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The Sonnet Sessions continue... You can reach me at podcastshakespeare@gmail.com William Shakespeare, Sonnet XVII Who will believe my verse in time to come, If it were filled with your most high deserts? Though yet heaven knows it is but as a tomb Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts. If I could write the beauty of your eyes, And in fresh numbers number all your graces, The age to come would say 'This poet lies; Such heavenly touches ne'er touched earthly faces.' So should my papers, yellowed with their age, Be scorned, like old men of less truth than tongue, And your true rights be termed a poet's rage And stretched metre of an antique song: But were some child of yours alive that time, You should live twice, in it, and in my rhyme. Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“ from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 Nino Rota, 'Love Theme' from Romeo and Juliet (1968)

The Sonnet Sessions continue... (Don't know what was going on with the audio - or my voice - this week! ) Please get in touch any time: podcastshakespeare@gmail.com. William Shakespeare, Sonnet XVI But wherefore do not you a mightier way Make war upon this bloody tyrant, Time? And fortify your self in your decay With means more blessed than my barren rhyme? Now stand you on the top of happy hours, And many maiden gardens, yet unset, With virtuous wish would bear you living flowers, Much liker than your painted counterfeit: So should the lines of life that life repair, Which this, Time's pencil, or my pupil pen, Neither in inward worth nor outward fair, Can make you live your self in eyes of men. To give away yourself, keeps yourself still, And you must live, drawn by your own sweet skill. Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“ from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 Sergei Prokofiev, "Balcony Scene" from Romeo and Juliet, op. 64, 1938

The Sonnet Sessions continue.... Please get in touch any time: podcastshakespeare@gmail.com.   William Shakespeare, Sonnet XVWhen I consider every thing that grows Holds in perfection but a little moment, That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows Whereon the stars in secret influence comment; When I perceive that men as plants increase, Cheered and checked even by the self-same sky, Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease, And wear their brave state out of memory; Then the conceit of this inconstant stay Sets you most rich in youth before my sight, Where wasteful Time debateth with decay To change your day of youth to sullied night, And all in war with Time for love of you,As he takes from you, I engraft you new.   Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“, from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 Hector Berlioz, La Mort d' Ophélie, Cecilia Bartoli (soprano), Myung-Whun Chung (piano)

The Sonnet Sessions continue.... Please get in touch any time: podcastshakespeare@gmail.com.   William Shakespeare, Sonnet XIV Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck; And yet methinks I have Astronomy, But not to tell of good or evil luck, Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons' quality; Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell, Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind, Or say with princes if it shall go well By oft predict that I in heaven find: But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive, And, constant stars, in them I read such art As truth and beauty shall together thrive, If from thyself, to store thou wouldst convert;    Or else of thee this I prognosticate:    Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date.   Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“, from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 Nino Rota, Nocturne from The Taming of the Shrew (1967), conducted by Carlo Savina

  The Sonnet Sessions continue.... Please get in touch any time: podcastshakespeare@gmail.com.   William Shakespeare, Sonnet XIII O! that you were your self; but, love, you are No longer yours, than you your self here live: Against this coming end you should prepare, And your sweet semblance to some other give: So should that beauty which you hold in lease Find no determination; then you were Yourself again, after yourself's decease, When your sweet issue your sweet form should bear. Who lets so fair a house fall to decay, Which husbandry in honour might uphold, Against the stormy gusts of winter's day And barren rage of death's eternal cold?    O! none but unthrifts. Dear my love, you know,    You had a father: let your son say so.   Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“, from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 Opening to Act III of Sir John in Love, New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Meredith Davies.

The Sonnet Sessions continue (with apologies for the audio issues this week!) You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at podcastshakespeare@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the podcast at  iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn. William Shakespeare, Sonnet XII When I do count the clock that tells the time,  And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;  When I behold the violet past prime,  And sable curls all silver’d o’er with white; When lofty trees I see barren of leaves  Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves  Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard,  Then of thy beauty do I question make,  That thou among the wastes of time must go, Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake And die as fast as they see others grow;     And nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe can make defence    Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.    Music:Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“, from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928

The Sonnet Sessions continue... You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at podcastshakespeare@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the podcast at  iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn. William Shakespeare, Sonnet XI  As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou grow'st In one of thine, from that which thou departest; And that fresh blood which youngly thou bestow'st, Thou mayst call thine when thou from youth convertest. Herein lives wisdom, beauty, and increase; Without this folly, age, and cold decay: If all were minded so, the times should cease And threescore year would make the world away. Let those whom nature hath not made for store, Harsh, featureless, and rude, barrenly perish: Look whom she best endowed, she gave the more; Which bounteous gift thou shouldst in bounty cherish: She carved thee for her seal, and meant thereby, Thou shouldst print more, not let that copy die. Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“, from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 Ambroise Thomas, "Entr'acte" from Hamlet, opera adapted from William Shakespeare, 1868

