Program: #25-28🏆 Air Date: Jul 07, 2025
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Songs from Shakespeare plays featuring Brian Kay with his new ensemble Theatro with an all-start guest list, including members of the Folger Consort, the Baltimore Consort, Alchemie and others.
NOTE: All of the music on this program is from the recording Play, Music! and features the ensemble Theatro directed by Brian Kay. It is in the Avie label and is AV 2787.
English novelist and biographer Peter Ackroyd says of the Shakespearean theatre: ‘Words were not the only theatrical reality. There was much music.’ In Shakespeare’s lifetime, there would have been a small band of six or seven musicians, including a trumpet, drums, lutes and recorders, at the Globe Theatre. Many of the actors would have been trained in music, have played an instrument, or at the very least have been able to carry a tune. Stage directions even called for characters like Ophelia to enter the stage with a lute. His characters frequently burst into song. Not only fools such as Feste and Touchstone, but unlikely characters such as Hamlet and Iago were required to sing. ‘It can be argued that Shakespeare was the first dramatist to make song an integral part of the drama and can thus be seen as the begetter of the musical theatre’ (Ackroyd).
Foreign visitors frequently commented on the inseparable relationship between music and London’s stage performances, further emphasizing its significance. While Shakespeare composed many of the lyrics within his plays, none of the published works included musical notation or indications of the specific tunes to be used for the songs.
Shakespeare’s manuscripts and folio editions lack musical notation, but his plays are rich with references and quotations from the popular songs of his time. These ballads, widely known and cherished, were the soundtrack of daily life – sung in homes, hummed on the streets and enjoyed by all walks of life. Poets often penned new lyrics for these familiar tunes, while composers crafted variations, breathing new life into well-loved melodies. This practice has allowed ‘lost’ songs to be rediscovered within the text of Shakespeare’s works.
Popular songs were not only used, they were woven into his plays to add layers of meaning and emotion. This use wasn’t arbitrary – Shakespeare knew his audience would recognize the song’s implications, deepening the impact of a scene. His use of song demonstrates his deep understanding of music’s power to evoke emotion and enrich narrative.
Play, Music!
Songs from Shakespeare’s Plays
1. For I the ballad (All’s Well That Ends Well) 0:21
Music: Anon | Text: William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
arr. for tenor solo by Ross W. Duffin
Performed by: Brian Kay, tenor
2. Ah Robin (Twelfth Night) 3:48
Music: attrib. King Henry VIII (1491–1547) | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for ensemble tenors and bass by Brian Kay
Performed by: Damian Wilson and Brian Kay, tenors | Peter Walker, bass
3. Woodycock 1:58
Music: Anon
arr. for viola da gamba and ensemble by Robert Eisenstein and Brian Kay
Performed by: Theatro | Brian Kay, director | Robert Eisenstein, viola da gamba
4. My lord chamberlain, his galliard 0:44
Music: John Dowland (c. 1563–1626)
Performed by: Brian Kay, lutes
5. Please one and please all / Tarleton’s Jig (Twelfth Night) 4:35
Music: Richard Tarleton (d. 1588) and John Dowland | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for tenor, soprano and ensemble by Brian Kay
Performed by: Theatro | Brian Kay, director, tenor | Ashlee Foreman, soprano
6. Pastime with good company (Henry VIII) 2:59
Music: attr. Henry VIII | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for soprano and tenor and ensemble by Brian Kay
Performed by: Theatro | Brian Kay, director, tenor | Ashlee Foreman, soprano
7. Green grow’th the holly (Henry VIII) 2:34
Music: attr. Henry VIII | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for soprano and ensemble by Brian Kay
Performed by: Theatro | Brian Kay, director | Ashlee Foreman, soprano
8. Lady Carey’s dance 3:55
Music: Anon
arr. for hammered dulcimer and therbo by Tina Bergmann
Performed by: Tina Bergmann, hammered dulcimer | Brain Kay, theorbo
9. I cannot come ev’ry day to woo (Taming of the Shrew) 3:14
Music: Anon | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for ensemble, tenor and soprano by R.W. Duffin, Joseph Trapanese, Brian Kay
Performed by: Theatro | Brian Kay, director | Damian Wilson, tenor | Ashlee Foreman, soprano
