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Genius, Polymaths and Prodigies

From teenage compositions by Mozart to fictional images of Professors and boffins, via artists, scientists and star performers - today's programme explores ideas about genius.

From teenage compositions by Mozart to fictional images of Professors and boffins, via artists, scientists and star performers - today's programme explores ideas about genius. What is genius? What makes a prodigy? Or, crowns a polymath? We hear definitions from writers including Helen Lewis, Mark Twain and George Bernard Shaw and descriptions of figures such as Bryon鈥檚 daughter the mathematician, Ada Lovelace, the painter Leonardo da Vinci, American President Abraham Lincoln and writer Gertrude Stein. Poems by Wordsworth and Pope explore the idea of the genius loci, the power of a place and the novels Lessons in Chemistry, Chocky and Matilda give us pictures of exceptional children. The composers featured include Bach, Mozart,Clara Schumann and Beethoven.

Our readers are Django Bevan and Sasha McCabe

Producer: Ruth Watts

Readings

The Genius Myth by Helen Lewis
Hamlet by William Shakeapeare
Shakespeare: A Tribute by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Spanish Drama by GH Lewes
The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry by Walter Pater
The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
The Lives of the Artists by Giorgio Vasari
Our Lady of the Rocks by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Notes from Deep Time by Helen Gordon
An Epistle to Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington by Alexander Pope
Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth
Childe Harold鈥檚 Pilgrimage by Lord Byron
The Vast Extent: On seeing and not seeing further by Lavinia Greenlaw
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Me from myself by Emily Dickinson
Genius by Mark Twain
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas by Gertrude Stein
Preface to St Joan by George Bernard Shaw
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Einstein鈥檚 Happiest Moment by Richard M Berlin
Chocky 鈥� John Wyndham
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Genius by Billy Collins
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Wolf

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 14 Sep 2025 18:00
蜜芽传媒 Radio 3

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Music Played

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

  • 00:00

    Samuel Barber

    A Slumber Song for the Madonna

    Performer: Sheku Kanneh鈥怣ason. Performer: Isata Kanneh鈥怣ason.
    • Muse.
    • Decca B0034635-02.
    • Tr5.

  • Helen Lewis

    Extract from The Genius Myth: A Curious History of a Dangerous Idea

  • 00:04

    Taylor Swift

    Anti-hero

    • Midnights.
    • Republic Records 2445790098.
    • Tr3.

  • Helen Lewis

    Extract from The Genius Myth: A Curious History of a Dangeros Idea

  • William Shakespeare

    Hamlet, Act 2, Sc.2: 鈥淲hat a piece of work is a man...鈥�

  • 00:05

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Cello Suite No.1 in G Major BWV 1007: I.Prelude

    Performer: Jacqueline du Pr茅.
    • The Genius of Jacqueline du Pre.
    • Warner Classics 5099926687650.
    • Tr6.

  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

    Extract from Shakespeare: A Tribute

  • 00:09

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Mass in B Minor BWV 232: IV. Est Incarnatus Est

    Choir: Latvian Radio Choir. Choir: Riga Radio Chorus. Conductor: Ilm膩rs Lapi艈拧.
    • Bach: Mass in B Minor.
    • Denon Classics 00795041792778.
    • Tr3.

  • G. H. Lewes

    Extract from The Spanish Drama

  • Walter Pate

    Extract from The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry

  • 00:13

    Julian Lloyd Webber & Andrew Lloyd Webber

    Theme And Variations 1-4 (From Paganini's Caprice in A Minor, No. 24)

    • Variations.
    • Universal-Island Records.
    • 2.

  • Benvenuto Cellini

    Extract from The Autobiography of Bevenuto Cellini

  • 00:15

    Claudio Monteverdi

    L'Orfeo SV.318/ Prologo: Toccato I

    Ensemble: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • 50 Baroque Masterpieces.
    • Decca 00028948075393.
    • Tr5.

  • Giorgio Vasari

    Extract from Th Lives of Artists

  • Dante Gabriel Rossetti

    For Our Lady of the Rocks

  • 00:17

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Requiem in D Minor K626: Lacrimosa

    Choir: Vox Pragae. Orchestra: Praga Sinfonietta.
    • Mozart Requiem 鈥� The Essential Collection.
    • Silva Screen SILED4453.
    • Tr8.

  • Helen Gordon

    Extract from Notes From a Deep Time

  • 00:21

    Joseph Haydn

    The Creation: Hob.XXI:2, Pt I: No.13, Trio and Chorus "The Heavens are Telling"

    Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Choir: CBSO Chorus. Singer: Arleen Aug茅r. Singer: David Thomas. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • Simon Rattle Conducts Haydn.
    • Warner Classics 5054197141133.
    • Tr9.

  • Alexander Pope

    鈥淐onsult the Genius of the Place鈥� Epistle IV to Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington

  • 00:24

    Fanny Mendelssohn

    Trio in D Minor, Op. 11: 1. Allegro molto vivace

    Performer: Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
    • Fanny & Felix Mendelssohn: Piano Sextet, Piano Quartet, Piano Trio.
    • Chandon CHAN 20256.
    • Tr5.

