Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Alex Kingston and Iain Glen with poetry and prose readings by Charlotte Bront毛, Hilaire Belloc, Samuel Pepys and Emily Dickinson, alongside music from Beethoven to Etta James.

Readers Alex Kingston and Iain Glen consider the element which has fascinated humans for over one-and-a-half million years: fire. In poetry and prose they reflect on fire鈥檚 power to fuel and destroy, its beauty and ability to create ugliness, the way it can purify and refine what鈥檚 raw.

Charlotte Bront毛 praises Jane Eyre鈥檚 quick thinking to prevent a house fire, whilst Matilda in Hilaire Belloc鈥檚 poem raises a false alarm. Elsewhere, a diary entry by Samuel Pepys recalls the morning after the Great Fire of London, and Jack Spicer takes us to hell alongside Orpheus on his quest for Euridice.

Fiery music includes a Mexican conga by composer Arturo M谩rquez, Verdi explores the infernos of hell, Judith Weir depicts musical embers and Beethoven is inspired by the punishment of Prometheus, who took fire from the gods and gave it to humanity.

Producer in Salford: Joseph Zubier

Readings:
Autumn Fires (From Child鈥檚 Garden of Verses) by Robert Louis Stevenson
Fire and Ice by Robert Frost
Matilda [excerpt] by Hilaire Belloc
Diaries of Samuel Pepys - Great Fire of London, Sunday 2 September 1666 [excerpt] by Samuel Pepys
Fire Weather: Prologue [excerpt] by John Vaillant
Fifth of November Customs [excerpt], from Folklore, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Mar., 1903) by Mabel Peacock
Jane Eyre [excerpt] by Charlotte Bront毛
Hell by Jack Spicer
Rilke: After the Fire by Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. Seamus Heaney
A Day by Emily Dickinson
truth by Gwendolyn Brooks
The Furnace Men by Ronald Wallace
Prometheus [excerpt] by Lord Byron
Song by Simon Armitage
The Firebird [excerpt] by Edmund Dulac

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 19 Oct 2025 18:00
麻豆社 Radio 3

More episodes

Previous

Nobel Prizes

Next

Sleep and Dreams

See all episodes from Words and Music

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • Robert Louis Stevenson

    Autumn Fires (From Child鈥檚 Garden of Verses)

  • 00:00

    Arturo M谩rquez

    Conga del fuego nuevo

    Orchestra: Sim贸n Bol铆var Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • Tr12.

  • Robert Frost

    Fire and Ice

  • 00:06

    Willie Dixon

    Fire

    Singer: Etta James.
    • Geffen.

  • Hilaire Belloc

    Matilda [excerpt]

  • 00:09

    Trad.

    London's Burning

    Orchestra: National Youth Jazz Orchestra.
    • NYJO.

  • Samuel Pepys

    Diaries of Samuel Pepys - Great Fire of London, Sunday 2 September 1666 [excerpt]

  • 00:11

    Thomas Campion

    Fire, Fire, Fire!

    Singer: Ian Partridge. Performer: Jakob Lindberg. Performer: Jakob Lindberg.
    • Hyperion.
    • Tr13.

  • John Vaillant

    Fire Weather: Prologue [excerpt]

  • 00:14

    Giuseppe Verdi

    Requiem: Dies Irae; Tuba Mirum

    Choir: Chorus of La Scala, Milan. Orchestra: Orchestra of La Scala, Milan. Orchestra: Orchestra of La Scala, Milan. Conductor: Daniel Barenboim. Conductor: Daniel Barenboim. Conductor: Daniel Barenboim.
    • Decca.
    • Tr3-4.

  • Mabel Peacock

    Fifth of November Customs [excerpt], from Folklore, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Mar., 1903)

  • 00:20

    Manuel de Falla

    Ritual Fire Dance (El amor brujo)

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Luis Antonio Garc铆a Navarro.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
  • 00:24

    Florence Price

    Snapshots: III. Flame

    Performer: Samantha Ege.
    • Lorelt.
    • Tr9.

  • Charlotte Bront毛

    Jane Eyre [excerpt]

  • 00:28

    Joseph Haydn

    Symphony no. 59 (H.1.59) in A major "Fire" (1st mvt)

    Ensemble: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Neville Marriner.
    • Universal Music Australia.
    • Tr5.
  • 00:33

    Jasdeep Singh Degun

    Lament

    • Real World Records.

  • Jack Spicer

    Hell

  • William Golding

    Lord of the Flies [excerpt]

  • 00:38

    Alexander Scriabin

    Vers la flamme, Op.72

    Performer: Sir Stephen Hough.
    • Hyperion.

  • Rainer Maria Rilke, Seamus Heaney (translator)

    Rilke: After the Fire

  • 00:43

    Judith Weir

    Still, Glowing

    Orchestra: 麻豆社 Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Dalia Stasevska.
    • Platoon.
    • Tr1.

  • Emily Dickinson

    A Day

  • Gwendolyn Brooks

    truth

  • 00:52

    Alexander Mosolov

    Zavod (Iron Foundry)

    Orchestra: USSR Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Evgeny Fyodorovich Svetlanov.
    • Melodiya.

  • Ronald Wallace

    The Furnace Men

  • Lord Byron

    Prometheus [excerpt]

  • 00:55

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    The Creatures of Prometheus Op.43 (Overture)

    Orchestra: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Conductor: Pablo Heras鈥怌asado.
    • harmonia mundi.

  • Simon Armitage

    Song

  • 01:01

    Tom谩s Luis de Victoria

    Requiem Mass: Offertory - Domine, Jesu Christe

    Choir: Tenebrae. Conductor: Nigel Short.
    • Signum Records.

  • Edmund Dulac

    The Firebird [excerpt]

  • 01:09

    Igor Stravinsky

    The Firebird Suite (1910): Infernal Dance

    Orchestra: 麻豆社 Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Pierre Boulez.
    • SONY CLASSICAL.

Broadcast

  • Sun 19 Oct 2025 18:00
    麻豆社 Radio 3

The hidden history of plant-based diets

The hidden history of plant-based diets

Forget social media influencers - the meat-free movement started with the Victorians.

Books website

Get closer to books with in-depth articles, quizzes and our picks from radio & TV.