Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare (observed)!

We don’t really know when Shakespeare was born. (He was baptized on April 26, 1564.) Traditionally, his birthday is celebrated on April 23, since that also happens to be the anniversary of his death, in 1616. Man, by nature, is a compulsive creature, seeking order in all things.

For obvious reasons, I can’t be with you on the air waves today. But if you pardon, we will mend! Here’s a lovingly curated playlist of music inspired by the Bard.

I left off a lot of the better-known works, so feel free to supplement!

Richard Wagner, “Das Liebesverbot” (after “Measure for Measure”)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a_-M8FKJDc

Josef Bohuslav Foerster, “From Shakespeare”

Introduction, Perdita, Viola, Lady Macbeth, and Katerina, Petruchio and Eros

Geoffrey Bush, “Overture, Yorick”

A comedy overture inspired by “Hamlet!”

Gerald Finzi, “Let Us Garlands Bring”

Mily Balakirev, “King Lear Overture”

Sir Arthur Sullivan, “The Merchant of Venice”

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, “Othello Suite” (four movements)

Florent Schmitt, “Antoine et Cléopâtre”

Amy Beach, “Three Shakespeare Songs,” Op. 37
I. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_xNoT5MRCs
II. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAJ735zUdwI
III. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3evsktsyZI

Johan Wagenaar, “The Taming of the Shrew Overture”

Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky (completed by Sergei Taneyev), “Romeo and Juliet”: Duet (from a projected opera)

Ralph Vaughan Williams, “In Windsor Forest” (adapted from the Falstaff opera, “Sir John in Love”)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DePtOOdBKE

Bedřich Smetana, “Richard III”

Erich Wolfgang Korngold, “Much Ado About Nothing”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NEcvcXHaFM

Paul Moravec, “Tempest Fantasy” (in five movements)

Recipient of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Music

Lars-Erik Larsson, “The Winter’s Tale”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geanBynQCmg

The Musicians of the Globe present “Shakespeare’s Musick” (28 tracks)

The Broadside Band performs 39 “Songs & Dances from Shakespeare”

William Walton, “Henry V” (narrated by Christopher Plummer)

On St. George’s Day, “Cry ‘God for Harry, England, and St. Geeeeeeorge!’”