The Sonnet Sessions continue... You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at podcastshakespeare@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the podcast at  iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn. William Shakespeare, Sonnet X  For shame deny that thou bear'st love to any, Who for thy self art so unprovident. Grant, if thou wilt, thou art beloved of many, But that thou none lov'st is most evident: For thou art so possessed with murderous hate, That 'gainst thy self thou stick'st not to conspire, Seeking that beauteous roof to ruinate Which to repair should be thy chief desire. O! change thy thought, that I may change my mind: Shall hate be fairer lodged than gentle love? Be, as thy presence is, gracious and kind, Or to thyself at least kind-hearted prove: Make thee another self for love of me, That beauty still may live in thine or thee.  Music:  Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“, from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 Ambroise Thomas, "Entr'acte" from Hamlet, opera adapted from William Shakespeare, 1868

The Sonnet Sessions continue... You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at podcastshakespeare@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the podcast at  iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn. William Shakespeare, Sonnet IX  Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye, That thou consum'st thy self in single life? Ah! if thou issueless shalt hap to die, The world will wail thee like a makeless wife; The world will be thy widow and still weep That thou no form of thee hast left behind, When every private widow well may keep By children's eyes, her husband's shape in mind: Look what an unthrift in the world doth spend Shifts but his place, for still the world enjoys it; But beauty's waste hath in the world an end, And kept unused the user so destroys it. No love toward others in that bosom sits That on himself such murd'rous shame commits.  Music:  Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“, from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 Benjamin Britten, Corpus Christi Carol - performed by boy soprano Sebastian Carrington  Thomas Tallis, Spem in Alium (1750)

The Sonnet Sessions continue... You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at podcastshakespeare@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the podcast at  iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn. William Shakespeare, Sonnet VIII  Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly? Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy: Why lov'st thou that which thou receiv'st not gladly, Or else receiv'st with pleasure thine annoy? If the true concord of well-tuned sounds, By unions married, do offend thine ear, They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear. Mark how one string, sweet husband to another, Strikes each in each by mutual ordering; Resembling sire and child and happy mother, Who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing: Whose speechless song being many, seeming one, Sings this to thee: 'Thou single wilt prove none.'  Music:  Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“, from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 Thomas Tallis, Spem in Alium (1750)

 The Sonnet Sessions continue... You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at podcastshakespeare@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the podcast at  iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn. William Shakespeare, Sonnet VII  Lo! in the orient when the gracious light Lifts up his burning head, each under eye Doth homage to his new-appearing sight, Serving with looks his sacred majesty; And having climbed the steep-up heavenly hill, Resembling strong youth in his middle age, Yet mortal looks adore his beauty still, Attending on his golden pilgrimage: But when from highmost pitch, with weary car, Like feeble age, he reeleth from the day, The eyes, 'fore duteous, now converted are From his low tract, and look another way: So thou, thyself outgoing in thy noon Unlooked on diest unless thou get a son.  Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“, from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928

 The Sonnet Sessions continue... You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at podcastshakespeare@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the podcast at  iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn. William Shakespeare, Sonnet VI  Then let not winter's ragged hand deface, In thee thy summer, ere thou be distilled: Make sweet some vial; treasure thou some place With beauty's treasure ere it be self-killed. That use is not forbidden usury, Which happies those that pay the willing loan; That's for thy self to breed another thee, Or ten times happier, be it ten for one; Ten times thy self were happier than thou art, If ten of thine ten times refigured thee: Then what could death do if thou shouldst depart, Leaving thee living in posterity? Be not self-willed, for thou art much too fair To be death's conquest and make worms thine heir.  Music clips: Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“, from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 Gerald Finzi, Nocturne from Love's Labour's Lost Op. 28

The Sonnet Sessions continue... You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at podcastshakespeare@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the podcast at  iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn. William Shakespeare, Sonnet V  Those hours, that with gentle work did frame The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell, Will play the tyrants to the very same And that unfair which fairly doth excel; For never-resting time leads summer on To hideous winter, and confounds him there; Sap checked with frost, and lusty leaves quite gone, Beauty o'er-snowed and bareness every where: Then were not summer's distillation left, A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass, Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft, Nor it, nor no remembrance what it was: But flowers distilled, though they with winter meet, Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet.  Music clips: Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“, from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 (Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy) Joseph Haydn, "She Never Told Her Love", after Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

