulini.
    • DG.
    • 8.
  • 00:13

    Dame Ethel Mary Smyth

    The Wreckers - opera: Overture

    Performer: ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Symphony Orchestra.
    • Chandos.
    • Tr1.
  • Quentin Bell

    Virginia Woolf: A Biography

  • 00:18

    Jimmy Smith

    Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf

    Composer: Dizzy Gillespie. Performer: Jimmy Smith.
    • Ultimate Jimmy Smith.
    • Verve Reissues.
    • 3.
  • Virginia Woolf

    Hiccoughs

  • Virginia Woolf

    The Years

  • 00:21

    Richard Wagner

    Siegfried, Act 3: "Das ist kein Mann!" (Siegfried)

    Conductor: Daniel Barenboim.
    • Warner Classics International.
    • Tr 156.
  • Mark Hussey

    Mrs Dalloway: Biography of a Novel

  • Zena Edwards

    Orlando (Drama on 3 Adaptation)

  • 00:25

    Isobel Waller-Bridge

    Stay The Night

    Performer: Isobel Waller-Bridge.
    • Music.Film.
    • Tr 13.
  • Duncan Grant

    Virginia Woolf – Horizon Issue III

  • 00:27

    Johnny Dodds

    Memphis Shake

    • Charly Records.
    • Tr 7.
  • T.S. Eliot

    Letter to Virginia Woolf

  • 00:28

    Johnny Dodds

    Memphis Shake

    Composer: Henry Clifford. Performer: Johnny Dodds.
    • Johnny Dodds Selected Favorites, Vol. 3.
    • Charly Records.
    • 7.
  • 00:29

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Die Zauberflöte, K620; Overture

    Performer: Academy for Early Music, Berlin.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • Tr 1.
  • Virginia Woolf

    Words Fail Me (ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Archive Recording)

  • Virginia Woolf

    The Waves

  • 00:34

    Emily Ann Saliers

    Virginia Woolf

    Performer: Indigo Girls.
    • Epic.
    • Tr 8.
  • 00:37

    Constant Lambert

    C. Lambert: Pomona: I. Intrata. Andantino pastorale

    Orchestra: Orchestra of Opera North. Conductor: David Lloyd-Jones.
    • Hyperion.
    • Tr 1.
  • Hermoine Lee

    Virginia Woolf

  • Hugh Walpole

    Novels Thick and Thin (ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Archive recording)

  • 00:41

    Philip Glass

    I'm Going to Make a Cake

    Performer: Philip Glass.
    • Nonesuch/Warner Records.
    • Tr 6.
  • Virginia Woolf

    Mrs Dalloway

  • 00:45

    Beethoven

    Sonata no. 29 in B flat major Op.106 (Hammerklavier) for piano; ii Scherzo

    Performer: Angela Hewitt.
    • Hyperion.
    • Tr 1.
  • Virginia Woolf

    A Room of One’s Own

  • Cecil Beaton

    The Book of Beauty

  • 00:49

    Stepha Schweiger

    Men Perhaps

    Performer: Stepha Schweiger.
    • Not known.
    • Tr 23.
  • Hermoine Lee

    Virginia Woolf

  • 00:54

    Florence Welch

    What The Water Gave Me

    Composer: Francis White. Ensemble: Florence + The Machine.
    • Water To Drink Not Write About.
    • UME - Global Clearing House.
    • 3.
  • Vita Sackville West

    Letter to Virginia Woolf

  • 00:55

    Maurice Ravel

    Daphnis et Chloe - suite no. 2, no.1; Lever du jour

    Orchestra: Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Yannick Nezet-Seguin Ravel Rotterdam Phiharmonic Orchestra.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 1.
  • Vita Sackville West

  • 01:01

    Max Richter

    Three Worlds - Music from Woolf Works: In the Garden

    Performer: Max Richter.
    • Three Worlds: Music from Woolf Works.
    • DG.
    • 2.
  • Virginia Woolf

    Mrs Dalloway

  • 01:05

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    I. Adagio ma non troppo (String Quartet in C sharp minor, Op.131)

    Performer: Belcea Quartet.
    • ZIG ZAG.
    • Tr 5.
  • Virginia Woolf

    A Sketch of the Past

Broadcast

  • Sun 15 Jun 2025 18:00

The hidden history of plant-based diets

The hidden history of plant-based diets

Forget social media influencers - the meat-free movement started with the Victorians.

Books website

Get closer to books with in-depth articles, quizzes and our picks from radio & TV.