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Marilyn Monroe centenary: What is beauty?

Words about Marilyn Monroe, Helen of Troy and a host of other beauties both real and imagined by Sappho, Austen, Oscar Wilde. And music to match from Tchaikovsky, Bach, Judith Weir.

Marilyn Monroe was born June 1 1926. Inspired by the movie star, Words and Music explores the question, What is Beauty?

Answers come in words from the Greek poet Sappho, Monroe's biographer Norman Mailer and Joyce Carol Oates, who wrote a novel inspired by Marilyn - Blonde. We will also hear about more everyday beauty from the writers James Baldwin and E Annie Proulx. And we will hear words in praise of the beauty of music from Pablo Casals and Haruki Murakami, Jane Austen in praise of poetry and Zadie Smith on art. And, of course, there will be music in all its glories, from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty to Kara Karayev’s Most Beautiful of All Beauties to Judith Weir's Still, Glowing.

The readers are Ralf Little and Susannah Fielding.

READINGS:
She Walks in Beauty (extract) - Lord Byron
Lament for Art O’Leary (extract) - Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill
The Planter's Daughter - Austin Clarke
Fragment 16 - Sappho translated by Anne Carson
My Week With Marilyn - Colin Clark
Marilyn Monroe, a life in 100 takes - Andrew Wilson
The Leopard - Giuseppe di Lampedusa
Persephone - Stevie Smith
Giovanni’s Room - James Baldwin
The Lowlands - Jhumpa Lahiri
Marilyn Monroe in Mexico - FBI redacted files
Blonde - Joyce Carol Oates
Joy and Sorrow - Pablo Casals
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway
Grace Jones - Irenosen Okojie
Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami
I said to beauty - Edna St Vincent Millay
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
In an Artist's Studio - Christina Rosetti
Marilyn: An Autobiography - Normal Mailer
On Beauty – Zadie Smith
Gilead - Marilynne Robinson
The Shipping News - E Annie Proulx

Producer in Salford: Olive Clancy

The BFI Southbank has a major two-month season of films this summer, Marilyn Monroe: Self Made Star, celebrating the centenary of the birth of cinema’s most enduring film star. And the National Portrait Gallery will present an exhibition, Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait, looking at how she inspired photographers and artists.

1 hour, 14 minutes

On radio

Sunday19:45
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

Timings (where shown) are the time of the day

  • 18:45

    Kara Karayev

    7 Beauties for orchestra: The most beautiful of all beauties

    Performer: Moscow State Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra.
    • Delos.
    • Tr11.

  • Lord Byron

    She Walks in Beauty (extract) read by Ralf Little

  • Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill

    Lament for Art O’Leary (extract) read by Susannah Fielding

  • 18:49

    John Field

    Nocturne No. 9 in E Minor, H. 46

    Performer: Alice Sara Ott.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
    • Tr9.

  • Austin Clarke

    The Planters Daughter read by Ralf Little

  • 18:52

    Hans Gerle

    Auff Erd lebt nit ein schoneres Weyb (There is no more beautiful woman on earth)

    Performer: Magnus Andersson.
    • Rondeau.
    • Tr4.

  • Sappho translated by Anne Carson

    Fragment 16 read by Susannah Fielding

  • Colin Clark

    My Week With Marilyn read by Ralf Little

  • 18:55

    Marilyn Monroe

    I wanna be loved by you

    • Warner Bros.
    • Tr2.

  • Andrew Wilson

    Marilyn Monroe, a life in 100 takes read by Susannah Fielding

  • 18:57

    Elton John

    Candle in the Wind

    Performer: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Decca.
    • Tr10.

  • Giuseppe di Lampedusa

    The Leopard read by Ralf Little

  • 19:01

    Léo Delibes

    Flower Duet from Lakme

    Performer: Katherine Bryan. Orchestra: Orchestra of Opera North. Orchestra: Orchestra of Opera North. Conductor: Bramwell Tovey. Conductor: Bramwell Tovey. Conductor: Bramwell Tovey.
    • Chandos.
    • Tr8.

