SHAKESPEARE 400 - The music that has Influenced or inspired Composers

[Richard Barrett]

The OP seems to imply that Shakespeare wrote "music that has influenced and inspired composers"...? pardon my head-scratching, but what is this thread supposed to be about?

[Petrushka]

Any other fans of Tchaikovsky's Hamlet Fantasy Overture op 67 out there? It might not be absolutely top drawer Tchaik but I do like it. Some cracking Tchaikovsky melodies in there which make it a shame it's not better known. Favourite recordings come from Stokowski (who persuades you that it is top drawer Tchaikovsky) and Maazel.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Any other fans of Tchaikovsky's Hamlet Fantasy Overture op 67 out there? It might not be absolutely top drawer Tchaik but I do like it. Some cracking Tchaikovsky melodies in there which make it a shame it's not better known. Favourite recordings come from Stokowski (who persuades you that it is top drawer Tchaikovsky) and Maazel.

Yes - I was given the (woefully underrated in the Penguin Guide) CfP LP conducted by Handley for Christmas in 1975. A very enjoyable piece.

[ardcarp]

I've never really "clicked" with Britten's AMSND

Sorry to hear that, Ferney. Have you seen it live? I've got the old Decca recording with Britten conducting and Deller as Oberon. But I first saw it staged with James Bowman in the role....absolutely unsurpassable! I've seen it a couple of times since, and, Figaro, Cosi and Magic Flute apart, it's one of my favourite operas.

[ahinton]

Yes - I was given the (woefully underrated in the Penguin Guide) CfP LP conducted by Handley for Christmas in 1975. A very enjoyable piece.

Moi aussi!

I'd also noticed what RB questions about the thread title and, although it seemed clear what it was meant to be about, the title's misleadingly expressed.

[ahinton]

I've never really "clicked" with Britten's AMSND

Nor I but, since there's very little Britten that I ever have really "clicked" with, that's perhaps unsurprising; if Midsummer, then Marriage, please!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Nor I but, since there's very little Britten that I ever have really "clicked" with, that's perhaps unsurprising; if Midsummer, then Marriage, please!

Or "Murders"?

The opening of the Britten opera is instantly beguiling - those "snoring" chords are beautiful. But there is little thereafter that has kept my attention so far; and quite a lot that I find tiresome.


(And, yes, I know it's spelt "Midsomer"!)

[Nick Armstrong]

I've never really "clicked" with Britten's AMSND

Exactly the same here (puzzling given that others of his operas top my - short - operatic favorites list)

[ahinton]

Or "Murders"?

It's a wonder that there's anyone left in that village given the sheer number of lives taken there over the years...

[Nimrod]

A wonderful piece ( Hamlet by Tchaikovsky) superbly conducted by Stokowski.

[Bryn]

Any other fans of Tchaikovsky's Hamlet Fantasy Overture op 67 out there? It might not be absolutely top drawer Tchaik but I do like it. Some cracking Tchaikovsky melodies in there which make it a shame it's not better known. Favourite recordings come from Stokowski (who persuades you that it is top drawer Tchaikovsky) and Maazel.

In my early youth I opted for the LPO/Boult LP of the 1812 as an 11th(?) birthday present. The Hamlet Fantasy Overture was the flip-side. I was hooked. It got played a lot mote often than the 'A' side.

[doversoul1]

Something to relax with:

The Enchanted Island

Libretto by Jeremy Sams
Metropolitan Opera 2012
Conductor: William Christie

Prospero: David Daniels
Ariel: Danielle de Niese
Sycorax: Joyce DiDonato
Neptune: Plácido Domingo

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Virgin/4042499

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXnUV5389Z4&list=PLAE235E79419C208D&index=1

or

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAE235E79419C208D

[Suffolkcoastal]

I did a lot of listening to Shakespeare inspired works/settings a couple of months back BBM, I posted them on the What are you listening to now? thread. I've copied them below. It is amazing how many different composers and nationalities Shakespeare's works have attracted.


