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Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Shakespeare and Opera, with Colleen Fay

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Folger Shakespeare Library

Arts

4.7837 Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2019

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s not easy to turn a Shakespeare’s play into an opera, says Colleen Fay. They have too many words, too many characters, and too many plots. But sometimes, when it all comes together, a great opera can bring the essence of Shakespeare’s stories sharply into focus. We talk to Colleen Fay about the history of Shakespearean operas… and find out which ones work and which ones don’t. Fay is a former Library of Congress music librarian and was the founding head of the Performing Arts Library at The Kennedy Center. She’s a regular on DC's local public TV arts roundup Around Town and local public radio magazine show Metro Connection. Fay is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published September 3, 2019. ©Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, “Come, Sing,” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. We had technical helped from Evan Marquart at Voice Trax West in Studio City, California.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Here are some characters you know from Shakespeare.

0:03.0

First, Lady Macbeth.

0:05.0

Riehue and sunno on all.

0:09.0

Oh, what lament? Then, Then, Then, Rommon

0:23.6

Gou

0:25.6

to the

0:26.6

Gubre,

0:28.6

Dio

0:30.6

And Juliet

0:31.6

Saut

0:33.6

Saut

0:34.6

Vesne

0:35.6

Flamen

0:36.6

The Sire I'm Mav' And finally, everyone's favorite, here's Falkitre, here's Falstaff. From from the Fulcher-Stank how. From the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited.

1:31.3

I'm Michael Whitmore, the Folgers director.

1:34.3

Shakespeare's plays came late to the world of opera.

1:37.3

But once they got there, librettists and composers tried, though not always successfully,

1:43.3

to give them the operatic touch.

1:46.2

In French, German, sometimes in English, and most triumphantly in Italian, a handful of Shakespeare's

1:52.9

stories and characters have sung their way across the stages of European and American opera houses.

1:59.2

We know that opera can be something of a mystery to many people,

2:02.4

so consider this a kind of primer for the world of operas based on Shakespeare. As our guide,

...

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