Carla Valentine discusses death masks in 19th Century culture for BBC Proms

On the 25 July, Mortician, curator of Barts Pathology Museum and author Carla Valentine joined the BBC R3 Proms team at the interval for a discussion with composer Jay Capperauld and presenter Ian Skelly about composer Anton Bruckner’s obsession with skulls and the history of death masks.

The evening saw the world premiere of Jay Capperauld’s ‘Bruckner’s Skull’, which he describes as ‘inspired by Bruckner’s obsession with death. In particular the work is about the two alleged occasions when Bruckner cradled the skulls of both Beethoven and Schubert when their bodies were exhumed and moved to Vienna’s Central Cemetery in 1888.  The music references the work of all three of these composers in a macabre, austere, obsessive, solemn, empathetic and humanising expression’. 

Carla Valentine is the author of several books, including Past Mortems, a memoir and exploration of attitudes to death, and Murder Isn’t Easy: The Forensics of Agatha Christie.

Listen again on BBC Sounds and to work with Carla Valentine, get in touch: info@northbanktalent.com