Shakespeare and Holberg as musical influences bookend the beloved Haffner symphony of Mozart.
We explore the rich world of plays inspiring the musical repertoire via Shakespeare and Holberg. No playwright has influenced music more than William Shakespeare. Adaptations of his works can be found everywhere from Berlioz to Tchaikovsky, from Prokofiev to Verdi. In this case, we hear the overture to Otto Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor. To finish, we hear Edvard Grieg's Suite from Holberg's Time, a piece written to celebrate the 200th birth of the Dano-Norwegian playwright Ludvig Holberg. In the middle is the Symphony No. 35 of Mozart-- a perennial favorite of audiences and musicians alike.
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Otto Nicolai overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor; Aram Demirjian, conducting
W. A. Mozart Symphony No. 35 in D Haffner; Thomas Wilkins, conducting
Edvard Grieg Suite from Holberg's Time (played without conductor)