# Shakespeare and Classical Music..



## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

Aside from Mendellsohn's Incidental music from Midsummer's Night Dream, Verdi's Otello and Schubert's An Sylvia, what other classical pieces are influnced by the Great Bard? I'm really curious.

Conversely, who are the major poet/poets that have become inspiration of classical composers? Schubert/Goethe came to mind. 

Do you think music would be more interesting if it is based on poetical/literary works?

What do you think?


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## brianwalker (Dec 9, 2011)

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/nov/24/shakespeare-and-verdi-theater/?pagination=false

*Hundreds of operas were derived from Shakespeare's plays-even more than from the works of Schiller, Goethe, or Walter Scott. Phyllis Hartnoll and her collaborators in Shakespeare in Music counted over 180 Shakespeare operas, but admitted they were missing some.2 The editors of The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare claim the number is closer to three hundred.*3 Most of the Shakespeare operas in nineteenth-century Italy, France, and Germany were taken from the plays indirectly, from parallel sources, or from poor translations. Rossini's Otello (1816), for instance, was based on a French adaptation of Shakespeare's own Italian source, Cinthio's Hecatommitthi. Bellini's I Capuleti ed i Montecchi (1830) came from a play by Luigi Scevola.4 Verdi was the first Italian composer who worked hard to get back to Shakespeare's authentic text.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

peeyaj said:


> Aside from Mendellsohn's Incidental music from Midsummer's Night Dream, Verdi's Otello and Schubert's An Sylvia, what other classical pieces are influnced by the Great Bard? I'm really curious.


Some of these you'd most likely know -

*Gounod ; Tchaikovsky ; Berlioz ; Prokofiev* - various works based on _Romeo & Juliet_
*Faure* - _Shylock_
*Sibelius *- _The Tempest_
*Walton *- _Henry V ; Macbeth ; Richard III ; Hamlet ; Much ado about Nothing _(film scores, later fashioned into suites ; _Henry V_ is a favourite of mine, Christopher Palmer made a _scenario_ out of it, for the whole shebang - narrator, choir, orchestra - great recording is on Chandos under Neville Marriner)
*Shostakovich *- _King Lear _(film score, one of his finest, but not well known)
*Nicolai* - _Merry Wives of Windsor_
*J. Joachim* -_ Henry V ; Hamlet _(tone poems - not surprisingly quite Brahmsian, but very memorable)
*Castelnuovo-Tedesco* (more obscure) - did a whole series of Shakespeare overtures, on 2 separate cd's on Naxos label



> ...
> Conversely, who are the major poet/poets that have become inspiration of classical composers? Schubert/Goethe came to mind...


Check these,

Maeterlinck (*Zemlinsky*_ 6 Maeterlinck songs for mezzo soprano & orch._ ; also_ Pelleas & Melisande _- *Schoenberg, Debussy, Sibelius*)
Mallarme (*Ravel* _Three poems of Stephane Mallarme _- beautiful! ; also* Debussy's *famous _Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun_)
Hofmannsthal (*Frank Martin's* _Monologues from Everyman _; also R. Strauss collaborated with him for many operas)
Baudelaire (*Dutilleux* - _Cello Concerto _; a number of songs by *Henri Duparc*)
Proust (again *Dutilleux* - his _Violin Concerto __'Tree of Dreams'_)
Rimbaud (*Richard Meale *-_ Incredible Floridas_, one of his finest works, one of the best Aussie chamber pieces, based on the surreal poem _The Drunken Boat_)
Dehmel (*Schoenberg *-_ Transfigured Night_)
Giraud (*Schoenberg* -_ Pierrot Lunaire_)
Michaux (*Lutoslawski* - _Trois Poemes de Henri Michaux_& also see his other song-cycles, superb, he was a master of setting the text to music).
Joyce (*Berio* - _Chamber Music_)
Ruckert (*Mahler *- _Ruckert-lieder ; Kindertotenlieder_)



> ...
> Do you think music would be more interesting if it is based on poetical/literary works?
> 
> What do you think?


Yes, I do like these types of works, they are great if you know the poetry but also stand alone as music, they can work if you don't know the texts. Either way it's fine, a win-win situation, composers when inspired by great poetry can do great things with their music.


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## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

Erik Satie wrote incidental music for a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

Britten made an opera out of Midsummer Night's Dream. The libretto is all Shakespeare except one line ("compelling thee to marry with Demetrius," necessitated by the removal of most of the first act). It might be my favorite opera ever.


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

Rarities:

Debussy string quartet: Pascal SQ

Saint-Saëns: L'Assasinat du duc de Guise op.128, film music 1908 (!!) 

Hindemith: Overture to the "Flying Dutchman"as played at Sight by a Second-Rate Concert Orchestra at the Village Well at 7 o'clock the Morning, for string quartet.

