FIVE SHAKESPEARE SONGS

Five modal settings of well-known Shakespeare songs for baritone and piano.

  • 1980
  • 11 minutes
  1. Under the Greenwood Tree
  2. O Mistress Mine
  3. Come away death
  4. It was a lover and his lass
  5. Blow, blow thou winter wind

LISTEN

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See and hear a digitally generated extract of the score

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

  • Moments (for mezzo-soprano and piano; for baritone and piano)

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