  • Stevie Smith

    Persephone read by Susannah Fielding

  • James Baldwin

    Giovanni’s Room read by Ralf Little

  • 19:04

    Clara Schumann

    3 Romances for Violin and Piano, Op. 22 - II. Allegretto

    Performer: Lisa Batiashvili. Performer: Alice Sara Ott.
    • UME.
    • Tr17.

  • Jhumpa Lahiri

    The Lowlands read by Susannah Fielding

  • 19:07

    Rebecca Clarke

    I’ll bid my heart be still

    Performer: Dame Avril Piston.
    • Oxford University Press.
    • Tr17.

  • FBI redacted files

    Marilyn Monroe in Mexico

  • 19:10

    Leroy Anderson

    Plink, plank, plunk for orchestra

    Performer: New London Orchestra.
    • Hyperion.
    • Tr14.

  • Joyce Carol Oates

    Blonde

  • 19:13

    Alexandre Desplat/Conrad Pope

    Marilyn’s Theme

    Performer: Lang Lang.
    • Sony Classical.
    • Tr4.
  • 19:15

    Hoagy Carmichael

    When Love Goes Wrong Nothing Ever Goes Right

    Performer: Marilyn Monroe.
    • AML.
    • Tr7.

  • Pablo Casals

    Joy and Sorrow read by Ralf Little

  • 19:17

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Prelude & Fugue in E Minor (Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, No. 10)

    Performer: Víkingur Ólafsson.
    • DG.
    • Tr1.
  • 19:19

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    Partita for violin solo no. 3 (BWV.1006) in E major, Prelude

    Performer: Viktoria Mullova.
    • Onyx.
    • Tr10.

  • Jane Austen

    Pride and Prejudice read by Susannah Fielding

  • 19:24

    Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni

    Adagio for 2 Violins

    Performer: Enrico Onofri.
    • Warner.
    • Tr20.

  • Steven Galloway

    The Cellist of Sarajevo read by Ralf Little

  • Irenosen Okojie

    Grace Jones read by Susannah Fielding

  • 19:28

    Miles Davis

    Blue in Green

    Performer: Bill Evans Trio.
    • Riverside.
    • Tr7.

  • Haruki Murakami

    Norewegian Wood read by Ralf Little

  • Edna St Vincent Millay

    I said to beauty

  • 19:33

    Missy Mazzoli

    Heartbreaker

    Performer: Michael Mizrahi.
    • New Amsterdam Records.
    • Tr5.

  • Oscar Wilde

    The Picture of Dorian Gray read by Ralf Little

  • 19:35

    Erland Cooper

    A Thing of Beauty is a joy forever

    Performer: Erland Cooper.
    • Mercury.
    • Tr1.

  • Christina Rosetti

    In an artists studio read by Susannah Fielding

  • 19:40

    Nat King Cole

    You Stepped out of a dreams

    • Sony Classical.
    • Tr17.

  • Normal Mailer

    Marilyn, an autobiography read by Ralf Little

  • 19:42

    Amy Beach

    Romance Op 23

    Performer: Tasmin Little.
    • Chandos.
    • Tr12.

  • Zadie Smith

    On Beauty read by Susannah Fielding

  • 19:46

    Seckou Keita

    Simply Beautiful Miro

    Performer: Abel Selaocoe. Music Arranger: Davide Mantovani.
    • Falber Alt.
    • Tr1.

  • Marilynne Robinson

    Gilead read by Ralf Little

  • 19:51

    Edvard Grieg

    Melodies of the Heart, Op. 5: No. 3, I Love but Thee (Arr. for Violin & Orchestra

    Performer: Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.
    • Marco Polo.
    • Tr1.

  • E Annie Proulx

    The Shipping News read by Susannah Fielding

  • 19:53

    Judith Weir

    Still, Glowing

    Performer: BBC Symphony Orchestra.
    • Platoon.
    • Tr3.

Broadcast

  • Sunday19:45
    BBC Radio 3

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