Hundemith: Minimax, repertory for military music for string quartet

Ernst; Fantasy on "Othelo" themes. David Oistrakh

Sorry, wrong place.


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## Moira (Apr 1, 2012)

I have recently seen an adapted production of Purcell's The Fairy Queen which is based on Midsummer Night's Dream.

http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=29628


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

A bit of interesting material that's of some relevance to this discussion can be found in the 
Classical LITERATURE thread.


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## sah (Feb 28, 2012)

Shostakovich's simphony 14 is based in poems by García Lorca, Apollinaire, Küchelbecker and Rilke.

Lots of musical works are based in literary works. Just think in the Greek mythology and the Bible.

Don Quixote has also been used (Telemann, Falla, Ravel, Strauss, Gerhard...).

Coming back to Shakespeare, this Dance of the Knights from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet has become so popular:


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

I personally find programme music the most interesting kind.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Cnote11 said:


> Erik Satie wrote incidental music for a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.


I had forgotten about the Cinc Grimaces. Too bad it never was staged; the music is very puckish (to coin a phrase).


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## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

Cinq Grimaces, to clarify on the Erik Satie for any of those interested. How do you mean puckish, Manxfeeder?


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## NightHawk (Nov 3, 2011)

I don't think anyone has mentioned Smetana's Tone Poem RICHARD III.


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## jalex (Aug 21, 2011)

Also the _Fantasy on The Tempest_ and the _Chorus of Shades_ from _Lelio_; the _King Lear_ overture; the _Death of Ophelia_ and the _Funeral March for the Final Scene of Hamlet_ from _Tristia_; and the short opera _Beatrice et Benedict_, all by the same composer.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Cnote11 said:


> Cinq Grimaces, to clarify on the Erik Satie for any of those interested. How do you mean puckish, Manxfeeder?


The pieces have a playfulness characteristic of Puck, i.e., a C major ostinato under melodies which spell out different chords and melodies accompanied by chords with wrong notes.


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## Cnote11 (Jul 17, 2010)

Ah, I understand you now.


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## CVM (Apr 2, 2012)

NightHawk mentioned Smetana's "Richard III." He also wrote one called "Macbeth and the Witches."

There is also an album of Shakespeare Overtures available by J.J. Raff, contemporary of Liszt and Brahms, including works for The Tempest, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth and Othello. Good if not great middle-romantic material, as are his 11 symphonies.


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

Polednice said:


> I personally find programme music the most interesting kind.


Yet you're on Brahms' side, rather than Liszt's.


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

One of the masterpieces in Liszt's orchestral oeuvre - the tone poem Hamlet.






Also, according to Piers Lane, Chopin's Nocturne Op. 15 No. 3 is based on Hamlet and Chopin originally wrote that on the score, later deciding he wanted others to figure that out for themselves, and thus took it off the score


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## sah (Feb 28, 2012)

A recent technological opera about Don Quixote (by José Luis Turina, Justo Navarro and La Fura dels Baus)






More info


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## Operadowney (Apr 4, 2012)

If you're interested in vocal music, Gerald Finzi wrote a song cycle based on Shakespeare's poetry and it's really quite exquisite!

Let Us Garlands Bring, op. 18
1) Come Away Death
2) Who is Sylvia?
3) Fear no more the heat o' the sun
4) O Mistress Mine
5) It was a lover and his lass

This recording featuring baritone Roderick Williams and Finzi specialist Iain Burnside is great:
http://memorial.naxosmusiclibrary.com.qe2a-proxy.mun.ca/catalogue/item.asp?cid=8.557644

Check it out!


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

"Do you think music would be more interesting if it is based on poetical/literary works?"

Other than opera, requiring a libretto, I think it would be far less interesting if music was based on literary works, especially if there was an intent to literally illustrate the text through the music.


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## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

PetrB said:


> "Do you think music would be more interesting if it is based on poetical/literary works?"
> 
> Other than opera, requiring a libretto, I think it would be far less interesting if music was based on literary works, especially if there was an intent to literally illustrate the text through the music.


I disagree.. Take for example, Willhelm Muller' collection of poetry. They were uninteresting and melodramatic, yet when Schubert set them to music, he created masterpieces such as Die Schoene Mullerin and Winterreise. Schubert successfully fused the words and lyrics with his own intimate music..


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Benjamin Britten's opera, A Midsummer's night dream, is imo, the best setting of Shakespeare in musical theater yet done. It is of course in the original language, and the majority of the play is 'honored.' Britten, too, was more than adept at the aptness of setting language for voice in a beautifully 'natural' sounding way.