Schubert: An Sylvia
Finzi: Let us Garlands Bring
V Shebalin: The Taming of the Shrew (extracts)
Wagenaar: Overture - The Taming of the Shrew
Hermann Goetz: The Taming of the Shrew - Act IV
Vittorio Giannini: The Taming of the Shrew Act I
German: Overture Richard III
Robert Volkmann: Overture Richard III
Smetana: Richard III - symphonic poem
Walton: Richard III - music from the film
Finzi: Incidental Music to Love's Labour's Lost
Raff: Overture Romeo & Juliet
Kabalevsky: Incidental Music for Romeo & Juliet
Svendsen: Overture Romeo & Juliet
Gounod: Romeo & Juliet - Act I
Diamond: Music for Romeo & Juliet
Bellini: I Capuletti e i Montecchi - Act II
Stenhammar: Romeo och Julia
Tchaikovsky: Overture fantasy Romeo and Juliet - Original and Final versions
Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet - Suites 1-3
Pierson: Overture: Romeo & Juliet
Berlioz: Romeo and Juliet - Dramatic Symphony op17 - Orchestral Extracts
Delius: A Village Romeo & Juliet - Scene I
Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
German: Romeo & Juliet - Dramatic Interlude
Purcell: The Fairy Queen - Acts 1 & II
Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream - Overture, Scherzo, Entracte/Intermezzo & Nocturne
Orff: Ein Sommernachtstraum - Extracts
Briten:: A Midsummer Night's Dream - Act I
Faure: Incidental Music to Shylock op57
Sullivan: The Merchant of Venice Suite
J B Foerster: From Shakespeare - suite for large orchestra op76
R Hahn: Le marchand de Venise - Act I
Andre Tchaikovsky: The Merchant of Venice - Act III
Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: The Merchant of Venice Overture
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Overture King John
Salieri: Falstaff - Sinfonia & Act I sc 1-8
Nicolai: Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor
Sullivan: Incidental Music to The Merry Wives of Windsor
Holst: At the Boar's Head
Elgar: Falstaff - symphonic study in c minor op68
Verdi: Falstaff - Act II
Vaughan Williams: Sir John in Love - Act IV
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Overture the Taming of the Shrew
Korngold: Much Ado About Nothing - Suite op11
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Overture Much Ado About Nothing
Berlioz: Beatrice and Benedict - Overture & Act I
Vaughan Williams: Henry V - Overture for Brass Band
Walton: Henry V - A Shakespeare Scenario (arr C Palmer)
Ireland: Julius Caesar - Scherzo & Cortege (arr Geoffrey Bush)
Schumann: Julius Caesar Overture op128
Malipiero: Gulio Cesare - Act I
Castelnuovo-Tedesco - Overture Julius Caesar
Bononcini: Ouverture Il Ritorno de Gulio Cesare
J K Paine: As You Like It Overture op28
Walton: Music for the film As You Like It
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Overture: As You Like It op166
T Arne: Songs from As You Like It
Vaughan Williams: It was a lover and his lass
Ambrose Thomas: Hamlet - Act II
Shostakovich: Incidental Music to Hamlet op32a
Prokofiev: Hamlet - Incidental Music op77
Niels Gade: Hamlet Overture op37
Tchaikovsky: Hamlet - Overture and Incidental Music op67a
Felix Woyrsch: Hamlet Overture op56
E MacDowell: Hamlet and Ophelia op22
Berlioz: Tristia op18 - Death of Ophelia & Hamlet's Funeral March
Shostakovich: Hamlet - Music for the Film op116
Blacher: Hamlet - Symphonic Poem op17
Liszt: Hamlet - symphonic poem
Walton: Hamlet - a Shakespeare Scenario (arr C Palmer)