The Sonnet Sessions continue... You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at podcastshakespeare@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the podcast at  iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn. William Shakespeare, Sonnet IV  Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend Upon thy self thy beauty's legacy? Nature's bequest gives nothing, but doth lend, And being frank she lends to those are free: Then, beauteous niggard, why dost thou abuse The bounteous largess given thee to give? Profitless usurer, why dost thou use So great a sum of sums, yet canst not live? For having traffic with thy self alone, Thou of thy self thy sweet self dost deceive: Then how when nature calls thee to be gone, What acceptable audit canst thou leave? Thy unused beauty must be tombed with thee, Which, used, lives th' executor to be.  Music clips:   Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“, from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 (Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy) Joseph Haydn, "She Never Told Her Love", after Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

 The Sonnet Sessions continue... You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at podcastshakespeare@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the podcast at  iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn.   William Shakespeare, Sonnet III    Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest Now is the time that face should form another; Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest, Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother. For where is she so fair whose uneared womb Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry? Or who is he so fond will be the tomb Of his self-love, to stop posterity? Thou art thy mother's glass and she in thee Calls back the lovely April of her prime; So thou through windows of thine age shalt see, Despite of wrinkles, this thy golden time. But if thou live, remembered not to be, Die single and thine image dies with thee.   Music clips:   Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“, from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 (Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy)   Nino Rota, “Sarabande” from soundtrack to Zeffirelli’s “The Taming of the Shrew”, 1967 (Columbia Pictures, US / Italy) orchestra conducted by Carlo Savina

The Sonnet Sessions continue... You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at podcastshakespeare@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the podcast at  iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn.   William Shakespeare, Sonnet II  When forty winters shall besiege thy brow, And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field, Thy youth's proud livery so gazed on now, Will be a totter'd weed of small worth held: Then being asked, where all thy beauty lies, Where all the treasure of thy lusty days; To say, within thine own deep sunken eyes, Were an all-eating shame, and thriftless praise. How much more praise deserv'd thy beauty's use, If thou couldst answer 'This fair child of mine Shall sum my count, and make my old excuse,' Proving his beauty by succession thine! This were to be new made when thou art old, And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold.    Music clips:   Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“, from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 (Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy)   Nino Rota, “Sarabande” from soundtrack to Zeffirelli’s “The Taming of the Shrew”, 1967 (Columbia Pictures, US / Italy) orchestra conducted by Carlo Savina

"From fairest creatures we desire increase...." Hello, friends! This is the first in my Sonnet Sessions. You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at podcastshakespeare@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn. William Shakespeare, Sonnet I FROM fairest creatures we desire increase, That,  thereby,  beauty's rose might never die, But as the riper should by time decease, His tender heir might bear his memory: But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes, Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel, Making a famine where abundance lies, Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel. Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament And only herald to the gaudy spring, Within thine own bud buriest thy content And, tender churl, makest waste in niggarding. Pity the world, or else this glutton be, To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee. Music clips: Sergei Prokofiev, “Montagues and Capulets”, from Romeo and Juliet (ballet), 1935 Ralph Vaughan Williams, "Fantasia on Greensleeves", from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 (Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy) Nino Rota, "Sarabande" from soundtrack to Zeffirelli’s “The Taming of the Shrew”, 1967 (Columbia Picutres, US / Italy) orchestra conducted by Carlo Savina

Hello, friends! These are strange times, and I hope you are all well. This is a brief update to promise new content (you've heard that before!) and guarantee new-ish content over the next month. You can contact me at: podcastshakespeare@gmail.com or on Facebook and Twitter. Stay safe.

