Saturday week, 23 April, is the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare.
What pieces of music inspired by Shakespeare do you like?
Off the top of my head I can think of Mendelssohn's Overture and Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream; Finzi's Incidental Music to Love's Labours Lost and his Shakespearean song-cycle Let us Garlands Bring and Sibelius's Incidental Music to the Tempest.
(Beethoven's Coriolan Overture is written to a different treatment of the story by a contemporary German dramatist).
They'll probably move this to General Classical Music Discussion since it is not a thread on a specific composer. But 'The Tempest' and 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Hamlet' have all been subjects for more than one composer - Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and more.
Alwyn's 'The Magic Island' after 'The Tempest'
Sibelius 'The Tempest' - I especially like the complete score on BIS as it includes a lovely noble theme for Prospero which is not included on either of the suites from the score.
David Diamond 'Romeo and Juliet' I like the Prokofiev ballet too and Tchaikovsky's tone poem.
Tchaikovsky 'Hamlet'.
Honegger 'The Tempest Prelude'
If film scores are allowed I'd include Miklos Rozsa's 'Juius Caesar' and Walton's 'Henry V' and 'As you Like It' and Michael Nyman's score for 'Prospero's Books'.
Vaughan Williams's score 'Three Portraits from the England of Elizabeth' features a movement 'Poet' which is a musical depiction of Shakespeare.
This might be of interest: http://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/focus/shakespeare-and-music
Quote from: Scion7 on April 15, 2016, 03:31:38 AM
This might be of interest: http://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/focus/shakespeare-and-music
Interesting article. A while back Gramophone magazine did a survey of music inspired by The Tempest but left out 'The Magic Island' by William Alwyn which is actually my favourite work inspired by The Tempest. I wrote to them about it and they printed my letter which was nice.
There's a huge variety - from Berlioz ' Roméo et Juliette to Hans Werner Henze ( eight symphony ) and beyond...
Miloslav Kabelac's Hamlet improvisation
https://youtu.be/1a0lmH3lW8c
Frank Martin's The tempest
https://youtu.be/kDUHg3y3gBQ
Florent Schmitt
(http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0001/174/MI0001174697.jpg?partner=allrovi.com)
Gösta Nystroem
(http://ecstatic.textalk.se/shop/thumbnails/shop/17115/art15/h4327/4434327-origpic-ac7e4f.jpg_0_0_100_100_250_250_0.jpg)
Etc.
Peter
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/top-10-shakespeare-inspired-works
Very recent : Hans Abrahamsen : Let me tell you.
http://www.barbarahannigan.com/press/abrahamsen-let-me-tell-you/
Santiago Quinto's Hamlet symphony
https://youtu.be/vwEBR6sUuFU
Fun: Smetana March for the Shakespeare Festival!
https://youtu.be/5fkX7jMCalI
Stunning: Joan Sutherland as Ophélie in Ambroise Thomas' opera..
https://youtu.be/XhZAeZmZIPo
Aribert Reimann: Lear - heavy!
https://youtu.be/sZ5srOEgJFQ
Quote from: vandermolen on April 15, 2016, 03:49:00 AM
Interesting article. A while back Gramophone magazine did a survey of music inspired by The Tempest but left out 'The Magic Island' by William Alwyn which is actually my favourite work inspired by The Tempest. I wrote to them about it and they printed my letter which was nice.
Did they include Egon Wellesz's
Prospero's Spells?
That is a great work!
https://youtu.be/IrhBd88op-I
Quote from: (poco) Sforzando on April 15, 2016, 05:11:14 AM
Did they include Egon Wellesz's Prospero's Spells?
No, I don't think so. Never heard of it and it sounds most interesting. I like his Symphony 2 'The English' very much.
Thanks v much for the YouTube link pjme. It sounds great - have just ordered the CD. ::)
Dvorak Othello Overture
https://www.youtube.com/v/rjuvCLdxdm0
Sarge
Quote from: vandermolen on April 15, 2016, 06:18:03 AM
No, I don't think so. Never heard of it and it sounds most interesting. I like his Symphony 2 'The English' very much.
Thanks v much for the YouTube link pjme. It sounds great - have just ordered the CD. ::)
I was glad to re-discover it at this very moment. I did buy the cd some years ago. "Prospero's Beschwörungen" is just splendid.
There is an incredible amount of -often- excellent music inspired by Shakespeare. !
