Please click here to find out more.
Shakespeare Purchase Now
We’ll sample from the wealth of music inspired by the Bard’s verse, including a suite from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and excerpts from William Walton’s score to the film Henry V. Bill also finds time to fit in a few different musical interpretations from the timeless legend of Romeo and Juliet.
Rather than examine music within Shakespeare’s works, Bill takes a look at pieces inspired by the Bard’s masterpieces, beginning with one of Mendelssohn’s first masterpieces, his overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Mendelssohn: Overture & excerpts from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
Berlin Phil/Abbado; Branagh, nar.
Sony 62826
11:40, 14:43, 22:20
Purchase
Bill continues with Dvorák and Verdi's musical interpretation of Othello, and concludes with Verdi's tribute to Falstaff.
Bill opens with music and lines from the film Henry V from 1944, then continues with music from Purcell, Handel and Vaughan Williams, and includes music from an American composer, Amy Beach.
Walton: Henry V (excerpts fr. film suite)
Philharmonia Orchestra/Walton; Olivier, nar.
EMI 65007
3:36, 13:18
Purchase
Purcell: The Fairy Queen (excerpt)
2:53
Purchase
Handel: “E Pur Cosi… Piangero” fr. Julius Caesar
London Phil/Welser-Most; Amanda Roocroft, s.
EMI 555090
7:03
Purchase
Vaughan Williams: “Full Fathom Five”, “The Cloud-Capped Towers” and “Over Hill, Over Dale”
Cambridge Singers/Rutter
Collegium 505
3:16, 2:22, :58
Purchase
Finzi: “Who is Sylvia?”, “Fear No More the Heat o’ the Sun” and “It was a Lover and his Lass” from Let us Garlands Bring
Bournemouth Symphony Orch/Handley; M. George, bar.
Conifer 51285
1:34, 5:02, 2:34
Purchase
Beach: “O Mistress Mine” & “Take, O Take Those Lips Away”
Emma Kirkby, s; James Lisney, p.
BIS 1245
2:27, 1:32
Purchase
Romeo and Juliet is the focus for this program, and Bill includes music from Charles Gounod, Hector Berlioz and ends with Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.
Gounod: Queen Mab scene from Romeo and Juliet
Toulouse Capitole Orchestra/Plasson
EMI 40700
2:38
Purchase
Berlioz: Romeo and Juliet (excerpts)
Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique & Monteverdi Choir/Gardiner; Fouchcourt, ten.
Phil 454454
1:29, 7:17, 14:53
Purchase
Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
NY Phil/Bernstein
Sony 63085
20:49
Purchase
The theme of Romeo and Juliet continues with Bill’s examination of compositions by Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev, neither of whom use Shakespearian language but instead use the story of Romeo and Juliet to build great works of music.
The Exploring Music streaming website is made possible by Mr. & Mrs. William Gardner Brown and Susan & Richard Kiphart.
Thanks to Oxford Music Online, the home of Grove® Music Online and the access point for other Oxford online music reference subscriptions.