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Sleep and Dreams

From Piers Plowman in the C14th to a lullaby by Leonard Cohen in the C20th; with settings by composers from John Dowland to Paul McCartney, sleep and dreams in words and music.

The clocks go back tonight offering us the luxury of an extra hour in bed, and a wonderful theme for this week’s Words and Music – Sleep, and Dreams. We spend a third of our lives asleep, so it’s not surprising that composers and writers have created works that evoke sleep, induce it, and rail against the lack of it. Sleep, as Macbeth says, 'knits up the ravelled sleeve of care' but it can also lead to 'terrible dreams that shake us nightly'.

Piers Plowman has a vision revealing the injustices of C14th society - that still endure today. W. H. Auden, just after the Second World War, writes a loving lullaby but one that acknowledges love and time’s passing. Shakespeare captures the despair of never being able to sleep, and ponders the kinship of sleep and death. Edith Wharton and Katherine Mansfield both describe the beauty of the abandonment to unconsciousness.

Debussy captures the fatigue of a faun after a busy afternoon; Mendelssohn the amorous swooning of Bottom and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Christy Moore sings of John O’ Dreams, to a tune gifted him by Tchaikovsky. John Dowland and Paul McCartney both set to music words by the Elizabethan dramatist, Thomas Dekker. Stephen Hough plays a piece of crepuscular Lizst and, just as you might be nodding off, Ella Fitzgerald will wake you up - with the Lullaby of Broadway. Africa and Old English come sleepily together, Anne Sofie von Otter sings astonishingly beautifully, and the isle is ‘full of noises, sounds and sweet air that give delight and hurt not’.

We slip into slumberland, and insomnia country, with readers Amber James and Johnny Flynn, beginning way back in time with some medieval English polyphony from the Huelgas Ensemble: ‘Dou Way Robin’.

Producer: Julian May

Readings
The Vision of Piers Plowman by William Langland
Lights Out by Edward Thomas
Genesis
Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore
The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar by William Sha
To Sleep by John Keatskespeare
Twilight Sleep by Edith Wharton
The Bell Jar 1 by Sylvia Plath
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
The Bell Jar 2 by Sylvia Plath
Henry IV by William Shakespeare
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Lullaby by W. H. Auden
Golden Slumbers by Thomas Dekker
One Night Comes Like a Blessing by Grace Nichols
St Mark's Gospel
To Say Before Going to Sleep by Rainer Maria Rilke
The Tempest 1 by William Shakespeare
from The Sleeping Lord by David Jones
The Tempest 2 by William Shakespeare

1 hour, 14 minutes

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Tomorrow 18:00
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Music Played

Timings (where shown) are the time of the day

  • 18:01

    Anon.

    Dou way Robin/Veni mater gracie

    Ensemble: Huelgas Ensemble. Conductor: Paul Van Nevel.
    • En Albion: Medieval Polyphony in England.
    • Harmonia Mundi 88985455212.
    • Tr9.

  • William Langland, translated by Julian May

    Extract fronThe Vision of Piers Plowman

  • Edward Thomas

    Lights Out

  • 18:06

    Gabriel Fauré

    Three Melodies: Après un rêve, Op. 7 No. 1 (Arr. for Violin, Cello & Ensemble by Simon Nebout)

    Performer: Florestan Raës. Performer: Clara Germont. Ensemble: Ensemble Nouvelle Vague.
    • Après un Rêve.
    • Nouvelle Vague Records 2635014.
    • Tr1.

  • King James Bible

    Extract from Genesis, Chapter 2

  • 18:10

    Edvard Grieg

    Lyric Pieces Book 5, Op. 54, No.4:Notturno

    Performer: Sir Stephen Hough.
    • Greig Lyric Pieces.
    • Hyperion CDA68070.
    • Tr14.
  • 18:14

    Hildegard von Bingen

    O virtus Sapientiae

    Ensemble: Canty. Conductor: William Taylor.
    • Hildebard of Bingen: Vocal Ensemble Music.
    • Sono Luminus DOR-93232.
    • Tr1.

  • R. D. Blackmore

    Extract from Lorna Doone

  • 18:16

    Bill Caddick

    John O' Dreams

    Performer: Christy Moore. Performer: Declan Sinnott.
    • The Box Set: 1964-2004.
    • Sony Music UK 514162.
    • CD2 Tr9.

  • Katherine Mansfield

    Extract from The Garden Party

  • 18:20

    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66, Act I:No.6, Valse "Garland Dance"

    Orchestra: Mariinsky Orchestra. Conductor: Valery Gergiev.
    • The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66.
    • Philips 434922-2.
    • Tr6.
  • 18:24

    Dory Previn

    The Lady with the Braid

    Performer: Dory Previn.
    • The Art of Dory Previn.
    • Zonophone ZONO 20074.
    • Tr7.