Take Julius Caesar:
Hans Rott in 1877: https://youtu.be/46oBNMFnXd8
Robert Kurka in 1955: https://youtu.be/N750UtuCi50
Mario Castenuovo Tedesco in 1934: https://youtu.be/dob5ZwkMIqQ
Rudolf Tobias in 1896: https://youtu.be/VgiQ9EIqbUk
One of the most famous German comic operas is "Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor" (The merry wives of Windsor) by Otto Nicolai. Like other (comic) operas from the mid-19th century it is not quite as popular as it used to be until about 40 years ago, but at least the ouverture remains well known (it was included in one of Kleiber's New Year's concerts).
It's not clear if Beethoven's op.31/2 has really anything to do with Shakespeare's tempest. There is no obvious connection and Schindler might have made it up...
Thanks for all these suggestions, of course Shakespearean operas are many, with Verdi's Otello, Macbeth and Falstaff being notable. I like Vaughan William's Sir John in Love and Holst's At the Boar's Head. Walton's scores for Richard III, Hamlet and Henry V...
I've always been a bit cool on Elgar's Falstaff, never really seems to get going until halfway through.
Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette
Verdi's Otello and Falstaff
Sciarrino's Macbeth
Probably others that I can't recall right now.
Wikipedia says the source was Chaucer's narrative poem, but the Shakespearean version must have had an impact on this opera, which it so happens I am listening to now
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71UVgBM6tQL.jpg)
Other works which can be included (some mentioned before)
Purcell's Fairy Queen (Midsummer Night's Dream)
Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream
Wagner's Liebesverbot (Measure for Measure)
Riemann's King Lear
Berlioz's Beatrice et Benedict
Barber's Antony and Cleopatra
Shakespeare's poem on the Rape of Lucretia might be an influence on Britten's opera.
Then there is the mashup of Tempest and Midsummer Night's Dream which provided the excuse for the Metropolitan Opera's pastiche, The Enchanted Island.
There is Music for The Tempest attributed to Purcell but maybe from someone else (not sure about state of research).
Quote from: Jo498 on April 16, 2016, 12:12:59 AM
There is Music for The Tempest attributed to Purcell but maybe from someone else (not sure about state of research).
Paul
CHIHARA, recorded on Reference RR10-CD - a full-length ballet I saw in San Francisco in 1980, I think. And in the opera section
GOETZ The Taming of the Shrew (Der Widerspänstigen Zähmung)
Besides many of the usual suspects (Tchaikovsky x3, Prokofiev, Berlioz et al.), I'd like to nominate Shostakovich's 1964 film score Hamlet.
Quote from: pjme on April 15, 2016, 09:53:49 AM
I was glad to re-discover it at this very moment. I did buy the cd some years ago. "Prospero's Beschwörungen" is just splendid.
There is an incredible amount of -often- excellent music inspired by Shakespeare. !
Take Julius Caesar:
Hans Rott in 1877: https://youtu.be/46oBNMFnXd8
Robert Kurka in 1955: https://youtu.be/N750UtuCi50
Mario Castenuovo Tedesco in 1934: https://youtu.be/dob5ZwkMIqQ
Rudolf Tobias in 1896: https://youtu.be/VgiQ9EIqbUk
The Kurka sounds good. I have enjoyed his music especially Symphony 2 - sad that he died so young.
Back in the 60s, I foolishly failed to see the first (and only?) production of Humphry Searle's Hamlet in Hamburg - I thought "Searle? Who he?" and let it go. I'm a Searle fan now. But I loved Blacher's Zwischenfälle bei einer Notlandung, possibly the first opera using electronic sounds - it was clearly based on The Tempest, but updated, of course. My choice of greatest Shakespeare setting would be Britten's Sonnet XLIII in his Nocturne. The next would be Finzi's of "Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun". But prithee, stay - my choice of most magical Shakespeare setting is Arne Nordheim's ballet suite (with vocals) for the Tempest, without which I could not live. It's a pity, though, that the electronic sounds seem poorly done in the one and only recording.
I heard Reimann's Lear once - it put me off Reimann for ever - talk about sound and fury, signifying nothing (to me). Speaking of Macbeth - has Bloch's version been mentioned? - I loved Abrahamsen's Let Me Tell You. It is at several removes from Shakespeare, of course. - I would like to see/hear an operatic version of Pericles. Couldn't Birtwistle have a go?
