FIVE SHAKESPEARE SONGS
Five modal settings of well-known Shakespeare songs for baritone and piano.
- 1980
- 11 minutes
- Under the Greenwood Tree
- O Mistress Mine
- Come away death
- It was a lover and his lass
- Blow, blow thou winter wind
LISTEN
PUBLISHED BY
‘Five Shakespeare Songs’ is published by UMP.
Under The Greenwood Tree (1981) was originally published in ‘Music’ GCSE Revise Guide: Longman 1990 (1st imp, 1st ed): 1992 (2nd imp; 1st ed): 1993 ( 2nd imp;2nd ed): 1994 (2nd imp;2nd ed): 1995 ( 3rd imp; 2nd ed): 1997 (3rd ed): 2000 (3rd imp)
PERFORMANCES
- 10-13 December 1980: Twelfth Night at Ward Freman School, Buntingford. Feste – David Townshend (Baritone) – (O Mistress Mine and Come away death only)
- 9-12 December 1981: As You Like It at Ward Freman School, Buntingford. Amiens – Matthew Windebank – (Under the Greenwood Tree and Blow, blow thou winter wind) Con Alexander – (It was a lover and his lass)
- 8 March 2009: At Oundle Festival of Literature, Stahl Theatre, Oundle, Northamptonshire UK. John Barratt (baritone), Alec Hone (piano) (Under the Greenwood Tree and O Mistress Mine)
reviews
(The composer Elizabeth Poston, who lived locally, was President of ‘Music at Ward Freman’ and attended a performance on 11 December 1980:)
“I meant to write and tell you but got submerged in Christmas, how very much impressed I was with your music in Twelfth Night. I so enjoyed it. It seemed to me you succeeded in hitting lots of nails on the head in all sorts of different ways. Above all, I liked the music itself, and there was one piece at least that could surely be usefully expanded into something more extended? Why not make a Suite out of it and include the songs?…”
Extract from a letter to the composer from Elizabeth Poston dated 21 February 1981.
RELATED WORKS
- The Marriage of True Minds (for soprano, baritone and piano)
- Counting the Beats (for mezzo-soprano and piano; for baritone and piano)
- Moments (for mezzo-soprano and piano; for baritone and piano)