  • William Shakespeare

    Extract from A Midsummer Night’s Dream

  • 18:28

    Felix Mendelssohn

    Op. 61, MWV M13: No.7, Nocturne

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: André Previn.
    • Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night's Dream.
    • Warner Classics 0724357498128.
    • Tr 6.
  • 18:34

    John Dowland

    Weepe you no more, sad fountaines

    Singer: Anne Sofie von Otter. Performer: Jakob Lindberg.
    • The John Dowland Collection.
    • Deutsche Grammophon 0028947765486.
    • Tr49.

  • William Shakespeare

    Extract from Julius Caesar, Act IV

  • 18:37

    John Dowland

    Weepe you no more, sad fountaines

    Singer: Anne Sofie von Otter. Singer: Anne Sofie von Otter. Performer: Jakob Lindberg. Performer: Jakob Lindberg.
    • The John Dowland Collection.
    • Deutsche Grammophon 0028947765486.
    • Tr49.

  • Edith Wharton

    Extract from Twilight Sleep

  • 18:39

    Ella Fitzgerald

    Lullaby Of Broadway

    • Ella Fitzgerald Sings Sweet Songs for Swingers.
    • Verve 0602498604175.
    • CD3 Tr12.

  • Sylvia Plath

    Extract from The Bell Jar

  • William Shakespeare

    Extract from Macbeth, Act II, Sc II

  • Sylvia Plath

    Extract from The Bell Jar

  • 18:45

    Hector Berlioz

    Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, Songe d'une nuit du Sabbat

    Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Conductor: Colin Davis.
    • Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique.
    • Decca 00028946063521.
    • Tr1.

  • William Shakespeare

    Extract from Henry IV Part II, Act III

  • 18:48

    Muco

    Guhoza Umwana – Als I Lay

    Performer: Muco.
    • Soplice (released on 31st October, 2025).
    • Online release from https://mucosnotebook.com/.
    • Tr1.

  • William Shakespeare

    Hamlet Act III, Scene I (To be or not to be

  • 18:50

    Muco

    Guhoza Umwana – Als I Lay

    Performer: Muco.
    • Soplice (released on 31st October, 2025).
    • Online release from https://mucosnotebook.com/.
    • Tr1.

  • W. H Auden

    Lullaby

  • 18:56

    Claude Debussy

    Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Pierre Monteux.
    • Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, Nocturnes, Images.
    • Decca 4806567.
    • Tr1.

  • Thomas Dekker

    Golden Slumbers

  • 18:58

    The Beatles

    Golden Slumbers

    • Abbey Road 50th Anniversary (Super Deluxe Edition).
    • UMC 0602577921124.
    • Tr11.
  • 19:00

    Frédéric Chopin

    Berceuse in D flat minor, Op.57

    Performer: Jorge Bolet.
    • Chopin: 7 Nocturnes, Berceuse Op.57.
    • Decca 00028948713080.
    • Tr8.

  • Grace Nichols

    One Night Comes Like a Blessing

  • 19:05

    Leonard Cohen

    Lullaby

    Performer: Leonard Cohen.
    • Old Ideas.
    • Columbia 88697 98671 2.
    • Tr9.

  • St Mark

    Extract from King James Bible, St Mark’s Gospel, chapter 14, verses 32 – 41

  • Rainer Maria Rilke

    To Say Before Going to Sleep

  • 19:09

    Gareth Farr

    Headrush

    Ensemble: Gamelan Padhang Moncar. Ensemble: Gamelan Taniwha Jaya.
    • Naga: New Music for Gamelan.
    • Rattle Records RAT-D045.
    • Tr1.

  • William Shakespeare

    Extract from The Tempest Act III, scene II

  • William Shakespeare

    Extract from The Tempest Act III, scene II

  • 19:10

    David Matthews

    The Sleeping Lord for soprano, flute clarinet, harp and string quartet

    Ensemble: Orchestra Nova. Ensemble: Orchestra Nova. Singer: Gillian Keith. Singer: Gillian Keith. Performer: Kathryn Thomas. Performer: Kathryn Thomas. Performer: Catriona Scott. Performer: Catriona Scott. Performer: Suzy Willison-Kawalec. Performer: Suzy Willison-Kawalec.
    • From Sea To Sky.
    • Dutton Epoch CDLX 7189.
    • Tr10.

  • William Shakespeare

    Extract from The Tempest, Act IV, scene 1

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