Other than opera, and incidental music to drama (an earlier form of film music) I think most of the rest of music based on a literal reference -- program music of any sort -- is often too literal, and far less interesting than 'absolute' music.

The few successful tone poems, or ballet scores, do stand on their own without the listener needing any of their literal context or reference to images. Those which do not fare well rely upon the reference: my aesthetic is that if a work relies upon its references for its full meaning to be understood, it is innately weak.

So, in general, with the above qualifications of what I consider 'successful' excepted, I think it is a God-Awful premise.

If you want to read a scathing near-rant against the 'aesthetics / value' of program music, read the very long near essay length entry under 'Program Music' in the Harvard Dictionary of Music. LOL -- I love it, and fully agree.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Lisztian said:


> Yet you're on Brahms' side, rather than Liszt's.


Both anomalies - I love the character of Brahms's music, despite his rejection of programme works, and though I admire Liszt's aesthetic, I find his music quite abominable to listen to.

My own position seems to be the polar opposite of PetrB. I find that programme music provides a wonderful outlet, especially relevant in today's musical scene, for something other than forced originality. With absolute music, you must always be searching for some new way to say or express something, or, even if not expressing anything at all, you must still create some novel sound-world for the listener or you risk being called rehash, whether of your younger self or of preceding composers. With programme music, however, the new thing to say is that which is being referenced, and so the content relieves you (to some extent) of the necessity to push technical boundaries.

Programme music should absolutely be able to stand on its own feet without knowledge of the literature it's based on, but I would say that the unique experience you can gain from a piece when it is already masterful and then you learn what it's depicting and it does so well is the best musical experience there is. It is a sign of _strength_ when a work is better interpreted with a knowledge of its references. My prime example is Tchaikovsky's _Manfred_ Symphony - listened to without any knowledge of its basis, it's a truly magnificent work: majestic, terrifying, and beautiful in equal measure. Yet, if you read Byron's _Manfred_ and come back to the work, you will hear the desperation of Manfred's existence throughout his various trials, with his theme recurring in absolutely gut-wrenching fashion, and you will have to stop yourself from weeping.


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## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

Today, I heard Berlioz' choral symphony* Roméo et Juliette*. What an intense piece it is..  A fleeting tribute to the great Bard.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

And what about Shostakovich's "Lady Macbeth of the Mtensk district"?


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## John Browne (May 18, 2013)

Heard on the radio a few recordings of some of Shakespeare's poems set to music by his contemporaries. Don't remember who made the recordings, name of the CD, or who the composers where (except William Byrd and Anonymous).


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

peeyaj said:


> Do you think music would be more interesting if it is based on poetical/literary works?


I don't think it's a matter of being more interesting or better, it's simply different. And difference is good as it means more variety. If everything was descriptive it woud take away the freedom of music to create it's own world, if everything was absolute music it would take away the challenge of depicting the detail of words in music.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Apart from Purcell, it was quite common in the late 17th century to have a bit of music to lighten up the bard - for example Mathew Locke's music for the Tempest. This could even include sound effects:







Here we have the musicologist Simon Heighes playing the wind machine at a concert we recently attended featuring Locke's music plus some Purcell as well with the aria Night from the Fairy Queen. No need for all this modern stuff. Good old Baroque is best!


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## Selby (Nov 17, 2012)

Much much more recently:

Thomas Adès' The Tempest with libretto by Meredith Oakes - here we get some of Billy's work in English for a change.


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

Tchaikovsky wrote a fantasy overture and incidental music based on _Hamlet_, and a tone poem based on _The Tempest_.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet_(Tchaikovsky)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tempest_(Tchaikovsky)


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

What about Morley's "It was a Lover and His Lass" from As You Like It? (Another Norwich lad) 

(Not to be confused with "It was a lover and her ***" from a Midsummer Night's Dream.  )


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

*Sibelius:* The Tempest, incidental music. 
Shakespeare in Finnish.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> *Sibelius:* The Tempest, incidental music.
> Shakespeare in Finnish.


You mean anybody notices? They probably think it's Elizabethan English!


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Mitchell said:


> Much much more recently:
> 
> Thomas Adès' The Tempest with libretto by Meredith Oakes - here we get some of Billy's work in English for a change.
> 
> ...


Huge fan of this opera. Love Adès's work.


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## EllenBurgess (May 30, 2013)

Yes its for sure the mixture of classical music with shakespeare would definitly be a great option it would make the music melodious............


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

More Shostakovich - he wrote music for both a 30s play and a 60s film production of Hamlet and also one of his Six Romances on Verses by English Poets was a setting of Shakespeare's Sonnet no. 66.

Prokofiev also wrote incidental music for Hamlet and yet another Soviet composer, Lyatoshinsky, provided music for Romeo & Juliet.


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