“Are you a god? Would you create me new?” New episode! In episode #14, why won’t anyone let Antipholus in? We’re discussing Shakespeare’s lightest, tightest play: The Comedy of Errors. Wander through the town square of Ephesus at your leisure. But perhaps don't accept any gifts from strangers.... You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at podcastshakespeare@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn. The Patreon campaign is up and running, with bonus Sonnet episodes! We also have a Spotify playlist, which will be updated as we work through the plays. Key links below. You can also visit the bibliography page here, which is a work in progress. Links mentioned: Plautus, Menaechmi Harold Bloom, The Invention of the Human (1998) 1988 TV network promo from Australia’s Channel Nine: “Still the One” Syphilis: the “French disease” Audio: The Comedy of Errors, produced as part of the Caedmon Shakespeare (1962), with Finlay Currie (Aegeon), Alec McCowen (Antipholus of Syracuse), John Moffatt (Antipholus of Ephesus) and Mary Miller (Luciana) The Comedy of Errors, produced as part of the Arkangel Shakespeare, with David Tennant (Antipholus of Syracuse), Jason O’Mara (Dromio of Ephesus), and Alan Cox (Dromio of Syracuse) The Comedy of Errors, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, 1950, with Patricia Norman (Courtesan) and unknown actors (Antipholus of Syracuse, Dromio of Syracuse, Adriana, Luciana) The Comedy of Errors (1983), produced for the BBC by Shaun Sutton, directed by James Cellan Jones, with Michael Kitchen (Antipholus of Ephesus), Roger Daltrey (Dromio of Ephesus), Suzanne Bertish (Adriana), Joanne Pearce (Luciana), Wendy Hiller (Aemilia), David Kelly (Balthazar) Music: The Boys from Syracuse (1963 cast) with Cathryn Damon singing “Oh, Diogenes!” The Boys from Syracuse (1997 cast): “Sing for your Supper” ballet The Twins ballet “Let Antipholus In!” (finale from Act I) Stephen Storace, Gli Equivoci (The Misunderstandings), opera after Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors (1786) with libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte

“Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends.” — Alençon, Act III, scene ii In episode #13, a quick jaunt through the critical fortunes of Henry VI, Part 1, not an historically beloved play. From the “prequel” question to the plays role as a barometer of Britain’s feelings on nationalism, to just how many times a play can cut Talbot, Joan, or both! Come join me. Listen to episodes at iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Castbox, or download direct from Libsyn. The Patreon campaign is up and running, with bonus Sonnet episodes! You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at podcastshakespeare@gmail.com. We also have a Spotify playlist, which will be updated as we work through the plays. Key links below. You can also visit the bibliography page here, which is a work in progress. Links mentioned: E.M.W Tillyard and the “Tudor Myth” Key source: Edward Hall, The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and Yorke (1548) Key source: Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles of England, Scotland ,and Ireland (1577) E.K. Chambers, William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems, 1930 Thomas Nashe, Defence of Plays from “Pierce Penniless” (1592) Emrys Jones, Origins of Shakespeare, 1977 Jonathan Bate, Genius of Shakespeare, 1997 Marjorie Garber, Shakespeare After All, 2004 “Shakespeare And Marlowe: Attributing Henry VI Authorship” – Folger Library Festival of Britain, 1951 Birmingham Rep Theatre: BBC An Age of Kings (1960) Royal Shakespeare Company John Barton and Peter Hall, RSC Wars of the Roses (1963): “The Inheritance” and “Margaret of Anjou” on Youtube Jane Howell, BBC The First Part of Henry the Sixt (1983) at BFI Screenonline English Shakespeare Company: Wars of the Roses (1988) d: Michael Bogdanov Jan Kott (1914-2001), Shakespeare Our Contemporary (1961) – profiled by Michael Billington in The Guardian Edward Hall, Rose Rage (2001), Propeller Theatre Company Shakespeare’s Rugby Wars: Toronto Fringe Festival Michael Boyd, This England (2001) – Royal Shakespeare Company Yushi Odashima, complete translations of Shakespeare into Japanese: at Oxford Reference Bell Shakespeare, Wars of the Roses (2005 – 2008), reviewed by Alison Croggon Benedict Andrews, Wars of the Roses (2010) for Sydney Theatre Company, reviewed by Alison Croggon Globe Theatre: Wars of the Roses Battlefield Performances, review in Telegraph Seattle Shakespeare Company, Bring Down the House (2016), review in Seattle Times Dominic Cooke, Henry VI, BBC Hollow Crown cycle (2016) Audio: Donald Sinden (Plantagenet), RSC Wars of the Roses “The Inheritance” (1965) Music: Sergei Prokofiev, “Montagues and Capulets”, from Romeo and Juliet (ballet), 1935 Armand Broshka, The Sadness of King Henry VI Tchaikovsky, The Maid of Orléans , 1881, Jeanne’s aria performed by Elena Obraztsova Ralph Vaughan Williams, Serenade to Music (1938) from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice Giuseppe Verdi, Overture from Giovanna d’Arco (Joan of Arc), 1845 Henry Ley, The Prayer of King Henry VI (c. 1940), The King’s Singers