Welcome to Shakesongs.com!

Orpheus with his lute made trees,
And the mountain tops that freeze,
Bow themselves when he did sing…
In sweet music is such art,
Killing care and grief of heart.
--Henry VIII (3.1)

Welcome to Shakesongs.com! This site has been developed in conjunction with a Masters Thesis I am writing at the University of British Columbia, entitled Teaching Shakespeare Through Song. The goal of the Thesis is to explore historical settings of Shakespearean song, relate the process of setting Shakespeare’s song lyrics to my own original music, and discuss the application of these song settings in a high school classroom. On this site, you can view my Thesis text, as well as supplementary materials, such as famous Shakesong composers, descriptions of Elizabethan period instruments, Shakesong lyrics & musical notation, and a forum for your own queries, comments and critiques. Click on the music box, and you can listen to my Shakesongs while you browse the site!

The plays of Shakespeare are filled with music. Out of the 37 canonical plays of Shakespeare, there are no less than 32 that mention music in the text itself; there are also over 300 stage directions that are musical in nature. The age of Shakespeare was an age of song, and Shakespeare certainly appreciated the importance of music for his audience. Throughout his plays, Shakespeare scattered songs of beauty and delight. All of the plays make some use of music, and many of the most commonly taught and performed plays (such as Othello, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It) contain several songs each. Unfortunately, Shakespeare’s songs are often neglected in modern productions, due to lack of musical knowledge or musical resources. It is my hope that visitors to the site will become more aware of the rich treasure of song Shakespeare’s dramas have to offer, and explore this topic further, whether it be through research, teaching, or performance.