O, For a Muse of Fire
When
- March 8, 2026 - Showtime: 3:00pm
Links
This will be Saskatoon Chamber Singers’ third concert devoted to music set to the words of William Shakespeare. Songs were an integral part of many of Shakespeare’s plays and over the centuries many composers have taken those words and composed music for them. Some composers have taken other texts from Shakespeare’s plays and set them to music, although that was not Shakespeare’s initial intent. When Shakespeare’s plays are performed today there is almost always a composer on board who sets the song lyrics in those plays to music. So, literally hundreds of songs have been composed to the lyrics Shakespeare provided more than four hundred and fifty years ago. The songs in Shakespeare’s plays would have been sung by actors, not classical singers. As a result, Shakespeare’s lyrics are consequentially a lot simpler than his poetry and are often sprinkled with fun-to-sing nonsense words such as “hey, nonny, nonny.” As one would expect, most of those songs appear in his comedies and romances. Some of the pieces on this concert we have sung before, but there are several that are new to us as well. One is always amazed at the breadth and depth of Shakespeare’s texts.
James Hawn, Artistic Director
