# Music that describes Hamlet



## Frei aber froh (Feb 22, 2013)

This is a bit of a strange question, but how do you interpret the character of Hamlet, and what music would you use to describe him?

I am absolutely no authority whatsoever on the play or Shakespeare in general, but I feel that the underlying theme of Hamlet's story is that suffering inflicted upon one by another has lasting effect in that the victim may be the first link in a chain reaction.

I'm actually doing this for a school project. I need a piece that is _not_ a tone poem about the play or score from a film adaption. Specifically, I'm looking for music that portrays the more innocent, pure emotions of grief and sorrow in conflict with anger.

I know that reading one's own stories and plots into music doesn't respect the composer's original intentions, but that's not what I'm going for. If it were, I would use the tone poem by Tchaikovsky or the film score by Shostakovich.


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

This is a tall order. There are as many interpretations of Hamlet as there are readers/viewers. Your interpretation of the "theme" is just one of a great many, and how you translate it into music is wide open. One aspect of his character is the wide swings between thoughtfulness and action. Schubert's C major Quintet, whose middle movements especially contain contrasting moodswings, may be one possible way to approach it. But there are many other ways.


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

Try the following from J. Haydn:

Symphony No. 45, 1st movement
The Seasons - Overture to 'Winter'
Symphonies 26, 34 or 49, 1st movement. 
The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross - Introduzione 1 (00:00) and 2 
(35:00)




Sonatas 2, 3, 4, 6.

From W. A. Mozart:

Symphony No. 40 in G minor, 1st/3rd movements.
Symphony No. 25 in G minor, 1st/3rd/4th movements.

Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 5/No. 9, 1st movement
Coriolan or Egmont Overtures.

Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 4, 1st movement.


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## hreichgott (Dec 31, 2012)

Clearly for Hamlet you need a giant of the classical period.
What about Schubert D. 845 or Beethoven Op. 13, both piano sonatas, first movements predominantly tragic in character with elements of mournful longing, second movements calm and peaceful though tragedy never leaves the stage entirely. 
I'd worry about Beethoven Op. 13 being too well known, but someone recommended Symphony no. 5 so now I don't care


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

How about this tone poem from Liszt?


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

The actual time period for the story upon which Hamlet is based is somewhere in the 7th Century.

Shakespeare is of course Elizabethan era, the mid 1500's to the early 1600's.

Music from either period might do you.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Tchaikovsky considered writing a Romeo and Hamlet overture, but the idea proved too controversial at the time, so he stuck it out with Juliet.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Beethoven's great a minor string quartet.


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

Erm...Beethoven's _Gertrude's Dream Waltz_?


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## SilenceIsGolden (May 5, 2013)

This may be a bit of a stretch, but the atmosphere and poignancy of Stravinsky's Ricecar I & II from the _Cantata_ aren't entirely unrelated to certain aspects of _Hamlet_. Particularly for me relationship between Ophelia and Hamlet.


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