Thursday 8 September 2016

Shakespeare's Songs........and the like

A Treasury of Early Music  http://www.youtube.com/Searle8


A rich area of  Contemporary Early Music is adapting the songs of Shakespeare in interesting ways. Some examples, and their kind are included here.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty_Dzj9QEDo



JASON FEDDY - SHAKESPEARE'S FOOL - full album
SHAKESPEARE'S FOOL: Songs From the Plays
1 - All That Glisters
2 - The Gravedigger
3 - Fear No More The Heat Of The Sun
4 - How Should I Your True Love Know?
5 - Sigh No More, Ladies
6 - O Mistress Mine
7 - Queen Of Queens
8 - Hey Ho The Wind & The Rain
9 - Sylvia
10 - Blessings On You



Cleo Laine, and Shakespeare........!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBADj2eTIuM



 "Shakespearean" Piano interpretations


  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiOMbGYs5Xs


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6KJHLNJug0



The following example is by a friend of the blogger


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2wCDIA4GaQ


Sonnet 73 (Shakespeare) arr. Geoff Salt



The following is from Ralph Vaughan Williams


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4RJoD-RMhY



Performer: Netherlands Chamber Choir, with John Alldis
Album: Williams, Howells, Holst, Britten, and Bedford: English Choral Music (1997)
Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958)

Text, by Shakespeare:

Full fathom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Ding-dong.
Hark! now I hear them, - ding-dong bell.






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrsgGND-cU0

Performer: Netherlands Chamber Choir, with John Alldis
Album: Williams, Howells, Holst, Britten, and Bedford: English Choral Music (1997)
Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958)

Text, by Shakespeare:

The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind: We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx8tPcWkGyQ&list=PLj_ebyObAMCPYCTlCFCcOp6MfQYeLi-Mi&index=3



Performer: Netherlands Chamber Choir, with John Alldis
Album: Williams, Howells, Holst, Britten, and Bedford: English Choral Music (1997)
Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958)

Text, by Shakespeare:

Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough briar,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire
I do wander everywhere.
Swifter than the moonè's sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In those freckles live their savours:
I must go seek some dew-drops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.





No doubt there are many other examples of this musical approach to Shakespeare. But the above should suffice.(pic from Wikipedia)



Shakespeare.jpg


The National Anthem of the Byzantine Empire

  The Byzantine Anthem below can be seen as an "early" piece of  medieval music, and ofcourse here we have some "modern"...