This preview has been provided by Carolina Pro Musica.
In 2016 the world commemorates 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare. Carolina Pro Musica celebrates the lasting legacy of the world’s greatest playwright with the first concert of the 39th season. The program features songs and dances associated with the plays from the days of Will himself.
Dowland, Byrd, Morley, Holborne and Playford are all associated with music in London at the time of Shakespeare. Anonymous songs (like “Greensleeves”, and “The Willow Song”) were known to audiences in Shakespeare’s day. Some song texts in play scripts were sung to familiar melodies while others had new tunes created for them. Many texts are not attributable to Shakespeare including “Come Live with me” that is by another playwright of the time, Christopher Marlowe. The inclusion of these songs in the plays is known, however. In successive generations these texts were set by other composers for use in play productions or to revive the interest in Shakespeare. Baroque composers in London include Thomas Arne, Maurice Greene, and R.J.S. Stevens were among these. Some English texts were translated allowing numerous German speaking composers including Schubert, Mendelssohn and Brahms to create new settings. In the early 19th century, Bishop (who also wrote the melancholy song “Home, Sweet, Home”) revived interest in Shakespeare through the creation of operas based on the plays. Shakespeare texts and stories served as inspiration for operas by Verdi, tone poems by Tchaikovsky, and new productions by Sullivan (of Gilbert & Sullivan), Vaughan Williams, and Britten among others. The closing set by North Carolina composer Margaret Vardell Sandresky was a Carolina Pro Musica commission for our 25th anniversary.
Carolina Pro Musica
Wit & Wisdom from Will – Music of Shakespeare
September 24, 2016 8:00 PM
St. Martin’s Episcopal, 1510 E 7th St, Charlotte, NC 28204
www.carolinapromusica.org
This program will be repeated September 26, 2016 at 8:00 PM
Arts at the Abbey
Belmont Abbey Basilica, 100 Belmont-Mt. Holly Rd, Belmont NC 28012
www.bac.edu
