William Shakespeare

Poet

William Shakespeare

1564 - 1616

William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet, and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, at age 49, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, which has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, sexuality, and religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.

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Song List

This list is likely to be of songs that have been performed at Oxford International Song Festivals and Oxford Song events, and may not be comprehensive of this composer's compositions. This database is ever growing as a work in progress, with further songs regularly being added.

Adieu, Good Man Devil (1943) Op. 29 no.3 Erich Korngold
An Silvia (1826) D891 Franz Schubert
Blås, blås, du vintervind, 'Blow, blow thou winter wind' Wilhelm Stenhammar
Blow, blow thou winter wind (1905) Op. 6 Roger Quilter
Blow, blow thou winter wind (1874) Hubert Parry
Blow, blow, thou winter wind (1949) Madeleine Dring
Blow, blow, thou winter wind (2009) Derek Holman
Chanson d'Ophélie (1910) Ernest Chausson
Come Away, Death (1949) Op. 6 Elizabeth Maconchy
Come away, death (1943) Op. 29 no.1 Erich Korngold
Come away, death (1942) Op. 18 Gerald Finzi
Come away, death (1905) Op. 6 Roger Quilter
Come away, death (1949) Madeleine Dring
Come unto these yellow sands (1961) Michael Tippett
Crabbed Age and Youth Hubert Parry
Cry, cock-a-doodle-doo Alison Bauld
Desdemona’s song Anon.
Fancie Francis Poulenc
Fancy (1964) Benjamin Britten
Fancy (1959) FP174 viii.1959 Francis Poulenc
Farewell! thou art too dear for my posessing (1873) Hubert Parry
Fear no more the heat o' the sun (1942) Op. 18 Gerald Finzi
Fear no more the heat o' the sun Roger Quilter
For the Rain It Raineth Every Day (1943) Op. 29 no.5 Erich Korngold
Full fathom five (1961) Michael Tippett
Full fathom five Robert Johnson
Guten Morgen, 's ist Sankt Valentinstag (1918) Op. 67 no.2 Richard Strauss
Hållilå, uti storm och regn Op. 60 no.2 Jean Sibelius
Have you seen but a white lily grow Robert Johnson
Hey Robin (1943) Op. 29 no.4 Erich Korngold
Hey, ho, the wind and the rain Op. 60, no.2 Jean Sibelius
How should I your true love know? (1933) Op. 30 no.3 Roger Quilter
How should I your true love know? (2012) Wolfgang Rihm
If Love’s a Sweet Passion Henry Purcell
It was a lover and his lass (1956) Op. 18 Thomas Morley
It was a lover and his lass (1921) Op. 23 no.3 Roger Quilter
It was a lover and his lass (1942) Op. 18 Gerald Finzi
It was a lover and his lass (1956) Geoffrey Bush
It was a lover and his lass Madeleine Dring
King Stephen Elizabeth Maconchy
Kom nu hit, död (1909) Op. 60 no.1 Jean Sibelius
Lady Macbeth- A Scena (1970) Joseph Horovitz
Lied des transferierten Zettel Hugo Wolf
Lied von Shakespeare (1860) Op. 17 no.2 Johannes Brahms
My love is as a fever (Sonnet 147) (1964) Duke Ellington
My Mistress Had a Little Dog William Byrd
My Mistress' Eyes (1940) Op. 38 no.5 Erich Korngold
My Mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun Op. 38 no.5 Erich Korngold
No longer mourn for me when I am dead (1874) Hubert Parry
O mistress mine (1905) Op. 6 Roger Quilter
O Mistress Mine (1943) Op. 29 no.2 Erich Korngold
O mistress mine (1942) Op. 18 Gerald Finzi
O mistress mine (1896) Sir Charles Villiers Stanford
On a day, alack the day Thomas Arne
Ophelia's Song (1926) Elizabeth Maconchy
Orfeus med sin lutas klang, 'Orpheus with his lute made trees' Wilhelm Stenhammar
Orpheus with his Lute (1912) Ivor Gurney
Orpheus with his lute Ralph Vaughan Williams
Reading from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 2 Scene 1 William Shakespeare
Reading from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 2 Scene 2 William Shakespeare
Reading from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 5 Scene 1 William Shakespeare
Reading from Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 1 William Shakespeare
Reading from Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 2 William Shakespeare
Reading from Hamlet, Act 4 Scene 7 William Shakespeare
Reading from Measure for Measure, Act 3 Scene 1 William Shakespeare
Reading from Othello, Act 5 Scene 2 William Shakespeare
Reading from The Merchant of Venice, Act 5 Scene 1 William Shakespeare
Reading from The Tempest, Act 3 Scene 2 William Shakespeare
Reading from The Tempest, Act 5 Scene 1 William Shakespeare
Reading from Twelfth Night, Act 2 Scene 4 William Shakespeare
Reading from Twelfth Night, Act 5 Scene 1 William Shakespeare
Reading: Sonnet 128 William Shakespeare
Reading: Sonnet 20 William Shakespeare
Reading: Sonnet 43 William Shakespeare
Schlusslied des Narren (1840) Op. 127 no.5 1.ii.1840 Robert Schumann
Serenade to Music (1938) Ralph Vaughan Williams
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (1873) Hubert Parry
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (1964) John Dankworth
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? William Aikin
She never told her love Hob. XXVIa:34 Joseph Haydn
Sie trugen ihn auf der Bahre bloss (1918) Richard Strauss
Sigh no more, ladies (1933) Op. 30 no.4 Roger Quilter
Sonet LXVI, 'Sonnet 66' (1942) Op. 62 Dmitri Shostakovich
Sonnet 130: My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun Robert Jones
Sonnet 143: Lo, as a careful housewife John Danyel
Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune John Dowland
Sonnet 43: When most I wink John Dowland
Sonnet 61: Is it thy will? John Dowland
Sonnet 7: Lo! in the orient John Dowland
Ständchen ('Horch, horch! die Lerch') (1826) D889 Franz Schubert
Take, O take those lips away (1886) Roger Quilter
Take, O take those lips away Madeleine Dring
Take, O Take, Those Lips Away Ralph Vaughan Williams
The Cloud-Capped Towers Ralph Vaughan Williams
The Willow Song Ralph Vaughan Williams
The Witches' Song (1990) Alison Bauld
They bore him bare-faced on the bier (2012) Wolfgang Rihm
This is thy negligence Benjamin Britten
Titania's Song (2009) Alison Bauld
Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s Day (2012) Wolfgang Rihm
Touch Her Soft Lips William Walton, arr. by Bob Chilcott
Under the Greenwood Tree (1912) Ivor Gurney
Under the Greenwood Tree Herbert Howells
Under the greenwood tree (1949) Madeleine Dring
Under the Greenwood Tree Roger Quilter
Welcome, wanderer … I know a bank Benjamin Britten
When daffodils begin to peer (1933) Op. 30 no.2 Roger Quilter
When Icicles Hang by the Wall Ralph Vaughan Williams
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes (1873) Hubert Parry
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought (1873) Hubert Parry
Where the bee sucks (1961) Michael Tippett
Where the Bee Sucks Pelham Humfrey
Who is Silvia? (1933) Op. 30 no.1 Roger Quilter
Who is Silvia? (1942) Op. 18 Gerald Finzi
Wie erkenn' ich mein Treulieb (1918) Op. 67 no.1 Richard Strauss
Winter Dominick Argento
Ye spotted snakes Richard John Samuel Stevens

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