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The Fading Light

John McCarthy explores poetry and music inspired by sunsets and the fading light. He considers how they are used to help people express feelings and ideas about ageing.

As the sun goes down everyday, occasionally resulting in spectacular sunsets, the event can affect people in different ways. A good red sunset (especially over the sea) can provoke great joy, but the fading light can also encourage melancholia. It is no wonder that, throughout history, people have used images of sunset and the dying light to reflect on ageing and mortality.

John McCarthy explores some of the ways in which images of fading light have been used to describe our place in the world.

He considers different approaches to ageing - with music including Dylan and Debussy, and poetry from the likes of Thomas Hardy, Tennyson and Shakespeare.

A Whistledown production for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4.

30 minutes

Last on

Sun 24 May 2015 23:30

Music Played

  • Ravi Shankar

    Raga Marwa

    Performer: Ravi Shankar. Performer: Alla Rakha.
    • The Ravi Shankar Collection (Digitally Remastered).
    • Warner Classics/ EMI Records.
    • B00815GJV0.
    • 2.
  • Bob Dylan

    Not Dark Yet

    Performer: Bob Dylan.
    • Dylan (3 discs).
    • Columbia.
    • B002ABCKL4.
    • 10.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Dark Pastoral

    Composer: David Matthews. Performer: Steven Isserlis. Orchestra: ´óÏó´«Ã½ Concert Orchestra.
    • Recorded by ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3: ´óÏó´«Ã½ Proms 2010.
  • Claude Debussy

    Clair de Lune

    Performer: Walter Gieseking.
    • Heritage Records.
    • Walter Gieseking Plays Debussy.
    • B00BM8UW98.
    • 27.
  • Jerry Bock

    Sunrise Sunset

    Performer: Henry Goodman. Performer: Beverly Klein. Composer: Sheldon Harnick.
    • Fiddler on the Roof.
    • K-Tel.
    • B005HP0QWU.
    • 9.
  • Dylan Thomas

    Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

    Performer: Dylan Thomas.
    • Dylan Thomas – His Complete Recorded Poetry.
    • Marathon Media International.
    • B00LZWBDGM.
    • 16.
  • John Cale

    Do Not Got Gentle Into That Good Night

    Performer: John Cale.
    • Words for the Dying.
    • ADA Global.
    • B000B6ETD2.
    • 16.
  • Richard Strauss

    Im Abendrot from Vier Letze Lieder (At Sunset from Four Last Songs)

    Performer: Kiri Te Kanawa. Orchestra: ´óÏó´«Ã½ Philharmonic. Conductor: Georg Solti. Lyricist: Joseph von Eichendorff.
    • Kiri Te Kanawa Sings Mozart and Strauss.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd.
    • B0042JG6SU.
    • 4.

Readings

Title: ‘The Prince of Tides’

Author: Pat Conroy

Publisher: Bantam

ISBN: Ìý978-0553268881

Ìý

Title: Poem ‘The Darkling Thrush’

Author:Ìý Thomas Hardy

Publisher: Viking

ISBN: 978-0670806805

Ìý

Title: Poem ‘There’s a Certain Slant of Light’

Author: ÌýEmily Dickinson

Publisher: W&N

ISBN:Ìý 978-0460878951

Ìý

Title: ‘A Writer’s Diary’

Author: Virginia Woolf

Publisher: ÌýMartino Fine Books

ISBN: 978-1614272434

Ìý

Title: Poem ‘T¾±³Ù³ó´Ç²Ô³Ü²õ’

Author: Tennyson

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN: ÌýÌý978-1479122844

Ìý

Title: Poem ‘Long Life’

Author: Elaine Feinstein

Publisher: ÌýCarcanet Press Ltd

ISBN:Ìý 978-1847770615

Broadcasts

  • Sun 24 May 2015 06:05
  • Sun 24 May 2015 23:30