Musical Pairings: Music and Shakespeare

Our 2024-25 lecture series, Musical Pairings, highlights the intersection of music with art forms, culture, food, and drink. In this lecture, Carl Yaffe will examine the diverse musical works inspired by William Shakespeare, spanning from his contemporaries to present-day composers.

This lecture will explore three key areas: settings of his song lyrics, incidental music created for theatrical productions, and concert pieces that draw from his stories. Like the plays themselves, this body of music includes the tragic, the comic, and the romantic.