Words and Music - The Thrill of the Chase

From the dawn of mankind, humans have been bound up in the pursuit of prey, while at the same time avoiding being hunted themselves. We are now usually the hunters, rather than the hunted, but from the exhilaration of hunting for sport, to the disgust at hunting for pleasure, emotions evoked by the chase are never mild. This week's Words and Music explores this music and poetry inspired by hunting. Deborah Findlay and Nicholas Farrell read Adrienne Rich's 'Abnegation', and extracts from Moby Dick and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; the full spectrum of opinion is here, with music by Harrison Birtwistle, Clement Janequin and Franz Schubert. But although hunting brings to mind the thunder of horses' hooves, it also describes a very human ritual - the lover's chase. With readings from A Midsummer Night's Dream, and poetry by Sir Thomas Wyatt, this programme will touch on a very different sort of chase, and the desire for love, not death.