  • William Wordsworth

    Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey

  • 00:28

    Clara Schumann

    Piano Trio in G Minor, Op.17 I. Allegro moderato

    Performer: Dartington Piano Trio.
    • Fanny Mendelssohn & Clara Schumann: Piano Trios.
    • Hyperion CDA 66331.
    • Tr1.

  • Lord Byron

    Extract from Childe Harolde鈥檚 Pilgrimage, Canto the Third

  • 00:30

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No.3 in E Flat Major Op.55"Eroica": I. Allegro con brio

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Bernard Haitink.
    • 25 Years of LSO Live.
    • LSO Live LSO0598.
    • Tr1.

  • Lavinia Greenlaw

    Extract from The Vast Extent: On Seeing and Not Seeing Further

  • 00:33

    John Thomas

    Souvenir du Nord (Version for harp) VAR 2. Allegro brillante

    Performer: Duo Praxedis.
    • Thomas: Complete Duos for Harp & Piano.
    • Toccato Classics TOCCO561.
    • Tr4.

  • George Eliot

    Extract from Middlemarch

  • Emily Dickinson

    Me from Myself

  • 00:36

    Vincenzo Bellini

    Norma, Act I: Casta diva

    Singer: Maria Callas. Orchestra: Orchestra of La Scala, Milan. Conductor: Tullio Serafin.
    • Best of Maria Callas.
    • Warner Classics 5099930801059.
    • Tr5.

  • Mark Twain

    Genius

  • 00:40

    Blur

    Charmless Man

    • The Great Escape.
    • Parlophone.
    • Tr4.

  • Oscar Wilde

    Extract from The Importance of Being Ernest

  • 00:42

    Arthur Sullivan

    The Pirates of Penzance, or the Slave of Duty, Act I: No.13 Song with Chorus "I am the very model of a modern Major General"

    Librettist: William Gilbert. Librettist: William Gilbert. Singer: George Baker. Singer: George Baker. Choir: Glyndebourne Chorus. Choir: Glyndebourne Chorus. Choir: Glyndebourne Chorus. Orchestra: Pro Arte Orchestra. Orchestra: Pro Arte Orchestra. Orchestra: Pro Arte Orchestra. Conductor: Malcolm Sargent. Conductor: Malcolm Sargent. Conductor: Malcolm Sargent.
    • Essential Gilbert & Sullivan.
    • Warner Classics 3278612.
    • Tr22.

  • Doris Kearns Goodwin

    Extract from The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

  • 00:46

    Frederick Delius

    Violin Concerto

    Performer: Tasmin Little. Orchestra: Welsh National Opera Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • Violin Concerto/ Dance Rhapsodies Nos 1 |& 2/ Summer Night on the River etc.
    • Decca 0028948302680.
    • Tr1.

  • Gertude Stein

    Extract from The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas

  • 00:50

    Jos茅phine Baker

    Paris Paris Paris

    • Marianne Melodie No Cat No..
    • Tr1.

  • George Bernard Shaw

    Preface to St Joan

  • 00:54

    Leonard Cohen

    Joan of Arc

    Performer: Leonard Cohen.
    • Songs of Love and Hate.
    • Columbia CK 66951.
    • Tr8.

  • Bonnie Garmus

    Extract from Lessons in Chemistry

  • 00:57

    Mildred Bailey

    Wham (Re-bop Boom Bam)

    • The Queen of Swing: All the Hits and More.
    • Acrobat ACTRCD9138.
    • CD3 Tr7.

  • Richard M. Berlin

    Einstein鈥檚 Happiest Moment

  • 00:59

    Philip Glass

    Einstein on the Beach: Knee 1

    Ensemble: Philip Glass Ensemble. Conductor: Michael Riesman.
    • Songs from The Trilogy.
    • Sony Classical G1000014031373.
    • Tr7.

  • John Wyndham

    Extract from Chocky

  • Roald Dahl

    Extract from Matilda

  • 01:04

    Tim Minchin

    Revolting Children from Matilda, The Musical

    Performer: Children and Company.
    • Matilda the Musical: Original London Cast.
    • Royal Shakespeare Company RSCE002.
    • Tr16.

  • Billy Collins

    Extract from Genius

  • 01:06

    Jean Sibelius

    Lemminkainen Suite, Op. 22: II. The Swan of Tuonela

    Orchestra: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Leif Segerstam.
    • Leif Segerstam: 80 Years.
    • Ondine ODE14702.
    • Tr5.

  • Virginia Woolf

    Extract from The Lighthouse

  • 01:11

    Amy Beach

    Piano Quintet in F Sharp Minor, Op.67: II. Adagio espressivo

    Performer: Ambache Chamber Ensemble.
    • Beach:Piano Quintet, Piano Trio & Themean Variations for Flute and String Quartet.
    • Chandos CHAN 9752.
    • Tr2.

Broadcast

  • Sun 14 Sep 2025 18:00
    蜜芽传媒 Radio 3

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