I'm trying to think of what Shakespeare-inspired works to listen to on Saturday to commemorate the anniversary, and now I realise I have quite a few tone poems/overtures by many different composers, based on many different plays. Here's my list as far as I can remember:
Tchaikovsky: Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, The Tempest
R. Strauss: Macbeth
Smetana: Richard III
Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream (overture and 4 other movements of incidental music)
Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette (choral symphony)
Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet (complete ballet)
Liszt: Hamlet
Shostakovich: Hamlet (complete film score)
Dvorák: Othello
Mackenzie: Twelfth Night, Coriolanus (suite of incidental music)
Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music
Elgar: Falstaff
Let's not forget Igor Stravinsky's wonderful Three Songs from William Shakespeare, for mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet and viola (1953):
https://www.youtube.com/v/93k7TId6Iqo
I've had a good week with my Shakespearean listening. It seems that Mr WS inspired composers to some of their best efforts.
I've discovered a few new things as well. The Wellesz was one, and very good, another was this disk of Shostakovich's music for King Lear, incidental music from 1940 and a film score from 1970.
(http://i.prs.to/t_200/4006408103974.jpg)
And I also listened to a lot of music contemporary with WS, including keyboard works by Byrd, consorts by Coprario, Lupo, Gibbons &c and this disk, which introduced me to the lute consort, a magical sound
(http://i.prs.to/t_200/3760014193057.jpg)
:D
Many thanks to Sforzando for mentioning 'Prospero's Spells' by Egon Wellesz. I very much agree with pjme that it is a fine work. Another great advert for the forum, as otherwise I may never have discovered it. Feeds my CD obsession too of course but that is another issue. 8)
Nice thread by the way; thank you calyptorhynchus.
Frank Bridge: 'There is a Willow grows Aslant a Brook' (references death of Ophelia from Hamlet). One of my favourite works by Bridge (composed in 1927). The video includes the relevant section of the play:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1A4IdQSEv08
This is a great thread! Thanks to all who have posted. Much to explore.
I have greatly enjoyed Jed Kurzel's soundtrack to the 2015 film version of Macbeth ~
[asin]B014U87KWS[/asin]
An appropriate label might be that it is "post rock" as opposed to classical. Either way, I was haunted by this music while watching the film and straight away purchased the soundtrack CD afterwards.
Frank Martin - Songs of Ariel
https://www.youtube.com/v/RcfyYfWenbs
Quote from: HIPster on April 23, 2016, 01:13:05 PM
This is a great thread! Thanks to all who have posted. Much to explore.
I have greatly enjoed Jed Kurzel's soundtrack to the 2015 film version of Macbeth ~
[asin]B014U87KWS[/asin]
An appropriate label might be that it is "post rock" as opposed to classical. Either way, I was haunted by this music while watching the film and straight away purchased the soundtrack CD afterwards.
Must look out for that one! I'm not a great fan of Michael Nyman's music but I do like the soundtrack from 'Prospero's Books' especially the track entitled 'Prospero's Magic'. :)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=htK3W0Acjsg
Quote from: vandermolen on April 23, 2016, 12:27:54 PM
Frank Bridge: 'There is a Willow grows Aslant a Brook' (references death of Ophelia from Hamlet).
Ah! I had not heard that before. Thanks - more Bridge to add to the collection.
Quote from: Scion7 on April 23, 2016, 03:12:28 PM
Ah! I had not heard that before. Thanks - more Bridge to add to the collection.
One of his most atmospheric works - there are several recordings. I'd be interested to hear what you thought of it.
These are great ways to commemorate the Shakespeare anniversary as they combine the text with music:
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There are so many. I think these were not mentioned (but so much was, it could have been):
Korngold - Much ado About Nothing
Rossini - Otello
Thomas - Hamlet
Bernstein - West Side Story
Salieri - Falstaff
Ades - The Tempest
Henze's Royal Winter Music is a favourite of mine - a number of Shakespearian character studies for solo guitar.
Quote from: Luke on April 24, 2016, 07:07:05 AM
Henze's Royal Winter Music is a favourite of mine - a number of Shakespearian character studies for solo guitar.
Mad Lady Macbeth always reminds me of Britten's Turn of the Screw (the theme after the prologue) . They both are a little cookoo, so it seems appropriate, but do you know if there is any intention by Henze there (either direct or indirect) to refer to that?
Lukas Foss ~ Measure for Measure, for tenor and small orchestra (1980)
A setting of texts by Shakespeare using music (arranged fused with some newly-composed) of Renaissance composer Solomon (Salamone) Rossi (ca. 1570 – 1630).
Lovely piece, imo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sGlzIr13uo
Best regards.
It´s been years since I heard it last time, but there´s Foerster´s "Shakespeare-Suite", however less attractive than his "Cyrano de Bergerac", as I remember it. Maybe it´s because of the recording. Will give it a try again.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51KYA7Z7GXL.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Pqsok2B8jY