Soul Music
BBC Radio 4
Categories: Music
Listen to the last episode:
Antonin Dvorak wrote his Gypsy Songs in 1880. He was passionate about the folk music of his native Bohemia and set a poem by Czech poet Adolf Heyduk to music. Songs My Mother Taught Me is the fourth song in the cycle.
Songs my Mother taught me In the days long vanished Seldom from her eyelids Were the teardrops banished....
It's a wistful melancholic piece evoking memory and loss. Soul Music hears the stories of musicians, poets and singers from around the world of why they are so drawn to it. The poet Raine Geoghegan is the daughter of a Romany woman whose life was weighed down with the loss of her father at a young age. Raine identifies with the sadness of the music because it not only represents grief at the loss of her father but also for the loss of a way of life for the gypsy people. For Emily MacGregor it's all about the music we inherit from our parents. She is writing a book about music and grief and says this piece perfectly represents the bittersweet feeling of listening to music associated with the loss of a loved one. Dvorak had already lost three children in infancy by the time he wrote his Zigeuner Lieder. Paris based violinist and conductor Bartu Elci-Ozsoy associates Songs with the innocence of childhood and was moved to perform it at a benefit concert he organised in aid of the children affected by the devastating earthquake in his native Turkey and Syria in early 2023. The Korean soprano Sumi Jo recorded it in honour of her mother and presented it to her a year before she died in gratitude for her determination to see her daughter become a professional singer. When The Scotsman newspaper commissioned a series of lockdown concerts in Spring 2020 cellist Sua-Lee chose to recreate the concert by Beatrice Harrison a century earlier when she played the piece accompanied by nightingales in her garden in Surrey. Sua set up her cello in woodland near her home in Grantown- on-Spey and performed Songs My Mother Taught Me to a collection of woodland creatures Singer Ruby Hughes performed the American composer Charles Ives' version of the piece for a collection called Bright Travellers - music curated and composed by Helen Grimes from poems by Fiona Benson. Ives wrote his own version of Dvorak's piece not long after the Czech composer had settled in America. She loves the rocking gentle lullaby sensation created by the lilting melodies of both Ives' and Dvorak's compositions.
Featuring additional recordings by Sua Lee and Zoe Challenor
Producer: Maggie Ayre
Previous episodes
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160 - Songs My Mother Taught Me Sat, 11 Nov 2023
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159 - Fire and Rain Sat, 04 Nov 2023
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158 - Pata Pata Sat, 28 Oct 2023
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157 - Defying Gravity from Wicked Sat, 21 Oct 2023
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156 - I Will Always Love You Sat, 14 Oct 2023
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155 - Fast Car Wed, 05 Jul 2023
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154 - I Say a Little Prayer for You Sat, 24 Jun 2023
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153 - Ghost Town Sat, 17 Jun 2023
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152 - I Only Have Eyes For You Sat, 10 Jun 2023
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150 - I Believe in Father Christmas Sat, 24 Dec 2022
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149 - Nessun Dorma Sat, 17 Dec 2022
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148 - Killing Me Softly with His Song Sat, 10 Dec 2022
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147 - Into My Arms by Nick Cave Sat, 03 Dec 2022
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146 - Chervona Kalyna Sat, 26 Nov 2022
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145 - Bruch's Violin Concerto Sat, 18 Jun 2022
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144 - Ne Me Quitte Pas Sat, 11 Jun 2022
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143 - Purple Rain Mon, 30 May 2022
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142 - Young Hearts Run Free by Candi Staton Sat, 28 May 2022
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141 - A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten Sat, 18 Dec 2021
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140 - U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For Sat, 11 Dec 2021
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139 - Song to the Siren Sat, 04 Dec 2021
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138 - Unfinished Sympathy Sat, 27 Nov 2021
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137 - Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific Sat, 20 Nov 2021
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136 - Ain't No Mountain High Enough Sat, 13 Nov 2021
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135 - Take Me Home, Country Roads Wed, 04 Aug 2021
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134 - The Parting Glass Wed, 28 Jul 2021
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133 - We've Only Just Begun Wed, 21 Jul 2021
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132 - Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat Wed, 14 Jul 2021
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131 - Sunshine on Leith Fri, 12 Feb 2021
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130 - David Bowie - Life on Mars? Sat, 09 Jan 2021
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129 - Once In A Lifetime Tue, 29 Dec 2020
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128 - I Wonder as I Wander Tue, 22 Dec 2020
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127 - Lean On Me by Bill Withers Tue, 08 Dec 2020
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126 - I Will Survive Mon, 10 Aug 2020
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125 - Harvest Moon Wed, 05 Aug 2020
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124 - Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte by Maurice Ravel Wed, 22 Jul 2020
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123 - Feeling Good Wed, 15 Jul 2020
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122 - Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay Wed, 22 Jan 2020
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121 - Days Wed, 15 Jan 2020
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120 - Toto's Africa Wed, 08 Jan 2020
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119 - Coventry Carol Wed, 25 Dec 2019
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118 - We Are Family Wed, 18 Dec 2019
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117 - The Boxer - Simon & Garfunkel Wed, 11 Dec 2019
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116 - Farewell to Stromness Wed, 31 Jul 2019
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115 - Wind of Change Wed, 24 Jul 2019
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114 - Streets of London by Ralph McTell Wed, 17 Jul 2019
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113 - Back to Black Wed, 10 Jul 2019
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112 - Schubert’s B-Flat Piano Sonata D960 Wed, 09 Jan 2019
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111 - Let the River Run Wed, 23 Jan 2019
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110 - Smile Thu, 17 Jan 2019