Courses

Course Description

Composers have long been inspired by the works of William Shakespeare. His plays have been transformed into numerous operas, and have inspired ballets, overtures, and tone poems. Romeo & Juliet alone has been the basis of works by Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, Gounod, Prokofiev, Bellini, Delius, Bernstein, and more! Verdi was especially taken by the bard’s works, creating operatic versions of Macbeth, Othello, and The Merry Wives of Windsor, but died before he could realize his long-intended version of King Lear. And of course the plays themselves call for incidental music, which has been written by composers from Mendelssohn to Korngold to Sibelius. Ralph Vaughan Williams found inspiration from Shakespeare frequently, with his opera Sir John in Love, the vocal masterpiece Serenade to Music, and choral settings of his texts. The sonnets have also inspired composers from many genres to set them to music.

(IN-PERSON- CORE Library- Hayward Campus)