10. The King of Denmark’s galliard (Hamlet) 2:57
Music: John Dowland
Performed by: Brian Kay, lute
11. Bonny sweet Robin (Hamlet) 2:32
Music: Anon | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for soprano and harp by Anna O’Connell
Performed by: Anna O’Connell, soprano, harp
12. Why let the strucken deer go weep (Hamlet) 1:19
Music: Anon | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for tenor solo by R.W. Duffin, Brian Kay
Performed by Damian Wilson, tenor
13. And will he not come again / Go from my window (Hamlet) 0:50
Music: Anon | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for soprano solo by R.W. Duffin, Brian Kay
Performed by: Anna O’Connell, soprano
14. Tarleton’s riserrectione (Hamlet) 1:09
Music: John Dowland
Performed by: Brian Kay, lute
15. Lighte of love (Two Gentlemen of Verona) 0:31
Music: Anon
Performed by: Brian Kay, lute
16. Sigh no more ladies / Lilliburleo (Much Ado About Nothing) 1:44
Music: Anon | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for ensemble and bass by Brian Kay
Performed by: Theatro | Brian Kay, director | Peter Walker, bass
17. Jig divided twelve ways 2:27
John Playford (1623–c.1687) | arr. for solo violin by Tina Chancey
Performed by: Tina Chancey, Renaissance violin
18. Blow, blow thou winter wind / Goddesses (As You Like It) 2:27
Music: Anon | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for tenor, renaissance violin and ensemble by R.W. Duffin and Brian Kay
Performed by: Theatro | Brian Kay, director, tenor | Tina Chancey, Renaissance violin
19. Chi passa (Two Noble Kinsmen) 1:37
Music: Anon
arr. for colascione and ensemble by Ryan Tyndall and Brian Kay
Performed by: Theatro | Brian Kay, director | Ryan Tyndall, colascione
20. Orsino’s request (Twelfth Night) 0:39
Music: Anon | Text: William Shakespeare
Performed by: Brian Kay, reading and lute
21. Come away, death (Twelfth Night) 3:46
Music: Anon | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for tenor and lute by R.W. Duffin and Brian Kay
Performed by: Brian Kay, tenor and lute
22. O mistress mine (Twelfth Night) 1:27
Music: Anon
arr. for ensemble, cittern, lute and treble viol by Mark Cudek, Ronn McFarlane, and Brian Kay
Performed by: Theatro | Brian Kay, director | Mark Cudek, cittern | Ronn McFarlane, lute | Jeffrey Grabelle, treble viol
23. If music be the food of love (Twelfth Night) 0:39
Music: Anon | Text: William Shakespeare
Performed by:Brian Kay, reading, and lute
24. Fortune, my foe (Merry Wives of Windsor) 3:23
Music: John Dowland | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for bass and lute by Brian Kay
Performed by: Peter Walker, bass | Brian Kay, lute
25. Where should this music be? / La rossignol (The Tempest) 1:07
Music: Anon | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for voice and lutes by Brian Kay
Performed by: Damian Wilson, reading | Brandon Acker, lute | Brian Kay, lute
26. O death, rock me asleep (Henry IV) 3:43
Music: Attr. Anne Boleyn (c. 1501–1536) | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for tenor and lute by Brian Kay
Performed by: Brian Kay, tenor, lute
27. My lord Willoughby’s welcome home (As You Like It) 1:39
Music: John Dowland
Performed by: Brandon Acker and Brian Kay, lutes
28. Walsingham (Hamlet) 1:20
Music: Anon | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for soprano and harp by Anna O’Connell
Performed by: Anna O’Connell, soprano and harp
29. Pardon goddess of the night / Rest awhile, you cruel cares (Much Ado About Nothing) 1:59
Music: John Dowland | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for soprano and viol consort by Brian Kay
Performed by: Ashlee Foreman, soprano | Tina Chancey, viol consort
30. Mrs. White’s nothing 0:47
Music: John Dowland
Performed by: Brian Kay, lute
31. Willow song (Othello) 2:58
Music: Anon | text: William Shakespeare
arr. for tenor and lute by Brian Kay
Performed by: Damian Wilson, tenor | Brian Kay, lute
32. Wedding is great Juno’s crown / Lord Strang’s march (As You Like It) 2:31
Music: Anon | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for ensemble, tenor, lute and percussion by Brian Kay
Performed by: Theatro | Brian Kay, director, tenor, lute and percussion
33. You spotted snakes / Robin Goodfello (Midsummer Night’s Dream) 3:04
Music: Anon | Text: William Shakespeare
arr. for ensemble, tenor, and voices by R.W. Duffin, Joseph Trapanese, and Brian Kay
Performed by: Theatro | Brian Kay, director, tenor
Total duration: 70:53