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When Shakespeare's Rhythms Hit the Right Notes

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Shakespeare is arguably the single most important source of literary inspiration for composers: by many estimates, there are more than 275 operas alone, with Romeo and Juliet the favorite.

But there are also some tantalizing "what-ifs" in the history of Shakespeare and music. Beethoven scribbled some ideas for opera based onMacbeth, but they were apparently abandoned when his librettist dropped out. Verdi was determined to make King Lear into an opera at various times during his career, but he said he felt intimidated by the mad scene. Mendelssohn worked on The Tempest with three different librettists, one German, one French and one Italian.

And yet, for all these might-have-beens, it's almost certain that they would have suffered from the same familiar curse. For many composers, Shakespeare has been resistant to operatic requirements: his plots are too complex and too driven by argument as opposed to action.

That's not to say that there isn't a wide catalog of successful symphonic music, opera and song derived from Shakespeare. Some are even cornerstones of the repertoire. For Shakespeare's 451st birthday, observed Thursday, WQXR will be presenting both favorites and more obscure works based on the Bard's writing. Decide for yourself who succeeded -- and who failed. Check out the schedule and tell us what you think in the comments below.


Complete On-Air Schedule (times refer to the hours in which the pieces can be heard)

6 am: John Dowland: The Most Sacred Queen Elizabeth, her Galliard; Sir John Smith, his Almain (lute pieces by a contemporary of Shakespeare’s)

Friederich Kuhlau: William Shakespeare, Op. 74: Overture

7 am: Anthony Holborne: Elizabethan Dance Suite for brass

Gerald Finzi: Let Us Garlands Bring, Op. 18: Fear no more the heat o' the sun (from Cymbeline)

8 am: Josef Rheinberger: Overture to Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, Op. 18

Cole Porter: Kiss Me Kate: "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" (based on Taming of the Shrew)

9 am: Felix Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream: Wedding March

Otto Nicolai: Merry Wives of Windsor: Overture (from Great Comedy Overtures, one of this week’s featured albums)

Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story: "Mambo" (based on Romeo and Juliet)

10 am: John Knowles Paine: Overture to Shakespeare's "As You Like It," Op. 28

Stephen Warbeck: Shakespeare in Love soundtrack: The De Lesseps' Dance

11am: Ambroise Thomas: Hamlet: Act IV Ballet Music

12 pm: Matthew Locke: The Tempest: Suite of Dances

William Walton: Henry V: Overture

1 pm: Henry Purcell: The Fairy Queen: Selections (based on a Midsummer Night’s Dream)

Richard Wagner: Das Liebesverbot: Overture (Wagner based his libretto for this early opera on Measure for Measure)

2 pm: Thomas Morley: A Painted Tale (from Nicholas Phan’s album, A Painted Tale, one of our albums of the week)

Sergei Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet Suite No. 1, Op. 64

3 pm: Hector Berlioz: Le Roi Lear (King Lear), Op. 4

Erich Korngold: Much Ado About Nothing: Suite, Op. 11

4 pm: Come Again: Sweet Love Doth Now Invite (from Iestyn Davies’s Flow My Tears, one of our featured albums of the week)

Ernest Chausson: La tempete, Op. 18 (The Tempest)

5 pm: Gerald Finzi: Suite of Music from Love's Labours Lost

Franz Schubert (arr. Franz Liszt) “Hark, hark the Lark” (Cymbeline)

6 pm: Giuseppe Verdi: Macbeth: Witches' Chorus

Felix Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream: Overture

7 pm: Ralph Vaughan-Williams: Serenade to Music (The Merchant of Venice)

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet: 'Fantasy Overture'

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