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Roy Foster

Michael Berkeley's guest is historian Roy Foster. His choices include an aria from a favourite opera and music from singers John McCormack, Harry Plunket Greene and Ann Murray.

As the first incumbent of the only chair in Irish History in Britain, at Oxford, Roy Foster has devoted his career to bringing Irish history to the forefront of British minds. Unafraid to challenge cherished myths about the past, his scholarship has transformed historical writing.

He has also written the only authorised life of W. B. Yeats, a two-volume labour of love that took him 18 years. And his new book Vivid Faces: The Revolutionary Generation in Ireland, 1890-1923 pulls into focus the quarter century leading up to the Irish revolution, by tracing the lives of the men and women at the radical heart of Irish political and cultural life.

Michael and Roy discuss Yeats, Joyce, and the pleasures of eating, drinking and sharing music with friends. Roy's music includes an aria from one of his favourite operas, and Irish music from singers John McCormack, Harry Plunket Greene and Ann Murray.

Producer: Jane Greenwood

A Loftus production for ±«Óătv Radio 3.

To hear previous episodes of Private Passions, please visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/r3pp/all.

1 hour

Last on

Sun 12 Oct 2014 12:00
±«Óătv Radio 3

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Clip

Music Played

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Piano Sonata in C minor, Op.111 (2nd mvt: Arietta)

    Performer: Alfred Brendel.

  • Franz Schubert

    Der Leiermann (Winterreise)

    Performer: Leonard Borwick. Singer: Harry Plunket Greene.

  • Giuseppe Verdi

    Tu che la vanita (Don Carlo)

    Singer: Mirella Freni. Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan.

  • Samuel Barber

    Nuvoletta, Op.25

    Performer: Graham Johnson. Singer: Ann Murray.

  • Duke Ellington

    I got it bad, and that ain't good

    Performer: Johnny Hodges. Music Arranger: Billy Strayhorn.

  • Trad.

    Believe me if all those endearing young charms

    Singer: John McCormack. Performer: Edwin Schneider.

  • Peter Warlock

    I wander by the edge... (The Curlew)

    Singer: Ian Partridge. Ensemble: Music Group of London.

Broadcast

  • Sun 12 Oct 2014 12:00
    ±«Óătv Radio 3

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