Sophia Dussek

Music knows many different forms in Scotland, as a result of her radically different traditions: the Lowland Scots one, the Gaelic Highland one, and that one represented by the north-east, greatly influenced by ancient links with Norway. Poet Kenneth Steven chooses to explore the stories of five composers, almost seeking to weave a piece of tweed from the journeys of their lives as musicians.

The Enlightenment: Sophia Dussek

This is the extraordinary story of the life of musician and composer Sophia Dussek. She was born Sophia Corri on 1775, just 19 years after the Battle of Culloden had put an end effectively to all hope the Jacobites possessed for the return of a Stuart monarch to the throne.

By the time Sophia Corri was growing up in the city that had given her birth, the Scottish Enlightenment was rising into life too.

She was born in 1775 to Italian parents and to a family that was steeped in music. Her father had come to Scotland from Italy to take up a position as a musician for the Edinburgh Musical Society. He was a composer as was Sophia’s uncle. In time her father became involved in other musical ventures across the city; he was an impresario and a publisher of music. The young Sophia was evidently a child prodigy, playing in public when only four years of age.

Presenter Kenneth Steven
Producer Mark Rickards

A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 3