Prince Charles reveals his favourite music on Radio 3 special

The Prince of Wales chose the work of Leonard Cohen and an 18th-century opera, among others

Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay makes a surprise visit to the Christmas tea dance at Dumfries House on 20 December, 2018 in Cumnock, Scotland (Getty Images)

Prince Charles has revealed some of his favourite music on a new Radio 3 special.

A holiday edition of the station’s long-running show Private Passions will feature an hour-long discussion with the prince to mark his 70th birthday last month, and sees him reveal his love for the work of Leonard Cohen.

Choosing Cohen’s “Take This Waltz”, a loose adaptation of a poem by Federico García Lorca, he said: “I’ve always loved Leonard Cohen’s voice and his whole approach to the way he sang. He was obviously incredibly sophisticated in the way he sang, but also wrote.”

“I find it very moving, the words are so extraordinary, sort of Salvador Dalí-like, they lead you into this remarkable Dalí-like world.”

He also shared his love of Jean-Marie Leclair’s Scylla et Glaucus, a rarely performed 18th-century opera based on Ovid’s "Metamorphoses", about the unrequited passions between a sea god and a nymph.

“Whenever I hear it, it always makes me feel better,” he said. “It is so incredibly rhythmic, it is incredibly joyful and exciting... do you know those bits of music that put a spring in your step again when you’re feeling a little bit down.”

Other choices included the Creed from the Russian Orthodox liturgy, which was sung at his wedding to Camilla; the final movement of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony; Haydn’s cello concerto No 1 in C major; and Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

Prince Charles was also asked his thoughts on the decline of arts and music education, to which he replied: “I’m one of those people who believes in the importance of arts education and music education in schools. Apart from anything else, I think people forget – or may not realise – what an enormous contribution the creative arts make to the whole economy. It’s immense.”

“So we slightly shoot ourselves in the feet if we ignore it altogether. When you go to schools which still have it [music education], it is wonderful to see the enthusiasm on the part of the children in their orchestras.”

He said that his own love of music was encouraged by his grandmother, the Queen Mother, who took him to see the Bolshoi ballet at the Royal Opera House when he was seven. “I remember being so completely transfixed by the magic of it. I’ve loved Covent Garden ever since,” he said.

Private Passions is now available on BBC Sounds and will be broadcast on Radio 3 on 30 December.

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