Knussen: Ophelia Dances - Book One op13
Knussen: Ophelia's Last Dance op32
Brahms: Funf Ophelia Lieder WoO22
R Strauss: Drei Ophelia Lieder op67 nos 1-3
Joachim: Overture Hamlet op4
Joachim: Overture Henry IV op7
F Kuhlau: Overture 'William Shakespeare' Music for Drama op74a
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Twelfth Night Overture op73
Wagner: Das Liebesverbot - Overture & Act I (based on Measure for Measure)
Dvorak: Othello Overture op93
A Khachaturian: Music from the Film 'Othello' 1955
Rossini: Othello Overture & Act I
Verdi: Othello Act IV
Alfred Reed: Othello - A Symphonic Portrait for Concert Band 1977
Klami: King Lear op33
Berlioz: King Lear Overture op4
Cagnoni: King Lear - Act III (1895)
Balakirev: Overture King Lear
Shostakovich: King Lear - Incidental Music op58a
Dukas: Le Roi Lear - Ouverture apres Shakespeare (1883)
Sallinen: A Solemn Overture - King Lear
Shostakovich: King Lear - Music for the Film op137
Aribert Reimann: Lear - part one
Purcell: Timon of Athens - Overture & Masque
David Diamond: Music for Timon of Athens
Samuel Arnold: Incidental Music to Macbeth
Ibert: Symphonic Suite from the film Macbeth
Raff: Macbeth Overture
E Bloch: Two Interludes from Macbeth
Sullivan: Macbeth Overture & Incidental Music
R Strauss: Macbeth - Tone Poem op23
Sciarrino: Macbeth - Act II (2002)
Verdi: Macbeth - Act III (revised version)
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Overture Antony & Cleopatra op134
Barber: Antony & Cleopatra - Act I
Atterberg: Suite No 7 for String Orchestra - After a scene from Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra
Frigyes Hidas: Coriolanus: Ballet Music
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Overture - The Tragedy of Coriolanus op135
Cyril Jenkins: Coriolanus for Brass Band
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Overture - The Winter's Tale op80
Suk: A Winter's Tale - Shakespeare Overture for orchestra op9
L E Larsson: Incidental Music - A Winter's Tale op18
John Harbison: A Winter's Tale - Act II - scene 1
Zemlinsky: Incidental music for The Tragedy of Cymbeline
Frederick Corder: Concert Overture 'Prospero'
Purcell: Incidental Music for The Tempest (The Enchanted Isle)
Raff: Overture The Tempest
Arne Nordheim: The Tempest - Music from the Ballet 1979
Sullivan: The Tempest Suite op1
Carl Vine: Suite from The Tempest
J K Paine: The Tempest - Symphonic Poem op31
Fibich: The Tempest - Symphonic Poem op46
Lee Hoiby: The Tempest - Act II
Chausson: Incidental Music for The Tempest
Ades: The Tempest - Act I
Matthew Locke: Music for Shakespeare's The Tempest
Tchaikovsky: The Tempest op18
Berlioz: Lelio op14b - Fantasy on Shakespeare's The Tempest
Honegger: Prelude to The Tempest
John Summer: The Tempest - Act I
Sibelius: The Tempest - Overture & Suites 1 & 2
German: Henry VIII - Incidental Music
Sullivan: Henry VIII - Incidental Music
Robert Johnson: Songs from The Tempest
Tippett: Songs for Ariel
Rautavaara: Three Shakespeare Sonnets for baritone & orchestra
Sibelius: Two Shakespeare Songs for voice & guitar op60
Frank Martin: Cinq Chansons d'Ariel
William Mathias: Shakespeare Songs op80
Stravinsky: Three Songs from William Shakespeare
Vaughan Williams: Come Away Death
Vaughan Williams: Three Shakespeare Songs 1951

[ardcarp]

Great list, Suffolk!

[BBMmk2]

Thank you ever so much for that list, Suffolk! Incredible!