The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: William Shakespeare died 400 years ago today. What is your favorite music inspired by The Bard, the greatest writer of all time?
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By Jacob Stockinger
He is generally acknowledged as the greatest writer of all time and of any culture.
The English poet and playwright William Shakespeare (below) died 400 years ago today – on April 23, 1616 — in his hometown of Stratford-on-Avon where he returned to after his stage career in London. He was 52 years old.
You may have heard that a touring copy of the rare 1623 First Folio edition of his plays, on loan from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., will be on display this fall at the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dates of the exhibit are Nov. 3-Dec. 11, 2016.
Here is a link with more information:
And this summer’s Madison Early Music Festival will focus on Shakespeare and music of the Elizabethan Age when it is held from July 9 to July 16.
Here is more information about that event:
https://artsinstitute.wisc.edu/memf/
Today, what The Ear wants to know is what is your favorite piece of music inspired by Shakespeare?
The Overture to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Felix Mendelssohn? (The Ear loves that richly atmospheric work. You can hear it, complete with the braying of the “rude mechanical” human who is transformed into a donkey — in a YouTube video at the bottom)
The operas ”Otello” or “Falstaff” by Giuseppe Verdi?
The opera versions of “Romeo and Juliet” by Hector Berlioz and Charles Gounod?
The incidental music to “Henry V,” “Hamlet” and “Richard III” by William Walton?
Franz Schubert’s song “Where is Sylvia”?
The “Romeo and Juliet” Fantasy Overture by Tchaikovsky?
Various setting of songs and ditties in Shakespeare’s plays?
If you need something to jog your memory about possible choices, here is a link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Music_based_on_works_by_William_Shakespeare
Leave your choice, with a YouTube link if possible, in the COMMENTS section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Arts, Bard, Chazen Museum of Art, Classical music, comedy, D.C., drama, Early music, Elizabethan England, England, Falstaff, fantasy, First Folio, Folger Shakespeare Library, Gounod, Great Britain, Hamlet, Henry V, Jacob Stockinger, London, Madison Early Music Festival, Mendelssohn, Music, opera, Otello, Othello, Overture, play, playwright, Queen Elizabeth, Richard III, Romance, Romeo and Juliet, Stratford-on-Avon, Stratford-upon-Avon, tragedy, UK, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, Washington, William Shakespeare, William Shakespeare's plays, William Walton, Wisconsin, Writer, YouTube
Classical music: This Saturday, “Live From the Met in HD” offers a controversial and innovative production of Verdi’s “Otello.” Here are some background stories plus a positive review from The New York Times.
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Saturday, “Live From The Met in HD” will present a live performance by the Metropolitan Opera of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Otello,” which is based on William Shakespeare’s tragedy “Othello.”
This is the production that has made news because it is the first one in the history of The Met not to use blackface. (Below, in a photo by Ken Howard for The Metropolitan Opera, are the Latvian tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko, right, as Otello and baritone Zjelko Lucic as Iago.)
This year marks the 10th season of the popular and innovative series of high-definition broadcasts that are beamed via satellite to 2,000 screens in 70 countries.
In Madison, the opera can be seen at the Point Cinemas on the city’s far west side and at Eastgate cinemas on the far east side.
Admission is $24 for adults and $22 for seniors 60 and over; and $18 for children 3 to 11. Tickets to the encore productions are $18.
The performance starts at 11:55 a.m. and will last about 2 hours and 45 minutes including an intermission. (Below center is the acclaimed Bulgarian soprano Sonja Yoncheva as Desdemona.)
The handsome new and ingenious Romantic-era production (below top) in a photo by Sarah Krulwich for The New York Times) has been praised for its stage direction by Bartlett Sher.
Also drawing praise is the production’s firebrand conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin (below bottom), the acclaimed French-Canadian music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra who reportedly is a likely candidate to succeed the legendary James Levine as music director of The Met.
For information about the cast and a synopsis:
https://www.metopera.org/Season/In-Cinemas/SynopsisCast/Otello/
https://www.metopera.org/Season/2015-16-Season/otello-verdi-tickets/
From NPR or National Public Radio, here is a story about The Met foregoing blackface in this production. It is especially interesting because the reporter talks to an African American tenor who does not object to the use of such makeup:
And here is a debate about the blackface issue in which the central question is: If you didn’t know the plot of the play or opera, would you realize the pivotal role that race plays in the story without blackface? Read it and decide for yourself. (In a YouTube video at bottom is part of the love duet between Otello and Desdemona.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/01/arts/music/debating-otello-blackface-and-casting-trends.html?_r=0
Finally, here is a positive review by Anthony Tommasini for The New York Times:
Tags: African American, Arts, baritone, Bartlett Sher, blackface, Bulgaria, Canada, choral music, Classical music, duet, France, French, French Canada, Jacob Stockinger, James Levine, Latvia, Love, love duet, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera, Music, Music director, New York Times, NPR, opera, Otello, Othello, Philadelphia Orchestra, Romantic, Romanticism, Shakespeare, soprano, stage director, tenor, The New York Times, tragedy, Verdi, vocal music, William Shakespeare, YouTube
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